[Boatanchors] [BoatAnchors] An object lesson

[John via Boatanchors]

I think you guys are missing the boat.
 
Making an inventory with makes, models, serial numbers, values,  
acquisition dates and other information is a great idea, especially if something  
happened prior to your demise and you need proof of ownership and value.
 
We have in this area, and I am sure in dozens of others, creatures who I  
call "Vultures."  They will knock on the SK's door, sometimes before the  
remains are buried, offering to buy the equipment.  In many cases, they pay  
pennies on the dollar and make big bucks reselling. They will skim off the  
cream of the gear leaving the survivors with the not so good equipment, parts, 
 etc.,  and a mess to clean up.  These "Vultures" will never get my  
equipment unless they pay full price for it. I have given my survivors two  
options:  Get $XXX up front in cash or certified bank check before anything  is 
removed from the premises. This insures that they will take everything to  
insure they cover their expenses.  The second is to hire a certified  
Auctioneer like Richard Estes who specializes in selling radio estates. For  an 
agreed upon price, he will pick up everything including tools, tubes, parts  and 
equipment and sell it at auction for a fixed commission. Short of that, and  
this really hurts, they hire a roll off and a couple of guys armed with 
sledge  hammers who will make sure no local "Vulture" gets hold of anything but 
smashed  junk.
 
I hate to do it that way, but I have handled a couple of estates where a  
"Vulture" took the best for pennies and left the survivors with what they  
thought was junk.  In both cases, I made a huge amount of money for the  
estates simply because I was willing to do a little leg work. I had to go into  
the packing and shipping business in some cases but the satisfaction was 
worth  the effort and I met some really nice collectors in the bargain. So that 
there  was no hanky panky. I had buyers send payment for the item , packing 
and  shipping directly to the estate and supplied them with receipts for 
packing  material and shipping. They paid me back for those items.
 
Don't burden your friends or family with this chore. Do some planning now,  
while you can.  You can keep all your gear until the end if you care to,  
without having to worry about the inevitable.
 
73, 
 
 John,  W4AWM
 
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 4/15/2015 10:14:04 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
whitebear1122 at comcast.net writes:



Gads we collect a lot of radios don't we?  hi  hi


73, Scott  WA9WFA