How much is this worth?

Back in the 60's my Dad's college had a prank contest.  And like in most colleges in that era, a VW Bug was the victim of one of the pranks.  A group disassembled the bug, and reassembled it on the 12th floor of one of the buildings.  Hilarious, right?

OK, now to the point.  If you were the owner of that bug and were trying to sell it, how much would you think it is worth now that it is on the 12th floor?  Well, Kelly Blue Book may list it as $4000 if it is in good shape, but the truth of the matter is that you may end up having to pay somebody to take it off your hands for you.

So it is with Liquidating an office.  Many of our customers get sticker shock when they are told how much their furniture is worth.  What they forget is, like our metaphorical Bug, there is a lot of labor in getting the furniture out.  On top of that, buildings typically require a pretty stiff Certificate of Insurance (COI) to move anything out (not cheap).  Then you add in the fact that they won't typically let you move things out during business hours, so you are probably going to have to pay somebody overtime to remove the furniture.

If a liquidator is purchasing your items, they will need to cover all the above labor costs, plus the expense of the vehicle they use to haul the furniture back to their facility, plus the warehousing costs (which in a city like DC is NOT cheap), plus the labor costs of removing the furniture from the truck, plus a salespersons salary to sell the item.

So, we get a lot of phone calls, "Hi, I'd like to donate our furniture to you."  Unfortunately, I grimace every time I get that call, because I know what they are asking is, "will you come pick up our furniture for free?"

So then, here is a guide.  If the items you are liquidating are a popular line from a popular company, AND are a common item that will fit anywhere, AND are in mint condition, AND you have a lot of matching items, you should HOPE to get 10% of what you originally paid for them.

Ouch!  I know.

Why I'm not adding another leaf to our logo on Earth Day

Earth Day is a strange day for us at Etreev.  I have been trying to figure out what it is, and I can only come up with an Elvis song, "Why can't every day be like Christmas?"  (Substitute 'Christmas' for 'Earth Day').

I love the outdoors, I love the 3 R's.  I geek out on new breakthroughs in sustainable design.  But I don't get excited about Earth Day.  I think, like Christmas, it is a tad too commercial.  Earth Day shouldn't be about reminding people how sustainable you are by turning your logo green.  Earth Day shouldn't be about trying to take advantage of everybody's inner angst for not recycling by selling new products.  Today, Starbucks is giving away free coffee to those of us who bring in their own mugs.  Heck Yeah I'll be there.  The problem is that I will probably have to drive out of my way to get there, and the TRULY green thing to do would be to be satisfied with the 6 cups of coffee I've already had.

I propose that Earth Day should be about taking a day encourage each other to make a sacrifice, whether small or large, to ensure a better tomorrow for our children.  If you see a can in the trash, pick it out and recycle it.  If you purchase bottled water every day, choose to bring a reusable bottle (by the way, if you've seen mine let me know, I lost it).

So, here is what I am going to do:  put my computer in "Power Saver Mode", and spend a little extra time with my kids today (and I'll make sure the Starbucks I go to is on my way).  Little things, I know, but that's what I think Earth Day should be about.