From: chance wolf (chance_wolf@shaw.ca)
Date: Fri Mar 05 2004 - 11:12:45 PST
----- Original Message -----
From: "Geno" <truks@cs.quik.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2004 8:29 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] GL-auction: Anyone know what they pay for the stuff they
auction off? Here's one clue...
> Nahhhh..they wouldn't do that.....would they.??? :-)
> I do know for a fact..that without "live auctions" the US Government --
you
> and I...are losing millions.!!
> GL is not bringing in near as much as they should... Over 70% of the
buyers
> that used to buy at the auctions do not have computers...and they "ARE
the
> BUYERS"...or --WERE....
> Gene
I'm not an expert here by any means, but I heard that the deal GL has with
the Government is that they agree to purchase the items they in turn offer
for sale at auction for a fixed percentage of the item's book value
according to Uncle Sam. So, if you have a HMMWV with a book value of
$34,376, GL would pay, say, $343.76 (or whatever the actual percentage/scale
is.) If you just look at the items with an inherently high resale value,
on the surface of it GL stands to make a packet - but if one considers
things like "Widget. End Use Item F-16 Fighter Jet. Value $43,641.27" - GL
would still be paying the fixed percentage but would have no hope of
recouping the cost at auction. I imagine it works out as profitable when
all the items sold nationwide are all lumped together, but those poor bases
like Fort Lewis WA who wind up with triwalls of Widgets, F-16 and triwalls
and triwalls and triwalls of unsaleable Trident Submarine Diving Plane
Bushings ($436,257.39) instead of lots of lucrative trucks and electronics
and what-have-you, well...the ledger must be hurting.
(Please, please, please...if I'm out to lunch with that, a polite, informed
correction will be very much appreciated. Save your flames for your LD-465
heaters.)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat May 07 2005 - 20:29:10 PDT