What did you do today?

[Bricklectic]

Decided to stop pretending my garage was adequate for my storage needs and circled town checking out the storage places. 2 local ones helpfully admitted they had (multiple!) robberies this year so they were out. Found somewhere about 20 minutes away with a 10 x 10 unit for $125 a month. I figure I can fit about 150 Home depot 21 x 15 x 16 boxes there stacked 4 high. Penske 16 foot truck rental is 15 an hour plus $1 a mile and storage unit gives me a $50 credit so the move is basically free, not too bad.

It looks like UPS will not pick up from the site directly though which adds to the hassle. I also need to figure out the sets most likely to be in stock in amazon longer to send there as I wont have easy access. I'm thinking Hagrid Huts and Mando Starfighter, Trouble on Tattoine  

Anyone here use storage units, is there anything to be aware of? I'm thinking maybe sticking an airtag in one of the boxes might be a wise precaution.

Edited November 9, 2022 by Bricklectic

[gmpirate]

6 minutes ago, Bricklectic said:

Decided to stop pretending my garage was adequate for my storage needs and circled town checking out the storage places. 2 local ones helpfully admitted they had (multiple!) robberies this year so they were out. Found somewhere about 20 minutes away with a 10 x 10 unit for $125 a month. I figure I can fit about 150 Home depot 21 x 15 x 16 boxes there stacked 4 high. Penske 16 foot truck rental is 15 an hour plus $1 a mile and storage unit gives me a $50 credit so the move is basically free, not too bad.

It looks like UPS will not pick up from the site directly though which adds to the hassle. I also need to figure out the sets most likely to be in stock in amazon longer to send there as I wont have easy access. I'm thinking Hagrid Huts and Mando Starfighter, Trouble on Tattoine  

Anyone here use storage units, is there anything to be aware of? I'm thinking maybe sticking an airtag in one of the boxes might be a wise precaution.

I don't think storage units make sense.  You really aren't gaining much from what you can store at your house/garage/shed/attic/etc.  Figure you're small amount of inventory needs to appreciate enough to outpace the rent.  With limited space you really can't afford mistakes on what you purchase.

Imo, and I think others will back me up here, if you're looking to scale up it really becomes more about efficiency with your time -- and a storage unit will take you in the complete opposite direction.  You will fill it up in no time and its going to be a pita loading, unloading, organizing, driving back and forth.  Case in point my parents have a guest house I use to use years ago that gave me 1000 sq ft to work with "for free".  Yes, it gave me a boost in business capacity, but it cost me a lot more time and effort.  Looking back it was not worth it -- even at "free rent"!

If you "really" want to scale, get a warehouse where you can put up "commercial" shelving for both product and shipping supplies, and setup a proper shipping area.  This is the only way to grow (unless you just don't put a value on your time).

[Bricklectic]

6 minutes ago, gmpirate said:

I don't think storage units make sense.  You really aren't gaining much from what you can store at your house/garage/shed/attic/etc.  Figure you're small amount of inventory needs to appreciate enough to outpace the rent.  With limited space you really can't afford mistakes on what you purchase.

Imo, and I think others will back me up here, if you're looking to scale up it really becomes more about efficiency with your time -- and a storage unit will take you in the complete opposite direction.  You will fill it up in no time and its going to be a pita loading, unloading, organizing, driving back and forth.  Case in point my parents have a guest house I use to use years ago that gave me 1000 sq ft to work with "for free".  Yes, it gave me a boost in business capacity, but it cost me a lot more time and effort.  Looking back it was not worth it -- even at "free rent"!

If you "really" want to scale, get a warehouse where you can put up "commercial" shelving for both product and shipping supplies, and setup a proper shipping area.  This is the only way to grow (unless you just don't put a value on your time).

Fair points. I would say I'm at an inflection point. If 2022 would be similar to previous years, I'd keep on buying and then a warehouse solution would be the better move. However, given the uncertainty in the Lego space and the general economy, in my head I'm viewing this is more of a stopgap measure to wait and see how the next few months unfold. It gives me needed flexibility in case some great deals come in Q4 without needing to sign a long term lease. And in NYC warehouses likely are a pretty penny.

But yes, long term, it's a huge pain in the neck to go there each time. Especially since I have the terrible habit of waiting to label sets until right before sending them in. 

[cladner]

17 minutes ago, Bricklectic said:

Decided to stop pretending my garage was adequate for my storage needs and circled town checking out the storage places. 2 local ones helpfully admitted they had (multiple!) robberies this year so they were out. Found somewhere about 20 minutes away with a 10 x 10 unit for $125 a month. I figure I can fit about 150 Home depot 21 x 15 x 16 boxes there stacked 4 high. Penske 16 foot truck rental is 15 an hour plus $1 a mile and storage unit gives me a $50 credit so the move is basically free, not too bad.

It looks like UPS will not pick up from the site directly though which adds to the hassle. I also need to figure out the sets most likely to be in stock in amazon longer to send there as I wont have easy access. I'm thinking Hagrid Huts and Mando Starfighter, Trouble on Tattoine  

Anyone here use storage units, is there anything to be aware of? I'm thinking maybe sticking an airtag in one of the boxes might be a wise precaution.

i just exited a storage space that was over $300 a month for a 20x10' heated indoor temp controlled and had completely enclosed place to park my van so could be accessed during inclement weather without getting cold/wet.   the place seemed safe enough, close to police department,  and nothing was stolen the 2 years i was there but at $300 month it was too much and also it was 50 miles away!!! there were no temp controlled storage spaces at the time anywhere closer.  now i have sold off enough that i can move the rest into home storage.

right now, a lot of people at least around here are checking out of their storage spaces so you might have some leverage to get a better deal.  the place i left has about 30% empty units.

also judging by my perception of your buying habits, 10x10 will fill up very quickly and not be able to move around to access stuff easily.  20x10  or 20x15' units usually have doors on both ends of the unit so can access stuff easier and pack more in though will cost more.  if u think u will keep it for a year u might be able to get a better rate by prepaying for the year .

paying for storage ruthlessly eats into profit so u have to do the calculation whether it makes sense to store sets that will not be profittable for quite some time if ever.  a storage unit of star wars and carnage/venom helmets and other 18+ sets - that will work out ok.  a storage unit full of trolls, TLM2,  2020 hp advent calendars,  city sets that can't get over 2x msrp, long-lived high seller count turds is just going make sure the only person profiting will be storage unit owner.

 

[Bricklectic]

23 minutes ago, cladner said:

i just exited a storage space that was over $300 a month for a 20x10' heated indoor temp controlled and had completely enclosed place to park my van so could be accessed during inclement weather without getting cold/wet.   the place seemed safe enough, close to police department,  and nothing was stolen the 2 years i was there but at $300 month it was too much and also it was 50 miles away!!! there were no temp controlled storage spaces at the time anywhere closer.  

 

 

50 Miles away, yikes! Hope you had a good stereo system for those long drives  

What are you temperature extremes where you are that you care? In NYC I've never had an issue with heat/cold in my garage where it probably bottoms at 15 degrees and peaks maybe at mid 90's so I never thought about climate control although my unit happens to have that.

[isawred]

46 minutes ago, Bricklectic said:

Anyone here use storage units, is there anything to be aware of? I'm thinking maybe sticking an airtag in one of the boxes might be a wise precaution.

I've been in and out and back in storage. There is fine print on my contract about values over X. Homeowners will potentially cover some. Stand alone insurance is preferred. 

I agree with @gmpirate as far as the business goes. Mine is just personal preference at this time. 

[legorunner]

Everyone has different circumstances and its definitely a personal preference. I have a storage unit. My house was built in the 1950s and the combined closet space is less than the master closet at my parents house. We have a low pitch roof and hardly any attic space. We don't have a garage. The first storage unit I moved stuff into had about 50 units broken into the morning of my move in, so I didn't stay for long. The one I am in now was brand new when I moved in and a bargain price, but now my rates have doubled in the two years since then. So, does it make financial sense? On the one hand, it cuts into my profits significantly. It is also a hassle to get everything in and out of storage, but I have worked out a pretty time efficient system that works for me. That said, if I did't have a storage unit, I just couldn't resell anymore. I have no other place to put inventory. I enjoy this side hustle and still make enough money that its worth it to me. It is not anywhere close to ideal and I can't wait until we either add on or move to a larger house, but if you need storage, you need storage. 

As for safety, I would just do everything to avoid drawing attention to yourself. For me, everything goes in and out in a moving box. Don't set up anything so that someone can see that its LEGO in there if they walk by while your door is open. My goal is to spend as little time there as possible. And yes, get insurance from an outside source. 

[landphieran]

In my journey I used storage spaces for a while. I was renting a condo, running my Amazon business. I quickly ran out of space and some days would receive enough boxes to fill my car port. I'd have to haul them up to my apartment and generally fill my entire living area or I'd break them down outside (getting questionable looks from the neighbors). When I got my storage area I'd haul the boxes out there in my truck and I'd be able to quietly box stuff.

The struggles of having a storage unit is you can't move boxes around and ferrying stuff out there sucks. Id invest in a good platform cart to move stuff. I finally made the move to a warehouse when I found a 1000 sq ft unit for 500$ a month. Moving from a storage unit to that was honestly the best decision of my life. Its really underrated having a lot of space to work. The area I'm in offers shipping container storage  8x40 for 150$ a month which is honestly cheaper than most warehouses considering you can store 320 large boxes in it. Anything going in, must be ready to go out.

 

[cladner]

11 hours ago, Bricklectic said:

50 Miles away, yikes! Hope you had a good stereo system for those long drives  

What are you temperature extremes where you are that you care? In NYC I've never had an issue with heat/cold in my garage where it probably bottoms at 15 degrees and peaks maybe at mid 90's so I never thought about climate control although my unit happens to have that.

good stereo and a never busy starbucks on the way.  i had non-temp controlled storage- i live in rural northeast where it gets sub zero in winter and then in the 90s-100s in the summer.  i did one year of nontemp controlled storage in typical metal building garage door in place with not much security and tough to get into in the winter with snow and ice and also a pita if someone else was using nearby storage unit.  the icing on the cake was when some hording homeless dude started living in one of the units 8 down from mine and spent their days and most of their nights sifting through endless boxes of detritus with one of the saddest looking dogs i have ever seen on a leash.   but was half the cost.  i did not notice any significant box damage from temp changes but there were other factors i didn't like about the storage space having to do with security , poor access, negative vibe in general.  the nice part about the more expensive unit was more like a miniwarehouse and much better access in terms of being able to pull up a transit van and load it onto multiple large dolley-cart without having to deal with other people or parking.  i am pretty sure i could have negotiated a much better rate at this point given how many units are empty but i just want to minimize expenses going forward.

Edited November 9, 2022 by cladner

[brickvoyeur]

Performed my civic duty to choose between the candidates that will accept bribes from corporations to take care of their needs while neglecting the needs and desires of their constituents. yay?

[TANV]

Went back to the office after getting over this stomach bug/RSV/WHO KNOWS?!

Still eating bread and drinking water though.

[keymomachine]

3 hours ago, brickvoyeur said:

Performed my civic duty to choose between the candidates that will accept bribes from corporations to take care of their needs while neglecting the needs and desires of their constituents. yay?

 I worked my favorite 5-9 shift as a poll worker. My county recently upgraded the voter checkin process to use 'PollPads' which uses an iPad and reciept printer and everything went smoothly. Here you can vote using a touchscreen or a paper ballot and if there is no line for them, I prefer people to use the touchscreens because they print out a marked ballot for you when you're done and then you put that into the ballot scanner - still a paper ballot, but you haven't overvoted or undervoted without the screen telling you ahead of time. I do love when folks are like, gimmme that paper, I don't trust machines - like yo, you're gonna put this IN a machine. Or I want a paper traiL! That thing just prints a filled ballot for you! (I actually used a paper ballot because the line for the touchscreens was long at my precinct, but I know what I'm doing and don't spoil the ballot) Had about a 20% rate of spoiled paper ballots that had to be revoted. Anyways, rant over.

[keymomachine]

3 hours ago, TANV said:

Went back to the office after getting over this stomach bug/RSV/WHO KNOWS?!

Still eating bread and drinking water though.

I think we may have RSV at our house, probably came home with my 5 year old from school and I caught it WHILE I had Covid already, now my wife is down with it.

Your bread comment reminded me of this van I saw the other day:

[BillyBricks]

3 hours ago, TANV said:

Went back to the office after getting over this stomach bug/RSV/WHO KNOWS?!

Still eating bread and drinking water though.

RSV made its way through my house for the month of October thanks to my 4-year-old. I picked it up and have had a cough for a month. Fun times. 

[$20 on joe vs dan]

can someone give me the TLDR version of RSV?

 

[vasp]

3 minutes ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

can someone give me the TLDR version of RSV?

 

It's a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week. Affects children the most causing bronchiolitis (irritation of the bronchioles in the lungs). Causes common cold like symptoms in adults, pneumonia like illness in the elderly.

RSV has been around a long time and it's unfortunately a RNA virus (single stranded one unlike COVID)

Responds to the most simplest antibiotic (Amoxicillin) which is kind of scarce now.

[Sozial]

22 minutes ago, vasp said:

It's a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week. Affects children the most causing bronchiolitis (irritation of the bronchioles in the lungs). Causes common cold like symptoms in adults, pneumonia like illness in the elderly.

RSV has been around a long time and it's unfortunately a RNA virus (single stranded one unlike COVID)

Responds to the most simplest antibiotic (Amoxicillin) which is kind of scarce now.

Since it is a virus, it does not respond to antibiotics, sometimes antibiotics are given if the person is out of power to prevent a further bacterial infection. 

Edited November 9, 2022 by Sozial

[vasp]

6 hours ago, Sozial said:

Since it is a virus, it does not respond to antibiotics, sometimes antibiotics are given if the person is out of power to prevent a further bacterial infection. 

True. Should've been more specific.

[$20 on joe vs dan]

We did Universal Studios Hollywood this past weekend...I think I am finally OVER theme Parks.

Mind you I never stood in a line for more than 15 minutes (Express Tix, etc) and typically just walked on & it was still exhausting in a bad way. 

The highs are like meh and the lows are very low.  Maybe if my boy cared more about it but it all felt very forced and all I could think of was doing something else.

[redcell]

We did Universal Studios Hollywood this past weekend...I think I am finally OVER theme Parks.
Mind you I never stood in a line for more than 15 minutes (Express Tix, etc) and typically just walked on & it was still exhausting in a bad way. 
The highs are like meh and the lows are very low.  Maybe if my boy cared more about it but it all felt very forced and all I could think of was doing something else.

Have you ever ridden an RMC coaster before? My interest in amusement parks was definitely waning until I rode an RMC for the first time.


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[TheOrcKing]

14 hours ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

We did Universal Studios Hollywood this past weekend...I think I am finally OVER theme Parks.

Mind you I never stood in a line for more than 15 minutes (Express Tix, etc) and typically just walked on & it was still exhausting in a bad way. 

The highs are like meh and the lows are very low.  Maybe if my boy cared more about it but it all felt very forced and all I could think of was doing something else.

I feel a "back in my day" urge regarding the waiting in line bit. Haha.

Anyway, the one time I went to Universal Studios Hollywood was in the early 90's back when the Back to the Future: The Ride and Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue were a thing. Both of which were great fun. The Waterworld Stunt Show was also tops. Other than that, it was a lot of walking far as I can remember which is not much to be honest. I vaguely recall the Backdraft attraction and that was mainly watching a bunch of stuff set in a full-sized diorama blowing up. Did get hot in there.

I don't know what the park is like currently and sorry it was a bummer trip for you & your son.

[$20 on joe vs dan]

On 11/14/2022 at 11:39 PM, TheOrcKing said:

I feel a "back in my day" urge regarding the waiting in line bit. Haha.

Anyway, the one time I went to Universal Studios Hollywood was in the early 90's back when the Back to the Future: The Ride and Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue were a thing. Both of which were great fun. The Waterworld Stunt Show was also tops. Other than that, it was a lot of walking far as I can remember which is not much to be honest. I vaguely recall the Backdraft attraction and that was mainly watching a bunch of stuff set in a full-sized diorama blowing up. Did get hot in there.

I don't know what the park is like currently and sorry it was a bummer trip for you & your son.

now everything is CG...almost feels like you can get 90% of the experience just sitting on your couch w/ a pair of VR goggles

...but I would probably still get nauseous w/ a headache tho

Edited November 17, 2022 by $20 on joe vs dan

[Darth_Raichu]

Updated my wife's laptop from Windows 8 to 10 just before the support expires

Not that hard to do and it is free

[Thanos75]

Working on this. Almost there

[Mark Twain]

It’s been a day. A few minutes after the kids finished opening gifts this am my wife got a phone call from the lady house sitting for my father in law that his condo was flooding. I rushed over to find the neighboring unit had a burst sprinkler line and water was gushing through most of the units on his floor down to the street. Why no one thought to call the fire dept. is beyond me, but they arrived in minutes after I dialed and had the water shut off.

I spent most of the day with two shopvacs and multiple box fans trying to dry out his place. I think his floors are beyond saving at this point, they are or were real hardwood, but we’ll see. The neighboring unit is completely destroyed and so is another unit on the opposite side. Both are vacant for the holidays and the building manager couldn’t get anyone to come out on Christmas.


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