Cobaltchat.com

Thanks YT, the respect is mutual my friend.
My posts get wordy, and I try to keep them simple, but this may get wordy..

Before we were a food store/garden center, we were a gift/garden center.
Our best experience?
Beanie Babies..

For four solid years I felt like a (legal) drug dealer, and my junkie was grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, daughter and son...and they pleaded for a fix like a junkie. We were threatened by customers all the time, and I even had a guy show up with a gun strapped in full vision.
For those who were familiar with the craze in the 90’s , it was the epitome of market value.
We paid $2.50 per beanie, and we sold some of them for hundreds of dollars apiece.
We sold retired product in a locked case and people would fawn over a retired, hard to get stuffed animal like it was the Crown Jewels.

What caused the craze? Tell someone you can’t have it, mix in others who were told the same thing, and then get them together and throw out the limited product and let them go at it.

In the beginning, I honestly believe the craze was caused by a company having trouble producing stock in China with consistency.
Without going into detail, we were able to secure 100% of our max order allotment from a company that would automatically cut orders by 75%
Everyday, we had people lining up at our door at 5 AM for a store that opens at 9 AM. There was a single weekly shipment, and the rest of the week they went home empty handed..
They handed out their own numbers for how they line up. Just crazy. We actually had to testify at a custody hearing as a witness for a crazy mother hauling her kids out of bed every day to line up at 5 AM.
The UPS trucks were staulked, followed through town to where they wouldn’t deliver to our door, or any BB dealer in town. We had to pick them up.
It got so bad, that we had enough of running shoulders with crazy people everyday.
I was able to put together a wholesale customer base to where I could get market value for each piece, while tossing a few to the public and get rid of the mob scene. I was seriously worried about break ins, fights, shoplifting, and the safety of my family and employees.
Lots of fun while it lasted. It reinforced a lesson that I learned from my high school best friends father who was a car dealer. Never fall in love with material things. Everything is for sale for a profit, and if it makes sense.

Thanks YT, the respect is mutual my friend.
My posts get wordy, and I try to keep them simple, but this may get wordy..

Before we were a food store/garden center, we were a gift/garden center.
Our best experience?
Beanie Babies..

For four solid years I felt like a (legal) drug dealer, and my junkie was grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, daughter and son...and they pleaded for a fix like a junkie. We were threatened by customers all the time, and I even had a guy show up with a gun strapped in full vision.
For those who were familiar with the craze in the 90’s , it was the epitome of market value.
We paid $2.50 per beanie, and we sold some of them for hundreds of dollars apiece.
We sold retired product in a locked case and people would fawn over a retired, hard to get stuffed animal like it was the Crown Jewels.

What caused the craze? Tell someone you can’t have it, mix in others who were told the same thing, and then get them together and throw out the limited product and let them go at it.

In the beginning, I honestly believe the craze was caused by a company having trouble producing stock in China with consistency.
Without going into detail, we were able to secure 100% of our max order allotment from a company that would automatically cut orders by 75%
Everyday, we had people lining up at our door at 5 AM for a store that opens at 9 AM. There was a single weekly shipment, and the rest of the week they went home empty handed..
They handed out their own numbers for how they line up. Just crazy. We actually had to testify at a custody hearing as a witness for a crazy mother hauling her kids out of bed every day to line up at 5 AM.
The UPS trucks were stalked, followed through town to where they wouldn’t deliver to our door, or any BB dealer in town. We had to pick them up.
It got so bad, that we had enough of rubbing shoulders with crazy people.
I was able to put together a wholesale customer base to where I could get market value for each piece, while tossing a few to the public and get rid of the mob scene. I was seriously worried about break ins, fights, shoplifting, and the safety of my family and employees.
Lots of fun while it lasted. It reinforced a lesson that I learned from my high school best friends father who was a car dealer. Never fall in love with material things. Everything is for sale for a profit, and if it makes sense.

Supply and demand in purest form. Love it (except the safety concerns). The BB stories & the auction info. Thanks for sharing

Great stuff Tuscany.
Thanx for sharing.

I remember the beanie baby craze! I remember people going crazy for those things. Glad to see a fellow Cobalter was able to capitalize on the craze!

Oh Beanie Babies...I worked at a gift store in high school and lived through this craze...way too many people have basements full of worthless creatures now...the hype didn't live up there...guess they are figuring out a new retirement plan! lol

NautiGirl wrote: Fri Feb 23, 2018 8:12 am Oh Beanie Babies...I worked at a gift store in high school and lived through this craze...way too many people have basements full of worthless creatures now...the hype didn't live up there...guess they are figuring out a new retirement plan! lol

Retirement plan.. we heard that one a few time, right Nauti?
You know, i’ll never get in the way of someone’s “investment” opinions, and more than happy to help, but seriously people? There was another 50 of the same bear in the same bin you pulled it out of..
Probably the same people who are relying on the weekly 6 number’s drawn retirement plan.

The “collector” aspect also was part of the draw that drove some people insane.. People would put together complete sets, and then two sets, three sets...tag protectors, canisters...and when a new bear was released? Shear desperation..

The common thread remains. Tell someone you can’t have it....

You know what's funny? In an estate sale I'll a pick-up load of those things for 10 or 20 bucks while the seller is trying to tell me how valuable they are. Same with Hummels, Precious Moments and just about any other collection you can think of.

And today's young adult isn't interested in their folks collections of anything anymore. They'd rather throw it in the trash. That goes for antique and antique furniture (unless they paint it)

I actually have two of the only beanie babies left with any real value.

We were at David Wells Perfect game in 1998 when the give away was beanie babies. We have two with ticket stubs and programs. They’re probably worth $100-250 to the right person.

So few pieces of old furniture I've seen at my relatives' houses are of particularly good quality, I can see not wanting them. I suppose if my ancestors were doctors or bankers or lawyers or something the case might be pretty different, but we just don't have that much stuff from generations ago in my family that are the kind of quality that gets passed down and treasured.

Now as for beanie babies and hummel and whatnot, that's mostly baby boomers with too much money looking for things to buy irrespective of their intrinsic value. I'm still amused by the old photo from 1999 of a couple arguing over their beanie baby collection IN COURT during a divorce:

jhnmdahl wrote: Fri Feb 23, 2018 11:17 am So few pieces of old furniture I've seen at my relatives' houses are of particularly good quality, I can see not wanting them. I suppose if my ancestors were doctors or bankers or lawyers or something the case might be pretty different, but we just don't have that much stuff from generations ago in my family that are the kind of quality that gets passed down and treasured.

Now as for beanie babies and hummel and whatnot, that's mostly baby boomers with too much money looking for things to buy irrespective of their intrinsic value. I'm still amused by the old photo from 1999 of a couple arguing over their beanie baby collection IN COURT during a divorce:

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Matthew 6:19-21 comes to mind.
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The fights between people. The people who claimed we were supplying the Malls and were POed and said they would never come back (until the next shipment)... Ok, they were right about that one.

So to further explain how crazy it got, we had a full on riot outside of our store one day. We already saw the end coming, and a day too soon is better than a day too late.
The Deli conversion was coming soon, so in order to get rid of the accessories we took some bears and added tag holders and cases as a package for 30 bucks per. The women rioted, saying that we can't do that. Well, they're ours, so yes we can... No one is holding a gun to their heads.
The police were actually called because a guy outside had a gun and told everyone they better settle down before things got out of hand..
No kidding...
Best part? The people who were complaining the loudest came back a couple hours later without their friends and bought up.

Now its Christmas time, and TY (the maker) knows the end is coming because their warehouses are full, and the Christmas season sales time is running out. They were a very arrogant company to work with, and they had good reason at the time. Now, sales are falling off, and TY joins in with their own mental issues...
So, UPS calls and I run down there. They dumped a couple thousand Beanies on us December 20th. OK, no biggie, so we always displayed big, and our display became a mountain. It looked pretty cool..
So after Christmas with their sales in the toilet, the company smells their own blood and starts to send reps to the stores to make sure their displays are reflecting that the product was still in short supply, trying to create a sense of urgency.. That ship sailed 6 months prior. Sales were slumping and they thought they could still ruse the public.
So a rep comes to our store, sees our display and threatens to pull the account if we don't cut back on our display.
I brought her outside and showed her the sign on the building. Yeah, this stuff is ours.. My wife pipes up and says "honey" we'll decide how we handle our business, and maybe you better hit the road.
So, she says if she comes back and sees the display, our account was history. You can't make this up guys and gal...

So of course, I call my contacts and sell everyone of them, right to the end in about 10 minutes of phone calls..
She comes back the next week and asks "Where are they"? My wife says that we sold them off wholesale.. Of course she says "you can't do that".. Well, we did that, whatcha gonna do about it?
The next week, she calls us and asks us if we are still doing business.

Read "The Tipping Point: How little Things can make a big difference" by Malcolm Gladwell.

Short version, there's no predicting what causes a craze. People want what they want and some will pay to get it regardless of the cost.

We all know this isn't the case with a quality piece of kit like a new Cobalt Boat (bringing the thread back on topic).

Driller wrote: Fri Feb 23, 2018 12:48 pm Read "The Tipping Point: How little Things can make a big difference" by Malcolm Gladwell.

Short version, there's no predicting what causes a craze. People want what they want and some will pay to get it regardless of the cost.

We all know this isn't the case with a quality piece of kit like a new Cobalt Boat (bringing the thread back on topic).

Well, no one can predict the next phenomenon. They come once a generation. I highly doubt we'll see another phenomenon like the BB craze again in my lifetime.

The boats? well, boating is red hot right now. It seems the R series and Cobalt BRs are getting white hot. No coincidence that they are hard to get, and limited in supply.
These things seem to go in waves, like the Harley thing, and a lesser extent, the chopper thing.
Having said that, we may see some crazy people do some crazy things this summer. I congratulate Cobalt for lighting the potential fuse by announcing that "you can't have one".

I wonder if the surf series in the R models are spurring this demand. Anyway to find this out? Wake boats are insanely popular. If people see this as a way to surf without compromising ride quality i could see why the are sold out this year.