Should You Open a Bin Store in 2026?
Should You Open a Bin Store in 2026?
Hell no.
Well… yes.
Well… it depends if you’re built for this.
Because bin stores are not a “cute side hustle.”
They’re a grind. They’re a system. They’re a war on inventory.
If you’re not willing to work like an animal, don’t do it.
Step 1: If you won’t work hard, don’t be an entrepreneur
My advice always starts here:
If you don’t have the discipline to:
work late
solve problems daily
eat bad weeks
keep moving anyway
Then go trade your time for money and work for someone else.
That’s not an insult. That’s reality.
The truth: liquidation is a roller coaster
If you want steady and predictable, go wholesale.
Because in liquidation:
what’s here today might be gone tomorrow
and it might not come back for six months
Some weeks you get great truckloads.
Some weeks you get absolute trash.
You still have to make money.
If you’re opening a “small” bin store, here’s the big mistake
If you’re buying from pallet houses and only grabbing a few pallets at a time…
I don’t see a big path to success.
Why? Because you’re paying the retail markup on pallets.
A pallet house has overhead (rent, labor, forklifts, dock operations).
They must make money per pallet.
The fix: buy truckloads (or partner up)
If you’re small, you should:
partner with another bin store nearby
split truckloads (12 pallets each)
keep your cost down
keep your inventory fresh
Stop treating nearby bin stores like enemies.
Be friends. Rise together.
“You need a good location” — wrong
Bin stores work everywhere.
I hate when people say:
“That’s a poor neighborhood, it’ll work well.”
Go look at Salvation Army parking lots:
Mercedes
BMW
nice cars
Bin stores are fueled by price-conscious consumers—often people with money who like deals.
Poor people don’t have money to spend.
Deal hunters do.
Bigger store = truckload business (and the math is real)
Our big Lakeland store needs four truckloads a week to stay stocked.
That’s $50K–$60K per week just in inventory.
Here’s what that means:
contract holders WANT buyers like that
you solve their problem when they have too many trucks
you get first looks at opportunities
But if you’re only buying 6 pallets at a time…
you don’t solve anybody’s problem.
Marketing is not optional
If you won’t market, don’t open a bin store.
You must constantly remind people:
what a bin store is
where you are
your prices
what’s in the bins
You stop marketing → sales drop. Period.
Tom-style marketing isn’t “boring weekly posts.”
It’s punch-in-the-face marketing that makes people say:
“I’m crazy not to check this out.”
Pricing strategy: clear your bins every week
This is where most bin stores lose.
If you stop at $3 day and refuse to go lower?
You’re falling in love with inventory.
If it had “more value,” it would’ve sold already.
Bin stores are about:
dumping it
extracting value
moving on
12 → 10 → 7 → 5 → 3 → 1 → 50¢
Then donate it or throw it away.
Also: open 7 days.
If you don’t want to work seven days, don’t get in the business. You’re leaving money on the table.
Brokers: you need GOOD ones (and you need multiple)
You need:
2–4 brokers, not one
so you can choose the best loads
and avoid “dirty brokers” trying to make $2K–$4K per load off you
Good brokers:
work nonstop
vet sources
bring you opportunities
take a modest markup (ex: ~$500/load)
And no—if you buy a bad load, you can’t cry like it’s personal.
That’s liquidation.
Family update: Melly’s joining the load side
My daughter Melly quit her job and joined the Liquidation Motivation team.
She’ll be handling:
shipping coordination
delivery scheduling
follow-ups
customer satisfaction
keeping deals moving after the sale
That’s how you scale: sell the load, pass the execution, keep the pipeline moving.
The inventory problem nobody warns you about: FOOD LOADS
If you’re opening a bin store, answer this:
What are you going to do when your “truckload” is ALL food?
Because it happens.
Right after Christmas, Amazon dumps food and drink hard.
Rules I follow:
check dates
if it’s close-dated (like a month or two), it can still go in bins
if it’s way out / expired? it’s garbage
I’ve had:
six truckloads of only food lately
and even loads showing up expired by six months
That’s when you eat it, learn, and move on.
If you can’t handle that roller coaster, don’t open a bin store.
The real 2026 answer
Yes—2026 can still be a great time to open a bin store… IF:
you’re willing to grind
you buy truckloads (or partner so you can)
you keep 3–4 weeks of inventory buffered
you market nonstop
you clear bins weekly down to 50¢
you build relationships with multiple brokers
Do I know stores making $20K–$30K/week PROFIT?
Yes.
Can you build one?
100%.
But only if you treat it like a real business—not a weekend hobby.
Now go out there and make some money.
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