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Beginners luck.....

| A Day in the Life of a Scrapper
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    BDAScrapper started this thread.
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    Beginners luck.....

    So as others on the Island think that scrapping is easy, pick away at the limited amount of scrap that's around and the pros (I consider myself in between) and I battle it out over picking grounds...... Scrap is getting harder to find,and the easy stuff is snapped up by wannabes....
    So I moved over to EWaste, and decided to give it a shot. So Monday rolled around and I rolled out, armed with the knowledge dug up from old threads and archives, and headed down to the dump.
    As it was Xmas, the weeks before,everyone seemed to have gotten a new CPU... Or printer. (Tvs and microwaves close third) I grabbed a half dozen and headed home.



    Once home, I started dissembling them, and I was hooked, MBs, HDs, Chips and other things that had gold on them, sink towers etc etc...

    That night I couldn't sleep,thinking about all the scrap sitting at the dump waiting to be snapped up, and worrying about the other scrapers getting ahold of it. It's mostly Indians, and the others that seem to go for the gold finger cards.

    So the next day after work, I hopped in my little old Polo (not allowed to have trucks etc on the Island roads to small, we are only 21 miles long) and raced down to the dump, after sorting through Piles and piles of trash needed up with 21, I had to pile me on the front seat I had filled the car up. (I started panicking after going around a few corners,mans the CPUs sliding, thought they might punch out a window......)

    And tonight my buddy called me, his company was writing off another 24..... So back down the road and over to one of the big hot shot company's. And spent the last hour loading up the trusty Polo.
    To cap it all off his father who works at another company has another potential 50 for me to collect and will pass the word around that I do free pick ups.

    Talk about beginners luck!

    If it wasn't for all of e old threads, and this Forum period, I would have passed up this, and many more to come, opportunity.

    So a word to all of the newbie scrapers out there like me, take your time to read the old threads and forums, they are worth more than the scrap you already have......

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    That's awesome.

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    I'm happy that you're finding material to go through, from one e-scrapper to another. Just wait till you get into laptops and servers ^.^

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    BDAScrapper started this thread.
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    Quote Originally Posted by logansryche View Post
    I'm happy that you're finding material to go through, from one e-scrapper to another. Just wait till you get into laptops and servers ^.^
    Thanks!
    Picked up a few other items as well, a cell phone, two laptops, one from the dump that's already in pieces and the other that came from my buddy's work, going to see if I can sell it as a good one, or break it down. Couple weird palm/handheld devices, and a "wireless voice speaker thingamajig..." What ever that is, but it has two board and one board has 6 good sized "tantalum caps" on it.

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    those tantalum caps go for good money per pound if you can get em off complete.

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    BDAScrapper started this thread.
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    Quote Originally Posted by logansryche View Post
    those tantalum caps go for good money per pound if you can get em off complete.
    So I hear, I have to make a few phone calls first to a couple buyers and see what the deal is, as soon as you start snipping the off I believe it "de grades" the boards, and it would take allot of those little fellas to make one pound LOL, but it could be worth it if I end up with a load of boards that aren't worth shipping out....
    for removal, I'm guessing pliers, I haven't seen anyone remove one yet, but I'm not done researching.

    Wish this thing would let me post pics..... Says an "error" occurs every time is try damit...

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    That's awesome you can save stuff from the dump , here we are not allowed to take anything . try to grease those wheels so you can look forward to future loads as well .
    Buying ewaste and video games !

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  12. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Metalbestos View Post
    That's awesome you can save stuff from the dump , here we are not allowed to take anything . try to grease those wheels so you can look forward to future loads as well .
    Hah, we think alike! The gent at the dump is super defensive about his area, gets all fussy about what goes into what bins, and how he keeps the area clean etc etc, so I asked permission before I started grabbing, and then brought him a 6 pack as a thank you, and now he waves me in and lets me go about my buis. Being polite, a "yes sir" and thanks goes along way. Amazing what happens when you treat others with respect.

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    Personally, I don't believe in luck. I think what happened is you found the SMF and you spent a lot of time reading and learning and you went out armed with knowledge. You know what to look for and where to find it. Awesome!

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    Good on ya! Are there many others chasing e-waste in your area? Sounds like you don't have a lot of competition right now.

    Have you figured out how to ship barrels of scrap into the US yet? Packing it in a barrel sounds like a great idea. Just a little more secure than a gaylord. You might be able to ship your ewaste the same way.

    What kinda car is a Polo?

    Sorry for all the questions but your thread is pretty interesting.

    Jon.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sawmilleng View Post
    What kinda car is a Polo?
    Volkswagen Polo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I don't think we can get them in the states.

    If you're going to ship I'd either do it by gaylord or plastic shipping box inside of a conex box.

    -Matt

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    BDAScrapper started this thread.
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    Quote Originally Posted by sawmilleng View Post
    Good on ya! Are there many others chasing e-waste in your area? Sounds like you don't have a lot of competition right now.

    Have you figured out how to ship barrels of scrap into the US yet? Packing it in a barrel sounds like a great idea. Just a little more secure than a gaylord. You might be able to ship your ewaste the same way.

    What kinda car is a Polo?

    Sorry for all the questions but your thread is pretty interesting.

    Jon.
    No worries, the more questions I get the more my brain has to think and the more answers I come up with,

    Polo is a little VW car, she's about 18 years old now, and she's done so much work it's unbelievable, helped build my house, haul fishing gear, and now scrap.

    As for for others doing eWaste on the island, I don't think many, one guy does TVs (flat screens, he goes after the boards, I had a look over his left overs and compared them to a tv that he missed) I was warned off about his my the dump manager, and then there are the guys from Pakistan, India, Shri, etc. They go after the gold finger cards and some times the chips, but they are pretty hack they just smash there way inside the CPU, at the dump, they make a bit of a mess so the dump manger chases them off.

    As as for shipping I'm not sure on eWaste yet, I know a container will cost me about $1800 for low value scrap, and 2200 for copper....... So the key is for me to have all my low value out weigh my good stuff which is a pain...
    As for packaging, the company I work at supply's fiber glass resin to the island, it comes in 50gal steel drums. I store all of my material in plastic sealing 50gal drums. So when I have enough tonnage, probably 6-8, I will transfer to steel drums, as they can Be sold as well, and ship out. It's labour intensive, but I don't mind it, I can recruit heavy load trucks, a fork lift and man power all for a case of beer. So that works.

    As as for shipping the eWaste.... I dunno yet, I'm looking into "flat rate boxes" for our shipping company's, but all my stuff will have to go by Sea.

    One day day I would like to be able to have my hands in a scrap yard in the states, or a joint venture. Theory being I can then fill a container every month with scrap, around 25000 lbs, ship it out as low value for 1800, and then have it broken down at the yard and scrap EVERYTHING.

    But thats at a ways away......


    Thanks for for the interest and will keep you all updated, once I get the pictures working I can show you guys what I'm working with (and against)!

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    Quote Originally Posted by BDAScrapper View Post
    So as others on the Island think that scrapping is easy, pick away at the limited amount of scrap that's around and the pros (I consider myself in between) and I battle it out over picking grounds...... Scrap is getting harder to find,and the easy stuff is snapped up by wannabes....
    So I moved over to EWaste, and decided to give it a shot. So Monday rolled around and I rolled out, armed with the knowledge dug up from old threads and archives, and headed down to the dump.
    As it was Xmas, the weeks before,everyone seemed to have gotten a new CPU... Or printer. (Tvs and microwaves close third) I grabbed a half dozen and headed home.

    Once home, I started dissembling them, and I was hooked, MBs, HDs, Chips and other things that had gold on them, sink towers etc etc...

    That night I couldn't sleep,thinking about all the scrap sitting at the dump waiting to be snapped up, and worrying about the other scrapers getting ahold of it. It's mostly Indians, and the others that seem to go for the gold finger cards.

    So the next day after work, I hopped in my little old Polo (not allowed to have trucks etc on the Island roads to small, we are only 21 miles long) and raced down to the dump, after sorting through Piles and piles of trash needed up with 21, I had to pile me on the front seat I had filled the car up. (I started panicking after going around a few corners,mans the CPUs sliding, thought they might punch out a window......)

    And tonight my buddy called me, his company was writing off another 24..... So back down the road and over to one of the big hot shot company's. And spent the last hour loading up the trusty Polo.
    To cap it all off his father who works at another company has another potential 50 for me to collect and will pass the word around that I do free pick ups.

    Talk about beginners luck!

    If it wasn't for all of e old threads, and this Forum period, I would have passed up this, and many more to come, opportunity.

    So a word to all of the newbie scrapers out there like me, take your time to read the old threads and forums, they are worth more than the scrap you already have......
    Yours is a perfect example of the benefit from researching old threads. Good for you! I learn something new every day on here. Almost feel guilty sometimes because I get way more from this community than I contribute.

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    that's awesome and like others a little jelly cause I would love to swim in the landfill near me

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    Is there yards on the island at all?? Also how many people live there. Since you can't have a truck you could probably rig up a small trailer and weld a hitch on. Good luck

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    Quote Originally Posted by DevinThaScrapper View Post
    Is there yards on the island at all?? Also how many people live there. Since you can't have a truck you could probably rig up a small trailer and weld a hitch on. Good luck
    No yards on the Island yet. I would love to get one off the ground.... But there is so many hurdles in the way it's insane, lest of all money.... Having to import every bit of equipment and then export every item, which would mean I need to have massive amounts of scrap in and going out at all time....

    I just heard back back from the shipping line that I'm looking to deal with.
    i have 10 days to fill a container, which is plenty of time.
    max load is 40,000lbs
    all loadS MUST be weighed (answered my earlier post, so that's more money I will have to fork out for a floor scale....)
    It costs $1200 to ship the load out, out, unless it's high end like copper then it's 2200 and this doesn't include surcharges, fuel rates, etc etc...
    Then I have to have paper work for NY to clear customs, pay duty etc etc....
    Then finally truck it to the yard.....
    like I said..lot of road blocks, I would dare say some of you have it easy LOL (I kid)
    but the pay off is what keeps me going even if I only fit 30,000 in....it will be a pay off.

    It's going to be a busy year!

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    God luck BDA. Keep us posted. I find your situation fascinating and unique. Makes me appreciate what is available to us here in the US of A.

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    Little update, it will cost me $3500, to ship the container from here to the US and truck it to the door of Pascap.Co.
    Which isn't that bad I guess. Just means I have to stuff the container with higher grade scrap. So looks like I will stick with Brass, Bronze, Copper, wire and SS as filler if it comes to it.
    Dunno how much for me to truck the container to me and back to the docks, but won't be much, under a grand. So, I always banked on spending about 5 grand to get the stuff from this door to the scrap yard.
    unfortunatlly, Pascap is proving to be one of the most unorganized groups I've ever dealt with..... And they have terrible reviews so I'm looking for another yard.
    Imin talks with "Prime Material. Recovery Inc" and they "seem" super professional, and very proficient. Emails back and forth and they are huge. So this could be a good thing.
    Will continue to look for others in and around the NY area that are close to Port Elisabeth.

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    BDA,

    I guess you now know the reason why you will need to scrap hard....that container needs to be within a gram of load limit when you ship it out to minimize the cost of shipping.

    You should also know what you will get for the stuff you send...so if you send a mix you should make sure you negotiate where the price will be before you send it.

    I think that is about 48,000 lbs....or are you talking a 20 foot container?

    Jon.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sawmilleng View Post
    BDA,

    I guess you now know the reason why you will need to scrap hard....that container needs to be within a gram of load limit when you ship it out to minimize the cost of shipping.

    You should also know what you will get for the stuff you send...so if you send a mix you should make sure you negotiate where the price will be before you send it.

    I think that is about 48,000 lbs....or are you talking a 20 foot container?

    Jon.
    Agreed, I do seperate ALL of my scrap, I have 11, 50 gal plastic drums with locking lids for my copper two full at the moment, which is about 1000lbs of what I'm considering C#2, I then have one drum for Bronze, and lid locking buckets for the brass and SS, those buckets weigh about 70lbs each.

    Also have windings from generators, spag wire, bare right, tinned, Romex etc etc.

    My biggest issue is finding a yard, and getting pictures to them so they can grade it. Once that happens I can sort and organize.

    instead of a floor scale, which will cost thousands, I'm buying a 2ton shop hoist, 250 bucks from Northern, and a chain hoist scale for 1.5t off ebay to weigh all of my scrap in, that way I can keep it up at my yard and it won't take up as much room as a floor scale.

    For us it's a 20ft container, 40,000lbs. So we shall see.

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