Some may have noticed a new addition in the annex, and that is some very large blue and cream colored workstations. While at the last Bentley’s auction, I had eyed these, and thought that they would be very nice to have at Quelab. Well, somebody upstairs thought so to, as during the bidding, these workstations were in a large grouping of lots that were being offered for $10 per lot! Each side of each station was considered a lot, so these were acquired for $46 (Including buyer's’ premium)! In researching costs of what we acquired, the four workstation assemblies have a catalog price of over $10,000!
It needs to be noted that these were acquired at an active live auction, there was no time or opportunity to propose, get approval or discuss the acquisition of these. In the spirit of authority given to my officer position, I made the decision to proceed with the purchase of these. The funds used to purchase these, was from the monies reported on last month that were generated by turning in batteries for recycling. (Essentially found money) The enhanced and upgraded program is one that that I initiated and implemented here at Quelab to generate additional funds for purchases just like this.
The overall reaction to these has been overall very positive, from other officers / board members, as well as some members, as both as a means to help grow a professional image at Quelab, as well as provide additional rental workspace for members (with the exception of one double bay to se set aside for use as a large glass workstation.
This leads to some additional information / thoughts…
Although not publicly listed / announced yet, I have been told that at the Bentley Auction this upcoming Friday (10/9) there are going to be an additional 20 units similar to these, but even nicer! I do not know if this is 20 sides (making 10 bays), or 20 complete two sided bays. Regardless, of number, discussions have been taking place with the thought that if these go for somewhere in the range of what the previous ones went for (or somewhat higher) we, as Quelab should do what we can to acquire them. The idea being to eventually outfit the majority of the Annex in a uniform, professional manner with these benches being made available for rental purposes.
Not all 20 would be used, and those that aren’t being used, would be knocked down and stored vertically, minimizing floor space taken up. I am going to be contacting company representatives to inquire, because of the high cost of these items if they do any kind of used equipment buyback or brokering. This being with the thought that we could possible enhance the workstations with partitions between the workspaces, power strips, and / or casters in exchange.
With this in mind, we would like to solicit pledges to go towards the purchase of these additional workstations. This way there is some idea of a numbers that can be used in the bidding process.
Also, if these are successfully won, labor in helping knock them down and transporting them would be needed and very welcomed! Unfortunately, Bentley’s is only open on Fridays until about 1 hour after the action, and then normal business hours on Monday and Tuesday. If anybody has access to a large box truck with a lift gate that would be a huge help!!
This is an exciting and very rare opportunity for Quelab to acquire something of this quality, and at a very reasonable price! If these were not at auction, there is no possible way that we as Quelab would ever be able to outfit our space with something this nice!