Third Generation Picker

I'm teaching our son to pick.

It's not really a new concept to him. Bless his heart, we've dragged him to auctions and antique malls since he was a baby. When he was playing little league sports on Saturday mornings I would pray for an early game so we could stop by any yard sales along the way and hit the estate sales on the way back.

We come from a family of pickers. My daddy is a picker but not a seller. He got me started with my bottle collection when I was in my late teens and early 20's. He would dig up bottles he found on job sites...see this post for the story.

Part of my soda bottle collection

Corkers in the bathroom window

I love bottles in the window

He has a varied collection of things he's picked from over the years. He rarely if ever sells anything, but for the most part he can justify keeping his treasures because he has put them into use at some time or another. What he hasn't is somewhat on display around the barn or shop.

At any rate, I got the bug honestly. I spent a lot of time as a kid, digging through old trash piles on farms near where I grew up, finding little saucers or zinc jar lids...enough to make me want to keep digging and searching. 

My first auction buy was a Diamond King wood cookstove that I saved until we built our house and still have it today. It cost $150 in 1981. I was offered $500 for it a couple of years later and I wasn't even tempted to sell. I loved it that much. 

Our cookstove, here piled with stuff during our recent ceiling reno project...we now have tin, but more on that later...

And now...generation three. Our son.

Sam NEVER intended to be a picker. Since becoming a teenager four years ago he began his protest against anything old. But, now at a wiser seventeen, he can be motivated.

Sam likes to spend money. His likes far exceeds his needs, which is probably true for most of us. Being homeschooled has so many advantages, one being we get to choose curriculum. This semester his electives are Photography and Essentials of Business along with his last English class needed to graduate. 

With jobs for teenagers being slim to none here, we finally convinced him that he can be his own boss and generate as much or as little money as his own efforts produce...plus he will be earning school credits at the same time...or in other words, an internship.

Picking without selling can become hoarding! We can easily have a relationship with all of the cool things we find...so, I've started Sam out selling first to get a taste of profit and motivation for more. We still have a barn stall full of things from the trailer...see here for story... that need to be sold. I'm letting him pick from there first. He has been sifting through boxes for smalls to list on ebay. 

Ford Volt Meter

Model T Headlight

He cleans, researches, photographs, packs, weighs, measures, writes descriptions, lists on ebay or craigslist,  answers any correspondence, ships and collects his rewards. This helps me immensely by taking care of things that need a broader market than than our local venues, by building positive feedback in our new ebay account, and saving me the incredible amount of time it takes to do all of this.

He is doing a great job, all the while, using his creative writing skills, business essentials, plus teaching me all about the functions of my camera. Win! Win!

The items above end this evening, February 8. Click on either photo for a link to the auction if interested.

Do your kids work for you? How's it going?