Working for Fun and Profit

It's a sunny weekend morning. You decide to take a walk. Everything is quiet except for a group of people and some colorful objects you see about three blocks away. As you get closer, you notice that there are many things lying on the ground: some National Geographic magazines, a collection of toy trucks, some weight-lifting equipment, two bicycles, and a set of chairs. People are parking cars, getting out, and looking over the objects in the driveway. You consider taking a detour around the group of people, but you are curious. Was there an accident? Is this a party? No! Welcome to your first garage sale!

On the same morning, a friend of yours takes a drive. He makes a mistake at an intersection and takes a wrong turn. He passes a large parking lot full of people, not cars. He sees many multicolored objects. At first he thinks it's an art show. Then he decides it's a fair. He parks his car and gets out to explore. He's just arrived at his first flea market.

Garage sales and flea markets are popular in the United States. Many Americans find that they can make a little extra money and have fun being "weekend entrepreneurs." They take outgrown clothing, appliances, toys, and books and resell them at garage sales and flea markets.

Flea markets are generally open spaces in or out of town that become busy sales centers on weekends. People who want to sell new or used clothing, tools, furniture, or books rent a space for the day for a small amount of money and sell their merchandise. Shoppers from near and far come to get good buys on imported watches, house plants, magazines, microscopes, children's clothes, and handmade goods such as embroidered pillowcases or jewelry. Some shoppers even buy and sell antiques. They search flea markets for special treasures that they can resell in their own stores for lots of money.

Garage sales are smaller than flea markets, and the merchandise consists mainly of household items. Dishes, pots and pans, coat hangers, and children's clothing are inexpensive and common at garage sales. People frequently have garage sales before they move and on weekends when the weather is nice. Sometimes several families gather their unwanted household goods and sell them together: More merchandise attracts more customers.

Cleaning, organizing, pricing, and moving merchandise is hard work, but the popularity of flea markets and garage sales proves that many Americans work for fun!