GL/DRMO Trickledown effect

[CARNAC]

THIS THREAD IS NOT INTENDED TO BE POLITICAL SO PLEASE DON'T TAKE IT THAT WAY---SO KEEP POLITICS AND POLITICAL COMMENTS OUT OF THIS THREAD! IT IS INFORMATIONAL IN ITS INTENT!

We've all been watching the 'happenings' in Washington DC.

Now for the impact to our hobby. Assuming the Department of Defense is affected by sequestration at the end of the month, effective 1 March, all civilian employees will be furloughed 1 day per pay period and this could be extended to 2 days per pay period. Transportation funding was already drastically cut and now all non-essential transportation will be cancelled. Hours of service for various support agencies will be cut.

So to simplify:

Let's say a Army Reserve unit in Atlanta, GA has a truck that is excess to their authorization.

The truck needs to be condition coded to see what is wrong with it and if it is worth retaining in service. Delay in this because the maintenance personnel that code these vehicles are civilians.

Once the truck is coded, the truck requires disposition from the HQ, Army Reserve. That action is performed by a civilian or by a contractor and is impacted. The contractor could be gone (period) and the civilian is now working 1 less day every 2 weeks.

Once out of that gate it goes back to the unit to request transportation (keep in mind there are no transportation funds but we'll hit that later). Reserve units normally have 50% civil service and 50% full time military. The full time military strength is being focused on deploying units and they aren't going to afford bringing in new blood to replace retiring personnel so fewer full time personnel (besides getting rid of equipment is not the priority). The civlian is furloghed one day a week (if they have one hired they're lucky because there is no more hiring actions allowed if the position is currently vacant). So a delay in moving it to one of the Reserve collection points. These points for the Reserves are McCoy, Polk, Letterkenny, and I think one more out west. These are different for Active and National Guard and other services.

Even IF the unit can get money to ship the truck OR delivers it themselves, we now have the employees at the receiving/collection point on furlough 1 day out of every 2 weeks so I hope the truck doesn't arrive on that day. Granted most agencies will stagger the days off to provide limited services (unloading) for all 5 days a week. The collection points have a high number of contract employees that could be 100% cut either on 1 March or later in the year as DoD scrambles for more money. So this could bring processing of the truck to an absolute stand still.

If it does make it through the turn-in processing, it now has to be transported again (in many circumstances) to a DRMO. Refer to the transportation issues above. IF it makes it out the door then it's off to DRMO.

At DRMO, many of these services have been contracted out. Those that haven't are performed by civil service and they are furloughed 1 day out of every 2 weeks. It then must be processed and will take longer due to the fewer work days.

Once it goes to GL it might finally be in the clear but pickup maybe affected due to limited staffing reducing work hours.

So we will probably have few vehicles coming out. Decisions will probably be made to scrap more and sell less for items other than large vehicles.

Needless to say, this budget issue will have a trickledown effect on our hobby.

 

[Vondy]

Now we just need to find a way to get them before GL. You know to save even more transportation costs, we'll just pick them up directly from the unit.

 

[Ferroequinologist]

It is already slowing the movement of normal parts and supplies through the system, so DRMO stuff will take a seat at the back of the bus, or have to watch the bus leave without it. Or it will sit there, along with the bus, as the bus doesn't even run anymore and no one is around to fix it or there is no money. I can see them maybe trying to sell directly from the NG bases, but that will make a lot of work for GL personal to run all over. Maybe they will change the turn in requirements and open more local collection points, where the unit can reasonably drive/tow the item.

The word that came down to me was 22 days furlough from Apr 16th to Sep 31. That is 2 days a pay period, or 20% of my salary for those months, gone. My federally mandated engineer licensing requirement for this year is canceled... so, then what do I do?

 

[Warthog]

And heaven forbid that GL start paying for the transpostation of the items from DRMO locations to their Service Centers.

An item that I have first hand knowledge. Some widow glass for CUCVs was shipped from Barstow, CA to Oklahoma City, OK at a cost of $6800 to Uncle Sugar. I paid $150 plus fees for the items. Makes alot of sense to me.

 

[fuzzytoaster]

It sounds like the gears are slowing alright. My question is what can we as a community/hobby do about it? As much as I'd like to hoot and holler to bring back the old DRMO days of bidding directly on site that isn't going to happen but picking up from units is a possibility. If the system is shifting towards sending everything to scrap won't that hurt their revenue? Yes I see that it would decrease their expenses but most items bring in more than their scrap value, that I've seen, except rusted lawn equipment and boxes of all left foot boots.

Should the DoD start calculating their actual return/profitability on items (if any) to determine if the item should be scrapped or sold? If we apply this to your process then things aren't looking good by any means. Or would they start using the condition classification more effectively and only sell equipment above a certain level? Anything below would be scrapped. I'm spit-balling here but from a business perspective.

Would GL be pressured to pick up the slack in the processing of property? I could imagine if the DoD told them to pick up transportation costs on their dime we may see pick up at units rather than collection points. This is their cash-cow and I'm sure they would find a way to keep moving property so they can keep their business going. Now I hope that means for a more efficient business model and not pass the buck onto the end users but alas it's business.

 

[USMC4302]

Lots of speculation and not a lot of top level guidance at the moment. At least in the DoN, "Transportation" and "Travel" are different things, funding wise and should not be confused. Moving surplus vehicles to a collection/deaccessing site seems a justifiable end-of-lifecycle O&M cost to me that would come out of program funding, not unit funding (at least that's how it *usually* works with aircraft).

And DLA can't just levy a requirement on GL to pick up the burden/cost of relocating deacessed (many of them "dead") assets. If there's no option or provision in the contract DLA has with GL (which is highly doubtful), It would require, at the least, a mod to their contract that could get expensive (to the Government) as well.

Just my $.02

 

[doghead]

If this gets political, Carnac gets banned!

 

[doghead]

Warthog, please don't point out the solution!

 

[swbradley1]

If this gets political, Carnac gets banned!

He knew you were going to post that, he IS CARNAC after all.

 

[3dAngus]

If this gets political, Carnac gets banned!

Purged political humor

 

[Ferroequinologist]

Warthog, please don't point out the solution!

Don't worry, if our members can't or won't use the search function to find an answer, you can bet the Gov won't either!

We're safe.

And Dell, running for President might be a *tad* bit political.

 

[3dAngus]

Purged at request of users.

 

[porkysplace]

It only took a dozen posts to derail

 

[3dAngus]

Purged at request of users.

 

[gunboy1656]

I see things would slow down but not stop completely. If they do start doing the 2 days off a pay period, it would slow down everything. The Sf97's would take a few extra days, pickups would gain a couple extra days as the contractors would not be on location.

I can't see them stop selling stuff as they do make quite a bit of money off of the buyers (collectors, scrappers, construction and so on).

If GL could find a way to transport the stuff to a centralized facility I can see the base price going way up. I would not be surprised to see some 11th hour deal to keep things going on as normal.

 

[3dAngus]

Gunboy, This is fantastic!
I was on the hill in Quang Tri with the 337th next to the 558th Signal Company, about 12 miles from the DMZ.
Where are you buying the 558th vehicles? I would love to have one. Heck, you might be driving my old deuce from Vietnam back in ,,, no.... we evacuated in Nov 1971 and your deuce is a 1972, but I would still like the answer where you buy these.

 

[Ferroequinologist]

It usually doesn't take long around here.

 

[goldneagle]

I see things would slow down but not stop completely. If they do start doing the 2 days off a pay period, it would slow down everything. The Sf97's would take a few extra days, pickups would gain a couple extra days as the contractors would not be on location.

I can't see them stop selling stuff as they do make quite a bit of money off of the buyers (collectors, scrappers, construction and so on).

If GL could find a way to transport the stuff to a centralized facility I can see the base price going way up. I would not be surprised to see some 11th hour deal to keep things going on as normal.

They just announced that the base prices were going down to $50 starting bids from the $150 original.

 

[ntxcop]

There may be a slow down, but a lot of people don't realize just how BIG GL is. They are part of a larger company that includes TruckCenter.com. My thought is that GL and TruckCenter would be able to transport vehicles on their own. They are already doing that here in Fort Worth. The trucks and trailers that were auctioned at the Texas Nat'l Guard Refurb Center in Saginaw (TX), were moved to the TruckCenter.com site, which is located 2 miles down the road (in Fort Worth) from the Nat'l Guard facility for pickup. It appears that the auctions are not even being staged at the Nat'l Guard center anymore.

So, there may be a slow down on the government's side, but once GL gets them, it should be business a usual, and maybe even faster if private companies like TruckCenter.com take over transporting them.

This may cause a price hike, but that can be a good thing too. Your deuce or 5-Ton going up in value is a good thing, unless you're looking to buy a new truck.

Keith

 

[M813A1]

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