Here is an interesting Business Model

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

It was slow day at the office yesterday so I was reading the Economist (except the articles on Saudi Arabia and Gays in Mexico which the censor had removed). It mentioned a company in Germany called ‘Piggybank’ (in German).

You call them, they send a couple of guys in a truck to your house. They go through your stuff and give an estimate on the best stuff. If you agree, they haul off your old exercise bike or whatever to the warehouse.

They sell it and give you a hunk of money.

That seems like a fine business for a couple of guys in a truck to get into. You could start with your family and use e-Bay. As you get bigger, you could even start a standalone store.

Any other bright ideas out there?

2

There was an item on NPR this week about a company that facilitates shipping you the items you can’t take on board planes nowadays: nailcutters, lighters, guns, knives, etc.

It would be an interesting business to set up little kiosks in all major airports and offer to buy the items off of people like a pawnbroker. Then when they come back through they can claim their item for a fee. If they don’t pick it up within an allotted time then you can sell it to other people who don’t have the nailcutters, lighters, guns, knives, etc. that they need because they were forced to leave them in their departure city. And of course you could still offer to ship or freightforward their items for a charge.