Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sunybcs!jmpiazza
From: jmpiazza@sunybcs.uucp (Joseph M. Piazza)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Apple Prices
Message-ID: <7400@cs.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: 27 Jun 89 17:55:34 GMT
References: <126900038@p.cs.uiuc.edu <43fc2743.18e92@apollo.COM <25698@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <320@berlin.acss.umn.edu>
Sender: nobody@cs.Buffalo.EDU
Reply-To: jmpiazza@sunybcs.UUCP (Joseph M. Piazza)
Organization: SUNY/Buffalo Computer Science
Lines: 46

In article <320@berlin.acss.umn.edu> mpm@berlin.acss.umn.edu (Mark P. McCahill) writes:
>
>Prices are always going to vary a lot from one school to another 
>because:
>
>1.) Some schools pay local dealers a fee on each item sold
> (The theory being that local delears get support questions
>  so they ought to be reimbursed. This kickback to the local
>  dealer also keeps the delaers from complaining a lot about 
>  campus resellers.)
>
>2.) Some schools fund their microcomputer support organizations
>   by adding a chagre to each system sold while other schools
>   pay for microcomputer support staffs from central funding
>   If the microcomputer support function gets money from the
>   central administration, you will see lower prices than if the
>   microcomputer support folks have to live off a percentage of
>   each sale.

	Quite correct.

	What's happening is that Apple requires that  e v e r y o n e  who
buys an Apple machine gets support.  This is often provided by a dealer as
in (1) or the university provides it as in (2).  Part of this requirment is
that an such a support person receives Apple training.

	Here at UB the administration figured out that it's less expensive
to have a regular support person (University Computing Services as they're
called here) receive this Apple training than to contract with a local
dealer for it.

	So you see, there  i s  a method to this madness.  :-)


Flip side,

	joe piazza

--- "Where's my other sock?"  A. Einstein

CS Dept. SUNY at Buffalo 14260

UUCP: ..!{ames,boulder,decvax,rutgers}!sunybcs!jmpiazza		GEnie: jmpiazza
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>Mark McCahill  mpm@berlin.acss.umn.edu  mpm@UMNACVX