Trying To Make A Buck

You've seen the television shows, where people buy up mystery boxes from storage facilities and end up with antique treasures.

Mark Perko makes a buck or two out of the rather risky business of buying the unknown contents of storage lockers with rent in arrears.

What he finds of use goes on sale at his used furniture store in Lake Station, Indiana. The area isn't exactly a hotbed for valuable antiques. Mr. Perko is forced to drive a hard bargain if he's to survive in northwest Indiana, where the steel industry's demise has left poverty in its wake.

One of Mr. Perko's purchases turned out to be a bit of a treasure to the family of Sergeant Jeannette Lee Winters, who lost her life in service to her country.

How much are service medals worth, anyway? Is a letter from President George W. Bush a highly valuable artifact?

Mr. Perko thought so. When Ms. Winters' family found out what had happened to their sister's medals, dog tags and the flag that draped her coffin, they asked to have them back.

They wouldn't have known about the objects if Mark Perko hadn't contacted the director of a homeless shelter scheduled to be named in Ms. Winters' honor. He was all set to sell on what he'd bought for a pittance. After all, he's the one taking the risk when he buys up a storage unit. He should be the one to gain when something special turns up.

The director of the homeless shelter, Robert Parker, offered what he thought was a generous remuneration. One thousand dollars, and four tickets to each of the last two remaining Chicago Bears home games. The Monsters of the Midway. Not one, not two, but four tickets. For the last two home games of the season.

No thanks, said Mark Perko. He's probably an Indianapolis Colts fan. And more than a little greedy.

So what price did he want?

He never said. That's the key to bargaining. Get a sense of how desperate the buyer is, and without much effort, you get them to drive up the price themselves.

A firestorm of criticism, all of it scathing, poured down on Mr. Perko's head when word got out that he was angling for a bigger payout.

Once burned, he learned not to keep putting his hand in the flame. He's decided that the family can just have their stuff back, and he doesn't want it anymore.

Next time, he'll know to take the football tickets. He could have scalped them at a profit. Now it's just a loss all the way around.