[Milsurplus] Goverment Liquidators

Tue Apr 26 11:07:21 EDT 2005

I used to be a screener for the University of Texas.  As the Program
Coordinator for Research Equipment my job
milsurplus at mailman.qth.netwas to haunt NASA, and several different
military bases to look for neat things, like a BRAND NEW electron
microscope from NASA (about $2,000,000 worth, and bring them home to
UT.  I usual spent 2 days a week on the road at various facilities.  
I can tell you of many cases where unscrupulous surplus dealers would
switch "tags" on equipment that I had tagged for the University and
replace them with their tags. The forklift operator in the warehouse
doesnt know the difference and someone else gets your stuff. Other
stories of university personnel (from other universities, of course)
who also did that.  Then there was the outright theft of small items. 
If it was small enough to go in your pocket, someone would pick it up.
 In a warehouse that was as large as the one in the final scene of
"Raiders of the Lost Arc" and only about 20 fork lift operators to
watch it, it was easy to steal small stuff for those with no scruples.

It was a great job in some ways but it was frustrating to see nice
equipment that I could not even bid on at the later auctions (conflict
of interest) go to dealers whom I knew were going to crush them for
scrap metal.

Most of the University people were honest, but that is more than I can
say about the surplus dealers.

On 4/26/05, Peter Gottlieb <nerd at verizon.net> wrote:
> Let me tell you what I know.  Govliquidation has the exclusive contract to
> sell DRMO equipment to the public, although there are still sales which
> happen outside of this channel.  Obviously there are dealers who get stuff
> from these other channels.  They could never sell at the prices they do if
> they went through govliquidation!
> 
> DRMO has a process called "screening."  What happens is that when surplus
> equipment is turned into them, eligible agencies send "screeners" to take a
> look and tag/reserve items they want.  If multiple agencies want the same
> item there is a priority scheme.  Once screening is completed (date
> deadline) all equipment is then made available or sent to the agencies who
> tagged it.  After all this is done, the remaining equipment is compared
> against a list and any sensitive items (eg, the stuff we want) is ground up
> and destroyed.  Everything that remains is given to govliquidation for
> public sale.  But this process is very error prone.
> 
> Now, let's say someone at an agency sees a piece of equipment they want on
> govliquidation.  They make a call, file a form, and that item is pulled from
> the sale.  This is what happened to some Harris Falcon sets that were on
> recently.
> 
> The Rolm computers (ruggedized PDP-11's) do pop up here and there.  I had a
> few, actually sold them to the company that supports them for the military
> for about what I paid for them.  Mine had the radiation proof memory and the
> firmware to control some current missle system and should never have been
> released, but at least they ended up back where they should be.  One was
> brand new!
> 
> As for locations, they do that to save money by reducing the number of
> locations.  For the government, travel is free (YOU pay for it), so what do
> they care?  Be really really careful with them as recently I heard a horror
> story of someone who paid thousands for some radio equipment in boxes and
> when it arrived the boxes were empty.  There was no recourse, and to add
> insult to injury, the buyer was told that he was responsible if those radios
> ever ended up somewhere they shouldn't be.  And I'm not even telling you
> about the outright criminal behavior that happens.
> 
> Peter
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ray Fantini" <RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu>
> To: <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 9:30 AM
> Subject: [Milsurplus] Goverment Liquidators
> 
> > It's interesting to see others have had issues with Government
> > Liquidators too, although I have not had the issue where they have sold
> > an item and wanted it back, or not released it, but have had several
> > sales mysteriously disappear. One lot did include a nice Harris sincgars
> > radio; a couple others involved old Rolm computers. Have been trying to
> > put together a Rolm system for a while now and have had bids in on lots
> > and then they just disappear, like they were never their. Anyone know
> > what the relationship between Government Liquidators and the DRMO is? Do
> > any local DRMO local spot sales still exist? Would have thought that the
> > lots Government Liquidators offers are screened before release for
> > online sale? And do not remember if when you fax back the end use stuff
> > if it goes to them or some other agency?, and last but not least why is
> > all the good stuff always beyond driving distance?, theirs always great
> > deals in Hawaii and Alaska. Maybe these are all questions with no
> > answer, kind of like why the Navy has a huge supply depot in the middle
> > of Mechanicsburg Pa, don't look like theirs any deep water around
> > their to me.
> > Ray Fantini KA3EKH
> >
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-- 
Jim Isbell
"If you are not living on the edge, well then, 
you are just taking up too much space."
W5JAI
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