Shoutout to the $12 junkyard alternator that died on me in 3 weeks

Pulled a used alternator off a wrecked Civic at the pick and pull in Stockton about a month ago, paid $12 with the core charge and felt pretty good about myself. Got it bolted onto my 97 Accord in about 40 minutes, fired it up and the battery gauge sat right at 14 volts, thought I scored. Then last Tuesday on the way to work the headlights started going dim and the radio cut out, and by the time I pulled into the lot the gauge was down to 11 and dropping. Checked the connections at lunch, all tight, so I took it to the parts store and the tester said the regulator was toast, it was only putting out 9.8 volts under load. Should have had them bench test it before I paid, that was a $12 lesson plus another $35 for a reman one that actually works. Now the old one is sitting on my bench taking up space and I am out two weekends of tinkering. Do you guys bench test every junkyard electrical part before you trust it, or do you just roll the dice like I did?