Ham Radio and the "Bad" Economy

[k4kyv]

I see ads all over the internet and frequently hear discussions over the air about hams having to dispose of cherished equipment due to the "state of the economy".  In a few cases, this is understandable: the person or his spouse was just laid off, they are facing foreclosure on their home, their mortgage payments were jacked up 300%, they had all their life savings tied up in company stock that evaporated, etc.  But many of these people still have good well-paying jobs, their mortgage payments remain stable if it has not already been paid off in full, and their retirement savings is still relatively intact.

So if someone still has a good job, a retirement account and their house payments have remained under control during the current "crisis", why would the "economy" force them to sell off some or all of their ham gear?

[Pete, WA2CWA]

So if someone still has a good job, a retirement account and their house payments have remained under control during the current "crisis", why would the "economy" force them to sell off some or all of their ham gear?

They probably figure that "emotion" can drive a faster sale and/or less price negotiating.  The emotion sales pitch, "ESP" should always be in the inventory of any good sales person.

[KF1Z]

Exactly,
They figure that they need to justify saying "this unit is in fantastic shape, works great!".

Too afraid that a prospective buyer will think..."Well, if it's so great, why would you sell it?"
And get suspicious.

I 'almost' never feel the need to justify selling something.
A good/believable  reason is NOT a selling point.


If you were to follow some of these sellers... chances are, they have turned around and bout a more expensive piece of equipment with the proceeds from a "economically driven sale".
Obviously, there'd be a few exceptions....

[ka3zlr]

Is a Good subject matter, and I still feel that towards the Fall of the year there will be a really Decent Growth period. So,..If ya can make a Good Buc have at it.....

73
Jack.

[Opcom]

the best reason for selling is you don't need it for xx reason. have too many of them, getting out of the pastime, etc. But afroementioned, there's never any need to justify selling. it's a pitch. At the hamfest, rather than asking why I was selling CRTs, people asked me where I had got so many and or where did they come from. ahh.. this one came from DuMont. This one came from RCA.. I'd wish people would just disucss the sale and not dig into the reasons behind it.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

"We have a thousand reasons, but not a single excuse..."

No matter why someone sells something, the reasons always boil down to the same thing, money is better than what ever the item up for sale is at the time. Then it boils down to more money is better than less money.

Besides, everyone knows that if you want to make REAL money, you slap a Collins meatball logo on it and come up with some fascinating story about how this rig was built from the original parts used By Mr Collins to signal for help from a lifeboat while simultaneously performing an emergency apendectomy during a hurricane... 

The story might even be worth the price!

[Jim, W5JO]

The AM mode has reached it zenith and is decending.  Many of these people were caught up in the frenzy of collecting and temporary operating.  I see it here in the Southwest.  Most of the people that I heard regularly in 1999 are no longer on the air nor are they maintaining their gear.

The people who meet on the frequencies where the regulars did meet are still busy, but you better know about Peterbuilt and Catapiller. 

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I'm not sure this last post has anything to do with Don's original statement "I see ads all over the internet and frequently hear discussions over the air about hams having to dispose of cherished equipment due to the "state of the economy"." He made no mention that AM'ers were disposing of their equipment. At a hamfest this past Saturday, I saw AM rigs being offered for sale (heck, even I sold one in pristine shape) but there were quite a few SSB transceivers and just general type receivers for sale, and many typical ancillary-type accessories that can be found in any AM, CW, and SSB operator's station. In my opinion, AM's upswing or decline, depending on your own interpretation of what that even really means, has little to do with Don's observation on the reason for the disposition of equipment.

[WB2YGF]

I'm not sure these last two posts have anything with Don's original statement

Sorry.  Post deleted.

[W1ATR]

Besides, everyone knows that if you want to make REAL money, you slap a Collins meatball logo on it and come up with some fascinating story about how this rig was built from the original parts used By Mr Collins to signal for help from a lifeboat while simultaneously performing an emergency apendectomy during a hurricane... 
 

It's funny when you see something like this show up on epay and the jackasses jump all over it like it has Art's preserved head inside. Last one I saw was an antenna tuner built into what looked like an old heath sb-200 box colored up to match the s-line stuff. It came with a nicely prepared "prototype" story and the frenzied meatball lovers bid it to the moon.

[John K5PRO]

There is one more factor that may be sometimes contributing to the selling off of equipment. Its the EBAY factor. I know more than one person who has been caught up with the craze of buying everything they could ever need or want, old rigs, test equipment, industrial equipment, collectables, trinkets, just because it was on ebay and they couldn't resist making an offer (and winning once their offer was above the rest).

I just attended to an 'estate' auction Saturday, which is a funny term since the owner still is around. The XYL had passed away after some time in a home, which was draining funds too. I noticed that there were numerous nice pieces of equipment that typical non-ham homeowner wouldn't have, such as CNC mill, various lapidary machines, a nickle plating system, thermal oven, presses, cutters, grinders, tractors, bigger tractors, and so on. A few items had obvious ebay marking or invoices. I got the feeling that the OM and XYL both had a compulsion to buy lots of stuff, in case they would find time to use it. But eventually it all was sold off, too much stuff and not enough time in life.

I did, however, begin my collection of the same stuff, buying some equipment and a lil' diesel tractor. I dread the day I have to sell off my junk....

[Opcom]

Besides, everyone knows that if you want to make REAL money, you slap a Collins meatball logo on it and come up with some fascinating story about how this rig was built from the original parts used By Mr Collins to signal for help from a lifeboat while simultaneously performing an emergency apendectomy during a hurricane... 
 

It's funny when you see something like this show up on epay and the jackasses jump all over it like it has Art's preserved head inside. Last one I saw was an antenna tuner built into what looked like an old heath sb-200 box colored up to match the s-line stuff. It came with a nicely prepared "prototype" story and the frenzied meatball lovers bid it to the moon.

I wonder how it feels to later discover one has been swindled and taken for a fool for so large a sum.

I wonder who has the original meatball stamp/die set.

1. Move to Canada and start buying up s-line-like cabinets and old junk military radios.
2. Tart up the old cabinets and install various guts, even using the special plugs, etc..
3. stamp out the meatballs and wings.., blazon them on the fronts. The local labor will be very cheap..
4. find shill in USA, split the take.

[k4kyv]

I wonder who has the original meatball stamp/die set.

1. Move to Canada and start buying up s-line-like cabinets and old junk military radios.
2. Tart up the old cabinets and install various guts, even using the special plugs, etc..
3. stamp out the meatballs and wings.., blazon them on the fronts. The local labor will be very cheap..
4. find shill in USA, split the take.

You meant Mexico, didn't you?

[Jeff W9GY]

Don, believe it or not, some folks have lost their pensions and health care.  Call it the economy or whatever you like but, believe me, some folks are getting hit very hard.  This, unfortunately, is a reality in these "bad" economic times. 

[WB2YGF]

Yeah, it's pretty bad.  9.5% UN-employment doesn't tell the real story of all the UNDER-employment.  My company has cut all the employees they possibly can and the ones that are left (like me) are averaging 16 hours/week.  (Two 4 day weeks/month, with 2 weeks on unemployment.)  Fortunately, I still have my health care even though I wouldn't normally qualify for it as a "part time" employee.

It hasn't driven me to do anything crazy yet -  like sell my ham equipment. 

[KE6DF]

The stock market, over the last year, has devastated many people's retirement funds (e.g., IRAs, 401Ks). 

I live in Sacramento, and here house prices have declined about 40% leaving many owners owing more in mortgages than their house is currently worth.

And NorCal is not unique in this.

With unemployment around 11% that means that 89% still  have jobs.

But even people with jobs are becoming more financially conservative, want to cut debt, and raise cash in case they lose jobs next.

So I'm not surprised people are selling off non-essential equipment.

But,. the sales pich aspects pointed out earlier in this thread are also true IMO.