Goodwill Outlet Income Experiment - Thrifting, Picking, & Finding Profit Day 25 - GOLD!
Adventures in thrifting income from the pay per pound Goodwill - Day 25.
And on the 25th day Goodwill said: "Let there be GOLD!" and there was gold. Oh, and some silver too. And it was good.
But first, check out my finds for the day.
Today is April 11th and it is day 25. Let's see what I found this Wednesday.
"WHERE'S THE GOLD!?"
I know what you are saying, but hold on. Let me show you the normal stuff.
Do you guys remember that 'Blue Snowball' microphone I found on Day 22? Well, at the time I could not find the cord but today I did find one that works! Nice.
A couple other things I am keeping; some craft scissors for kids, candle wicks, Lego, and this tripod Eye alien. I know it is from a movie, but I can't place it. I am going to add it to my 'nerdy' shelf.
Anyone know the name of the movie that this Eye alien is from? Help me out, first to say will get a 100% upvote from me on their comment or recent post.
I found this wrist exerciser. Maybe it will sell, until then I can get super strong wrists! Haha! :D
That yellow bag is Words With Friends tiles, I had found one weeks ago and it hasn't sold yet. I can just add another quantity to my listing, easy peasy.
I found this vintage Panasonic car phone handset and hands-free cradle. There was no actual car phone unit though. Shame that, as vintage cellular devices are very popular and sell for good money. I do have hopes for this to still be a relatively fast sale for me.
Time For The GOLD!
Look at that beauty!
Whaa? You don't see it?
Do you really expect 'normal' gold to still be sitting there in the bins at Goodwill? No, you have to think outside the normal way of thinking. This is a box of vintage operational amplifiers. Specifically, Mil-Spec Aircraft electronic components (something I have a bit of experience with).
The military didn't care about saving money in the late 80's/early 90's, and gold is the best conductor and doesn't tarnish.
Here, let me show you what I picked up from the bottom of the bin. Something that no one else saw value in.
On the left are silver 'miniwrap' pins. Those are used to replace broken/bent pins on circuit boards.
But on the right is the GOLD!
Look at that color - that is gold!
The small round pieces are operational amplifiers. The pins are pure gold, I believe, or close to it. I do know those pins are not plated, I just don't know the exact purity.
I also believe that the gold from the black pieces is either not plated, or at least has a very thick plating. The military does not mess around with this stuff.
85g! Most of that weight will be worthless rubbish. But let's ballpark calculate it.
Ok, if just 10 grams is 18K gold, that is $325.
If 30 grams is 18K gold, that goes up to $975
Hmm, either way I am sitting pretty.
85 grams is 3 ounces. I pay 89 cents per pound at the Goodwill Outlet.
That means I got all that gold for less than 17 cents!
Now I need your help. What can I do to test this and make sure of the quantity and quality of it? What is the best way to get this into either cash or a gold bar for me to keep?
Your knowledge of this subject is most welcome. Upvotes for advice that actually helps.
@stokjockey, you might know.
Sales!
Not only did I score that sweet gold, It was also a damn fine day of selling.
I sold:
- The CH Throttle Quadrant for $95.
- The Gamestop HD system selector for $17.50
- HP Ink for $23
- The boxes of vintage candy for $34
- Diablo II PC game discs for $9
Day 25 Totals
Total Spent Today: $8.66
Running Total Spent: $382.00
Total Listed Price Today: $86.95
Running Total Listed Price: $4977.59
Total Sales: $1785.42
Total Profit: $1085.26
We blew past that $1,000 mark and now have a GOLD wildcard! Could that take us to $2,000 before the end of the 30 days? Let's see, help me find a way to deal with turning the gold into an accurate cash value to add to the total here.
As always, tomorrow is a new day and a new thrift!
And here i thought you were going for the dual banana plug!
I might have bought them just for the wire wrapping.
But, they would have just sat in a drawer, me assuming they were just gold plated.
What are the DIP14s?
The tripod eye creature is from Small Soldiers
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0122718/mediaviewer/rm1199413504
That's it, that's the eye alien. Thanks!
The dip14's are assorted JM38510. I don't exactly know what to do with them as they aren't selling much. I took them because they were with the gold and figured I could research them later.
Well, they didn't cost much.
But, like the opamps, tri-state bus interface chips just aren't necessary.
Today, you get the whole thing on one chip.
If i want to do anything, i just start with programming a PIC.
The rest is just interface adaptation to changing whatever into something the PIC can handle.
Your new alien friend looks like the one-eyed Gorgonite Ocula to me. From the 1998 movie Small Soldiers.
😀 That's the name!
Wow, nice haul. I go thrifting much more than I used to thanks to @amandarichards. Whenever she sees a thrift store we just have to go inside, and I always wind up giving in to temptation and buying something.
Hey Alex, how you doing man?
You just buy for yourselves, or do you look for profit?
For ourselves. There's some juicy finds, even after the store employees have gotten first pick of all the best stuff.
Very nice, just stumbled onto your blog. You got some great content and some really good finds.... Keep it up....
Thanks! I try.
.
Eh, I'll just duct tape some steak knives on there and call it a day. 😝
Great that you achieved your primary goal! Now it is time to see, how much the gold will deliver!
You already passed my expectation by a mile.
Lets crush the secondary goal!
Gold is better than lids!!!
I'm so curious about the gold. I wanna know how much!
Hey, @getonthetrain... my husband (who is an audio engineer) said that someone who builds audio equipment would snap those op amps up. If it turns out to be too difficult to extract the gold...
Thanks for the tip! How exactly should I list them so that audio people will find them?
Maybe Musical Equipment and Gear > Pro Audio Equipment > Pro Audio Parts and Accessories?
I meant the title, as some of these are on eBay already but not titled towards audio stuff
@getonthetrain This Guy is Great for showing you how to recover precious metals...........................
This thing looks like a whole job! I'm not looking to make a career out of scrap electronic recycling.
wow you found literally a little hiding treasure in there!
Congratulations for the treasure and for surpassing the 1000$ in profit!
Thanks! More money to invest with! :D
I use to have that eye toy from small soldiers!
What happened to it?
Honestly can't remember. I'm sure it was donated by now by the folks.