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geekhack Marketplace => Great Finds => Topic started by: ander on Wed, 20 April 2016, 17:42:23

Title: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: ander on Wed, 20 April 2016, 17:42:23
You read that right! Here's your chance to own over 10 tons of cheap discarded and surplus keyboards:

Bulk Lot Of 21000 Lbs Of Keyboards (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bulk-Lot-Of-21000-Lbs-Of-Keyboards-/272212613028)


(http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/KDgAAOSwJMhXEIs0/s-l1600.jpg)


Just think of it: 31 gaylords full of cheap keyboards nobody wants—all yours! Bids starting at just $8,500.00!

Buyer must pick up locally in beautiful San Ramon, Calif., home to the headquarters of the Chevron Corporation and numerous goofy, tasteless monster houses like this one:


(http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/media/scene/big2/00/21/46/74/21467472.jpg)


You'll never forgive yourself if you pass up this unique opportunity to own over 10 tons of useless crap! Bid now!
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: trenzafeeds on Wed, 20 April 2016, 19:51:04
what the ****
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: rowdy on Wed, 20 April 2016, 21:59:29
I wonder what shipping cost to Australia would be ...
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: Touch_It on Wed, 20 April 2016, 22:22:04
I wonder what shipping cost to Australia would be ...

Probably be cheaper to move to the US :D.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: jwaz on Wed, 20 April 2016, 22:24:58
Wonder if they'd let me drive over and preview it
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: Venatorious on Wed, 20 April 2016, 22:37:52
That starting bid LMFAO  :))  :))  :))
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: rowdy on Wed, 20 April 2016, 22:48:08
I wonder how they got so many keyboards in the first place.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: jbondeson on Wed, 20 April 2016, 22:50:02
Wonder if they'd let me drive over and preview it

You'd really need to be able to. $8,500 for what amounts to e-waste would net you -$15k as you'd have to pay to move, store and then dispose of it properly.

Those Dell keyboards are a total loss you wouldn't be able to give them away for shipping costs. You'd need a rather high percentage of NIB modern keyboards and decent vintage boards to make this even close to a net-neutral buy :/
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: Elth on Wed, 20 April 2016, 22:58:49
I wonder how they got so many keyboards in the first place.


Probably an e-waste recycling center. Tons of those to service the Silicon Valley.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: jonathanyu on Wed, 20 April 2016, 23:24:58
i remember there was a auction of 30000 pounds of keyboard that had a start bid of $50... it's not from ebay though
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: E3E on Thu, 21 April 2016, 00:27:24
And not a single one was good. I'd laugh--as long as I wasn't the one paying. :P
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: whentheclouds on Thu, 21 April 2016, 01:17:30
don't know anything about architecture, what makes you say the house's design is tasteless? i'm guessing because of the middle section?
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: Venatorious on Thu, 21 April 2016, 01:36:48
Not enough sculptures
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: evangs on Thu, 21 April 2016, 02:43:42
Looks like a lot of trash, opening bid is way too high


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: whentheclouds on Thu, 21 April 2016, 02:44:18
Not enough sculptures
are you referring to the disturbing lack of garden gnomes
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: rowdy on Thu, 21 April 2016, 05:56:57
Not enough sculptures
are you referring to the disturbing lack of garden gnomes

I'd rather not hear about garden gnomes.

I have this thing about them since HL2.  And yes, I did complete the quest.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: kekman on Fri, 22 April 2016, 01:43:42
this is the perfect opportunity to start my dell membrane group buy on /r/mk
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: chyros on Fri, 22 April 2016, 03:27:35
Do they use "pounds" in Canada?
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: ander on Fri, 22 April 2016, 22:43:05
Come to think of it, you'd need a house that big for that many KBs.

Do they use "pounds" in Canada?

Nope, but that seller's in the States.

Oh, too bad, the auction ended without any bids. I wonder if they're going to start offering the boxes separately?
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: Blaise170 on Sun, 24 April 2016, 20:57:54
So I did the math on this and I found that this is actually not a bad price. If we don't take labor and chemical costs into consideration, and we assume that each keyboard is approximately 1 lb each then:


Of course, I'm not taking labor and chemical recovery costs into consideration here and I'm making some assumptions based on things I don't know, but this could actually be a pretty viable profit if you had the chemical recovery setup for it.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: chyros on Sun, 24 April 2016, 23:54:34
So I did the math on this and I found that this is actually not a bad price. If we don't take labor and chemical costs into consideration, and we assume that each keyboard is approximately 1 lb each then:

  • We have approximately 21,000 keyboards.
  • Approximately 70 keyboards gives us a pound of mylar sheets.
  • Each pound of mylar gives us about 12oz of silver (according to research I did).
  • At a current price of approximately $17 per gram, we end up with a total value of approximately (3600oz * $17.02) = $61,000.

Of course, I'm not taking labor and chemical recovery costs into consideration here and I'm making some assumptions based on things I don't know, but this could actually be a pretty viable profit if you had the chemical recovery setup for it.
One of the recycling centres I visited actually did harvest the silver off of keyboards, but they stopped doing it because iit was too labour intensive for too little money.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: ThoughtArtist on Mon, 25 April 2016, 20:37:28
This gentleman might be interested:

http://www.likep.com/2011/09/artist-creates-space-shuttle-mosaic.html

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: rowdy on Mon, 25 April 2016, 21:56:05
Or this guy:

http://www.homeharmonizing.com/2013/02/19/throne-of-nerds-keyboard-chair-by-mike-dewolfe/

[attachimg=1]
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: ander on Wed, 27 April 2016, 04:36:29
LOL—now there's a comfortable-looking piece of furniture.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: rowdy on Wed, 27 April 2016, 05:31:43
LOL—now there's a comfortable-looking piece of furniture.

You'd end up with little indentations all down your arms and legs.  And other places.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: ander on Thu, 28 April 2016, 02:32:41
But imagine if they were actually connected to a computer. If you sat in it long enough, you could eventually type all the works of Shakespeare. Or at least the lyrics to a hit pop tune. The 2nd one is much more likely.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: katushkin on Mon, 02 May 2016, 22:07:31
Wait, 31 what of keyboards?
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: 1391406 on Mon, 02 May 2016, 23:53:40
$8,500 for 10˝ tons of garbage.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: mike52787 on Wed, 04 May 2016, 20:59:35
Wait, 31 what of keyboards?
gaylord boxes.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: rowdy on Wed, 04 May 2016, 21:31:55
Wait, 31 what of keyboards?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaylord_(container)
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: ander on Thu, 05 May 2016, 03:43:02
It was a close decision between calling them that or "elbow macaroni boxes".
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: katushkin on Thu, 05 May 2016, 20:08:49
I read the listing to the guys at work and they all cracked up laughing. I actually can't believe they are called gaylords.
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: HoffmanMyster on Thu, 05 May 2016, 20:46:32
I read the listing to the guys at work and they all cracked up laughing. I actually can't believe they are called gaylords.

You'd have a fun time in most manufacturing facilities. Gaylords, bung holes, ... well that's actually all I can think of right now but there are some good names out there I promise.  :))
Title: Re: 21,000 pounds of keyboards
Post by: ander on Mon, 09 May 2016, 20:59:30
Just think of all the new words they had to create for computer stuff. They could've had a lot more fun with that, if you ask me. But no.