local school auction turns to crap

boomerang69 · Aug 19, 2020

been a while since I posted but have been enjoying everyones post.I wanted to ask if anyone has been to your local school system surplus auctions to find most of the stuff comepletely destroyed.This past Saturday I went to hopefully buy a kondia mill with prototrak age control that was hardly used before the program was shut down.also there was a tool and cutter grinder there that has never been used I was interested in.When I got there I found the mill had been thrown off the back of a truck and the grinder was broken, bent, busted,there was skill involved in tearing it up.There were 2 bridgeports ,one like new excerpt for the pieces broken off of it.I think they lifted them by the tables.Vertical bandsaws with busted castings,I could go on and on.Its bad enough our school system doesn't offer trades anymore but to let the equipment be destroyed is just plain hateful.I truly see our tax dollars at work here,sorry but I needed to vent.

Guest · Aug 19, 2020

Where at in Va? I was shocked once when I went to an auction of equipment held at a military base, machines that were of the age to be nice if well cared for were nothing but scrap from being stored outside in areas common for sandstorms and summer thunderstorms. This was in the So Cal desert.

Dumpster_diving · Aug 19, 2020

Tragedy of the commons to be sure.

boomerang69 · Aug 19, 2020

Halifax County,The kitchen equipment like huge mixers were strapped to pallets and all the parts that went with them was on pallets shrink wrapped.the damn machine tools were spread out all over the place.We couldn't figure out why they didn;t tear that stuff up as well.I attended school here and the vocational programs were top of the line.Now I wonder if they even feed the students anymore.

dalmatiangirl61 · Aug 19, 2020

Machinery, nobody uses that crap anymore, but that restaurant equipment is expensive, be careful with that!

reggie_obe · Aug 19, 2020

boomerang69 said:
Halifax County,The kitchen equipment like huge mixers were strapped to pallets and all the parts that went with them was on pallets shrink wrapped. Now I wonder if they even feed the students anymore.

The outsourced the kitchen and fired all the school kitchen employees. They've convinced the district they can provide the food at a lower cost made in a central kitchen and trucked in than cooking it in-house and fresh.

Pathogen · Aug 19, 2020

At least the equipment was there. I would have been less surprised if you said the teachers stole it.

projectnut · Aug 19, 2020

It could be a function of who's budget originally paid for the equipment, and where the proceeds from the sale will be going. Our local technical college bought a couple dozen Servo brand drives for the X axis on some of their Bridgeports. The old F6 and F8 drives were removed and thrown in a store room.

I tried to buy one but was told the department will never sell them. Before they would sell them to the public they would destroy them and sell them as scrap. The reasoning was that the money to buy the originals had to come out of that departments budget. However if they sell anything the proceeds had to go into the general fund. The department head wasn't pleased with the decision saying if the money to buy something had to come out of his budget the money gained from selling it should return to his budget.

Needless to say the department head and the administrators were deadlocked. So rather than sell anything it was being destroyed and sold as scrap.

Cole2534 · Aug 19, 2020

projectnut said:
It could be a function of who's budget originally paid for the equipment, and where the proceeds from the sale will be going.

Accurate and detailed accounting is very important to an organization's success, but man these horror stories suck to read.

Dan from Oakland · Aug 19, 2020

No one trashes perfectly good machine tools like our military and govmt does. There must be a stupidity medal that someone gets to pin on their chest.

kustomizer · Aug 19, 2020

Dan from Oakland said:
No one trashes perfectly good machine tools like our military and govmt does. There must be a stupidity medal that someone gets to pin on their chest.

Wife was Navy, one ship she was on wanted some new stuff but couldn't get it because they still had the old stuff, piece by piece they made a list of what they needed as the old ones went swimming, she was shocked to watch it happen.

TGTool · Aug 19, 2020

kustomizer said:
Wife was Navy, one ship she was on wanted some new stuff but couldn't get it because they still had the old stuff, piece by piece they made a list of what they needed as the old ones went swimming, she was shocked to watch it happen.

What?? What if the lathes have never learned how to swim? That's just cruel and heartless.

Mebfab · Aug 19, 2020

Well, what did the machines bring? Wouldn't be surprised someone payed good money.

Bill D · Aug 19, 2020

I was told it looked better on paper if the tools sell for scrap prices. If they sell for good money it makes it seem like the tools and the program was a good thing and should not have been dumped. If they sell for good money they wer eworth saving for use later and should be stored somewhere for some cost.
Bill D

Bill D · Aug 19, 2020

I have read the military stuff has to have all the hazardous materilas removed before sale and storage. So all oil and grease is steam cleaned and collected for hazardous disposial. then the stuff sits outside until sale. Even in the desert it is damp enough to cause rust in a year or more outside.
Bill D

9100 · Aug 19, 2020

This is nothing new. In the 50s I heard about Coast Guard boats towing an big bucket that acted like a parachute on the Mississippi to use up fuel because if they had any left over, their allocation would be cut. Another Coast Guardsman told about crushing good radios then certifying they were unfit for service so they could request new ones. Anther factor is that merchants would object to selling the machines because it would impact their sales.

Bill

PeteM · Aug 19, 2020

Metal shop staff at high schools is mostly a distant memory. Could be the last year or two of use were under an completely unqualified instructor -- with near zero experience and funds? One expects a high school machine to have "oops" marks here and there - but things busted should be semi-rare and repaired sooner than later.

At the community college level, at least around here, the pay is so lousy it's hard to keep great instructors. Somehow our local 2 yr. school manages a pretty impressive program, but it's more a labor of love for the engineering faculty than a decent-paying job.

woodsrider845 · Aug 19, 2020

Can you imagine the mortality rate of a current high school shop class? These fucking idiots would try to braid their hair in a lathe, and pierce everyones tongues with a mill.

Huh. Too bad insurance premiums are so high, and parents are so fucking stupid and sue happy...............

donie · Aug 19, 2020

Low hours gov owned machines

boomerang69 · Aug 20, 2020

Mebfab said:
Well, what did the machines bring? Wouldn't be surprised someone payed good money.

The kitchen equipment was purchased by a guy who sells, refurbishes that stuff.The kondia mill sold for 1200.00 .Their were 4 standard modern lathes ,one with dro sold for 3500.00, two sold for around 1000.00 each, and the last one sold for 100.00.The other damaged eguipment sold for scrap.

local school auction turns to crap

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