Man this really spiraled into mocking an 82 year old guy and his wife. Yes his prices are quite expensive but no one is forcing anyone to buy from him.

chrismeyer6 wrote on 2022-09-24, 15:30:

Man this really spiraled into mocking an 82 year old guy and his wife. Yes his prices are quite expensive but no one is forcing anyone to buy from him.

No one is mocking him and/or his wife. We are just talking using our right of free speech. I hope it is till legal to say "too expensive" about too expensive things. I personally really very happy for him been able to pay his mortgage selling floppies at twice of market price.🙂

And by the way, he is not 82, but 72 year old guy. Still a very respectable age.

Still not seeing the problem here.

ThinkpadIL wrote on 2022-09-24, 14:30:

darry wrote on 2022-09-24, 13:48:

- He bought his inventory when prices were low - He bought his inventory when demand was low compared to offer - His purchase li […]
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ThinkpadIL wrote on 2022-09-24, 10:02:

Unlikely it is only for those who do nothing ... or for those who want others to do nothing. Floppy disk it is a pretty simple t […]
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Unlikely it is only for those who do nothing ... or for those who want others to do nothing. Floppy disk it is a pretty simple technology and they were mass produced not so long ago, so yes, their price will be quite high and a quality most likely will be not too high, but I don't see any problem to recreate a manufacturing line.

Mr. Persky says in his interview: "I would say my last buy from a manufacturer was about ten or twelve years ago. Back then I made the decision to buy a large quantity, a couple of million disks, and we’ve basically been living off of that inventory ever since.".

And later he says this: "I once got a request from the Netherlands for half a million floppy disks and I had to tell them that I simply didn’t have that kind of inventory. Plus, I have two competing goals here. I have a lot of customers for whom I have provided inventory and services for years and years. They helped me build my business and they’ve helped me pay my mortgage and employees. I want to continue to provide goods and services to these people, so selling out my inventory would not be a good idea. Another thing is that I don’t know what my inventories are worth. I know that ten years ago I bought floppy disks for eight to 12 cents apiece. If I was buying a container of a million disks, I could probably get them for eight cents, but what are they worth today? In the last ten years they’ve gone from ten cents to one dollar apiece, and now you can sell a 720KB double density disks for two dollars. I just don’t know what the market will do. It’s very hard to run a business when you don’t know what your product is worth."

I don't want to put labels, but I ask, who is he if not a scalper?

- He bought his inventory when prices were low
- He bought his inventory when demand was low compared to offer
- His purchase likely did not "corner" the market at the time as disks were still available from manufacturers and anyone could have bought a big supply. Floppies, unlike concert tickets, for example, were not limited to a known available quantity at the time

IMHO, he's no worse than someone investing in real estate while prices are low in an area in the hope that, over time, profit can be made by reselling.

Additionally, unlike a ticket (or investment) scalper, he is actually providing a service of value, IMHO, by guaranteeing a stable supply.

Also, if his prices were too low (and he was too willing to sell it wholesale) it could actually help other people become scalper at his (and his customers') expense by buying him out and and driving prices had higher.

Finally, if nobody had done what he did, there would probably even less disks on the market now and no (or at lest fewer) large-ish reliable suppliers. Consequently, commercial/industrial/institutional buyers would likely be scouring Ebay, etc to fulfill their needs (possibly even buying more than needed for fear of running out), which would likely drive prices higher than they are. So he might actually be doing us a favor. Food for thought. 😉

I will not argue with you. I have no problem if someone has a desire to buy low quality floppies (he said that he bought his stock of around 2,000,000 floppies 10-12 years ago, i.e. when manufacturers were just about to stop their production and quality was quite low) for twice a market price. We live in a free world.🙂

I almost entirely agree with you. I get (mostly already got in last 5ish years) my floppies elsewhere, they are from a better quality (mid 90s) era and I paid a lot less for them . If I did want to source some more "new" ones, I would try to buy locally or off of Ebay, Amazon, etc .

My only point of contention was regarding to term "scalper" which I don't think quite fits in this case, but that's just my opinion, FWIW .

darry wrote on 2022-09-24, 21:58:

ThinkpadIL wrote on 2022-09-24, 14:30:

darry wrote on 2022-09-24, 13:48:

- He bought his inventory when prices were low - He bought his inventory when demand was low compared to offer - His purchase li […]
Show full quote

- He bought his inventory when prices were low
- He bought his inventory when demand was low compared to offer
- His purchase likely did not "corner" the market at the time as disks were still available from manufacturers and anyone could have bought a big supply. Floppies, unlike concert tickets, for example, were not limited to a known available quantity at the time

IMHO, he's no worse than someone investing in real estate while prices are low in an area in the hope that, over time, profit can be made by reselling.

Additionally, unlike a ticket (or investment) scalper, he is actually providing a service of value, IMHO, by guaranteeing a stable supply.

Also, if his prices were too low (and he was too willing to sell it wholesale) it could actually help other people become scalper at his (and his customers') expense by buying him out and and driving prices had higher.

Finally, if nobody had done what he did, there would probably even less disks on the market now and no (or at lest fewer) large-ish reliable suppliers. Consequently, commercial/industrial/institutional buyers would likely be scouring Ebay, etc to fulfill their needs (possibly even buying more than needed for fear of running out), which would likely drive prices higher than they are. So he might actually be doing us a favor. Food for thought. 😉

I will not argue with you. I have no problem if someone has a desire to buy low quality floppies (he said that he bought his stock of around 2,000,000 floppies 10-12 years ago, i.e. when manufacturers were just about to stop their production and quality was quite low) for twice a market price. We live in a free world.🙂

I almost entirely agree with you. I get (mostly already got in last 5ish years) my floppies elsewhere, they are from a better quality (mid 90s) era and I paid a lot less for them . If I did want to source some more "new" ones, I would try to buy locally or off of Ebay, Amazon, etc .

My only point of contention was regarding to term "scalper" which I don't think quite fits in this case, but that's just my opinion, FWIW .

I didn't call him a scalper, I was just asking. In any case I have nothing against scalpers, I just don't buy from them. 🙂