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Originally Posted By: MarioD
I worked for a large company. They updated all of their computers, numbers in the thousands, a number of years ago. According to our government rules in order to declare them as a tax right off they had to destroy all of them, including the monitors. Such as waste! Many schools systems as well as employees could have used them and all they would have to purchase were hard drives, i.e they were destroyed in house.


Government rules also allow companies to donate whatever they want and get a charitable contribution deduction for it. My guess is they ran both sets of numbers and they got a bigger deduction by destroying them. The reason for destroying them btw, is the IRS "salvage" rules. If the numbers are large, this could trigger an audit if they don't have proof of that. This is an area where it's easy for a company to cheat by not destroying them but taking the depreciation anyway.

Things like this are not as obvious or as simple as it at first appears.

Bob


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Originally Posted By: Notes Norton
Originally Posted By: Simon - PG Music
Originally Posted By: etcjoe
It is unfortunate that laptops are not built for upgrades, at least not very many are.


Not many, if you're talking PC laptops, and approximately 0% if you're talking Mac or tablets.

Which is quite sad, as it generates a large amount of e-waste that fills up our oceans.

Unfortunately the corporate business model makes disposal more profitable for the corporation than repair.

It's easier to make a disposable product, and when it wears out, you have to buy an entire new one. That keeps the current corporate quarter bottom line up and the stockholders happy.

Capitalism does have many great features, but it also has a few flaws. I don't know how to fix those flaws.

Notes



This is another of those more complex that it looks things. There certainly could be an element of planned obsolescence going on but I'll take the more obvious view. Everybody including you will price shop items to death, right? I know I do. If I can get something for $20 less I will. To make these things easily upgradable and serviceable would drastically raise the price. Would you or any of us pay it when both machines have the same performance? Here's an upgradable laptop for $2500, here's a standard one where all the components are jammed in and it's not feasable to swap out the mobo for $1800. Both have the same components and performance but one is easy to open up and upgrade and the other is what he all have now. Would you or the general public pay the extra?

This is the same equation with the gazillions of items made in China and sold here. People yell buy "made in America" to keep our jobs here yet go online and find the cheapest price for socks, snowblowers, solar panels, whatever and the cheapest ones are all made in China. Where's the buy American/Canadian mantra then? Nowhere.

Price always wins out.

Bob


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Originally Posted By: jazzmammal

Government rules also allow companies to donate whatever they want and get a charitable contribution deduction for it. My guess is they ran both sets of numbers and they got a bigger deduction by destroying them. The reason for destroying them btw, is the IRS "salvage" rules. If the numbers are large, this could trigger an audit if they don't have proof of that. This is an area where it's easy for a company to cheat by not destroying them but taking the depreciation anyway.


Thanx for the explanation. I had no idea.


Originally Posted By: jazzmammal
Things like this are not as obvious or as simple as it at first appears.

Bob


IMHO nothing is obvious or even sensible when it comes to government rules and regulations.


Me, it's not about how many times you fail, it's about how many times you get back up.
Cop, that's not how field sobriety tests work.

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I suppose some things are better disposable than others. With huge 'landfill' mountains and disposed plastic everywhere, it seems to me, we need a better way than use, toss, and replace.

When I was a kid, the landfill was called a dump, and it was spread out, not even a hill. Now the landfill mountain is so high the tractor on top looks like a toy.

Before COVID Leilani and I would take a 2-mile (and back) walk on the beach. The trash we pick up is truly staggering. Sometimes more than we can carry in the net bags we take with us.

I'm just at odds with a disposable society. I try to consume less, make better choices, and dispose of properly.

To get rid of a computer properly here, it takes driving to the dump (oops! Landfill), getting in line behind idling garbage trucks, going through the gate, finding the place they move every time, and off-loading it myself. That wouldn't be so bad, but from the mouth of an ex-employee, it ends up in the landfill anyway because nobody wants it.

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Up here we have SunnKing, an end of life electric recycling company. They have a large warehouse factory were you drop off your electric items and they strip it of every that can be either reused or safely recycled.

As a contrast a very large portion of the paper, glass, metal, and plastic we place in out recycling bins goes to the landfills. That is information I obtained by the truck drivers handling the hauling.


Me, it's not about how many times you fail, it's about how many times you get back up.
Cop, that's not how field sobriety tests work.

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Originally Posted By: DSM
I worked at a university and by the time we took out the parts that were usable there was almost nothing left.

Full time faculty computers were given to part time faculty for work use only.

Administration computers were given to support staff for work use only.

And, some were sold very cheaply to students in need.

Pieces and parts were used to keep the above computers working.

Wasn't much left after that.

...Deb


Bought a couple of old Dell's from University of Miami a few years ago. They were very serviceable as they were but with a few bucks brought them up to the current standard at the time. Very cheap, like less than 100 bucks apiece to buy.


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Originally Posted By: MarioD
Up here we have SunnKing, an end of life electric recycling company. They have a large warehouse factory were you drop off your electric items and they strip it of every that can be either reused or safely recycled.

As a contrast a very large portion of the paper, glass, metal, and plastic we place in out recycling bins goes to the landfills. That is information I obtained by the truck drivers handling the hauling.


I think the amount of recycling outpaced the recyclers a while back. I watched a hotel house cleaner pick up the recycling bin and throw everything into the one garbage bag she had and move on. I keep trying though.


My wife asked if I had seen the dog bowl. I told her I didn't even know he could.
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The local Goodwill refurbishes desktops, laptops, printers and accessories. Goodwill offers computer hardware training and certified Microsoft software training. It's also a great place to obtain components.

Winston-Salem has seen a large turnover in corporations over the last decade so Goodwill has a huge stock of computers and accessories to choose from.

The North Carolina School of the Arts is also in Winston-Salem. They generously support Goodwill with mixers, power amps and other gear that gets replaced a lot so students can learn on the latest equipment.


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Originally Posted By: Notes Norton

Unfortunately the corporate business model makes disposal more profitable for the corporation than repair.

It's easier to make a disposable product, and when it wears out, you have to buy an entire new one. That keeps the current corporate quarter bottom line up and the stockholders happy.


Yes, definitely cheaper to make something that's uneconomic to repair, but there's something to be said for companies that actively make things harder to repair than they should be, like using custom screws that require a special screwdriver (or even one-way screws that can't unscrew), or gluing everything together so it can't be disassembled without destroying everything. It makes recycling much more difficult too, especially when integrated batteries are involved.

I'm glad that at least some parts of the world (Europe I think) are rolling out laws on reparability to try and combat the environmental issues of disposal.

Last edited by Simon - PG Music; 01/22/21 11:12 AM.

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Quote:
I'm glad that at least some parts of the world (Europe I think) are rolling out laws on reparability to try and combat the environmental issues of disposal.

Although slightly off-topic from the O/P's original request, Europe has had extremely strict laws on proper recycling management and regulated disposal of goods for many, many years. They may have lead the way in regulatory processes for effective waste management.


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We reuse what we can (thus the original post), recycle what we can (although the county always doesn't do its part), reduce what we can (do we want or need this), and refuse to buy what harms the environment if there is a better choice.

It seems the car companies found out that selling repair parts is profitable. I went to a local dealer for a recall and the parts department had an award for selling the most parts.

I don't have a lawn. Everything in my half acre is either a native plant or doesn't need irrigation or fertilizer. I mow around the house a bit, but the ground cover is native and not lawn. It's all xeriscape vegetation.

When I moved here in 1990 I planted over 2 dozen trees, mostly Live Oak plus a few Royal Poinciana, Sabal Palm, Neem, Sea Grape, and Gumbo Limbo trees. I live in a green canopy now except for directly over the roof.

I painted my roof white to reflect heat out of the atmosphere.

Everything that is allowed goes in the recycle bin if it can't be reused. I take cardboard boxes to a local pack-and-ship business who appreciates reusing them instead of buying new ones.

I learned how to drive my car to get 100 extra miles on each tank of gas over the EPA rating. That means much less gas used and much less polluting exhaust in the atmosphere.

I figure if we all do what we can, we can make a change.

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Insights and incites by Notes

In this case, "Insights and incites by Notes" grin


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Have any of you signed up for the +++ Repair.Org +++ newsletter?

The newsletter is a good way to find out about which representatives support right to repair legislation, which one don't, what gets said at congressional hearings and more.

Another great organization to know about is +++ I Fix It +++ They create service manuals, tear down guides and sell tool kits and parts for electronic consumables.


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Thanks!!!


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I just donated my 2003(?) IBM/Lenovo Think Pad to a friend on fixed income whose Dell was dropped into water. It has a new SSD and battery with two whole hours capacity!!!! Runs Windows 7 Professional just fine.

My company told me to recycle it 10 years ago. When I retired recently, I let them know I still had it but when IT asked if I would send it back, I said, Ok, reimburse me for the battery and SSD. "Keep it"

Although I used to work in Windows support for a local Silicon Valley employer, I've not used a Win computer for a decade — or wanted to.

So can a Think Pad be upgraded and repurposed? Sure. Is it worth it? Ya gotta think hard about that one.


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