The DMRO system worked fine
I concur.. For those unfamiliar, the sealed bid and listing method of all four DRMO's I interacted with had no pictures of items, and it was all done through the mail.. It was very frustrating when you'd get the "bid results" letter and find out the winner outbid you by just a "few" bucks relative to the size of the lot, no way to counter-bid ... Back then, they listed winning bidders by name or company and everyone had a known nemesis or two, or more.. It was a great system for those located close enough to go inspect the items, or had an "inside" person.. Had only one problem at a DRMO, and it was taken care of promptly.. A cat D7 winch was listed "Condition Code A with Crate".. After a hefty sealed bid and 4-1/2 hours on the road, I arrive to a winch with busted mounts.
Nothing but a ship's anchor and was not gonna take a chance on internals either.. The site guy didn't like my refusing it, so I went to the office and the head cheese took a walk with me to look.. "It should've been listed as Code Q , sorry for the mistake, I will withdraw the item"..
Although I picked up a pair of stencil machines there the same day, the winch was the only thing that would've made the 11-hour day trip worthwhile... It was the first and last D7 winch I would ever see available without an entire dozer attached, and I didn't need, or have the $, for another dozer.. I do miss the DRMO's though, there were four of them within 1-1/2 hours of here and each of them handled the entire array of vehicles, equipment, and gear.. But ever since the DRMO's disappeared and GL & subsequent others took over, vehicle sales are at locations more than 4-hours away from here, which is a huge disadvantage, especially with fuel since the early 2000s .. Seems silly whenever I saw trucks and equipment being hauled out of nearby area installations (former DRMO's), taken to the major bases many hours (or states) away, only for several to be hauled back into their former areas by auction winners .. Case in point, 2 days/nights hauling two GL M818's from central PA that had been based at a military installation (and former DRMO) in northern VT just 90mins north of me.. Or spending 2 days/nights hauling two GL M35A2's and a M109A3 out of Ft. Drum, to later learn these trucks came from southeastern-NY units that would've previously been disposed at the former Watervliet DRMO, just 90mins south of me.. Or Plattsburgh, and Schenectady too..Needless to say, without the DRMO's, I called it quits in 2010.. GL was the first and last straw.. Everything has been located too far away ever since.. Did I already say I miss the DRMO's ?
.. As mentioned, your best shot of getting a M35 or M109 anywhere reasonably close to you these days is private sale, and monitor your area's state surplus, municipal, and fire dept/forest service auctions