Inventories

12 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2020

Inventories, which are all within the Telco segment, at September 30, 2020 and September 30, 2019 are as follows, in thousands:


	2020		2019
New equipment	$	1,311	$	1,496
Refurbished and used equipment	7,499		7,405
Allowance for excess and obsolete inventory:	(3,054)		(1,275)

Total inventories, net	$	5,756	$	7,626

New equipment includes products purchased from manufacturers plus “surplus-new”, which are unused products purchased from other distributors or multiple system operators. Refurbished and used equipment includes factory refurbished, Company refurbished and used products. Generally, the Company does not refurbish its used inventory until there is a sale of that product or to keep a certain quantity on hand.

In the years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019, the Telco segment identified certain inventory that more than likely will not be sold or that the cost will not be recovered when it is processed through its recycling program. Therefore, the Company has a $3.1 million allowance at September 30, 2020. The Company also reviewed the cost of inventories against estimated net realizable value and recorded a lower of cost or net realizable value charge of $1.8 million and $0.7 million for the years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019 respectively, for inventories that have a cost in excess of estimated net realizable value.