- Joined
- Feb 9, 2017
- Messages
- 5,185
Ya, I know. I work for the gubmint (county, big one). The "accountability" to the taxpayer, or in the private sector, the "Shareholder", means the accounting dept. CANNOT dispose of assets like an individual would. There is hope, tho- online auctions are becoming very popular, and are recognized as an acceptable way to liquidate these assets to the general public. We have been doing it for a few years, and have had a very good experience with it. Screaming deals, however, are fading, as word spreads about the quality of the items up for sale, and the general "auction" mentality. You would not drive from Texas to Northern Arizona to pick up your Lincoln AC buzzbox won at auction, would you? Before you answer that, run THIS thru your calculator- he paid $400, plus the 10% buyer's fee. I kid you not.
That may be true about accountability, but I tried to buy stuff from my employers and even the accountants didn't know what to do. Most times the boss would just say get it outta here. It also helped to have a good story as there probably 7 or 8 huge old industrial drafting tables that when they went digital all went to the bone yard. One was hydraulic operated so you could stand or sit. It was junk because it had been outside so long. But one table was under a stack of junk in one of the rooms for storage and I asked the boss for it. He asked what I wanted it for and I told him my son was an artist(which he still is) and he gave it to me. They used to throw away buckets of brand new bolts, washers, nuts and lock washers because they didn't want us "wasting time" picking them up when we dropped them or to pay someone to sort it. Wish I would have grabbed just one of those 5gal buckets.
The whole auction thing is a mystery. People just don't seem to act normal. eBay is a prime example as it didn't used to be that way. I see stuff going for more than new prices all the time. It's why my searches never include auctions.