Three,Two,One, Sold 2011 on Auction.

It occurs to me, as we come close to our annual year end, that my take on this past year, might sound familiar to other business people and even to some politicians.......that is a scary thought.

However, 2011 is surely going to be looked at differently by different people, depending on their
perspectives, their experiences and their history. For us, the recession still lingers, as our business is tied to real estate, in general, like much of the moving and storage industry.

At the same time, other components of our business seemed to have awoken this holiday period: retail sales were not as bleak as they had been predicted to be, many consumers spent
money and enjoyed good values, in the stores, based on what I saw and read. Further, for those of us who work with Auctions and Auctioneers, this December simply set records for sales. They
included the 2nd and third installments of the Debbie Reynolds auctions in Beverly Hills, by Auctioneer, Profiles in History, and their additional auction last week of Hollywood Memorabilia, (Icons of Hollywood and Icons of Animation).

Julien's Auctions, also out of Beverly Hills, recently concluded an auction of items from the late estate of entertainer, Michael Jackson, this past month. Ames Auctioneers also had an auction at the Sportman's Lodge in Studio City that brought in some surprising numbers; Modern Auctions out of the San Fernando Valley also had a large auction with some really good results;
California Auctioneers, out of Ventura, whose recent auction included several rare firearms, that also set some records. Bonhams Auctioneers, recently set a new record for a sales price in their Natural History Auction, held 4 weeks ago.

Presumably, the largest auction held this past December, in New York, also made some hay:
the Elizabeth Taylor Auction at Christies Auction House was remarkable in so many ways, as
patrons waiting in lines for hours just to see the items, prior to auction. It is my understanding
that many of the items got record bids that were described as "amazing, or unheard of..." They completely sold out over 500 lots.

Some might conclude that this type of activity is not the type of economic driver that will make a
difference to our economy or those who need work in this difficult time, but I beg to differ, as today, what is clear to me is that all economic activity is good and if we can string some of this
activity together, then it definitely makes a difference.

For a firm like ours, Box Brothers, to be able to render the best quality service, you need to understand the customer, the auctioneer, the packaging (from soft packs to custom museum quality crates), and to be able to truly understand logistics, from package (United Parcel System, Federal Express)to freight (less than truckload) to air and ocean shipments of all sizes, values and shapes.

So when we get a call to help a customer obtain his purchased (auction) items of memorabilia, or art, all of this activity leads to more economic activity not just for us, but for our suppliers, our freight vendors, our wood suppliers, and most importantly, for our people who make it happen,
our employees, day in, and day out.

There were times during this recession, that no matter what we did, we did not have enough hours for all of our people to get a full paycheck. No matter what is said on the news, this is where the "rubber meets the road," for most of us. Being able to provide for your family and loved ones while basic, became a huge task for many of us in the transportation business, these past few years. This is why it is important for any and all economic activity to happen, even the purchasing of an old dress cause it once belonged to a famous person. And this is why we love auctions, auctioneers and collectors, as to us, they make the world continue to spin in the right direction for all of us, as in the end, we are all part of the same economic team and it is time to post some wins for the smaller guys out there.
Happy new year and lets bring 2012 in with a bang--of good news