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In the News "Going ... going ... almost gone! By Clint Swett Raul Ozuna will soon be out of a job at Packard Bell NEC. So Thursday, the conveyor belt maintenance worker used the PC maker to help him launch a new business. At a giant auction staged to liquidate Packard Bell NEC's assets in Sacramento, Ozuna paid $1,000 for a high-end band saw he said would cost $4,000 new and was on the lookout for other shop equipment. After Packard Bell NEC's manufacturing operations shut down for good later this month, Ozuna plans to start an electrical contracting business. "I'm trying to set up a workshop," said Ozuna. "I've already got some jobs lined up." Ozuna was one of about 1,500 bargain hunters who thronged to a former laptop computer manufacturing bay at the old Sacramento Army Depot looking for deals on everything from forklifts to computers to refrigerators. By the time the gavel banged down for the final time, well over 5,000 items were expected to have been sold. One buyer who left happy was Vastine Smith, who runs a youth summer camp in Weimar near Colfax. Smith had watched the bidding for one of 11 golf carts on the block reach $1,300. But biding his time, he bought the next two for $1,100 each. "I know I got a good deal," said Smith, who plans to use the carts for shuttle transportation at the camp. "New, they would have cost me at least twice that much." People lusting after the most esoteric items appeared to get the best deals. One such prize, a shock table used to torture-test laptop computers, went for $250. One observer guessed that a new machine like that would cost $10,000. Two sets of cherry wood conference furniture fetched $800. And a collection of 423 microprocessors and computer memory chips went for $4,000, well under what some kibitzers thought it was worth. "That stuff is like gold," one bidder remarked. But some of the sexiest computers brought nearly as much at the auction as they would at retail. A high-end NEC Z1 computer, which now sells for $2,500 but will soon be discounted to about $1,995, sold for $1,900. Laptops were also in demand, with computer dealers scooping them up by the dozen for $1,500 or more. Even so, Chris Cole, a dealer who had flown in from Dallas for the auction, wasn't happy. He was hoping for computers in lots of 500 or so, and was prepared to spend up to $1 million on his electronic booty. Going home with just a few dozen machines wasn't in his business plan. "They don't have the quantity we're looking for. I wanted 200 to 500 desktops and I got only 50," Cole said. "With profit margins of 20 percent, we'll just be covering our hotel bill." |