Growing Profit in Thrift With Kaizen — D.O.W.N.T.I.M.E. What do Kaizen and Lean have to do with thrift or second-hand stores? Thrift receives random stuff and has to turn that stuff into an organized retail store. Anyway, aren’t those manufacturing concepts? Kaizen and Lean aren’t just for factories anymore. In…

Part 1 of a series. What do Kaizen and Lean have to do with thrift? Thrift receives random stuff and has to turn that stuff into an organized retail store. Anyway, aren’t those manufacturing concepts? Kaizen and Lean aren’t just for factories any more. When a second-hand operation accepts goods…

The winners and losers in shorts make no sense at all. I recently day-tripped to Downtown Chicago and shot a bunch of random short videos with my iPhone 7. Yes, 7. In case you don’t know the video quality of a 7 is nothing compared to what is out there…

That may be what is on the side of their trucks, but it’s a secondary business. They are doing everything they can to turn the customer into a commodity. Much like Facebook does so well. Here is the deal: I ordered a super cool new iPhone from Verizon to ship to my house. It’s…

Everyone in the consumer products supply chain is using inflation as an excuse to charge more, a lot more. It’s creating a self-perpetuating loop of price increases that are killing us at the cash register. The store-made bakery goods pictured above were, until recently, $5. For the exact. Same. Thing…

This isn’t a recycling article. It’s a turns and profit article. In some ways it’s the same calculation traditional retail makes, just with different time lines and scale. Every item on a sales floor is using space, time and money. Any successful retailer gets a return on those investments. Too…

News report after news report has covered the shortage of rental cars. In some ways, it puzzles me. The picture above is of an actual lot in Crystal Lake Illinois where Hertz has cars for sale, not for rent. I regularly drive by this lot, it is always full, packed…

How much is a quarter worth? Take your number of items sold last month and add twenty-five cents to your average price per item. One of my stores sells around 15,000 pieces a month. Multiply a quarter over a year and you get $45,000. In one store. What does $45,000…