On or about: 04-08-08  06:20, Bob Ackley did engage James Bradley
regarding, but not limited to: CFL Light Bulbs

 BA> Replying to a message of James Bradley to Jay Emrie:
 
 JB> ...Then I realize how good we have it here. CRT, and computer
 JB> recycling depots are located around our city. These are typically
 JB> attached to second hand computer stores, as few of those as they are
 JB> these days. There is also a "everything electronics" recycler.
 JB> Depending who is working there, they do or do not recover gold from
 JB> electrical contacts and the like.

 BA> A couple of decades ago the government decided to dispose 
 BA> of a no-longer-in-use
 BA> but functional Data General computer system.  Sixteen 
 BA> computer tape drives, four
 BA> printers, disk/drum units, memory units and processors.  
 BA> The whole thing covered a
 BA> couple of hundred square feet of floor space.  Somebody bid 
 BA> $100K for the whole pile
 BA> and the government turned it down, claiming that the gold 
 BA> in the contacts was worth
 BA> more than that.  So over a period of many months individual 
 BA> units would vanish to a
 BA> work area where government employees broke them down.  To 
 BA> shorten a long story, it
 BA> cost the government more to do that than they recovered 
 BA> from the sale of valuable
 BA> metals and components recovered from the units.

I'm surprised they didn't assemble a committee to explore the financial
feasibility of sending government employees out to do the deed. Their first
mistake was to not make it a wholesale job. When you have a driver in a
drill, don't let go of it until you finish a level of disassebly on
EVERYTHING. Then, chuck up the next bit for the next level. Even dropping
one drill, to pick up another adds up to *so* much time...

Even the most efficient operation, work for a small wage. Maybe there *was*
$200,000. in gold there, (It wouldn't be an unreasonable figure.) but they
spent over $300,000. in wages and benefits to get it.



... James

___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20

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