08/10/2026
We talk a lot about personal property requirements, but I donāt think we talk enough about the actual TIME involved.
Depending on your recovery volume, personal property can literally be a full-time job for one employee. For some agencies, it could easily require 2ā3 people or more.
Think about the required steps just to meet client expectations, not even counting the additional protocols many of us have put in place to further protect our companies:
ā¢ Inventory
ā¢ Proper storage
ā¢ Secured property rooms
ā¢ Documenting EVERYTHING associated with the property
ā¢ Tracking dates of removal, pickup, disposal, and method of disposal
And thatās just the bare minimum.
But what about the property debtors simply donāt want?
Iām not talking about a couple pieces of paper or an empty water bottle. Iām talking about a tote full of personal property, sometimes more, that we are told they do not want and is left behind for us to deal with.
We still inventoried it.
We still documented it.
We still stored it.
We still secured it.
We still scheduled the appointment.
We still had an employee handle the property appointment.
And when the debtor leaves it behind, our work STILL isnāt finished.
Now we have to document what was abandoned, inventory it again as necessary, document the disposal, physically dispose of it, and maintain records showing what happened to it.
Every single one of those steps requires employee time, facility space, security, administrative work, and company resources.
Yet somehow, the expectation is that all of that time has no value.
Time is money.
Thatās something we preach constantly in business.
So why is the repossession industry expected to provide this amount of labor, storage, documentation, security, administrative work, and disposal completely free of charge?
Personal property isnāt ājust part of the recovery.ā
It is an entire process of its own.
And maybe itās time we start treating it like one.
