We walked around for a while before deciding it was time to get a little something for lunch. For us that means finding a little bar that seems busy, serves food that isn't fancy. Today that search led us to Pete's Time Out. We started with a beer and later ordered the Grouper bites. Kind of like chicken nuggets except fish. They were fresh and delicious.
This leads me to the title of todays post. We met a guy at Pete's by the name of Todd Culver who kind of like Huli and me 42 years ago, started with nothing. He even had to file bankruptcy many years ago and live in a small trailer with his wife and three kids with nothing to his name. Then he started selling Amway products. I have heard of Amway for many years but frankly know nothing about these products. We spoke to Todd for a long time and since he was originally from upper Michigan before moving to Fort Myers Beach we felt we kind of had something in common being from the Midwest. Todd is now 50 and has been "retired" for about fourteen years. He made and continues to make money off of Amway products that he sells in four states. He also gives motivational speeches to Amway dealers across the country. In addition, he buys storage lockers in the Fort Myers and Naples area where he resells the merchandise in a thrift shop that he owns down the road from our rv park. In fact, he gave us his card with a note telling his employees to give us 20% off anything we buy. He said the storage locker buying is just like you see on tv. He buys several units each week and then sorts through the merchandise to figure out how to distribute it. He said in this immediate area there are 50 to 75 lockers for sale week in and week out. Most lockers are abandon from people who are deceased, or are deported, or who just can't afford to pay the locker rent for one reason or another. After they default on the rent for three months the units are sold at auction. He said the most valuable items he has uncovered in a storage locker was engraved cutlery that belonged to the first President George Bush. He sold these items for $10,000. He said he has also found things like gold nuggets, valuable coins, and a lot of foreign currency and $100 bills rolled up in socks. He said he has just piles of foreign currency that he hasn't had the time to research so he has no idea of it's value. He said he buys several lockers per week and then sorts the stuff to either sell in his thrift store or to have a person he employees to sell it on EBay. He pays that person 10% of what the item sells for but he gets about 5-10 times what he would get selling it through his thrift store. He says due to the volume of merchandise he buys he has to turn things over quickly and get as much as he can quickly rather than holding out for top dollar. So far this week he bought three units for $45 to $160 each and has already sold just a fraction of the merchandise purchased for $1600. When he first started buying storage lockers he had a house on the beach in Fort Myers with a six car garage under the house and said he would buy the units and his wife would sell the stuff at a perpetual rummage sale at their residence. However, the town of Fort Myers Beach frowned on that situation so he opened the thrift store. We have plans to meet back up with Todd in the future. We just kind of hit it off right from the start.
We did a little more exploring on Time Square and stopped at SOB's which is another little bar down the street. SOB stands for Smokin Oyster Brewery. Great place and nice people run the bar so we now know if we get kicked out of Pete's we have SOB's to go to.
We went back to the rv and hit the pool and hot tub for a couple of hours. We rented a golf cart for the four months we are staying here which makes getting around the rv park a little easier. We also use the golf cart to take the dogs to better places (with grass that Sydney will actually walk in) to walk them.
Yesterday we washed the rv and put up our new sun visor on the end of our awning and then hung our red Solo lights on the awning. The neighborhood just went down a peg or two but no complaints so far.
Here are some pictures from the last day or so. If you are wondering the temperature here today was
79 degrees and it felt wonderful. Sorry to rub it in for those of you who are up north.
