2 resellers go on a treasure hunt to find returned goods they can flip for profit

2 resellers go on a treasure hunt to find returned goods they can flip¹ for profit

Transcript²

U.S. consumers are returning more of the stuff they buy than ever before. The returned goods often end up at bargain-bin³ stores, where resellers look for items they can resell for profit.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Shoppers are returning more of the things they buy than ever before. But lots of those goods don't make it back to their original shelves. Many end up at bargain bin stores, where resellers comb through piles of returns in search of items to flip for profit. Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, of our Planet Money podcast, followed one such enterprising duo to learn the ropes.

ALEXI HOROWITZ-GHAZI, BYLINE⁴: When I first meet Asalyn Spencer (ph) and Makayla Ridgeway (ph) outside the Treasure Hunt bin megastore in Raleigh, N.C., they tell me the first lesson of the return reselling business - everyone else is competition.

Does everybody, like, rush in at the same time? Or...

ASALYN SPENCER: Oh, yeah. They all run. And they push. They shove. They throw stuff. It's a battlefield in there, literally⁵.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Today, a couple of competitors have beat them to the front of the line, so they're going to have to be strategic. Asalyn and Makayla use binoculars⁶ to spot treasures amidst the piles of returned goods inside. They then draw up a map and plan out little plays, like a football coach.

SPENCER: OK. Possibly, one of us going to go after the blender. And the other will go after, like, the NuWave air fryer over here or the smokeless grill⁷ back there.

MAKAYLA RIDGEWAY: Depending on where they go in front of us.

SPENCER: Yeah.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Lesson No. 2, they tell me, is to zero in on the trendiest consumer items of the moment, things they can buy for the store's flat rate of $10 and sell for much more online. They got into this a couple of years ago, Makayla explains, when weighted blankets were all the rage. Then it was air fryers, then massage⁸ guns.

RIDGEWAY: And then the next week, it will feel like everyone has one. And so then we have to move onto a new item and get that. And then it just repeats

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: As the last minutes ticked down before the doors open, it starts to feel like one of those World War I movies, when all the grim-faced soldiers are lined up in the trenches⁹ waiting to run into no man's land. Until finally, it's time. We're inside. This looks like an air fryer.

Oh, yeah. We've got a big air fryer. It's in a bin.

Inside the store, it's a sensory¹⁰ overload¹¹. There are bright fluorescent¹² lights, pounding pop music. It's like a little retail¹³ zombie apocalypse to the tune¹⁴ of "Shape Of Your Body." It's like "Supermarket Sweep" meets "Mad Max."

Wow. I almost got run over.

RIDGEWAY: Did you get knocked down (laughter)?

SPENCER: Robo vacuum.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Oh, nice. Robo vacuum. You're not going to get that pet drinking fountain?

SPENCER: I'm not sure.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Lesson No. 3, stay on task. Asalyn and Makayla only grab things they can sell for 30 bucks¹⁵ or more. They even check prices online right before they checkout¹⁶. If the price it can sell for is too low, they won't buy it.

SPENCER: I think we might put the weighted blanket back because they're kind of hard to sell right now.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: You're turning your back on your bread and butter?

SPENCER: I know. I know.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: They spend about $160 each week and on average, earn about $800, enough for them to pay their tuition at nursing school. I ask Asalyn and Makayla if they ever get tired living in this constant flow of returned gadgets¹⁷ and price fluctuations¹⁸. And Asalyn tells me she dreams about not coming back almost every week.

SPENCER: But then were like, what if they put it out, you know, something really good and we miss it? You feel like you're going to miss something if you don't go.

RIDGEWAY: So it's like the Powerball...

SPENCER: You know, you play nonstop. And then that one time, you don't play.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Does it feel like an addiction¹⁹ kind of?

RIDGEWAY: Yes.

SPENCER: It is definitely addiction.

HOROWITZ-GHAZI: Looking around as we check out at the piles of returned goods that might never find a second life, it's hard not to wonder about this system we've created where it's so easy to return things, the costs have basically been swept under the rug - which reminds me, maybe I should buy a robot vacuum.

Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SUFF DADDY'S "LAMBORORRI")

 

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1 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 binoculars   

n.双筒望远镜

参考例句：

• He watched the play through his binoculars.他用双筒望远镜看戏。
• If I had binoculars,I could see that comet clearly.如果我有望远镜，我就可以清楚地看见那颗彗星。

7 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。

8 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

9 trenches   

深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕

参考例句：

• life in the trenches 第一次世界大战期间的战壕生活
• The troops stormed the enemy's trenches and fanned out across the fields. 部队猛攻敌人的战壕，并在田野上呈扇形散开。

10 sensory   

adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的

参考例句：

• Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。
• The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。

11 overload   

vt.使超载；n.超载

参考例句：

• Don't overload the boat or it will sink.别超载，否则船会沉。
• Large meals overload the digestive system.吃得太饱会加重消化系统的负担。

12 fluorescent   

adj.荧光的，发出荧光的

参考例句：

• They observed the deflections of the particles by allowing them to fall on a fluorescent screen.他们让粒子落在荧光屏上以观察他们的偏移。
• This fluorescent lighting certainly gives the food a peculiar color.这萤光灯当然增添了食物特别的色彩。

13 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

14 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

15 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 checkout   

n.（超市等）收银台，付款处

参考例句：

• Could you pay at the checkout.你能在结帐处付款吗。
• A man was wheeling his shopping trolley to the checkout.一个男人正推着购物车向付款台走去。

17 gadgets   

n.小机械，小器具（ gadget的名词复数 ）

参考例句：

• Certainly. The idea is not to have a house full of gadgets. 当然。设想是房屋不再充满小配件。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• This meant more gadgets and more experiments. 这意味着要设计出更多的装置，做更多的实验。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史

18 fluctuations   

波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He showed the price fluctuations in a statistical table. 他用统计表显示价格的波动。
• There were so many unpredictable fluctuations on the Stock Exchange. 股票市场瞬息万变。

19 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。