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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davidrg wrote on 2022-09-24, 09:23:
ThinkpadIL wrote on 2022-09-24, 06:58:
If to summarize, there is no problem at all to recreate a floppy disk manufacturing line and there are a good chances to find an assembly line equipment since there were so many floppy disk manufacturers around the world and they finished a production only about 10 years ago. The only two problems are a quality and a price. Price, because of a limited demand, will be high, that's for sure. In order to lower the prices and to be somehow attractive and competitive they will have no other choice but to sacrifice the quality.
I assume he was commenting on the economics of the situation when saying it was impossible. Certainly given enough money you could manufacture floppy disks again, but the amount of money required and the miniscule demand means you'd probably never break even let alone make a profit.
But even if some team wanted to get together and just do the occasional manufacturing run at cost finding the equipment seems unlikely. If you looked 5-10 years ago you'd probably find a former manufacturer that hadn't got around to scrapping the equipment as they had no immediate need for the space. But 10 years is a lot of time to leave a building full of obsolete equipment - surely if the building was that unnecessary you'd sell it. Though I suppose its certainly not impossible there is a production line just sitting gathering dust somewhere - these people found an IBM System 360 that had been sitting for a few decades right where it had last run.
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. 😉
