Damn fools (was Re: Dell "Oldest PC" winner on zdnet)

From: Mike Ford <mikeford_at_netwiz.net>
Date: Mon Aug 23 04:55:54 1999

> Anecdote: A friend years ago had such a relationship with a
>scrapyard here in SoCal. One day a pice of choice military radio gear
>appeared that my friend coveted. He brought the Dealer out into the
>yard to do a little Dealing. Now, both of them knew that the radio
>was worth about $250, and of course both knew that it had not cost
>that much. Since the Dealer regarded my friend as a somewhat 'good'
>customer, he said "Make me an offer." My smart-ass friend thought he
>had the Surplus Business wired, and offered $25. The Dealer said
>"Yeah, wait here.." and went off, ostensibly to get a handtruck.
>When he returned, he also had a five-pound sledgehammer, and he
>proceeded to beat the radio into crinkly little bits while friend
>watched aghast. When he was done, the Dealer said "Sold!" My friend
>at least had the class to buy the remains, and last I saw him, still
>had it in a corner of his workshop in a box... just to remind him the
>next time he set out insult someone's intelligence.

Anybody that gets insulted in business over prices has no business being in
business. I would not have paid $25 after the unit was trashed regardless
of its value (ok, maybe if I thought I could really torque the guy off by
convincing him I was still able to sell the remaining parts for like $500,
since the damage didn't matter to what I "wanted". The latter after it was
paid for and in my truck of course). Other fun choices would be to then
offer him a buck (don't say a dollar, say a buck) for it, or make some low
ball offers on stuff you didn't want that he would otherwise sell for a
good price, and see if he smashes those too.

I live in SoCal as well, and all the scrappers know each other all right,
but only about a 1/3 get along well with each other, another 1/3 hate each
other, and the rest have no emotion regarding business matters (ala the
GodFather). Its a dog eat dog business, and the value added aspect is all
knowledge of sources, customers, and product. The two most important bits
are the names and phone numbers of the sources and customers. One of the
biggest scams is the illegal aquisition of those contacts.

Putting more of a fine point on my first paragraph, I'll make the
distinction between a low offering price, and being rude or insulting.
Never, ever go back to a scrapper and tell them what a huge profit X item
brought you, unless you bought it elsewhere and never bought one from them
(then it still is pretty dumb). Respect is more what I am thinking of than
some notion of a fair price. These guys spend the whole day offering people
6 cents a pound for working laptops, which makes almost any offer I make to
them fairly reasonable. How you make the offer, is maybe more important
than the actual amount. I don't have much tolerance for tin gods that feel
somehow superior because they haven't dumpster dived in a couple years.
Received on Mon Aug 23 1999 - 04:55:54 BST