What's For Sale?

Steve Hartman Talks About Yard Sales

(CBS)  The following is a weekly 60 Minutes Wednesday commentary by columnist Steve Hartman.

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Way below Neiman Marcus, under Filene’s basement, and even the Dollar Store -- down on the very bottom rung of our consumer-driven society -- is the American yard sale.

I’ve always been fascinated by yard sales, specifically, the unmitigated gall of sellers.

To think someone else would want their junk. Who would buy someone's garbage and take it home?

Well, I do. I’ve never been able to leave a sale empty-handed.

I’ll see an olive oil bottle, and even though I’ve thrown away dozens just like it, at this moment ... I'll think, 'What a deal.'"

I couldn’t even resist the guy who had nothing to sell except 900 used golf clubs. And I don’t even golf. I just bought a putter out of pity.

Good luck getting rid of the other 899.

Sellers say it’s the next best thing to free money, and I wanted in on this action. So I decided to have my own yard sale. I put up signs and almost immediately, strangers started peeking in the windows.

Shopper: You’re having a sale today, aren’t you?

Hartman: Yes, in an hour.

Shopper: OK, I’ll come back.

I never had stalkers before. This was exciting already.

My yard sale consisted mostly of things I found lying around the office, like a macaroni and cheese box from the ’96 Republican Convention, props from old stories and some boring personnel manuals (CBS News Standards).

Basically nothing I could ever imagine anyone buying.

And yet, it sold. The Velcro went to an art teacher, and somebody even bought the autograph. Really the only thing I couldn’t unload was that stupid olive oil bottle.

Hartman: It’s thick glass, try to squeeze that, you can’t break it.

Shopper: He’s getting desperate now. Pay for your turkey and let’s get out of here.

In total, I made $93, and I’m already working on my next sale.