ACCRC really irked me

From: Ron Hudson <rhudson_at_cnonline.net>
Date: Sun Aug 24 15:38:00 2003

On Sunday, August 24, 2003, at 11:34 AM, Vintage Computer Festival
wrote:

> On Sun, 24 Aug 2003, Ron Hudson wrote:
>
>> The first time I went, It was great, I left off a fair ammount of
>> good-but-old-and-unuseable by me stuff, and walked a way with a
>> AppleIIc+, a great little machine - with
>> all kinds of goodies.
>>
>> The second time it was like you said. I think some tax-type got ahold
>> of them and told them that they were selling without withholding sales
>> tax. They said the could
>> only sell to someone who had a resale license. (but they could
>> 'donate' the equipment to me if I 'donated' to the 'pizza fund') And
>> I
>> also got the 'scram ya bother us kid'
>> feeling from them.
>
> Ron, the first time was because you were there as my guest. And since
> I
> had my collection stored there I was part of the team and was allowed
> certain priveleges. All the stuff you walked away with was stuff that
> I
> was entitled to let you take because it was vintage stuff (it would've
> been scrapped anyway). And a lot of it you got for free (if not all of
> it, I can't remember).

Yes, I remember I did visit you as well Sellam.

Well, I paid between $40 and $80, and donated stuff (my stuff may have
been
considered "vintage" as well. I think my brother and I also donated
some time either the first time or the second time. (well only about
4 hours each)

>
> I don't remember about the second time but indeed, if people want to
> take
> a small piece of miscellaneous hardware, it is customary to feed their
> pizza fund jar. It is true that they cannot legally sell stuff without
> the buyer having a valid resale license, otherwise they would have to
> charge sales tax and keep everything above board because they are
> obligated to. That is too much hassle for them.

You weren't there for the second time. I had not realized I needed to
have a sponsor.

I understand about the Tax issues.

>
> It's not too much to ask for a non-profit organization that is
> perpetually running at a deficit. And even then, you still have to be
> accompanied by someone who has significant clout there. If you were
> to walk in off the street they would boot you out the door very
> quickly,
> and for good reason. If they didn't, they would have a constant
> stream of
> all sorts of riffraff walking in there, making a mess, expecting help,
> causing problems, getting hurt, raising their insurance, etc.

Oh, Rifraff are we?? : ^ ) <<----- please note smiley

>
> Look at it from the point of view of the ACCRC. Imagine that you are
> a
> non-profit with very limited resources, just barely getting by in the
> weakest economy in memory, sometimes behind on all sorts of bills, and
> having to worry about keeping the business afloat. Now imagine having
> over ten years of experiences to determine what does and does not work.
> Maybe then you can understand why they would rather not deal with
> people
> coming in off the street to buy stuff.
>
> The ACCRC does have some stuff for the public to come in and utilize (a
> free internet cafe for example) but in order to be priveleged enough to
> become part of the crew there you must dedicate a LOT of your time to
> helping them out.

Well it's all water under the bridge... I have moved to Kansas City MO

Sellam, Thanks for your help.

>
> --
>
> Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer
> Festival
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Received on Sun Aug 24 2003 - 15:38:00 BST

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