Surfin' the Thrifts by Bob Beled No not on the Internet; this is the old fashioned, pedestrian way - by foot man, by foot! As you know, a lot of Commodoreans have been seduced by PCs and have dumped their Commodore setups. While we hate to see them depart the Commodore fold, they leave behind great pickings for us, the faithful. Where are these pickin's say you? At thrift stores says I. To give you an idea of what is out there, here are some of the items that I have seen at various stores in the Seattle area: two C64's for $5.99 each; two Okimate-10 printers at $9.99 each; a Star Gemini lOX printer, $14.99; a 128D sans keyboard, $29.99; 1541 disk drives at $4.99, and an Aprotek four-slot expansion board for $1.99. Compare these prices with those for refurbished pieces. Remember what these items cost new? I have bought 25 or 30 items and only one has failed to work: I could probably fix it, but I use it for parts instead. So, you don't need any of the above? You can also find monitors, cables, power supplies, joy sticks, mice, software, disks, ribbons. paper, manuals, and books. If your appetite is whetted for "surfin' thrifts," here are some helpful hints to make your search easier: it is a good idea to check each store's return policy. "As is, no return" are the usual terms. One store I visit, however, allows seven days to return an item for a full refund; keep your receipt! Secondly. most stores keep their computer things in one place, but some don't, so check the store thoroughly and ask. The local Salvation Army store, for example, displays complete systems on the main floor occasionally, but the basement holds tables of items priced for quick sale at $5 to $10. Some stores keep their cables on wall racks along with small electrical devices. Other small items such as cartridges, disks, and joy sticks may be bagged and hung on wall racks too. Manuals are generally found with books. Programs may be with the books or at some other location in the store. Thirdly, most thrifts offer discounts to seniors or have special days for senior discounts. Watch for special tag discounts and special day discounts too. Many stores take 30 percent to 50 percent off of the regular price on Sundays and/or Holidays. Like Internet surfing, persistence and vigilance when thrift surfing pays off. Just a word of warning: surfing the thrifts is addictive; you could end up like me, a thrift store Junky. But it's fun and the price is right, so good luck and good surfing! (From UWCCUG, Washington State, 1996; via the Commodore Information Center http://home.att.net/~rmestel/commodore.html)