Yes, it would be nice if there were some way for machines of interest to get held back from these programs to feed into the collections of people like us. If only there were some peer to peer e-commerce web site that allowed you to post something for sale, let other people decide its value (auction style) and then help you co-ordinate the physical transfer of that good to the next owner. It would be like a large bay, and this is the internet so we have to tack an "E" on somewhere.

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Yeah, e-Bay. I know, it exists and that's where most people go to get their stuff but I'm not like most people. I make minimum wage and don't even have a bank account, so there's no way I can use PayPal. In addition, you forgot all about the large grey cloud labeled "reserve price" always hovering over our heads, and the fact that most systems on this website go for premium, which even if I wanted to pay, I don't currently have the ability to. Donating computers to services like this cuts severely into the supply of cheap, local machines that less-well-off hobbyists like myself strive to find. With more and more of these vintage and unique systems going to the crusher, the retrocomputing hobby will become exclusive to the upper class.

As for places like Freegeek, I don't have anything like that nearby. I live in rural Georgia.

One more thought about reusing old computers -- I've come accross this too. I actually really hate when hobbyists and cheap people try to tell me what to do with my old machines. I recently bought a new machine and am in the process of cascading all of the machines down into new roles and a few machines are about to fall off the back of the truck, as it were. These machines, which are all a decade old and all have broken parts, are for all intents and purposes, useless. I was feeling pretty happy with my accomplishment (I have a small hoarding problem, much smaller than the hoarding problem most people on this site have, but it is still something I accomplish stuff against from time to time) so I went online to tell some people about it, and IMMEDIATELY I experienced pushback. I should spend my time and effort cleaning, maybe fixing, and then donating or selling these machines locally, ultimately at an even greater loss than even keeping so long would have been, instead of donating them.

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Alternatively, just sell them on here. If the price is right I'm sure someone would take them, heck, if they were up for free plus shipping I'd take 'em, broken or not.

Any job where you frequently fear being fired is a job you should quit, on good terms if at all possible. Just tell them you found another job, thank you for the opportunity, have a nice day.

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Well, it's really more of a training program that I'm in. I'm trying to ride it out so I can get enough money to move to California to live with my boyfriend, so I can't really leave it.