RE: (ET) coop parts purchasing

["David Roden (Akron OH USA)" <roden ald net>]

On 11 Jun 2004 at 9:43, Elie, Larry (L.D.) wrote:

> He is independent.  I don't think this will work.

Ah.  I think I'm beginning to understand now. 

Bill is like me.  I can't resist a challenge and will spend hours that I 
don't 
have, doing something that returns me nothing except good feelings and the 
sense of accomplishment.  I'll bet there are plenty of others like me on 
this 
list.

But at some point that attitude becomes a problem for a person with a 
life.  
Real work, finances, and personal relationships get short shrift because 
you've made too many commitments to the challenge you love.  When it gets 
to 
that point, the only solution is to go cold turkey, attack the addiction 
(that's what it is), and dig into the things that really matter in the 
long 
run.  To do this, you have to get as far away from that addiction as 
possible.

Now, I don't know for sure that this is what's happening to Bill.  But if 
it 
is, and if he's resolved to stop spending too many hours helping ET 
owners, 
then it's quite possible that nothing, not money, not a ordering and 
support 
front-end to help him, will dissuade him.  

So what can we do?

I say absolutely do not try to work through a for-profit corporation.  
Black 
and Decker and others are committed to nothing but next quarter's returns 
- 
they have to be; that's their responsibility to their shareholders.  Even 
if 
some corporation would accept the ET parts business - which is very 
doubtful - 
they'd not hesitate to cut it loose in a heartbeat if it didn't pay its 
own 
way.  Then we'd be in worse shape than we are now - ask the folks who 
tried to 
buy the short-production road EVs and parts for them from the big 
automakers 
when they quit making them.

My bet's on a private co-op.  Form a nonprofit corporation, buy out Bill's 
stock, get the rights to his intellectual property, and I'll gladly give 
you 
$50 or even $100 a year for the right to trade with you.  But I think that 
trying to hand Bill $100 for the same privelege - especially as a surprise 
proposal, which I suspect will be an unpleasant and unwelcome surprise for 
him 
- is a dead end.


David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA
1991 Solectria Force 144vac
1991 Ford Escort Green/EV 128vdc
1970 GE Elec-trak E15 36vdc
1974 Avco New Idea 36vdc
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