> 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.
Ah, I understand now. On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 12:41 PM, Robert S. DeLorey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 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] >> > >> > >
