I got a buddy at an unnamed Fortune 500 who shoves stuff out on the loading dock for me from time to time. With the price per square foot of AAA office space in Metro Atlanta, management has ordered that NOTHING - even working equipment - be stored. So my minivan shows up yesterday and I gets 5 or 6 17" Trinitrons, a couple of P3 class computers and a giant honkin network printer.

http://www.lexmark.com/US/products/o...k2fDE=,00.html

Now if I wuz to ride up to your front door and say "You want this printer free?" how many of you would jump at the chance? That's what I thought....

Do the same thing at an elementary school - which you KNOW has a lack of printer hardware - and you'd expect they'd be thrilled wouldn't you? Well you'd be wrong.

The first problem is that the printer has to be on the network to be of any use. And to be on the network the COUNTY has to approve the printer being added to the network. Security concerns. You all remember the Roger Corman epic THE LASER PRINTER THAT ATE CHILDREN don't you? Yeesh - like a laser printer could cause a virus ...

So there was some talk of making it the world's largest desktop printer. A couple of teachers were asked. They both declined.

The second problem is square feet. There just isn't enough square feet in the average classroom to support this thing. There was no room in the teacher's workroom. I even looked in a custodial closet but there was no network drop in there [but there was a phone!].

But the real problem with such a fine printer is the cost of replacement cartridges. They sell for $50+. The school is constantly having a problem keeping their local and network printers stocked with toner.

So in addition to some needless bureaucracy, it comes down to cash. Printers cost money. Network drops cost money. Square feet cost money. Toner costs money.

So even if you have nice stuff to give a school they may not be able to afford it. It's frustatrating I tell ya.

Now somebody come help me get this printer out the back of my van. It's heavy!

-MF

Drive it up here to KC, and I'll take it off your hands

[rant] Ugh, I've had similar problems with our school district. I wanted to donate some of my hardware (all usable, late-model enough to be useful in a middle-school classroom) to our local middle school, which both of my sisters attended at the time. Needless to say, "security risks" and costs involved prevented them from taking it.

That's fine and understandable until I get to my next point. They cannot take hardware because of the costs involved, however, if you have a PET that you can no longer take care of (mostly birds and/or reptiles and some fish) they will gladly take those off your hands to add to their "zoo."

Yes, I said zoo. They don't have any big animals (well, the iguana is somewhat large) but if it can live in a cage and you don't want it anymore, it can live in their pet room. I'm sorry, but the cost of maintaining a computer has to be less than taking care of 12 leopard geckos and a ****atoo. [/rant]

EDIT- wow, now that's a powerful content editor... LOL

Oh and Monsignor, I'll meet ya in Chattanooga and relieve you of some of that excess weight in your van...

Nothing new... Red Tape will screw up good intentions very quickly.

Lots of huge companies throw out perfectly good stuff instead of selling or donating surplus items because of "liability" issues.

Quote: Originally Posted by prime-evil Nothing new... Red Tape will screw up good intentions very quickly. Lots of huge companies throw out perfectly good stuff instead of selling or donating surplus items because of "liability" issues.

Exactly, hang out in the back of a hospital when they throw away the perfectly good flat panel monitors... because the 19 inchers just wern't big enough, they had to go for dual 21 inches

With a friend that used to work at a computer recycler I know this all to well. Companies used to drop off crates of last years 'old' computers. Well they got everything from main frames, to XBox's, stereo equipment, TV's and projectors. Basically after a company has amortized their computer hardware, and they right it off their books, they can get tax credits by sending it to a recycler at least that's my understanding.

But I'd have to agree with printers and photocopiers being one of the more useless of second hand products, not only are they extremely common, if you get em second hand you get no telephone support or warrenty, which is important for the large ones. But I'd recommend looking to see if you have a local computer recycler because you can get some smokin hardware for next to nothing.

My little sister goes to a small Christian school. They (and schools like them) often don't have the bureaucracy of public schools or the funding of "elite" private schools, so they've been very grateful for donations in the past (and I help keep them on PC's instead of Macs )