13 Mar
2003
13 Mar
'03
12:16 a.m.
At 23:31 03/12/2003 -0600, you wrote:
On Wednesday, March 12, 2003, ben franchuk wrote:
Even if someone handed me the necessary money, I'm not sure how I could
handle the logistics. The easiest method of acquisition would be to acquire
the semi trailer as well, hitch it up, and haul it off without removing the
computer. But I can't drive a semi, and I don't know anyone who can or who
has a semi. Plus, my time may be too limited to engage in the affair.
Sure you do... I can drive one! Learned when I was 17. My dad's a trucker,
so I learned early. You'd actually be suprised with the # of people who
know how to drive a rig [ lorry, for the Brits here ;-) ]. Now, who may be
licensed... that's another story. My dad doesn't have an encased van - he
hauls heavy equipment so whatever he hauls has to be "weather-stabile" or
tarped; neither of which would be compatible with the Univac, I would think.
This is a very rough guesstimate, but not counting possible permits or
special packing/crating, you can expect to pay between 0.70 and 1.20 per
mile... but that depends on a lot of stuff - if there are weight/time
restrictions [cost goes up] but also - if it's a partial load, and the
trucker can get another partial going to a similar place, the cost can go
down...
You're best bet would be to contact a trucking agent and have them make the
arrangements for you (including bidding out the load to the truckers).
Dunno what their cut is, tho - I only learned about the "grunt work" aspect
of the business. ;-)
If it's already crated/palletized, I would think it'd be easier to find
whoever owns the trailer to drive it to a local loading bay, have the
computer off-loaded, then loaded onto the "relocating" trailer. Otherwise,
you may have to pay for "dead-head" miles - If the trucker uses his truck
to haul the other trailer, chances are he may not take the chance of
getting another partial going the same way (if he doesn't own the
trailer... weird insurance stuff) and a lot slimmer chances of him getting
another load back to get his trailer, so you'll prolly be liable for a
round trip, which gets $$$ a lot quicker...
-- And you may want to put in the bid that the trucker should have a rig
with a sleeping cab - otherwise, you may get stuck with motel bills.
(AFAIK, most trucking agents would know if you'd get zinged with that ahead
of time...)
Hope that give a bit o'insight to the sordid realm of a "Commodity
Relocator..." ;-)
Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
You may
want to tell him the scrap value is not anything like $10,000.
Four figures, but not five. And that is if he does the scrapping.
So we need to pool 25 with $500 to buy a Univac.