There are several companies who deal with military surplus, but one in particular has stood the test of time. Evolving from humble beginnings in a chicken coop to becoming a thriving e-commerce business, Coleman's Military Surplus has been providing value and unique finds to customers for over 50 years. With such a rich history, sales manager Adam Hoke had plenty to share about the Pennsylvania-based company and the ever-changing industry of military surplus.
The Origins of Coleman's Military Surplus
The story of Coleman's Military Surplus begins with its founder, C.S. Coleman, who lives just 200 yards from where Adam Hoke sat for his interview. After the Korean War, there was an abundance of military surplus available in the United States. The founder lived close to several military bases, including the New Cumberland Army Depot. That close proximity brought about a rather fruitful opportunity.
While holding down a regular full-time job, Coleman began selling Korean War-era surplus during weekends. His entrepreneurial spirit and keen eye for a deal led him to expand, eventually turning the weekend side-hustle into a full-fledged business. Military surplus has remained at the core of his company throughout the years, even as they branched out into scrap and industrial items.
“But he was always a salesman type of guy. If he saw a lawnmower at the side of the road and thought he could make two bucks on it, you know, he would. So he had heard about these military surplus auctions going on and thought, ‘Hmm, you know, I'm going to give that a try.’”
“And yeah, you know, one thing kind of led to another. When the second generation owner, who is now the owner, took over, he, of course, thought big. And in 1999, he took the company online, which was a huge move because at the time, most military surplus stores were just brick and mortar.”
“He took that chance and they started to mail paper catalogs as well to, you know, whatever addresses that they had. They produced a small flyer in-house and they would mail a catalog out and hope for the best.” - Adam Hoke

Adam Hoke with some of the Coleman's Military Surplus team.
Navigating the Challenges of E-commerce
As the company transitioned to an e-commerce model, they faced numerous challenges in reaching a nationwide clientele, particularly in keeping up with the latest trends and technologies. This became very evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the surge in online shopping, Coleman's had to quickly adapt to meet the heightened demand.
“You had to have all of the technical resources functioning at a high level to take advantage of all that business. So it was a challenge to scale that at the time because while we had a good business, it was only set up to do this much business. So when COVID hit, we really had to kind of retool some things on our property even.”
“In today's world, we call it the Amazon effect. People expect their packages fast, they expect them accurate, and they expect shipping to be at a low cost. So it was a real challenge to kind of live up to those standards and meet the demand that came with the COVID surge, we'll say. So that was a challenge, definitely.” - Adam Hoke
To meet these expectations, Coleman's had to retool their operations, even closing their retail store to expand their shipping department. The flexibility and willingness to change in the end, allowed them to thrive during a challenging time.
Providing Value and Unique Finds
For Adam Hoke, a typical day at work means ensuring that the company continues to add value to customers’ lives. After ensuring that his family is taken care of, he arrives at the office and checks in with various departments. That includes the sales team and shipping. Eventually, Adam sits down at his desk and looks over any overnight reports. He tries his best to keep a close eye on trends because of the finite nature of their products.
“We do get numerous support tickets through our website ranging from offers, you know, hey, I have this for sale, to maybe a big wholesaling query, to just general customer service. And it's a really good way to kind of keep your pulse on the business.”
“I read every single customer review that comes in, because that's another great way to take the pulse of the business.” - Adam Hoke

Their military surplus consists of items big and small.
Sourcing the Surplus Inventory
The majority of Coleman's Military Surplus inventory comes from government surplus auctions, a practice that has remained constant throughout the company's history. They also work directly with government contractors and purchase items from individuals who reach out to them online.
One of Coleman's most popular items is an item from the 1950s called the Mickey Mouse boot. It’s a vapor barrier boot with a super thick sole, useful for ice fishers, meat packing workers, and the like. Adam and his company have shipped the boots to all 50 states, to Canada, and other places in the world.

These are famous "Mickey Mouse" boot.
“They still make a few, but the heyday ended in the early 90s.” - Adam Hoke
Other bestsellers include high-quality socks, pouches, bags, and military-grade ratchet straps. However, the company has also dealt in its fair share of unique and unusual items. Adam can remember selling antique copper map plates from the early 1900s, commemorative coins, a horse, and even an airplane propeller.

Coleman's getting a fresh shipment of military surplus.
The Future of Coleman's Military Surplus
As Adam looks to the future of the company, he can’t help but recount the past. He’s accumulated plenty of amusing anecdotes throughout the years. One of his favorites came from a customer who was concerned about his missing package, a package that was labeled "keep frozen." Adam is no stranger to these sorts of calls. He suggested that the customer check around with neighbors. He did, and about a day or so later called back. He discovered that a well-meaning neighbor had placed the box in their own deep freezer. The neighbor just didn’t want the box to dry out. And to make the story even funnier, turns out the package was a only cold weather parka.
He also recalls a nerve-wracking experience in Europe, where he found himself driving to a remote warehouse with a contact whose English was limited, and he didn’t know what to expect. Thankfully, the warehouse was filled with legitimate European military surplus, making for a memorable business trip.
All of those funny memories wouldn’t have been possible if not for meeting the founder when Adam was still working as a car salesman.

One of the military vehicles sold by Coleman's Military Surplus.
“And I worked at a car dealership as a salesperson, and I started washing cars there and worked in the parts department, and worked in the sales office, and went to the car auctions eventually. I had a good customer, and his name was Mr. Coleman. He owned this business, and I sold him a few vehicles. ”
“He kind of caught wind that I wasn't too thrilled about working almost 80 hours a week and he said, ‘I'm getting a little bit older, I don't want to work forever, and I'm going to need a guy. I'm going to need a guy and here's what I can do for you. And here's what we do.’ And I said, that sounds interesting.” - Adam Hoke
These days, e-commerce is starting to implement more artificial intelligence into business operations. Coleman’s Military Surplus is following suite. Alongside that change has been a shift in consumer trends, with younger customers becoming more interested in affordable, high-quality outdoor gear. Adam is taking note of all of this with excitement and gratitude. With the economy being in tough shape, he appreciates knowing that more and more customers realize they don’t have to pay premium prices to the great items.
“Yeah, I've seen a few trends over the years. And I think probably the most refreshing one is that people are starting to realize that you don't have to buy premium gear from a major retailer and pay.”
“When they see they can get a nice military-grade tent for their adventures at a really great price, it catches on.” - Adam Hoke

A military grade tent and other items.
Conclusion
From their origins in a chicken coop to their current status as an e-commerce leader, the story of Coleman's Military Surplus is one of adaptability and providing value. And with Adam Hoke at the helm, the company is poised to continue evolving and thriving.
For those new to government online auctions, he has some simple advice to offer.
“I would say don't be afraid to take a chance first and foremost. And do your homework. You know, you always have to do your homework. Don't forget about buyer's premiums. Don't forget about transportation costs. And just have a lot of fun with it. And just remember that if you win the auction, you only paid a little bit more than the last person.” - Adm Hoke
If you’re interested in doing business with Adam’s company, then be sure to check out Coleman's Military Surplus. Or if you’re interested in military-style items along with ambulances, police cars, and more, then take a look at what surplus Municibid has on sale today.
[Adam Hoke] (0:00 - 0:13)
You're not going to believe this. He said, “My neighbor saw a box on my porch that said, keep frozen. So he thought he was being a great neighbor. He took my Coleman’s package and put it in his deep freezer.”
[Sophie Eden] (0:39 - 0:47)
Hi, Adam. Welcome to the Municibid Podcast. I'm very excited to chat with you today. Can you start us off by introducing yourself and what you do?
[Adam Hoke] (0:48 - 1:46)
Sure. Yeah. Happy to be here today.
I really appreciate the invite. My name is Adam Hoke, as you said. I'm the sales manager for Coleman's Military Surplus.
We've been a military surplus retailer for almost 50 years, actually a little over 50 years. And of course, it's evolved over those decades from just a small retail store to what we are now, which is strictly an e-commerce company. I've been with the company for 10 years now.
So I really got to see the full transition from a brick and mortar store mailing paper catalogs with a small web presence to what we are now as strictly an e-commerce store. My job offers a lot of variety, whether it be people management or inventory management or logistics management, the whole thing. So it's a lot of fun.
It's a lot of fun.
[Sophie Eden] (1:46 - 1:56)
Can you tell us more about the origin story of Coleman's Military Surplus and how the business got started?
[Adam Hoke] (1:56 - 3:53)
Yeah, sure. It's actually a really kind of fun story. And it talks about surplus a little bit.
Military surplus has been around for centuries. But after the Korean War, here in the United States there was really a massive amount of military surplus. And where we are located, we're kind of close to a few military bases, New Cumberland Army Depot being the number one.
And our founder, who is still alive, he lives 200 yards that way from where I'm sitting. He had a full-time regular job just like a lot of his friends did and a young family. But he was always a salesman type of guy.
If he saw a lawnmower at the side of the road and thought he could make two bucks on it, you know, he would. So he had heard about these military surplus auctions going on and thought, “Hmm, you know, I'm going to give that a try.” So I mean, literally on the weekends, he was selling Korean War-era surplus.
And, you know, kind of one thing led to another. They had a little bit of a scrap business then too, some industrial items. But through all of those years, the military surplus items were at the core of it.
And yeah, you know, one thing kind of led to another. When the second generation owner, who is now the owner, took over, he, of course, thought big. And in 1999, he took the company online, which was a huge move because at the time, most military surplus stores were just brick and mortar.
He took that chance and they started to mail paper catalogs as well to, you know, whatever addresses that they had. They produced a small flyer in-house and they would mail a catalog out and hope for the best. You know, they had no idea because it costs a lot of money to do that.
And that's kind of the origin.
[Sophie Eden] (3:53 - 4:14)
That's really cool. Amazing to hear how it grew out of a chicken coop to now being online nationwide. What have been some of the challenges with running Coleman's Military Surplus, particularly now with the e-commerce focus?
[Adam Hoke] (4:14 - 5:34)
I would say numerous, mostly just trying to keep up with the latest trends of the e-commerce world. During COVID, as everybody knows, e-commerce exploded. And, you know, you had to be in a good position.
You had to have all of the technical resources functioning at a high level to take advantage of all that business. So it was a challenge to scale that at the time because while we had a good business, it was only set up to do this much business. So when COVID hit, we really had to kind of retool some things on our property even.
So logistically and technology related, that was a big challenge. We decided to close our retail store that we had at the time to expand our shipping department and change the way that we got orders out the door. Because in today's world, we call it the Amazon effect.
People expect their packages fast, they expect them accurate, and they expect shipping to be at a low cost. So it was a real challenge to kind of live up to those standards and meet the demand that came with the COVID surge, we'll say. So that was a challenge, definitely.
[Sophie Eden] (5:35 - 5:42)
Absolutely. How did you find out about Coleman's military surplus and what spurred you to join the company?
[Adam Hoke] (5:43 - 6:47)
We live in a small town here in central Pennsylvania, maybe 2,800 people in the actual borough. And I worked at a car dealership as a salesperson, and I started washing cars there and worked in the parts department and worked in the sales office and went to the car auctions eventually. And I had a good customer, and his name was Mr. Coleman. He owned this business, and I sold him a few vehicles. And he knew that I worked a lot of hours. As many listening probably know, the car business is a long hour business.
He kind of caught wind that I wasn't too thrilled about working almost 80 hours a week and said, you know, he said, I'm getting a little bit older, I don't want to work forever, and I'm going to need a guy. I'm going to need a guy and here's what I can do for you. And here's what we do.
And I said, that sounds interesting. So yeah, that's kind of how I got my start and learned from him day to day, on the job training, battlefield promotion after battlefield promotion, we'll say. So yeah, that's how that got started.
[Sophie Eden] (6:47 - 6:56)
And what does a typical day like for you with running the company?
[Adam Hoke] (6:57 - 9:09)
Typical day for me, first and foremost, make sure that the kids get out the door okay, and everything's good on the home front. And then get here, do a walk around, check in with everybody, check in with some of the sales staff. Make sure, you know, nobody has any kind of pressing concerns right off the bat.
I'll go back to the shipping room, check in with that team, see, you know, kind of how many orders, if they're backed up at all, if anything needs addressed there, check in with my shipping manager. By about that point, make my way to my desk and check on, you know, sales from overnight, look at some sales reports. Our industry relies a lot on trends, I would say.
The product that we deal in is a finite resource. You know, I can't pick up the phone and say, hey, you know, I really want some more of these USMC pouches. You know, there may have only been so many available.
So knowing trends is very important as far as sales go. Check in with our support ticket system. Just make sure there's, you know, we have a big web presence.
So we do get numerous support tickets through our website ranging from offers, you know, hey, I have this for sale, to maybe a big wholesaling query, to just general customer service. And it's a really good way to kind of keep your pulse on the business. A lot of times then, of course, check my email.
I'll read. I read every single customer review that comes in, because that's another great way to take the pulse of the business. So that's pretty much how I get my day started. And then from there on out, just hopping around to different meetings, maybe as today was our weekly meeting with our website development team.
I have a check-in with the owner today. So a meeting with him. We also had a meeting for our email newsletter setup.
Typically, we'll do that on a month or two month basis. Did a little heavy equipment operating today, just because it's a small business and everybody has to do a little bit. So I had to jump on a forklift and load a truck, because one guy was at lunch and another guy was tied up.
[Sophie Eden] (9:09 - 9:19)
Yeah, sounds like a lot of fun, different things going on. And definitely sounds like you're staying busy. What are some of your best selling items?
[Adam Hoke] (9:19 - 11:17)
I would say probably our number one best selling item is what we call a Mickey Mouse boot. The military would have dubbed it an extreme cold temperature boot. And they were made from the 1950s till the...they still make a few, but the heyday ended in the early 90s. And I'm sure some folks listening will be familiar with the term Mickey Mouse boots. But basically, it's a vapor barrier boot.
It's a big rubber boot that has a super thick sole to it. And they're just the best cold weather boots you can buy, whether you're ice fishing in Minnesota, or you're working in a meat packing freezer all day, or you're directing traffic in Alaska, your feet stay warm. It's a truly remarkable product.
And we're fortunate enough to still be able to offer that product. Of course, right now, it's not our best seller. But in the wintertime, it is our best seller.
And we've shipped those boots to all 50 states, Canada included, and across the world, really. So that would be one of our best sellers. Beyond that, just so many different things.
Some really good socks. We found a really good deal on some Vermont Darn Tough socks. And again, a lot of people probably have heard of those.
And this was a special military contract for those Vermont Darn Tough socks. And true to the surplus kind of mantra, we're able to offer them at a value price, much less than what you could buy them from the manufacturer. So we sell a ton of those because it's a great sock.
I have some on now. So that, yeah, socks, a lot of pouches and bags. We do very well with ratchet straps, military grade ratchet straps.
Some of our best sellers.
[Sophie Eden] (11:18 - 11:29)
Wonderful. That sounds really cool. What would you say has been, over the years, one of the strangest or most unique items that you've sold at Coleman's?
[Adam Hoke] (11:29 - 12:56)
Probably about six or seven years ago, I guess it maybe was the Department of Interior, the U.S. Geological Survey had copper map plates that were made in the early 1900s of the entire country. Plates for everywhere. And they would use these plates to make actual maps prior to anything being the digital era.
We found some of those and bought some of those and have resold them. It's a neat kind of collector's item. You can polish it up a little bit.
They're beautiful. And frame them. So if you live in my town, Millersburg, Pennsylvania, and we didn't have that plate, unfortunately, but you could polish it up and frame it and hang it in your house or in your restaurant or something.
It doesn't sound that exciting of an item, but it was definitely unique. I've seen commemorative coins come through here. We bought a horse maybe on a government auction and it was resold.
So just a full gamut of things. But yeah, the copper map plates, they're really neat. I have some of them in my office here.
I'm sure there's some more unique things that I'm forgetting that have come and gone. Airplane propeller was a pretty interesting one, I remember. So lots of neat things.
[Sophie Eden] (12:57 - 13:22)
That's pretty cool. Can you tell me more about how you're sourcing these items? You mentioned some military bases and then also people reaching out saying they have some military surplus.
So what's the balance there between sourcing items from military bases versus the general public who may have come across it in another manner?
[Adam Hoke] (13:23 - 14:11)
The majority of things we get are through auctions, government surplus auctions. Always have been and hopefully always will be. And yeah, a mix of just people because of our web presence reaching out and saying, “Hey, I have this for sale.”
I've hopped on Municibid already and found some things. But auctions are probably my favorite because you're totally in control. I'd say the majority of things do come from an auction.
But we do have some government contractors that we reach out to directly that will sell to us as well as sell to the government because we are also a government contractor. So we can have that relationship, whereas the general public usually can't.
[Sophie Eden] (14:12 - 14:48)
Awesome. Yeah. Nice to have that insider connection there.
Can you talk a bit more about your experiences with auctions? Because it's been pretty cool. You know, you're working in military surplus industry, participating in government surplus auctions, but you also worked at a car dealership and participated in car auctions there too.
So what have been over the years, some of the changes that you've seen in auctions across both spectrums? And, what do you enjoy about each type of auction?
[Adam Hoke] (14:48 - 18:56)
Yeah, that's a little bit of a fun story. I just told this story last week because we drove by the first real auction that I was ever at. We were on our way to the U.S. Women's Open last Friday, and we were on the same highway that we took when I was in the car business to go to the live car auction. And I remember the owner of the dealership, he would come in on a Friday. It was a small dealership, so it was all family stuff. And I wanted to go.
I wanted to be a part of the action. And I would always make sure to get there early on Fridays when he left. And he would come in and he would grab his little NADA value book and maybe a dealer tag and a blank check.
I would always be sitting there at the front door, waiting to be picked on a team, like a kid in dodgeball. I wanted my shot. And one day, he came in and he had an eye patch on.
And I said, Dave, what happened? He said, “Well, Adam, I was using a staple gun over the weekend, and a staple shot back in the eye. I can hardly see. Don't forget your safety glasses out there.” He said, “You have to be my eyes today. And I jumped out of the chair real quick.”
And I still have my auction access card from that day. It was 2018, I think, or 2019. And the smile on my face on that photo card that they took down there, I don't think I could ever duplicate that smile.
And from then on, I went to the live car auction with him every Friday. And it was 36 lanes of cars. I mean, they sold hundreds and hundreds of cars.
And the sights and the smells and the foreign guys with briefcases full of money. It was an awesome experience. And the auctioneers were like royalty down there.
They were the big dogs. And you just kind of paused when they walked by. It's pretty funny.
It was so neat to do that live and in person. And that's an education that you can't buy anywhere to crawl around those cars. And to see the auctioneers banging against the table, just so ferocious.
And the special used car guys that had their own dedicated lanes, they were like royalty too. And maybe once in a while, they'd throw you a hat or something. But so yeah, that was my...
I did that for probably six years. Every single Friday, wind, sleet, snow, didn't matter. And that was my first kind of real taste at live auctions.
How that's changed over the years, even towards my later tenure at the car dealership, is they've transitioned to online auctions. And that's the majority of what we do also is online auctions. And online auctions are great because anybody can do it.
You can do it from your house. You can do it from your lawn chair in the Bahamas if you want to. That's the really cool part about it.
Live auctions have a really special place in the industry. And I don't think should ever go away. But online auctions are just great.
And people like auctions so much because it's the true value. You as the consumer, you get to pick what you pay. You're in control.
And that's on the selling side too. Hey, maybe you didn't get as much as you wanted, but it was advertised.
It brought what it brought. That's the price. It's true market value.
You know, that's hard to duplicate any other way.
[Sophie Eden] (18:56 - 19:23)
That sounds really cool. And as convenient as online auctions are today and how amazing it is to have access to so many items across the country, it sounds like you have a sweet spot for the in-person car auctions and all the car smells. And there's something, yeah, about getting to be able to touch them.
[Adam Hoke] (19:23 - 19:40)
Yeah, live auctions are great. There's a lot more emotion in a live auction. I mean, the first house I bought was an auction in person, you know, an estate auction.
Yeah, I remember that very well too. Yeah, I would still buy. I would buy a house from an online auction.
[Sophie Eden] (19:41 - 19:59)
Yeah, it's amazing. You can see everything in online auctions now today. What advice would you give to people new to government online auctions that were looking to get started in bidding and winning some things from government auctions?
[Adam Hoke] (20:00 - 20:51)
I would say don't be afraid to take a chance first and foremost. And do your homework. You know, you always have to do your homework.
Don't forget about buyer's premiums. Don't forget about transportation costs. And just have a lot of fun with it.
And just remember that if you win the auction, you only paid a little bit more than the last person. So you can't really overpay for anything. You can, you can.
But technically speaking, just have fun with it because what's the worst that could happen, you know? Like I said, somebody was just behind you, maybe by a dollar. You only paid a dollar more than the last person.
So how wrong could you be? So don't be afraid to take a chance, I would say.
[Sophie Eden] (20:51 - 21:08)
Right, yeah. You know that there were a lot of people interested in that exact same item and that the value is there, even if you paid a little bit more than the other guy. What are you most excited about for the future of Coleman's military surplus?
[Adam Hoke] (21:10 - 21:59)
E-commerce is changing so rapidly in the past five years. I've seen so many changes. I'm really excited to see some of the things that AI can do in the e-commerce space.
It's out there now, and it's a very useful tool. So I'm excited to see those changes. I'm excited to continue to streamline our business here.
And also really excited to just keep the treasure hunt alive. That's really what we do. It's a treasure hunt every day when we do this. And I find a lot of satisfaction in passing that on to our customers.
So I'm excited for the next deal. That's probably the most exciting thing to me is the next deal on the horizon.
[Sophie Eden] (22:00 - 22:01)
Finding the next buried treasure.
[Adam Hoke] (22:02 - 22:03)
Yeah, yeah.
[Sophie Eden] (22:03 - 22:14)
Are you seeing some changing trends with how people are using military surplus that they buy from Coleman's?
[Adam Hoke] (22:14 - 24:29)
Yeah, I've seen a few trends over the years. And I think probably the most refreshing one is that people are starting to realize that you don't have to buy premium gear from a major retailer and pay. Right now, the economy especially, it's tough.
The economy is a little tough. Your dollar doesn't go as far as it used to. So we have a lot of new customers that are outdoors people, whether they're hikers or they're campers or whatever.
And when they see they can get a nice military-grade tent for their adventures at a really great price, it catches on. So I'm seeing that trend right now. We're kind of transitioning out from just, we used to sell a lot of things to folks that knew how to build things. We would sell clevises, maybe some wire rope and some more industrial things. And a lot of people don't build things anymore.
It's a generational shift a little bit. And I'm seeing a lot of younger customers catching on to this and not being afraid to find a pack that maybe it was used a little bit, but they make it into a fun project. Restore the leather on it.
Give it a bath. Maybe sew a stitch or two. Hey, this is cool.
It's mine now. I made this. So that's kind of one trend that I see a little bit, that we don't have just one subset of customers anymore.
It's across the board. It's, as I mentioned, hikers, campers, backpackers. It's the prepper community.
We've seen that trend grow significantly in the past six years, thanks to maybe different TV shows or just the general climate that we live in. And still do have some of those industrial people. And we still have people that just want a good deal.
They don't want to pay $200 for a good pair of work boots. They can buy a US-made military surplus boot for $99 and be super happy about it.
[Sophie Eden] (24:29 - 25:15)
Yeah, that's wonderful. Providing an opportunity for the public to access these great military items at a great price. That's a fantastic offering across the board for all different uses.
That's really cool. Are there any cool or funny stories from over your years working at Coleman's? I'm sure you've met and interacted with a lot of different customers.
And you've also seen a wide range of different military surplus items. What are some of the most memorable encounters or stories that come to mind?
[Adam Hoke] (25:15 - 28:12)
One of my favorites, this is kind of comical. I talked about support tickets earlier. And we're a large recycler.
That's really what we are when you think about it. We take things that otherwise would be discarded or destroyed and recycle it. So naturally, we use recycled boxes here.
And I found a deal on some boxes that said, keep frozen on the side of them. I didn't think much of it. We have boxes that say all sorts of different things.
And a customer called me. And he said, the tracking number says my package was delivered. It's not on my porch.
And I can't find it. I said, OK, before I open a case with UPS, why don't you check with some neighbors? I always say that's always a good thing, because you just never know.
Check with some neighbors. Anyway, well, a day and a half later, he calls me up. He says, “Adam, you're not going to believe this.”
He said, “My neighbor saw a box on my porch that said, keep frozen. So he thought he was being a great neighbor. He took my Coleman’s package and put it in his deep freezer.”
So this guy, parka, you know, cold weather parka that we shipped him, ended up in his neighbor's freezer. And it was just a cute story. So everybody was happy then.
And we kind of still use that example today when people say that I didn't get your package. And it's always, well, you know, we use recycled boxes. So I remember at one point we had Sephora, like a women's beauty product boxes.
We had a ton of them. We had several customers. Can't find my pack.
Oh, my wife thought maybe I ordered something for her. And she tucked it in the bedroom. You know, so that's kind of a cute story from the order fulfillment industry.
[Sophie Eden]
That's great.
Kind of strange stories here. But some of them maybe even revolve around, we'll travel to Europe to buy military surplus as well to supplement our inventory.
We do specialize in a lot of European military surplus. And I remember meeting a guy one time through somebody else and his English wasn't great. And anyway, we went with him and we're driving and we're driving and we're driving.
I'm on my phone putting pins out at this point, because I don't know where I'm going and who this guy is. And out in the middle of nowhere, there was a warehouse with European military surplus in it. So it was a good story.
It was a good ending to the story. But I remember that. I won't forget that because I was on pins and needles for a little bit there.
But don't try that at home.
[Sophie Eden] (28:12 - 28:13)
Sounds a little sketchy.
[Adam Hoke] (28:15 - 28:16)
Yeah.
[Sophie Eden] (28:16 - 28:50)
Those are some great stories. It's been an absolute pleasure to chat with you today, Adam. Amazing to hear all the different ways that people are using military surplus and all your experience across auctions, all the different types and the funny customer interactions that you've had over the years.
Certainly sounds like it's never a dull moment and doesn't sound like it'll ever be dull. Sounds like it'll always be entertaining into the future.
[Adam Hoke] (28:52 - 29:47)
I was with a guy last week, and it's always difficult. I was with a group of people that are in a much different industry, in a manufacturing industry. Well, what do you do? What do you do? And every time that question comes up, I say, how long do you have? Just generally, it's a very unique business is the best way I can describe it.
You know, surplus represents value, really, at the end of the day. That's probably the key takeaway. Every time somebody, if I'm at a barbecue or something, what do you do?
How much time do you have? Thank you. It was a pleasure to be here.
I was really excited to come on today and do this. You've been a great host, so thank you very much.
[Sophie Eden] (29:47 - 29:49)
Thank you, Adam. That's fantastic.
[Greg Berry] (29:51 - 30:00)
Thank you for tuning in to the Municibid Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about the world of government surplus, be sure to subscribe to this podcast, wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Last Updated on June 20, 2024