A very useful thing to know, if you sell things that could be used by a company that would have need for a hundred pretty nice workstation GPUs, is how this calculation gets made in practice:
https://twitter.com/swiftonsecurity/status/1442703950424297473
Technologist: Residual value is $4k contingent on sale.
Manager: Do we have a buyer on the approved vendor list who will do The Usual with less than one phone call required?
Technologist: No.
Manager: Trash them.
Manager: Do we have a buyer on the approved vendor list who will do The Usual with less than one phone call required?
Technologist: No.
Manager: Trash them.
Technologist: Why?!?
Manager: We’d only spend hundreds of dollars of staff time, I.e. yours, if this was a simple matter of boxing them up and giving them to vendor. That might or might not be worth it given typical ROI on your time given current workload/priorities. However.
Manager: We’d only spend hundreds of dollars of staff time, I.e. yours, if this was a simple matter of boxing them up and giving them to vendor. That might or might not be worth it given typical ROI on your time given current workload/priorities. However.
Technologist: However?
Manager: However, it will cost us many, many thousands of dollars of staff time to get a new vendor onboard here.
Technologist: Vendor Qualification is that slow?!?
Manager: Only the tip of the iceberg. How much do you think Accounting needs to be involved?
Manager: However, it will cost us many, many thousands of dollars of staff time to get a new vendor onboard here.
Technologist: Vendor Qualification is that slow?!?
Manager: Only the tip of the iceberg. How much do you think Accounting needs to be involved?
Technologist: Accounting is basically never involved when I buy things.
Manager: Planning on buying anything?
Technologist: Or when we sell them… to a customer… ffffffffffuuuu.
Manager: Yeah ask about depreciation schedules sometime if they’re internal; external runs a meter.
Manager: Planning on buying anything?
Technologist: Or when we sell them… to a customer… ffffffffffuuuu.
Manager: Yeah ask about depreciation schedules sometime if they’re internal; external runs a meter.
Technologist: Trash then?
Manager: Trash then.
Technologist: Can I have one?
Manager: Formally no for similar reasons; informally most of the time in the tech industry I will simply pretend to have not heard this question.
Manager: Trash then.
Technologist: Can I have one?
Manager: Formally no for similar reasons; informally most of the time in the tech industry I will simply pretend to have not heard this question.
You are selling your software to Manager, not to Technologist, even if Technologist will be the primary pusher of buttons.
There do exist highly specialized ecosystems for electronic waste, and the tech industry does plug into them, but for predictable reasons it does not create those organizational pathways for one-offs which are far, far below its care floor.
Different story for e.g. server farms.
Different story for e.g. server farms.
“How does this happen elsewhere?”
Something I ran once bought someone a laptop for work. When we shut down, not having need for a used laptop and assessing the residual value as zero due to above reasoning, I directed us to sell it to them for a dollar.
Something I ran once bought someone a laptop for work. When we shut down, not having need for a used laptop and assessing the residual value as zero due to above reasoning, I directed us to sell it to them for a dollar.
That’s more paperwork oriented than most people would be but wellll have you met me?
(The rationale is that if you straight up give your employee a general purpose computing machine that is likely taxable compensation but if you sell them e-waste as a convenience to you…)
(The rationale is that if you straight up give your employee a general purpose computing machine that is likely taxable compensation but if you sell them e-waste as a convenience to you…)
“Are you sure that is OK?”
I will make the obligatory “Not an accountant and not your accountant” disclaimer but I stand ready to answer the relevant agency’s questions about the transaction if they ever have any.
It’s strictly a better outcome than binning the laptop.
I will make the obligatory “Not an accountant and not your accountant” disclaimer but I stand ready to answer the relevant agency’s questions about the transaction if they ever have any.
It’s strictly a better outcome than binning the laptop.
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