21 Nov
2014
21 Nov
'14
2:55 p.m.
It might seem like that, but the scrappers are
probably getting in 40
or 50' trailers full of stuff, so they don't have time to admire
anything that can just be handled like any other bulk scrap. He is
probably paying dearly for the space he operates in, so every 4 x 5'
space he wasted storing something so we can do the old soft shoe and
low ball him is a lot of space he can't store crap to sort, to get the
trailers empty for the next.
Jim,
I am not sure how what I proposed goes against what you said. There is no need to
"admire" but they have to sort if they want to sell to anyone else but the mill
(or allow us to pick and paw through their stuff in person or virtually). The seller in
the OP is willing to sort. I am proposing a simplification, for example:
We give him a list of brands: IBM, CDC, Sun, SGI, Univac, whatever. If he sees one of
these he puts it aside, weighs it or eyeballs the weight, take a picture with a price. The
item stays available until the next shipment to the mill, China, or wherever he sends his
scraps for processing. Price is firm and relatively fair because it is based on what he
would get for it at the mill with a bit of a mark up. As others have pointed out offering
anything less than the scrap value is a waste of everyone's time.
There is no soft shoe and no back and forth. You see the inventory and you can buy or not.
Plus his space is not occupied in hope of a sale since items will be going out on the same
schedule as if they were never put on display.
I am by no means an expert in scrapping and wish as hell there were scrappers that were
easily accessible in LA. I'd be there once a week just to see what has come in.
However, a sale is a sale no matter the commodity and the adversarial process follows the
same basic guidelines and rules. The only reason to ask for specific models, with the
buyers offering prices, is to see what has intrinsic value significantly above scrap and
to hold on to those items, or to shop them around, for the best profit possible. If the
interest is in making money while doing a good deed what I propose achieves that and stays
fair to both parties.
Just my two, potentially worthless, cents ;)
-Ali
p.s. Yes there is a third possibility that he is daily getting 1 or 2 50' containers
of Univacs so he would have to put a ton of stuff aside so he is asking for specific
models to help him sort. Honestly, though I doubt he has that much stuff of interest
coming in daily.