In Kalispell, Montana, more than 50 years ago, Bud Rasmussen wanted to work for himself, so he bought one of those "Get Rich Quick" magazines at the newsstand. He fell victim to a full page ad selling peanut machines, the kind where (at that time) you put in a nickel, turned a handle, and some salted peanuts dropped into your hand. The claim was that you could put them all out in public places, and then just go around once a week and collect big money. Bud fell for the pitch and sent in a cashier’s check for the minimum order of 25 machines. Once he received his order and set out to place them in stores, he discovered that setting up a route was far more difficult than had been described in the ad. Worse, the unreturnable machines turned out to be vastly overpriced. He correctly guessed that others who also ordered these machines would eventually give up and just store the machines in the garage.

Rather than give up himself, Bud ran a classified ad in the same magazine, offering to buy used peanut machines. Although he paid sellers only ten cents on the dollar, ten cents was more than zero, and Bud eventually ended up with more than 500 machines. With diligent effort, he eventually placed them all within a 90-mile radius of Kalispell. From then on, all he had to do was run the route, pick up the cash, and refill the machines with peanuts. With the nickels that poured in, Bud was eventually able to build a beautiful home debt-free in the best section of Kalispell — a classic example of getting stuck with a lemon and turning it into lemonade.

– from JJ Luna

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