FROM time to time, we have attempted to impress upon our readers some idea of the size and importance of the used and surplus machinery and equipment industry.
It pleases us, therefore, to be able to amplify our rather frequently expressed opinion. Information has just reached us of a single sale of used machinery and equipment amounting to half a million dollars, made by an eastern dealer to a domestic customer.
The magnitude of this “deal” serves to indicate two important things:
First, the complete confidence the purchaser had in the ability of the dealer to appraise machinery values.
Second, the financial responsibility of the dealer to be able to “swing” a deal of this size.
Remember—this is but one sale to one customer. Each and every day the value of the sales made to a vast number of manufacturers by dealers throughout the country approach this amount. Far from a pygmy industry, the business done by surplus machinery and equipment merchants in total represents a good sized portion of the dollar volume done by the machine tool industry each year.
The recognition that “used and surplus” merchants are receiving today is not due to a mere combination of circumstances, but rather to a more complete appreciation by industrials everywhere of the economic importance of these same “used and surplus” merchants.
Individual sales, such as mentioned above, only serve to demonstrate more forcibly than ever the economic justification of the used and surplus equipment industry in any production program.
