One Million Screwdrivers: Introduction (Part 1 of 5)

This is an article in a series called One Million Screwdrivers. You may read all the articles in this series by clicking here.

ORPHANED INVENTORY
A letter comes in the mail—a recently deceased uncle has listed you in his will. Apparently, your uncle owned a massive screwdriver factory which he had dissolved barely a month before he died: all the workers have already been let go, the factory parts are totally auctioned off, the factory's property has been sold. All that remains is the factory's sizable inventory—one million screwdrivers.

All these screwdrivers are packed safely away in a warehouse about a block away from your home, and the warehouse is owned outright. It even has an annuity fund to pay for the warehouse's future property taxes. Your uncle planned ahead.

So you've been presented with a really unique opportunity—you could sit on those million screwdrivers for the rest of your life and not even know they exist. Or you can sell the remaindered inventory, but with time on your side to decide how best to do it.

This is an article in a series called One Million Screwdrivers, which will be published all this week. You may read all the published articles in this series by clicking here, or the other articles here:

1. Introduction
   
2. The Experiment (Tuesday 3/23 9:00 AM PST)
   
3. Ripple Effects (Wednesday 3/24 9:00 AM PST)
   
4. Lessons Learned (Thursday 3/25 9:00 AM PST)
   
5. The Bassinet Story (Friday 3/26 9:00 AM PST)