[GreenKeys] Why destruction?

[Don Robert House]

It has to do with accounting and taxes.  In the last 36 years I have 
seen this happen several times.  The equipment is fully depreciated 
and all of its original value has been written off.  IF the equipment 
is sold or donated it gains value.  Value that would cancel the 
depreciation and cause the tax accountants all kinds of problems.

If people really wanted to donate the equipment to a worthy cause 
they could do it but it would take weeks of paper work.  I once asked 
my boss at Illinois Bell for an old Apple Computer, a IIe with all 
the bells and whistles on it for my wifes classroom.  It took two 
unhappy staff members over a week to get all of the forms through the 
accounting maze.  I finally got the unit and gave it to her school. 
The kids wrote the boss and staff a thank you but the men asked me to 
please not ask again.

At the Bell Advanced Data Communications School in Cooperstown, NY 
many telephone engineers were trained.  The place was in an old hotel 
and was called ADCOMM.  The equipment required to run the classes was 
purchased on specific training accounts.  When the last class was 
over and the school was closed, all the (like new) data 
communications equipment... over $50,000 (1970s) worth was taken out 
to a large dump truck.  While guards watched and supervisors took 
photos, aircraft crash axes and sledge hammers were taken on all of 
the equipment until is was nearly totally destroyed.  Now the slate 
was clean and no one had to worry about the equipment being used in a 
different account classification; and the cost of the school was 
neatly written off the books.

The real pain to the whole story above is that the field forces all 
over the Bell System was in dire need of the equipment due to the 
datacomm market which was growing at that time at about 30% per month.
Reminds me of a question a newly promoted manager asked the president 
of Illinois Bell. He wanted to know why it was so hard to get 
equipment for his technicians. (This was in the headquarters 
elevator).  The president looked over at Jerry's name badge and said 
"That's easy Mr. Henrickson, this year we are investing heavily in 
office furniture."   Jerry rolled his eyes up and did not say a word.

Executives, Bankers, Lawyers, and Accountants.  I have no use for most of them.

Don
Illinois Bell / Ameritech Retired
Tollgrade Communications Fired
soon to be Excelsus Retired









>Hope this isn't too much of a tangent, but teletype equipment was 
>involved. . .
>
>I recently toured an excellent Telephone Pioneers Museum in Lincoln, 
>Nebraska.  Lincoln Telephone & Telegraph Co. was one of the largest 
>independent phone companies in the nation and had been owned by the 
>same family from about 1900 until 1999 when it was sold to a 
>mega-conglomerate.
>
>On the tour, I asked about surplus teletype equipment.  The 
>volunteer told me that there had been a huge warehouse of past phone 
>(including teletype) equipment which pretty much went back the 100 
>years of the company's history.  When the new mega-company came in, 
>they had everything hauled to the landfill.  The Telephone Pioneers 
>tried to get some for the museum, some collectors made sizable 
>offers for the whole warehouse, but the company adamantly refused. 
>On the day they hauled the equipment to the dump, they posted guards 
>to make sure there would be no scavenging and crushed the equipment. 
>I was practically getting choked up listening to this story!
>
>My question is to the former phone guys on the list:  why would a 
>company not want anyone getting anything, even for a museum?  They 
>guy at the museum told me that it is still a mystery to everyone 
>there.  Can anyone help me understand this seemingly-unwarranted 
>carnage?
>
>Thanks,
>John, NJ0N

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------
Don Robert House, N.S.E.
Curator, NADCOMM
North American Data Communications Museum
3841 Reche Road
Fallbrook, CA 92028-3810
760-723-9943 Office
760-723-9984 FAX
URL: http://www.nadcomm.org
e-mail: drhouse@abac.com