On the hunt at Goodwill . . . .

On Mon, 22 Sep 1997, James Willing wrote: Here (in Chicago), the Salvation Army store that carries computer equipment tends to price everything computer-related at $45, regardless of what it is. There was (until it recently closed) a Salvation Army "as-is" store in the building with one of their warehouses that had some great deals, primarily on items that they couldn't easily classify. It may be worth looking for these in other cities, since the one here had items such as oscilloscopes and Nixie tube DMMs that never made it into the normal stores. Sometimes, thrift store pricing and procedures are hard to understand. I once saw a thrift store employee deliberately damaging items with a hammer before marking them down. I guess the theory is that you don't deserve all of the keys if you're paying $2 for a computer instead of $20. Is anyone else here recognized as "the computer guy" at thrift stores? At one store (admittedly only a block from my apartment, so I visit it regularly), they save documentation for me and often mark down computer equipment the day after I've passed it up. Prices have risen slightly since they've realized that there is demand, but they seem to be stocking more old computer equipment now, and if something is too expensive, it's easy to wait a day or two! -- Scott Ware s-ware(a)nwu.edu