It may be that they have "product liability" worries that stop 'em selling working machines as working machines - other than private individual sellers (for whom the old "caveat emptor" rule still applies, thank heavens!), any business or school is legally liable for injuries caused by equipment they sell on, and it gets easier to prove negligence every day (maybe it's time we shot the lawyers...) - in the UK a company or school will often have to sell their old equipment as scrap to avoid liability, often removing the mains cord with a pair of shears will be enough to render it "safe scrap" instead of a "dangerous machine"!
Unfortunately, government departments have been closing down engineering facilities ever since Maggie decided it would be more cost-effective to give their functions to profit-making private contractors rather than public services... As a result places like t he Royal Aircraft Establishment were cleared by demolition contractors, all the tools (*nice* lathes, DS&G, Holbrook etc., mills, you name it) going in a skip as waste for landfill or melting down as it wasn't "cost effective" to take them out, store them and auction them for perhaps five times the scrap value...
Oh, nice score on the new machine - if only I had friends in such places!
Apologies for the rant...
Dave H. (the other one)
