Would like your opinions.

[LizStreithorst]

Barb, that's a tough one. I give lots of stuff away through the year. If it's to the LFS I usually ask for at least a token store credit with them, but sometimes not. If it's to individuals, I ask that they pass it forward, and/or trade with me sometime when they see a post that I'm looking for something and they might have extra. And usually it comes back in the positive to me, sometimes in ways I never expected. BUT, once I give something to someone else, it's theirs.

In my opinion, if it helps your LFS stay in business you've done a good thing.  They have a hard enough time anyway making it, especially if they are next to or across from a big box store.

I would let it go and be happy for him. But if I needed a favor that he could help me with, I wouldn't think twice about asking him for it. If he balks, one reminder of the things you've done for him might be enough. If not, that's when I'd quietly thank him and walk out and never return or promote him among my sphere of influence.

The Voice of Reason, not emotion.

[Barb]

Thanks Ron, and everybody else who offered the opinions that I asked for.  I talked to him today, by phone.  He made excuses, stuttered a bit, tried to talk his way out of it, etc.  But I asked if I got part of the $135 he got for the tank, and he said he will give me $40 store credit. And he hoped there were no hard feelings.  I thanked him and said no hard feelings at all.

  But I still don't plan to give him anything else in future.  I had also given him 5 other tanks, 20s and 10s and a 5.  Didn't ask how much he sold them for.  BTW, I gave away 3 tanks at the flea market last time I was there.  Yes, I had too many tanks, trying hard to downsize now.  Just 5 tanks now.

  Movers come tomorrow, today is our 44th anniversary.  And our last night at the old house.  Pizza and salad for dinner tonight at a local place.  Snow is melted but it is cold.  Tomorrow will be a Hoot I'm sure...
Barb

[Mugwump]

Thanks Ron, and everybody else who offered the opinions that I asked for.  I talked to him today, by phone.  He made excuses, stuttered a bit, tried to talk his way out of it, etc.  But I asked if I got part of the $135 he got for the tank, and he said he will give me $40 store credit. And he hoped there were no hard feelings.  I thanked him and said no hard feelings at all.

  But I still don't plan to give him anything else in future.  I had also given him 5 other tanks, 20s and 10s and a 5.  Didn't ask how much he sold them for.  BTW, I gave away 3 tanks at the flea market last time I was there.  Yes, I had too many tanks, trying hard to downsize now.  Just 5 tanks now.

  Movers come tomorrow, today is our 44th anniversary.  And our last night at the old house.  Pizza and salad for dinner tonight at a local place.  Snow is melted but it is cold.  Tomorrow will be a Hoot I'm sure...
Barb

Well done, IMHO......Happy Anniversary to both of you !!!.....Our 45th comes along here this summer...how fast it all has passed too.....whooooooosh.....Pizza and salad...excellent  enjoy..and be safe moving...ok?

[LizStreithorst]

Well, if he hemmed and hawed and tried to make excuses it means that he knows he done you wrong.  Sorry, Barb.  I've learned a lot about various people by giving stuff to them for free.  It can be the fastest way to find your way into what is in a persons heart.  Mostly it's disappointing to find out.  But when you find one who is honest with a good heart it makes all the disappintments worth it.

Good luck tomorrow.  At least the roads won't be frozen.

[ilroost]

First of all Happy Anniversary!! I hope the movers are good and do you a good job.
You took the whole tank thing better than i would have. That would of ticked me off and being the hot head i am , well lets just say it wouldn't have been a good thing lol

[sschind]

Hey Bob, did you ever get pissed when I sold any of the stuff you gave me?  If so you should have said something 

I've had lots of people give me stuff and unless they specifically told me I HAD to use it myself I had no issues with selling it.

A guy gave me about 3000 dollars worth of tarantulas once and said I could keep anything I wanted for myself but if I sold anything he wanted half.  I have several nice tarantulas now that I never would have been able to afford otherwise.  Some of the others I sold and we split the money

I had another customer give me a 16 gallon bowfront salt water tank with two expensive clowns in in it and he said I could do whatever I wanted to with the tank and rock and stuff but if I didn't want the fish he wanted them back.  I sold the tank and stuff when I closed the store but I still have the fish.

I had one guy I had never seen before come in and give me a $500.00 minireef setup because he was moving.  I didn't even know he lived in the area.  He must have bought everything on line.  I certainly didn't have any issues selling that stuff.

I've had people say things like "I have this old tank and if you want it to use in the store you can have it"  I got the feeling with them that if I sold it they would not be cool with it so if I didn't have a use for it I just said so.

I've had people call me wanting to give me animals (usually snakes or lizards but sometimes small animals as well)  for free and when they ask if I wanted the equipment I usually said "I'll take it if you want to give it to me but I can't give you anything for it so if you have room to store it you may just want to keep t in case you want to get something else later on."  Sometimes they gave it to me sometimes they were just looking to sell it so they kept it, which I totally understood.

My point is Barb I don't know how your exact conversation went but I have had many people say things like " I thought you could use this for your store for reptiles or something" or "I don't need this any more and thought you could use it"  They may have felt they were giving it to me just to use for myself but to me those items were fair game to sell with no obligation at all to the people giving them.

The vast majority of the time when people offered me things I simply said "yeah if you don't want it I'll take it. Ill find some use for it."  If they took it as I would keep it forever I can't help that.  To me some use might mean selling it and using the money to pay bills to help keep my store open.

honestly I wouldn't have done what he did.  I would have told you up front I'd try to sell it and give you some of the money or some sort of store credit.  I unless he blatantly went against some part of an agreement though I don't really fault him.  His stuttering and excuses may simply have meant that he didn't think you would be so upset it and it bothered him that you were. 

I would put some of the responsibility for this on you as well.  If you didn't want him to sell it you should have made it clear.  You say told him to use it in his shop for a snake, turtles, alligator, fish, rabbits, etc.  and enjoy it but did you tell him you didn't want him to sell it.  Maybe you did or maybe you thought you did, like I said I don't know what your actual conversation was but once you give something to someone it is pretty much theirs to do with what they please unless you place specific restrictions on the gift. 

Of course I can't really say I would consider it a gift then. 

[GeorgeG]

This is why I give nothing away because people turn around and sell it. If I can sell it I break it and take it to the Dump or Goodwill.

[LizStreithorst]

Gosh George, you sound so hard!  I've not found you to be hard.  I've found you to be fair.

I love giving stuff away.  I've given stuff away for people to sell because I knew they needed the money.  My ace in the hole is that I get a good idea of the quality of the person by their degree of appreciation.  Doing it my way has been very useful to me.  I give them the chance to do me wrong once.  They don't do me wrong twice.  It's my short cut to seperating the wheat from the chaff.

[Barb]

I agree with you Liz.  My daughter told me today that the LFS owner is a known crook, drug addict and not the nice guy I had thought he was.  He has a bad rep here in town that I didn't know about until now, and I won't be going in there again, after I use my $40 credit there (if I really do have that).
Barb

I do appreciate all the opinions that I asked for.

[sschind]

This is why I give nothing away because people turn around and sell it. If I can sell it I break it and take it to the Dump or Goodwill.

I was at a flea market once and the vendor a few spaces down from me started busting up a bunch of his stuff and throwing it in the trash.  He didn't want to take it home but he didn't want anyone else to have it either.  To each their own I guess.  Good thing people with old fish tanks don't feel that way or we wouldn't get all those good roadside finds.

Hey Jon, remember I told you about the 125 stand you could have.  I changed my mind, I'm going to burn it instead.  Can't have anyone selling now can I.

[Mugwump]

This is why I give nothing away because people turn around and sell it. If I can sell it I break it and take it to the Dump or Goodwill.

I was at a flea market once and the vendor a few spaces down from me started busting up a bunch of his stuff and throwing it in the trash.  He didn't want to take it home but he didn't want anyone else to have it either.  To each their own I guess.  Good thing people with old fish tanks don't feel that way or we wouldn't get all those good roadside finds.

Hey Jon, remember I told you about the 125 stand you could have.  I changed my mind, I'm going to burn it instead.  Can't have anyone selling now can I.

I've seen that happen too, Steve. It makes you glad that you don't know the folks too.

When Jan and I have some still usable items that we discard, we put em on the front curb. We smile because it'll disappear faster than greased lightening.....but we know it's getting used again by someone else....guy down the street put out three good used vacuums....he cut all the cords off.....go figure??

[sschind]

This is why I give nothing away because people turn around and sell it. If I can sell it I break it and take it to the Dump or Goodwill.

I was at a flea market once and the vendor a few spaces down from me started busting up a bunch of his stuff and throwing it in the trash.  He didn't want to take it home but he didn't want anyone else to have it either.  To each their own I guess.  Good thing people with old fish tanks don't feel that way or we wouldn't get all those good roadside finds.

Hey Jon, remember I told you about the 125 stand you could have.  I changed my mind, I'm going to burn it instead.  Can't have anyone selling now can I.

I've seen that happen too, Steve. It makes you glad that you don't know the folks too.

When Jan and I have some still usable items that we discard, we put em on the front curb. We smile because it'll disappear faster than greased lightening.....but we know it's getting used again by someone else....guy down the street put out three good used vacuums....he cut all the cords off.....go figure??

He cut the cords off to scrap the copper wire not so people couldn't use them.  Most likely he picked them up along the road himself or even more likely had someone give them to him (most cord cutters don't bother picking up the whole vacuum they carry a wire cutter to cut the cords.) 

Trust me on this one.  I have been know to pick up vacuums myself.  I usually remove the motors as well as the cord but some people consider it a waste of time for the small return you get on the time it take to dismantle them.  Most scrap yards won't take whole vacuums as they are too much plastic.

[ghonk]

How much could the copper in a cord be worth,that would be like driving down the street picking up pennies.

[LizStreithorst]

It can be worth a lot if you save up a bunch of it.  When I lived in Mobile I went into our local convenience store and the door were open in the heat of the summer.  During the previous night theives climbed up on their roof and stole all the copper coils out of their AC unit.  Pennies have little copper in them these days.  Nickles have little nickel, and silver coins have little silver.

[GraphicGr8s]

It can be worth a lot if you save up a bunch of it.  When I lived in Mobile I went into our local convenience store and the door were open in the heat of the summer.  During the previous night theives climbed up on their roof and stole all the copper coils out of their AC unit.  Pennies have little copper in them these days.  Nickles have little nickel, and silver coins have little silver.

The one cent piece has about 2.5% copper in them. Before 1982 it was about 95% copper.

This was a pretty good site

http://www.coinflation.com/