Nate, It isn't a question of having leverage with the grantors. BWorks itself made the decision to be self sufficient in regard to operating costs. I wouldn't deviate from that without a full Board discussson and approval. It would put us back into the same precarious financial position we were in prior to 2005. I double checked my statement in regard to ByteWorks Enterprise and they aren't missing their goal by much. I don't think it would be very difficult to ramp up their operation. As we develop a business plan over the next few months maybe we can include some additional sources of sales like selling cannibalized parts on e-bay (I just paid $35.00 for a used hard drive for my laptop.)
Steve --- In [email protected], "nneff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > The proposed purchase approach would increase ByteWORKS operating > > expenses by about $4,000 to $5,000 per year. ByteWORKS Enterprise > > isn't generating enough sales to cover their operating expenses > > now. Where is the additional money going to come from? > > Steve, > > Do you think that we would have more leverage with our grant writers > if we would double or triple the amount of computers and classes that > we teach per year? This would help offset the $4000 cost per year of > buying additional machines. > > --Nate > > --- In [email protected], Steve DeLorey <deloporp3@> wrote: > > > > Random thoughts on the subject. > > > > What about ByteWORK Enterprise activity? Do we intend to continue to > try to sell computers to the public? Would any of these purchased > computers end up being sold? > > > > Early on, we had opportunities to purchase end-of-lease machines > directly from a leasing company, or in some cases directly from large > corporations who owned the machines but we didn't have any cash to > work with. Should we investigate that possibility again? > > > > How many volunteer hours do we average per refurbished computer at > the present time? > > How many would we average with purchased machines? > > > > If EPC can make money at the suggested prices, why can't we? Do they > also have the advantage of volunteer labor? > > > > The proposed purchase approach would increase ByteWORKS operating > expenses by about $4,000 to $5,000 per year. ByteWORKS Enterprise > isn't generating enough sales to cover their operating expenses now. > Where is the additional money going to come from? > > > > Steve DeLorey > > > > > > > > --- On Tue, 9/2/08, mej@ <mej@> wrote: > > > > From: mej@ <mej@> > > Subject: Re: [bworks_shop] Purchasing PCs > > To: [email protected] > > Date: Tuesday, September 2, 2008, 9:30 AM > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Let me just go ahead and get this out of the way now: > > > > If we can find a viable and sustainable means to support the continued > > purchase of hardware from an area resller, I'm all for it. > > > > I'd like to reiterate and reaffirm (and hopefully do more than > simply repeat) > > a couple of Nate's points, albeit from the shop perspective: > > > > [1] Increased throughput. > > > > Buying "naked" and (assumably) fully-functioning machines would greatly > > reduce the amount of time spent tearing apart and rebuilding hardware. > > Less time spent per machine means more boxes in the same amount of time. > > > > For this to be of any value, we'd obviously have to increase the > number of > > students coming through our doors. But something tells me that's not a > > problem. =) > > > > [2] Newer hardware. > > > > Much of the stuff EPC buys is corporate, end-of-lease hardware. As the > > industry standard for the desktop PC lifecycle is typically two (2) to > > three (3) years, this would provide us much more recent hardware than we > > normally see. > > > > Newer hardware would not only have a longer service life, but the > > increased performance capabilities of the machines may afford us the > > opportunity to include things in the cirriculum that would otherwise > prove > > difficult. (More media-centric tasks perhaps?) > > > > Additionally, these end-of-lease machines are usually bought in lots. If > > we in turn purchase a quantity of identical (or near-identical) PCs, > this > > consistency should simplify things for the shop. > > > > (It should also alleviate any disparity- perceived or otherwise- between > > students in the same class.) > > > > > > Well, there's my $0.02. > > > > -mej- > > :wq! > > > > On Tue, Sep 02, 2008 at 06:41:09AM -0000, nneff wrote: > > > I am in absolute favor of researching the idea of purchasing PCs from > > > WITS, or EPC or other computer re-sellers that sell "naked" PCs. > > > > > > I called EPC in St. Charles several months ago, and received a price > > > of ~$70 for significantly better PCs than the ones that Robert > > > mentioned. If we can mitigate this price with a donation from EPC or > > > other grants, then I can see Byteworks doubling the number of students > > > that we teach, as well as providing them with machines that will be > > > usable for a longer time than the ones we're providing now. > > > > > > This will not obviate the need for the shop-side of Byteworks. We > > > will still need the shop to process the purchased computers, install > > > software, and still take in donated computers. In fact, I could see > > > the need for *more* shop volunteers due to the increased amount of > > > throughput. > > > > > > There would be a lot of work in buying the computers, installing > > > software, finding peripherals, etc.. In addition, I bet we'd get a > > > fair amount of DOA computers that we'd have to take back, even from > > > vendors like WITS. This would need to be taken into consideration. > > > > > > There is a definite price-point that I would like to identify, and I > > > will bring it up at the next board meeting. If we could double our > > > student throughput, we could make a great case for getting more grants > > > as well. > > > > > > I would appreciate thoughts, especially from our shop volunteers about > > > the issues we'd have to consider if we would buy some of our > > > computers. I think it's in Byteworks best interest to continue to > > > take donated computers/equipment . It is very valuable to maintain a > > > community relationship where people can see their donations going > > > towards a worthy cause. > > > > > > We've discussed this before, but it would be nice to get a refresher > > > on the subject. Please throw any links to prior discussions onto this > > > conversation if that would help. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > >
