We Will Buy EVERYTHING in this Mom & Pop Computer Store

[Kisai]

This video was genuinely entertaining, though I do have some concerns.

 

"Does Vantech still exist?" Yes, go to Canada Computers, they sell it. They basically sell nothing but Hard drive enclosures.

 

I think most of the stuff they bough has three destinations:

- Landfill, those Dell and HP docking stations they have are completely unusable since 2019, no shipping laptop uses them anymore, and they are worth about $200 a piece new, however they are also easily damaged (most of them will have damage to the pin connector) and the companies that have them, likely still have new ones floating around for laptops still using them.

- eBay, most vintage parts older than 1999 (eg Pentium 3 era) are in demand for building DOS gaming boxes, but pretty much nothing between 1999 and 2013 has any value for games, only businesses that need to keep some jalopy of a computer they use in their shipping/warehouse/point-of-sales system running.  But vintage Dell and HP systems have an effective value of zero due to having very little repair value as a whole unit, and selling it pieced out is usually the way to go.

- Recycled: Cables - Anything not for a proprietary device, recycled, the rest eBay. The shipping cost alone does not justify trying to sell them. Anything that still has a box can be put on eBay.

 

I would suggest that before going the eBay route, invite LTT viewers to "bid" on items first privately, and any item that garners a lot of interest, do a proper auction video for, and anything that has no interest, toss it on eBay. If there is one person that wants one item, and nobody else wants it, make an offer.

 

Like to be fair, I didn't see anything I would have actually wanted, not even the game consoles. To me, a lot of it was garbage, and it reminded me of the Radio Shack that was still selling shovelware floppy disk games when some AAA games were being shipped on 4-CD's. 

 

I recently went to pick up a parcel from UPS, and apparently the "depot" is a computer store, and every, single, laptop and desktop in this store had to be well over 5 years old. They probably were tasked with recycling some companies old stuff, and opted to try and sell it too.

 

You have to understand, that many of the computers that are "recycled" from a company, have no value other than scrap value. The company gets a tax write off for recycling it. So if LTT decides to do another video like this, they should make a point of NOT buying corporate recycling junk, because they have a 0$ value. You're are being scammed if you buy any used HP/Dell/Lenovo desktops or laptops that aren't current-year/last-year models.

 

 

[FlyingPotato_is_taken]

1 hour ago, Kisai said:

You have to understand, that many of the computers that are "recycled" from a company, have no value other than scrap value. The company gets a tax write off for recycling it.

It is a systemic problem created by bad laws (Germany). As a company/boss, you can't just hand it out to employees because it counts as a financial benefit.  If you do, it creates all kinds of administrative overhead nobody is willing to deal with. Selling at fair market rates creates also a lot of overhead/legal requirements and cost nobody is willing to go through. 

For these reason, it is easier for them to recycle them or sell them to refurbishing companies for pennies on the dollar.

The result is that PC hardware and accessories that could be used privately ends up in landfills.

[William Payne]

48 minutes ago, FlyingPotato_is_taken said:

It is a systemic problem created by bad laws (Germany). As a company/boss, you can't just hand it out to employees because it counts as a financial benefit.  If you do, it creates all kinds of administrative overhead nobody is willing to deal with. Selling at fair market rates creates also a lot of overhead/legal reequipments and cost nobody is willing to go through. 

For these reason, it is easier for them to recycle them or sell them to refurbishing companies for pennies on the dollar.

The result is that PC hardware and accessories that could be used privately ends up in landfills.

 

That is the same way in many places. 

[darknessblade]

A lot of that stuff Linus bought is quite interesting.

[Kisai]

58 minutes ago, FlyingPotato_is_taken said:

 

For these reason, it is easier for them to recycle them or sell them to refurbishing companies for pennies on the dollar.

The result is that PC hardware and accessories that could be used privately ends up in landfills.

 

There are some work arounds for this however, not all above-board.

 

For letting employees take stuff home, the easiest solution is to just write it off as lost. Sometimes, things are legitimately lost  and sometimes they are forgotten about (4 or more active employees had "an old laptop" in a drawer in their desk, or at home, that only made it's way back to the office because they were let go/quit, and returned it then, even though it should have been turned in when it was replaced with their new one.

 

If an employee wanted to hang on to an old device for a while, I usually just said "okay fine, turn it in later" but never actually asked for it back. It was not my problem to contend with, I don't work for the client, and I'm not the administrative staff who can compel them to do so, all I can do is tell the administrative staff that the employee is still hanging on to it.

 

So, to that end, if an employee takes home a headset, a mouse, a keyboard, it wouldn't be missed, because the serials on these weren't even tracked. But if they take the laptop, desktop, or monitors, they would be missed during asset tracking. But even then, usually monitors are used until they are dead-dead (backlight failure, or someone knocks one off a desk and cracks it.) So they are usually only missed if somehow someone got brand new ones, and suddenly old ones pop up in their place.

 

But if an employee fails to return a laptop after they are let go, those can be written off as lost as well.

 

At some point a company gets big enough that without the computer phoning home at the BIOS level, you will never know how much equipment is actually lost. And few companies pay for the hardware asset tracking, viewing it as not worth it unless they are working for the FBI/Military and the device MUST be recovered or destroyed remotely.

[ToboRobot]

6 hours ago, Mark Rathgeber said:

Unfortunately I wasn't involved in this one, but I've frequented Black Lab quite often in the late 2000's. It helped that I worked literally across the street from there, but not having a car in combination with it being the only computer store in my neighbourhood made it an obvious choice. Keith is a stand up dude and I hope he decides to restock and continue operating.

Don't know if it could be it's own standalone, but a quick (even cellphone video clip) update of you going to check out the store when it's restocked and catching up with an old freiend would be a sweet drop in clip for the WAN show.

[elmanificodidw]

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, seeing the overwhelming support both here and in the YouTube comment section, but I feel like I had to say it. This was one of the few LTT videos I didn't really enjoy watching. I guess I'm just not the target for this type of video since I don't follow youtubers who flaunt their wealth around. Or at least this was the feeling I got, what with all the dice rolls deciding how much more or less an item would cost and the final "OMG big price reveal!"... Also the last guessing game that raised the final price even more? What is this? The price is right?

 

It's great that you guys decided to help a guy you find nice by cleaning his shop from all the old stuff, but I would have enjoyed it more if you found a use for all the stuff or maybe did a review, or even a trip down memory lane instead of the focus being on how much all of that cost.

 

I see comments talking about a Mr beast style video, and if that's what your analysis say is the best / most profitable type of video to make, then good for you. But if this is going to be a recurring theme, for a tech review channel, I'm a bit disappointed.

[merval]

I'd love to see an update video in the future on how this shop is doing and what Keith ended up doing once his store front was empty. Great video!

[ToboRobot]

1 hour ago, elmanificodidw said:

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, seeing the overwhelming support both here and in the YouTube comment section, but I feel like I had to say it. This was one of the few LTT videos I didn't really enjoy watching. I guess I'm just not the target for this type of video since I don't follow youtubers who flaunt their wealth around. Or at least this was the feeling I got, what with all the dice rolls deciding how much more or less an item would cost and the final "OMG big price reveal!"... Also the last guessing game that raised the final price even more? What is this? The price is right?

 

It's great that you guys decided to help a guy you find nice by cleaning his shop from all the old stuff, but I would have enjoyed it more if you found a use for all the stuff or maybe did a review, or even a trip down memory lane instead of the focus being on how much all of that cost.

 

I see comments talking about a Mr beast style video, and if that's what your analysis say is the best / most profitable type of video to make, then good for you. But if this is going to be a recurring theme, for a tech review channel, I'm a bit disappointed.

I think there are plans for content with the stuff bought.

 

Didn't feel like just an opportunity to flaunt wealth, but a way to showcase and help out small local business.  Linus helped someone get a new truck.  And encouraged others to visit their local shop instead of just ordering from Amazon.

Would this be good content to repeat? No, but it was a good story and entertaining.

[Skyrider]

The video is of high quality. I hope they sell the stuff instead of throwing it away. 
The old usb hub etc. Those have been popular by people who put modern electronic inside. They look good and terrible at the same time.

That mac is also worth "lots" of money. Sell the inside components and make a video of a build. 

[zephyz]

I wasn't too keen on the concept at first but the comedy, the shopkeeper and the betting games made it a blast.

 

I hope they benchmark some of those cables. Maybe make some videos about how to recycling old cables that you have lying around.

 

I wonder if you could take the existing usb-2 cables and simply change the connector with a usb-c one to make a usb-c-compliant cable but with usb-2 speeds like we see in many charging cables.

 

Taking this to the extreme, I wonder how many "dumb" cable you can recycle by simply treating them as copper wires and plugging different ports at the end. Those DVI cables are never going to be used as DVI any more. But maybe you could use them for a sound system if you strip the connector and put a banana-plug instead?

 

Having a post-mortem about how much stock was usable VS how much is legitimate trash would be nice, maybe as a FP exclusive?

 

It would be great to see more videos about "reuse" in the "reduce-reuse-recycle" Maybe pair some of the monitors with an old framework motherboard, or turn one of those old PC as a retro-emulation box

[elmanificodidw]

45 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

I think there are plans for content with the stuff bought.

 

Didn't feel like just an opportunity to flaunt wealth, but a way to showcase and help out small local business.  Linus helped someone get a new truck.  And encouraged others to visit their local shop instead of just ordering from Amazon.

Would this be good content to repeat? No, but it was a good story and entertaining.

I am complaining about this video in particular precisely because unlike you I got the feeling they were flaunting, I have absolutely no problem with Linus or anyone from LTT helping the community. I truly believe they are great people and have enjoyed watching most of their vids. Never complained before, never felt the need to.

Alternate title: "I'm giving this guy 35.000$ basically for old crap he had lying around - Ft. MrBeast"

[joeygreco1985]

27 minutes ago, elmanificodidw said:

I am complaining about this video in particular precisely because unlike you I got the feeling they were flaunting, I have absolutely no problem with Linus or anyone from LTT helping the community. I truly believe they are great people and have enjoyed watching most of their vids. Never complained before, never felt the need to.

Alternate title: "I'm giving this guy 35.000$ basically for old crap he had lying around - Ft. MrBeast"

 

I was under the impression The Ridge was footing the bill and not Linus? 

 

 

[Dedayog]

18 hours ago, Nightpaws said:

Found this pretty interesting and it was a good watch with the dynamic between the shop keeper and Linus.

 

I was curious what motivated it and why this particular shop was chosen as that wasn't clear to me. Just because? A friend? Shop closing up? It felt like there was part of the story missing, but otherwise an interesting watch.

PR stunt.

[bylarke]

Long time watcher but just joined the forum.  I liked the video.  Yes it was probably a bit of a PR stunt but its not like LTT hasn't done giveaways and helped people out before.  But the banter was great.  Feature that shop owner again.  Give us a follow up video on his restock.  Also I think you need to do a video with the stuff purchased in this.  Next edition of scrapyard wars each team has to scrounge through this stuff and build the best setup.  Sure gaming performance points but then get creative oh you get bonus points for adding an analog video converter so you can now edit video from old VHS tapes on this pc.   The more obscure things your setup can do the more points you get.  That would be fun.  Also make this a lesson in sustainability. Some of that stuff that really is just e-waste now, make a video on how to recycle it.  This one video could spawn several more and it becomes less about giving the guy money for junk.

[ToboRobot]

2 hours ago, elmanificodidw said:

I am complaining about this video in particular precisely because unlike you I got the feeling they were flaunting, I have absolutely no problem with Linus or anyone from LTT helping the community. I truly believe they are great people and have enjoyed watching most of their vids. Never complained before, never felt the need to.

Alternate title: "I'm giving this guy 35.000$ basically for old crap he had lying around - Ft. MrBeast"

Alternate Title "My Sponsors are helping to pay for a new truck in exchange for dead stock from a computer store"

Did Linus try to negotiate the price down?  

Did Linus disrespect anyone with his wealth?  

Did Linus show off any fancy or luxury goods?

What did you feel was the most egregious part of the video where he flaunted his wealth in a disrespectful manner?  (timestamps)

[BaidDSB]

BULLSHIT they paid 35K for this...

 

their most watched video ever made them like 38000.

 

 

[IkeaGnome]

4 hours ago, BaidDSB said:

BULLSHIT they paid 35K for this...

You're correct. Linus didn't pay 35k for this. dBrand paid what ever was in their sponsorship for the video and LMG paid the rest.

4 hours ago, BaidDSB said:

their most watched video ever made them like 38000.

Source? Are you going just off analytics? Are you including the sponsor deals on that video? Are you including the merch advertising through that video? 

[TannerMcCoolman]

4 hours ago, BaidDSB said:

their most watched video ever made them like 38000.

Cap. $67,301. Source

[Pinking554]

What is the plan for the stuff that @LinusTech bought from the store?

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

One of the more wholesome LTTs videos I've seen in a while. 

[BaidDSB]

5 hours ago, IkeaGnome said:

You're correct. Linus didn't pay 35k for this. dBrand paid what ever was in their sponsorship for the video and LMG paid the rest.

Source? Are you going just off analytics? Are you including the sponsor deals on that video? Are you including the merch advertising through that video? 

ya was counting analytics only

[Sarra]

I was genuinely entertained by this. The reactions from all parties was so awesome, and watching the set crew actively sabotage Linus was amazing and hilarious.

 

Well done, thank you.