Shop's buried treasures

After visiting a few fellow shop owners, I found generating extra cash was a frequent topic of interest—particularly with the fickle state of the market and governments being desperate to extract additional revenue through taxes and fees. One strategy for raising cash is to purge, clean and, ultimately, sell items from your shop. Obviously, this includes scrap metal, worn and broken carbide tools and other materials that can be reprocessed. But it can also include less-obvious items, such as underutilized equipment and old tools, computers, software, phones and even shop vehicles.

After we reorganized the shop a few months ago, we discovered numerous tools, vises, fixtures and other things crammed into corners and shelves, many forgotten and no longer needed or, perhaps, needed but misplaced by an unconcerned employee. Whatever the reason, we gathered lots of stuff, repaired what we could, sold some and scrapped the rest. While something may no longer be useful to your shop, it can be to someone else. With numerous websites available for selling used goods, peddling unneeded items is easy.

For example, about 18 months ago, we sold a sinker EDM. We had acquired it because an EDM guru/consultant convinced us there was a vast amount of business for it. That may be true, but not for the prices we had to charge to justify the investment. By selling it, we paid it off and pocketed a little extra cash.

Another unneeded item was our delivery truck. We got a good deal on it a couple of years ago and spent some money refurbishing it. After the market slowed at the beginning of the year, our delivery needs decreased. About the same time, the truck required another round of maintenance. Upon further review, we sold it, generated some quick cash and significantly reduced our insurance and gas expenses. In the meantime, we’re using delivery services or our personal vehicles until market needs again require a commercial truck.

In addition, we have old equipment on consignment at a couple of dealers, and, hopefully, we’ll find buyers.

Many times, friends and acquaintances at other companies will sell your unneeded stuff and relieve you of the worry. Or, maybe, one of your employees is a wheeler-dealer who’s familiar with eBay and can be tasked with listing and selling valuable items that no longer generate revenue.

To my dad’s credit, he has a knack for calling people he knows and getting their assistance, or even convincing them to buy something. The items he’s sold include electrical boxes and transformers, golf carts, sandblasting machines and tractors and lawnmowers used to maintain our property—a veritable carousel of goods.

While I’m not suggesting you’ll get rich or save the company by selling junk, you may be surprised at the valuable stuff sitting around your facility. When upgrading our 7-year-old phone system, we discovered that it was worth several thousand dollars. Guess what? We sold it!

In closing, I’d like to offer my congratulations and well wishes to CTE Editorial Director Alan Rooks, who recently informed me of his departure from the magazine to pursue life’s next opportunity. Always professional and very supportive, I wish him a great future! Thanks, Alan; it was great working with you. CTE

About the author: Keith Jennings is president of Crow Corp., Tomball, Texas, a family-owned company focusing on machining, metal fabrication and metal stamping. kjennings@jwr.com