Tell us about your least successful Get Rich Quick scheme
Discussion
About thirty years ago I realised that among the stuff I took to the tip were valuable metals. I could easily collect lead, copper and brass and put it all to one side and cash in later in life. So I did. The boxes I was collecting it all in have travelled with me: my stuff, my dad's, my uncle's. Worth a fortune. Bright copper is currently £3,000 per tonne; just saying. To capitalise further, during the lockdown I stripped the copper from umpteen lengths of household wire and separated copper and brass from electrical fittings. Last week I drove to the metal recyclers about twenty five minutes away. "To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive," as Stevenson told us. Sixty five quid. And that included the last three car batteries I replaced.
It was a lot of work. And quite a lot of inconvenience.
And it certainly wasn't quick.
Oh, well. I won't do it again.
It was a lot of work. And quite a lot of inconvenience.
And it certainly wasn't quick.
Oh, well. I won't do it again.
We have a scrap metal collector who drives around the town every couple of weeks. There's always two of them in the van.
I have absolutely no idea how they make any money. The vast majority of stuff these days is made from aluminium or thin mild steel - both relatively worthless.
Do they just operate on the basis that once in a while they find a pile of pure brass ingots sitting outside someone's house?
I have absolutely no idea how they make any money. The vast majority of stuff these days is made from aluminium or thin mild steel - both relatively worthless.
Do they just operate on the basis that once in a while they find a pile of pure brass ingots sitting outside someone's house?
In the mid-seventies my brother-in-law came hurtling round to my house, announced there was to be a global ethylene glycol shortage, the price was going to go through the roof and if we were quick we could go to Yateley Motors and buy their entire stock. Then we just had to wait for the price to go up - as it inevitably would - and then sell it for a vast profit. This time next year, Rodders. We dealt with the surprised storemen at Yateley Motors, bought almost all their stock and took it to my brother-in-law's house. He had to deal with his wife and the inconvenience of storing it. The pressure was on to sell. Over the next days and weeks, most people I spoke to already had antifreeze in their cars. A couple of mates helped us out by buying a few bottles out of kindness. I was then alerted to my duty to store half the reminder. I say alerted. I didn't know this was in the plan. It was the first I'd heard of it. I had to deal with my wife and the inconvenience of storing it. Had it for years. Probably still got some somewhere.
ThatGuyWhoDoesStuff said:
We have a scrap metal collector who drives around the town every couple of weeks. There's always two of them in the van.
I have absolutely no idea how they make any money. The vast majority of stuff these days is made from aluminium or thin mild steel - both relatively worthless.
Do they just operate on the basis that once in a while they find a pile of pure brass ingots sitting outside someone's house?
I bet you they make more than you realise. Most scrap men are making enough to justify continue doing it.I have absolutely no idea how they make any money. The vast majority of stuff these days is made from aluminium or thin mild steel - both relatively worthless.
Do they just operate on the basis that once in a while they find a pile of pure brass ingots sitting outside someone's house?
They will normally collect scrap knowing exactly whats worth the most and leave the cr@p. They will also get to their metal dealer and then sort out the stainless from the iron, cable, ali etc to make sure they get the most from their haul.
CzechItOut said:
I bought all the newspapers on the day that it was announced London had won the bid to host the Olympics, with a plan to sell them a few years later just as the Olympics was starting.
They're still in my loft.
When it was announced that Wembley Stadium was to be replaced I was working in Wembley Park and knew that the local newsagent had a stock of ancient postcards of the original stadium. I rushed over and bought all of the for a knock down price. When eventually the demolition started I put an ad on eBay. Three I sold. There are hundreds in the garage. Hundreds.They're still in my loft.
(Wembley hosted the 1948 Olympics, if you were wondering what reminded me.)
condor said:
On here, roughly about 10 years ago - some guy did a long thread on how we could all get rich by spread betting on gold and silver via IG Index.
Nope. I lost about £150 before I saw sense.
I remember that...something about opening bets about an hour before the market closed late afternoon. Nope. I lost about £150 before I saw sense.
Lesson learned.
About 18 months ago I bought some Bitcoins, a whopping £50 worth, the minimum allowed, to buy something green and smelly online. I had about £25 in ‘change’ which I forgot about until months later, when they were worth £50, woohoo free weed. So I sold them. They’re worth about £300 now.
Still, a friend of mine has taken a £20k bounce back loan and spent the lot on Bitcoin, they’re currently worth £75k. I’ve been begging him to at least take the £20k out and pay off the loan, but it’s a no-lose gamble in his mind, to my mind it’s a dangerous bubble that can only end in a crash, but then, I sold mine bit of change a few weeks before they shot up in value.
Still, a friend of mine has taken a £20k bounce back loan and spent the lot on Bitcoin, they’re currently worth £75k. I’ve been begging him to at least take the £20k out and pay off the loan, but it’s a no-lose gamble in his mind, to my mind it’s a dangerous bubble that can only end in a crash, but then, I sold mine bit of change a few weeks before they shot up in value.
LosingGrip said:
Had a brilliant idea to buy a box full of DVDs to sell via Music Magpie. Got 57 for £5 from Facebook.
Music Magpie would give me £3.76 for them.
They are now in the spare room until I can be arsed to take them to the charity shop!
On the way into town the other day I noticed one of those places that buys clothes at pennies per kilo was offering a similar deal on DVDs. I think they are as good as worthless really.Music Magpie would give me £3.76 for them.
They are now in the spare room until I can be arsed to take them to the charity shop!
We ran a lot of ours through Music Magpie last year, their offer for most was just a penny or they didn’t want them at all.
Started a gift website from nothing as a hobby in 2003 with the hopes of it making a bit of money for holidays etc.
With ploughing any profits back into more stock it didn’t really make anything. It did get the tax bill down though.
Had a half price sale last year when I retired then sold the remaining stock to a local shop at a massive discount.
I guess I wasn’t destined to be the next Amazon.
1987 - A bloke at work got a few of us into a group to buy up some engine oil from his local Ford dealers. Ford were changing the logo, and apparently all the old style 5 litre tins had to go. We paid £1:50 each – 200 of them - I thought these would prove useful to my mates and sell them on. Who wanted them? Basically no-one. Then 2 weeks wages in motor oil at the time sat there in my mates little unit for about 3 years. Profit made? - Buggar all.
A year later, 2 mates and I bought a cheap Maserati Ghibli with a broken transmission. We’ll fix it - How difficult/expensive could it be? Very – as it turned out. We just about broke even with what we spent, and that’s all our labour written off. Although we did service it and put some cheap motor oil in it!
A year later, 2 mates and I bought a cheap Maserati Ghibli with a broken transmission. We’ll fix it - How difficult/expensive could it be? Very – as it turned out. We just about broke even with what we spent, and that’s all our labour written off. Although we did service it and put some cheap motor oil in it!
Remember Britannia Music? LPs, CDs and Cassettes by mail order. First 10 for a fiver then you have to buy a minimum amount over the next year.
Mate of mine introduced me to something similar called Entertainment Express. You paid a £30 joining fee and then got access to discounted music as well as videos. But...... but....... if you then signed up two other people and they did the same and they did the same, I'd earn commission on the membership fees. By the eighth level of sign ups, I'd be hauling in over £10k a month.
Did it work? Did it f....k
Mate of mine introduced me to something similar called Entertainment Express. You paid a £30 joining fee and then got access to discounted music as well as videos. But...... but....... if you then signed up two other people and they did the same and they did the same, I'd earn commission on the membership fees. By the eighth level of sign ups, I'd be hauling in over £10k a month.
Did it work? Did it f....k
My late father was something of a historian and amateur archeologist ,specialising in the Yorkshire Dales. He amassed a small collection of quite rare books and articles on this, some leather bound, some rare.Some had come from an antiquarian bookshop in York. When I tried to sell them recently they were worth little or nothing. The original supplier of some just didn’t want to know. Lesson learned about ‘collectors’ items. (Same with most antiques: my mother had some good quality Art Deco vases etc.. basically worth two thirds of rock all.)
Edited by Lester H on Tuesday 18th May 21:47
Edited by Lester H on Tuesday 18th May 21:51
StevieBee said:
Remember Britannia Music? LPs, CDs and Cassettes by mail order. First 10 for a fiver then you have to buy a minimum amount over the next year.
Mate of mine introduced me to something similar called Entertainment Express. You paid a £30 joining fee and then got access to discounted music as well as videos. But...... but....... if you then signed up two other people and they did the same and they did the same, I'd earn commission on the membership fees. By the eighth level of sign ups, I'd be hauling in over £10k a month.
Did it work? Did it f....k
You mean an illegal pyramid scheme Mate of mine introduced me to something similar called Entertainment Express. You paid a £30 joining fee and then got access to discounted music as well as videos. But...... but....... if you then signed up two other people and they did the same and they did the same, I'd earn commission on the membership fees. By the eighth level of sign ups, I'd be hauling in over £10k a month.
Did it work? Did it f....k
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