Jill and I have collected the following thrift store items in our travels. Please note that they come with a thrift store, 'as is', guarantee. I have plugged them in, cranked them, switched them on etc. etc. and they did whatever they were supposed to do when we bought them. They are not necessarily clean and I haven't inspected their innards for foreign objects ($100 bills? roaches?!)

The point is not to disgust you but to warn you. I'm not a retailer, my wife and I just happen to enjoy coffee, coffee roasting and going to flea markets and thrift stores. You find some great bargains and some duds. I hope I've weeded out the duds. The flaws that are obvious to me I've described below. I may have missed some... This is all old, used equipment...

Terms of sale are simple. Because the spirit of this board is to provide each other with the 'tools' of the coffee hobby more cheaply than at retail this presupposes that purchasers are not professionals buying stock items to resale more expensively to our fellow hobbyists. To limit this sort of thing Jill and I have decided to sell only one item of each type per address. For instance you might buy 1 air-popper, 1 espresso machine and 1 etc., but ONLY 1 of each (if there are more than one type of item listed). We have no intention of making money at this so the prices are pretty much what we paid...they might be higher or lower than you have found locally...go figure.

You pay the shipping however you decide to ship it. Since either Jill or myself will have to take time out of our day and make a special trip to ship this stuff (say from a MailBoxes Etc.) we'll ask for $5 handling to cover gas, time and any packaging costs. Personal checks are fine, just total up the item cost(s) and email me with a physical address. I'll check the shipping and send you back a total and confirm your order in case stock has changed since this posting as I'm sure it will. If our exchequer allows (newly out of grad school and working in the public sector, i.e. often tight) we'll go ahead and ship to you and let the check cross in the mail. If not, we'll have to wait for your check to arrive and clear in which case a money order may speed things up for you. We'll let you know if this is an issue if you ask.

Finally, if you are trying to find something in particular make sure you post a WTB message here on the board so we can all keep our eyes open. At least 2 weekends a month Jill and I are in Richmond, Raleigh or Wilmington at the thrifts and fleas so you never know what we'll come across. For instance we left an old electric stainless steel vacuum pot (collectible?) by Sunbeam sitting in a Goodwill recently because we had two of them already. It was 3 bucks. It didn't work, of course, and was dirty, but would have cleaned up and graced a coffee pot collection if you like such things.

Sorry for the long post. We won't have to do this every time after everyone knows each other...

Here's the stuff for now:

West Bend, "The Poppery" 1500 watt 110vac air poppers. 1- w/ cracked base plate/ foot (cosmetic) no top = $7ea 1-without top =$8 ea. 2 with tops = $8 ea. (We don't often use the flimsy melty little plastic tops on air poppers. We throw them away, frankly, and use a pop-riveted flashing chimney of the appropriate size. We like this better... If a top matters to you let us know and we'll try...)

Stove top crank-type poppers: 1-"Theatre II" w/ plastic gears=$9 1-unmarked similar roaster w/ fin-shaped paddles rather than wires as in the 'Theatre II', a slightly smaller footprint and capacity and taller profile than the 'Theatre II' and with metal gears (an oddity

-- Ted and Jill Simpson (tnjsimpson@coastalnet.com), November 16, 1998

Answers

All of the posted goodies have been shipped to their new homes, thus ending the 1st Annual Daniel Ho Commemorative Give Away... But watch this spot. Jill and I will continue our thrift store search for coffee and roasting goodies and post them here for sale.

Have a great holiday season!

-- Ted Simpson (tnjsimpson@coastalnet.com), December 13, 1998.