Thanks Jeannie, and all. I think I'll stay out of this one.  That's all I need to do is free prep work for a store. Or should I say, free store work at taxpayer's expense!! Paul <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td width=40%>"Jeannie Grassi" <jcgrassi@earthlink.net> Sent by: caut-bounces@ptg.org 05/29/2008 10:34 AM <table border> <tr valign=top> <td bgcolor=white> <div align=center>Please respond to College and University Technicians <caut@ptg.org></div></table> <td width=59%> <table width=100%> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>To</div> <td>"'College and University Technicians'" <caut@ptg.org> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>cc</div> <td> <tr valign=top> <td> <div align=right>Subject</div> <td>Re: [CAUT] Rockley Family Foundation</table> <table> <tr valign=top> <td> <td></table> </table> Hi Paul, Those sorts of deals are still going on here in the Seattle area.  A small music school in my area had a similar arrangement with the local Yamaha dealer only to find that when the sales weren’t reaching the expectations of the dealer, all the pianos were pulled from the school two days later, leaving them with none.  Many institutions have become dependent on this type of situation and wouldn’t be able to function without the “loaned” pianos so it is easy to see what the incentive is.  Too bad purchase and maintenance of musical instruments is no longer in the budgets of some music schools.     jeannie   <div align=center> <hr></div> From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of Paul T Williams Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 7:26 AM To: caut@ptg.org Subject: [CAUT] Rockley Family Foundation   Dear List, Has anyone ever heard of or worked with the Rockley Family Foundation?  I got a phone call in a semi-"cold call" style (he knew my name from some list) asking if we at UNL would be interested in a loan program of pianos to be replenished every year.  I asked him to send me some information and he e-mailed me this morning. In Seattle, several smaller colleges have done this sort of thing with a couple of the piano stores in the area.  They would loan various pianos to them for a year at no charge and then sell them a year later.  The problem I saw in this was that the stores would bring in many of their new pianos at that time, having a "SUNDAY,SUNDAY, SUNDAY!!" sale and only the school pianos were sold at much of a discount.  Lots of advertisement on every media possible would be invested and lots of people would show up, making it basically a warehouse sale. I'm a bit leary of this and having been a store tech for many years, didn't like the store's tactics in their selling styles.  Bit my lip many times from some of the crap the "used car salesmen" type folks would say to potential victims,  ahhh, customers I should say.  On a university end of it now, I would be faced with breaking in many new pianos every year and just when I get them semi-stable, I'd have to start over. Any advise or testimony y'all can bring to this subject is welcome! Best, Paul T. Williams RPT Piano Technician School of Music University of Nebraska Lincoln, NE