What If I Became a Junk Man?

I've been thinking about collecting lately. It's been a while since I've had a serious collection of any kind. I say serious but I was never precious about the things I collected. Comics, toys, books, video games. I just kinda collected things that I found interesting. The collections mostly made sense to me. And I used everything.

No 9/10s here.

The most focused collection was probably my humor book pile. I tasked myself with finding books about humor and comedy. Not necessarily funny books by books about them. Odd 50s books about campus comedy or a comedy anthology showing the history of written comedy. Or a book about the Catskills comedians. That sort of thing. And they had to be found used. I didn't care about buying new books.

The interest was in the hunt. I wanted to give myself a reason to explore used bookstores and garage sales. To really dig around to maybe find something just a little surprising to add to my collection.

I don't do that at the moment. I'm kinda in an in-between spot. Chilling at my mom's while I figure out the steadiness of my current job (thanks AI).

Collecting has come into my mind though. Not to do it but to facilitate it. During Lockdown I was starting a used bookstore focused on cookbooks. All the cookbooks I could find second hand. While doing that, I thought about getting a booth at an antique mall. A little trial store to see if I like it. I didn't want just an online presence.

That fell apart pretty quickly when I just got too sad to do anything.

I'm thinking along those lines again but with gen z and gen alpha in mind. Generations that seem to have a greater interest in analog activities than the older generations. But they also have no money as they are young and the economy blows. So what can they collect? The weird, little things that no one else is interested in.

I think about the collectors of Kool-Aid packs. So strange but amazing and I assume pretty cheap. I think of the bread tie collectors. These are interesting. There are stranger, cheaper things that young people can get excited about. It's just a matter of finding it.

I also think about a flyer or zine. Something that I can set next to the booth that talks about the exciting world of collecting. Especially the exciting world of collecting what I'm selling.

It's an idea like all the other ideas I've had to get out of my 9-5 job. But one I think has some legs. I just have to get over the idea of profiting. I hate truly hate money, but I know I need to make it. I need to balance that with selling something cheap and fun to young collectors.

So maybe I'll be something of a junk man. Selling little things that no one really wants. That's junk most people but not that one special person. And I can do it cheaply cause I found it cheap.

That could be a pretty neat life.