For many laboratories, funding is very rarely abundant. Lab managers must often make decisions concerning which equipment must be replaced and which will need to be strecthed for another year, possibly placing limitations on lab productivity. Consider stretching your lab's budget significantly further this year by investigating whether or not the equipment needed in next year;s upgrades can be purchased second-hand. You'll not only be saving money, but also the environment."Right now, I'm going through a sale with a piece of equipment called a LEADseeker, which is a product from General Electric," says Chris Ayotte, Director of Operations and equipment re-seller at Harlow Scientific. "To buy this piece of equipment new, a lab would be looking at a price around $200,000. We, on the other hand, are making this deal for $85,000.00. We got this at a good deal ourselves and have been able to pass those savings on to a good client of ours."
Harlow Scientific buys, sells, rents and stores gently used scientific equipment, a niche of the lab industry that has grown increasingly appealing over the last few years. "There is an obvious answer as to why people are looking to this option" says Ayotte. "People want to save money."
Recently, Kristina MacNaughton, a research technician at the University of Alberta, needed to make the most of her money. "I was working for a brand new investigator, and when he got here, he was applying for grants. Our institution gives a bit of a startup fund to get equipment for the lab, but when you have to buy everything from pipettes to large machinery, it gets pricey," she says. The only way to realistically and satisfactorily furnish the new lab was to go second-hand.
Ayotte agrees that for some labs, even saving a few thousand dollars can mean the difference between getting up and running, or not. "We sell an instrument called an M5 from a company called Molecular Devices. We sell a 2008 model like-new for $35,000," Ayotte says. "They are quoting an unused model out for $42,000 to $45,000. People who have the money will shrug off that $7,000 or so and go for the new model, but for a smaller lab, $7,000 is $7,000. For many startup companies or small laboratories, that's still significant. It amounts to money that can be spent on reagents or other stock."
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