Austin, Texas Computerworks Goodwill

[John Foust]

At 12:57 PM 3/15/2007, Jim Battle wrote:
>What makes this even more insidious is that when I go to the local run of the mill goodwills and inquire about what they do with old computer donations, they say they ship them to computer works to deal with them.
>So essentially it is a vintage computer magnet attached to a wood chipper.
>I understand that goodwill gets far more stuff than can ever sell, but to not even try is sickening.  There was no hint of regret about it from the clerk -- in fact, he was rather proud that they were recycling bits of them vs tossing them whole.

I don't quite see the business model for this "Pre-1990 Computers"
store.  Somehow, magically, all the old computers arrive here because
somehow, magically, the triage experts at the other Goodwill stores
are able to differentiate between an eMachine and a Lisa.

Somehow, magically, the manuals aren't tossed in the recycle bin
and the disks get packed along.  Somehow, magically, a store keeps
it all together and finds shelf space and an accurate label for
the bundle.  Somehow, magically, enough nerds find their way to the
store, and are grateful for it, but still expect to haggle on the prices.
And this pays the overhead, salaries and rent?  

As opposed to the virtual certainty that if you train the minimum-wage
helper, they will be able to hit the bin when they toss the old computer,
where it will be shredded and net, oh, ten cents a pound.

At 01:33 PM 3/15/2007, Teo Zenios wrote:
>I don't understand why people donate complete and working vintage machines
>to places that just recycle them, why not offer them in the forums of
>websites where people collect them or on freecycle or ebay? 
At 02:42 PM 3/15/2007, John Allain wrote:
>Load the car, unload the car.  Ten minutes of overhead time.
>eBay/CraigsList/FreeCycle/Cristina Way:
>Gather and type information.  Answer requests, wait one or two weeks.
>Ship if required.  Take digital photos.  Coordinate pick up times.  Answer 
>visitor calls.    30 ~ 90 minutes of overhead.

Absolutely right.  Far more than 30 minutes of overhead and hassle
if you want to ship it.  And if you're concerned about where these
things are going, Freecycle and Craigslist won't warm your heart.

You'll encounter people who think that any free computer is 
worth picking up, even if they are so clueless as to be disappointed
later when they find it can't run Windows XP and then they throw it
in the trash.  And then there's the people who don't show up
or the ones who will complain about what they've got if they do.

- John