New Ford Atlas Pickup

[bertsmobile1]

It is a matter of philosophy
We ran the transport company with only very old, used vans and used motorcycles. The goods in transit don't know if they are travelling in a new Porche or an anchient Ford.
We took it from $ 0 to a $ 3,000,000 /pa company in 6 years in the extremely competitive Sydney domestic market.
When 7/11 happened our turnover stopped dead because advertising stopped dead.
We survived because we owned all our vehicles , radios , phones & depot.
We used the downtime to burn off employees accumulated holidays
Turnovers went down so a lot of landlords pushed up rents to cover their outgoings.
all of the small independant transport companies, running "tax avoiding" highly leveraged & leased gear went to the wall and a lot of good people who were silly enough to allow their accountants to convince them paying tax was a mortal sin, went to the wall, many lost their houses and oft their relatives houses as well, and a few even their marriages & life.

Running large outgoings in any business which is seasonal is fraught with danger should there be successive bad seasons.
Further to that the annual maintenance costs for our vehices were less than the insurance costs of a new one ( $ 2500/pa ).
The interest alone others were paying on their leasing fees each year was about what we paid fo a complete van.
Downside is we always ran 2 spare vans and 2 spare motorcycles so there was zerro downtime for breakdowns, maintenance or major repairs.

The exact same thing happened when Australia imported the GFC from the USA and again our turnover stopped overnight.

I always find it ammusing when i encounter someone who is paying out $ 50,000 / pa in leasing to avoid paying $ 20,000 / pa in tax, then they start whinging about the state of the country.

 

[Lawnboy18]

Good point Bert! What goods did you transport with your company?

 

[Lawnboy18]

I even buy my bikes used. Got this for my wife. $1500
View attachment 27745

You have to show me how it's done! You get so many good deals!

 

[bertsmobile1]

It is called patience, an entity that seems to be in short supply now days.
You wait and pounce on good deals if & when they turn up.
You watch for cycles and learn when things get cheap & when they get expensive.
We bought most of our delivery vehicles in Feb/March which is the end of the holiday season down here and when most Universities start so there is a glut of "surfie & back packer vans" at that time.
We sold them in December when vans were in highest demand from youths having the long vacation between High School & university and the last minute pre christmass delivery boom.

We started with a glossy magazine publisher then vertically integrated to photographers, stylists ( food, fashion & house ), model agencies , fashion designers, jewellery , cloths, house goods, advertising copy , photo studios, movie production houses, visual editors, video clips, design studios, chop shops and film vaults.
We branched out into limo hire for the same customers and were even thinking about doing location vans & on shoot catering.
I still chauffeur selected celebrity super models when they are town though they are getting on a bit, so not quite as "super' as they used to be.
At one time did every model agency in Sydney except Gordon Charles who did kids.
With the idiot legislation that was around then I did not want to have anything to do with small children wearing underwear ( or less) and since then it has gotten worse.
It is now a criminal offence to photograph children under 12 in a public place, even your own at a sports event, unless you are a certified "child safe" professional photographer.
The original partner was an early starter so he did all the predawn photo shoots at Bondi beach etc and I did all the late night advertising copy to the presses, we ran 24/7 and life was good.
We bought 2 properties in our third year, cash, when we realised that rents would cripple us in the off season.
Accountant had a hissy fit , screamed blue murder when we did it but it was the best business decision we ever made.
We would have folded a dozen or more times had we been rent payers

 

[Carscw]

You have to show me how it's done! You get so many good deals!

Like Bert said just wait for them.
Know what you are looking for and when is the best time to look.

For lawn equipment wait till next month.
Lots of guys bought mowers last April. Thinking they would get rich. Now they can not pay their bills.

Become friends with a bail bondsman.

 

[Lawnboy18]

Thanks for the tips Bert and Cars.

All tho, I am in Canada. I might have to wait longuer for buying a used walk behind.

 

[Carscw]

Thanks for the tips Bert and Cars. All tho, I am in Canada. I might have to wait longuer for buying a used walk behind.

Around here I join Facebook yard sale groups.
The best deals are a wife/gf selling a cheating mans things.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Also get pally with demolition companies.
I got paid to shift a load of old ride ons to the tip ( dump to some ) by some kids because the real estate agent told them they would get more for grandad's house if the house & shed were demolished and the demolition company would not start work till the house & shed were empty, A chance job we were waiting for some one to meet us to split the work he had on for delivery first thing in the morning.

There is over 100 motorcycles in a mates shed, all came from a rubbish removal contractor over the years for the princely sum of $ 25 each.
Downside is he had to take every motorcycle the bloke came across but he did end up with some really good bikes and some very expensive ( $ 50,000 + ) bikes.

Evilbay sales that end during holidays usually go cheap ( looks like most bid on their work computers ) except for stuff that kids bid on.

The hard part is you have to have the cash sitting there to take advantage when oppertunities arise and not touching the "new ride on money" for 6 months tends to be the hardest bit.

 

[Lawnboy18]

That made me laugh the cheating husband thing lol!

Yea, the more people you know, the better deals you have.

I store all my stuff at a scrap yard and I get some good deals. Got some tires that were pretty much new for 450$ instead of about 1000$. I could probably walk around and find some usefull stuff. I have found some garden tools and road signs. I took those!