Artlover Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 Hmmm You're right , Why should we listen to an actual Atari employee at the time this supposedly happened ( If we did that, then we would have to believe the cost of disposing of a unsold videogame cartridge and nuclear waste are equal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 I had many friends all over Atari, if the company was burying all these carts someone would have told me. Yeah.. for this reason alone, I believe it didn't happen. I mean, the guy worked there. He knew people there. He was as insider as you could find, and not only that, he MADE THE GAME. So if something like this happened and was done by the company.. let's face it, people talk. This would've gotten talked about. And he never heard anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moycon Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 I will add the the catastophic short/long term effects of E.T. on the enviroment have never been tested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82-T/A Posted July 1, 2004 Author Share Posted July 1, 2004 In most states, there are laws about what you can dump and what you cannot. Perishable things, like clothing, crap made out of cotton, cut down trees, cleared brush, even most building materials like plaster, etc.. can be dumped. But things like bricks, cement, etc, have to be dumped in one location. HEAVY plastics are usually dumped in another. SCRAP metal is dumped in another place, and electronics (computers, monitors, etc) are dumped in another. I've been to a few land fills (don't know why.. just happened). In Virginia they are very strict. There is a massive bin that they clean out every day where you dump electronics. Screens, etc. (and people are watching). In Florida, they don't have laws like that. At the top of this massive trash hill (seemed like close to 100 feet high) there was someone's boat sitting up there that had been dumped (frame rotted out, and a piece of fiberglass had cracked). So I guess it depends on the state. I think that was the point he originally meant. Plus... most land fills don't dig holes, but instead pile things up. It WOULD cost quite a bit to dump 14 semi's full of crap. When I went to toss out some old furniture in Florida. They charged me $23 bucks to dump a large dresser (they weigh you when you go in, and weigh you when you leave). If you figure 14 semi's worth of that weight, that's probably close to a couple hundred thousand dollars. JUST for the dumping fee. Not to mention the gas for the 14 semis, the rental of the 14 semis, and the labor to pack all 14 semis. (they apparently did it overnight, so there must have been extensive man-power to load 4 MILLION cartridges into 14 SEMI trucks). That's not even counting the cement that they supposedly poured on the cartridges. That's additional money for the cement (and a lot of it, cement is not cheap) the cement truck rental, and the steamroller rental that they used to crush them with beforehand. All in all, we're looking at close to a 3/4 to 1 million dollar operation. No way in hell Atari had that kind of cash in their current condition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82-T/A Posted July 1, 2004 Author Share Posted July 1, 2004 Also.. unless he surrendered ALL rights of that game COMPLETELY to Atari, he, as a developer (at the time, it would have very much been like a book writer) would have gotten a royalty on every game sold. By dumping 4 million carts that he made, he would have been out a lot of money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 http://www.snopes.com/business/market/atari.asp In a bout of hubris at the end of 1981, Atari had told their distributors to place their orders for 1982 all at once. The distributors, anticipating another strong sales year, ordered aggressively, but when 1982 sales didn't meet expectations, those distributors were stuck with a lot of unsold Atari game cartridge inventory, which they returned to Atari in droves. When distributor returns were added to the 5 million unsold Pacman cartridges and another 5 million useless E.T. cartridges, Atari found themselves with tons of unsellable merchandise to dispose of, which led to the rumor that Atari buried millions of E.T. cartridges in a landfill in the New Mexico desert. What was Atari supposed to do? Sell them to the very stores that sent the games back? Where would Atari try to sell them at the time? Wouldn't it cost more to try to sell them (shipping them all over the place for them just to be sent back) than to travel a small distance to a landfill? I don't really care which story is true, but it would be nice to know what happened from a person who was in charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeV0 Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Well myth or now myth, But the story made it all the way to Australia in the day. I believed it then but am a bit sceptic now, Still it would make an excellent show Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artlover Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Not to mention the gas for the 14 semis, the rental of the 14 semis, and the labor to pack all 14 semis. (they apparently did it overnight, so there must have been extensive man-power to load 4 MILLION cartridges into 14 SEMI trucks). One guy with a hand truck can load a semi in a few hours if everything is boxed, stacked and waiting. And somehow, I doubt those 4 million cartridges were all loose. Tho this raises a question. How many cartridges came packed in a case? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogueleader Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 The New York Times. "Atari Parts Are Dumped." 28 September 1983 (p. D4). Last I knew, the New York Times was a rather reputable news paper. Considering the exact day, title of the story and page it's on are cited, this would be tough to argue, no? I don;t know. Jason Blair wasn't working for the paper back then was he? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dykesr Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 We should all start posting at MYthbuster just to try to get this on teh show it would be really cool. i mean if nothing else we would geet some good interviews from atari employes and in the end it would all be fun. RD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsukasa Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 It's very posible that Atari did dump those carts, my dad used to work for the Limited. When they had extra that they couldn't sell, they would dig a hole, throw all the unsold clothes in, and set them on fire..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogueleader Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 It's very posible that Atari did dump those carts, my dad used to work for the Limited. When they had extra that they couldn't sell, they would dig a hole, throw all the unsold clothes in, and set them on fire..... Now IMO thats just a waste. Clothes could be used by somebody, homless shelter, churches, salvation army etc. Granted not many homless people would have had much use for an old ET cart but clothes... It is a free country though and they are fully entitled to burn the, eat them, or dress farm animals in them. It just seems like a waste. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Now IMO thats just a waste. Clothes could be used by somebody, homless shelter, churches, salvation army etc. Granted not many homless people would have had much use for an old ET cart but clothes... It is a free country though and they are fully entitled to burn the, eat them, or dress farm animals in them. It just seems like a waste. Not as much as you think. Google for "salaula". Donated clothing is shipped by the container load to Africa. Any semblance of a textiles industry in Africa is long gone, replaced by a flea market industry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTHONY ATARI Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Now IMO thats just a waste. Clothes could be used by somebody, homless shelter, churches, salvation army etc. Granted not many homless people would have had much use for an old ET cart but clothes... It is a free country though and they are fully entitled to burn the, eat them, or dress farm animals in them. It just seems like a waste. I agree, and i find that wastfulness discusting. - just as discusting as all the food that's wasted by resturants (when they switch from breakfast to lunch, often all the breakfast items get tossed. And at the end of the day, everthing gets tossed) Even dumping all those Atai games, if it did happen, was a waste of materials and stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cootster Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Now IMO thats just a waste. Clothes could be used by somebody, homless shelter, churches, salvation army etc. Granted not many homless people would have had much use for an old ET cart but clothes... It is a free country though and they are fully entitled to burn the, eat them, or dress farm animals in them. It just seems like a waste. Not as much as you think. Google for "salaula". Donated clothing is shipped by the container load to Africa. Any semblance of a textiles industry in Africa is long gone, replaced by a flea market industry. The local thrift chain here ships gabs of stuff to sell in the former Soviet Union, including apparently any Atari stuff they still get . . . And when I worked at Wal-Mart, and you wouldn't believe the amount of stuff they toss out . . . Like racks of donuts every 4 hours, 5 bottles out of 6 of a sixpack of Pepsi because some idiot drank half of one and put it back on the shelf, etc . . . As for the carts, I'll never believe they were trashed like this, simply because there are too many NIB ones now for that to be the case . . . They just held on to them and re-sold them in '86, more than likely, or exported them to some other NTSC market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 It's very posible that Atari did dump those carts, my dad used to work for the Limited. When they had extra that they couldn't sell, they would dig a hole, throw all the unsold clothes in, and set them on fire..... Now IMO thats just a waste. Clothes could be used by somebody, homless shelter, churches, salvation army etc. Granted not many homless people would have had much use for an old ET cart but clothes... It is a free country though and they are fully entitled to burn the, eat them, or dress farm animals in them. It just seems like a waste. Not a waste according to bean-counters. In industry, product must be rendered "unsellable" in order to write the value off the bottom line. In the plant that I used to work at, it would even need to be rendered "unsalvageable" - not a single component could be reused or resold. Think of all the warehouse space that would be required for all those finished goods. Think of all the time that would need to be put in to shell all the carts just to reuse the cases. That's a lot of money...and Atari was losing millions by each hour when people stated selling their investments. I don't see any reason to doubt the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artlover Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Tho this raises a question. How many cartridges came packed in a case? Anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Probably dumped in gaylords...4 ft. cubes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
82-T/A Posted July 2, 2004 Author Share Posted July 2, 2004 hahahah gaylords.... Is that anything like a buttload? In metric units, how many buttloads to a cubic meter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Gaylord = pallet-sized open shipping crate...usually made of double-wall cardboard or plastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egdinger Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Everyones assuming that they dumped the carts legaly. What if they just drove up in the middle of the night and dumped them, then drove off. Bribe a public offcial or two, and they won't care. Suddenly it becomes alot cheaper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted July 2, 2004 Share Posted July 2, 2004 Nah, it was announced right when they did it...even listing the landfill where they were dumped IIRC. Whenever major overstock reduction happens, a company has to make a statement to the shareholders...so there's no wondering where all of that inventory went. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Tomlin Posted July 3, 2004 Share Posted July 3, 2004 This all reminds me a story I was told by a collector I know (some of you may even have heard it from him before). Many years ago he was working at a consumer electronics store. They had a box full of Atari stuff that was being returned for credit, so he sealed it up and shipped it off to Sunnyvale. Years later he went over there on a dumpster diving trip and found the same box, and it had never been opened! (insert scary music here) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moycon Posted July 3, 2004 Share Posted July 3, 2004 Wasn't that a Tales From The Darkside episode?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cootster Posted July 4, 2004 Share Posted July 4, 2004 Gaylord = pallet-sized open shipping crate...usually made of double-wall cardboard or plastic Named after their inventor, no doubt, but a dozen Gaylords should be called a buttload. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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