CTSSolutions' thread v.FinallyBoughtATruckAndItFeelsLikeSummer

[CTSSolutions]

Oh, I should also mention that the guy who bought all the Michael Jordan junk asked me where I got everything. I told him a storage unit and he said "Oh great! I saw your ad on Craigslist...it's the only reason I'm here."



I sold him that stuff for $20. At least someone saw it that I know of. Also just got a email about the shelves. Probably could have gotten $50 for the pair if I kept them, took them home, made time to make a craigslist sale and sealed the deal but I let them go at a time I was simply moving products for $25 on the pair. Fine with me. Craigslist sales to make an extra $25 can easily turn into much for a hassle than they're worth. I had a product, I was at market, I had a buyer, I sold. I don't hold anything for anyone. Show me cash and you own yourself something new. I've been burned too many times in the past by someone who is "coming tomorrow and paying asking price" that never showed.

Anytime I buy on Craigslist I cringe when they tell me I'm "Next in line". I always tell them "I'm in my car. I have cash. You're 15 minutes away..can I come buy it?" And if they tell me at that point that I'm still "in line" I never call them again. Cash is king.

[CTSSolutions]

I know you're right but I'm still living in my own fantasy world that has me believing that if I didn't have student loan debt that I could have a mortgage. And I have myself believing a house would be a whole lot better than a piece of paper that's still rolled up in a tube somewhere.

Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. I know how I am and I know how fast money burns a hole in my pocket. I can't hang on the stuff. I LOVE spending money. I just don't have any to spend so it makes it tough.

I totally hear ya on the big guys swallowing up the little ones. It's a crying shame but that's the world we live in. That's why I want to be one of the big guys I guess. But I need a lot more than Dakota and a sore back to become a real big guy. It's gonna take real trucks and real, reliable, honest help.

It's kind of the reason I got into scrap in the first place. It's something new that I have always known about but have never capitalized on. It's money sitting there for the taking but unless you bust your butt to get it someone else will simply throw it in the back of their truck. Same with flea markets. Plenty of people have stuff they don't need. But most are too lazy to take it to market, spend $20 and sell it.

I'm going to keep trying new stuff and see what sticks. I should be able to pick up those computers on Monday that evaded me on Friday. Breaking those down will help me see if that's something I really want to spend my time on.

Someday I'll find something that is profitable and enjoyable. And then I'll make it more profitable and I'll quit working for the man. When that day is and what I'll be doing is all still up for debate.

[Copper Head]

Good luck enjoy truck

But that is not beat up truck

[CTSSolutions]

Good luck enjoy truck

But that is not beat up truck

Thanks man.

and i know.... its beat up enough I can throw straps over the side and not think twice when i hear the hook smack the bed walls but nice enough that i charged the AC and it blows ice cold

I love it for the $1000 I paid.

[Copper Head]

IMG_20150201_230559_zps3ee8c3ec.jpg Photo by kpic4 | Photobucket

Not the best pic for truck condition but look at bumper & visualize that at 45% MORE
For me I turn the key - it starts . Some times jeez I'm ready for bit of road respect
But some times I feel police leave the poor sap alone . I drive slow chug cug , but once in wile
I punch the 318 to keep it honest , The 318's are not fast V-8's , still when you wake them up they roar with decent toque

[CTSSolutions]

I wish I had a 318. My 239 is rather gutless. Really has trouble on the highway with any sort of a load in the back. It'll do for now though. I saw a 91 7.3l PSD F250 with 210k on it for $3000 today. Level of want is through the roof. Also found a super awesome trailer for sale but I'm not sure on the price yet. It was on a lot that sells trailers with no tag. Its Sunday so I'm calling tomorrow to see if its in my price range.

[Copper Head]

I think your truck really has no trouble . What we have now a days are fast trucks & what we see are well loaded trucks moving along fast and really it's not what should be . Sure we all want that power.
There was a time when a 6 banger truck was it & you would load em and drive at modest speeds. Wile they were full sized & if needed V -8's were an option . Trucks from 30's to 60's were driven proper .

These days pickups can do 0 to 60 in 6.5 - 7 or 8 second range . Wile your truck is not full size ,
a decent load with trailer going 50 mph is all you need . The MPG must be fine . Thats really very important good MPG = in a year many pounds of scrap you need not find to pay for fuel for same distance traveled .
If you drive it slow you will find it's true ability . A capable truck driven safe and slow as a truck should be driven .

[CTSSolutions]

WELP! I got ahold of the computer shop I was supposed to go to on Friday. I showed up and they had a whopping 3 towers for me. They told me they were complete and I loaded them up. I asked them what they do with their wire/bad ram/bad hd's/anything that's scrap. They said they throw it away. I asked them to save it for me but with the size of their shop and lack of space i doubt they will.

I paid $1.50/tower because they said they were complete. Gave him $4.50 and walked out. Not the score I was looking for.

I got them to the storage unit and popped off the optiplex's cover. Stripped. No CPU, no RAM, no HD...just a mobo, a copper heatsink and a power supply. Great.

I feel like I got taken for a ride on this deal. The other computers had their RAM, but no CPU chips, one had a HD. Really disappointed. I have a lot of phone calls to make for sure. This kind if stuff ain't gonna pay any bills anytime soon.

As always...here's some pics.

Woohoo 3 towers!

k

Stripped optiplex....not a good feeling.

[mikeinreco]

WELP! I got ahold of the computer shop I was supposed to go to on Friday. I showed up and they had a whopping 3 towers for me. They told me they were complete and I loaded them up. I asked them what they do with their wire/bad ram/bad hd's/anything that's scrap. They said they throw it away. I asked them to save it for me but with the size of their shop and lack of space i doubt they will.

I paid $1.50/tower because they said they were complete. Gave him $4.50 and walked out. Not the score I was looking for.

I got them to the storage unit and popped off the optiplex's cover. Stripped. No CPU, no RAM, no HD...just a mobo, a copper heatsink and a power supply. Great.

I feel like I got taken for a ride on this deal. The other computers had their RAM, but no CPU chips, one had a HD. Really disappointed. I have a lot of phone calls to make for sure. This kind if stuff ain't gonna pay any bills anytime soon.

As always...here's some pics.

Woohoo 3 towers!

k

Stripped optiplex....not a good feeling.

possibly pay by the pound?.......Ebay has nice portable digital scales for less than $50

[CTSSolutions]

possibly pay by the pound?.......Ebay has nice portable digital scales for less than $50

I have a small portable 100lb scale I can start taking with me I guess. If I end up in contact with them again I will probably take the covers off before I put them in the truck. Seems like they'll never have more than 10 for me so it shouldn't be too cumbersome to do so.

I just made 15 phone calls to computer shops in my area. Seems that everyone has a scrapper. And they all pay. One shop says he gets $4-5 per tower, others didn't want to talk numbers with me. I left a message for the ones that didn't answer. One said callback in an hour when the boss is in the shop.

Some wanted my price sheets (which don't exist because I don't know what they're worth yet)

Was calling audio/video places too. Similar story.

Weight isn't a bad idea. I know I can get $.25/lb per tower at my yard. I could probably rip the ram, HDs and CPUs from them and get that price. Might bite me in the ass if they do their own processing though. It would be pretty obvious someone took the goodies out.

I could offer 10 cents a pound and probably do okay.

I know breaking into this industry isn't going to be easy, but I'm finding more trouble getting my foot in the door than I expected. I know this counts as privledged information - but where do you guys source computers?

I fear word of mouth isn't going to be as promising as I thought it would be when it comes to computers. Computer shops/businesses don't talk to each other, let alone help each other if they don't have to. Why would they tell each other about a good scrapper they have if it would help the competition?

Unless they thought I was such a good scrapper that they would want to help me out? Maybe I'm just over thinking all of this. I just want a full truck of towers/wire so I can spend a few hours breaking then down and learning the process. Right now I have 4 towers. Hardly worth a trip to the yard after they're in pieces...

[mikeinreco]

check surplus auctions.......You may have to pay a little extra but the knowledge gained is worth the price of admission

[Copper Head]

my job has me drop off recycling to a state run recycle plant .
People and companies drop off tons to the state run recycle plant For Free !!
So often it's not about money . It is about security, customers feeling safe about
there info on a computer not being un-erased

Wile yes you have competition from others who buy , state run recycle plants or regulated types
get the meat of it.

[CTSSolutions]

my job has me drop off recycling to a state run recycle plant .
People and companies drop off tons to the state run recycle plant For Free !!
So often it's not about money . It is about security, customers feeling safe about
there info on a computer not being un-erased

Wile yes you have competition from others who buy , state run recycle plants or regulated types
get the meat of it.

True true.... I thought computer shops were a good place to start to source computers... and it seems they are - they all have people picking them up. I'm just working now on getting a couple contacts so I can get some cash flow going and start learning what things are worth so I can price competitively.

I don't want to pay for scrap. But it seems like that's the way its gonna go for a while.

Also wanted to state I believe I was mistaken about them ripping the CPUs out. The heatsinks are there so the chips should be underneath. Hopefully if I'm not too tired in the morning I'll rip em down and find out.

Its 3am right now and I'm stuck at work on my lunch break. Third shift can be a bear...

[CTSSolutions]

Got ahold of another shop. Owner told me he wished I got ahold of him 4 days ago. He just gave 3 loads to his neighbor. I'm not entirely sure what the loads consisted of but I know it was all e-waste. I'm going down there today for 13 towers. I'm paying $2 a tower because he claims he can get $3/tower elsewhere but has to deliver them. I offer pickup.

It doesn't sound like I'll get any bonuses. He mentioned Comcast/sat boxes but didn't sound like he would part with them. He is also "fresh out of wire". We talked scrap prices a bit, he knows their value.

I don't blame him for making me up my offering price but that $1.50/$2 a tower is a price I want to pay if there are extra goodies involved. Like cable boxes, and wire, or scrap RAM/bad HDs. Maybe I'm doing this wrong. I'm still very green and learning every day.

The owner of the shop I'm going to is R2 certified. And it sounds like he cycles through a whole of stuff. He owns 2 computer shops and what sounds like a processing facility. He mentioned vaguely about getting a " truckload a week" from the next county over. Not sure exactly what a "truckload" is. It also sounds like he's short on time and his employees are getting stretched pretty thin. I"m going to see if I can work my way into picking up for him in exchange for scrap.

Maybe I can go to the next county for him and pick up those "truckloads" for him and when I get back we split the goodies. Maybe. He might even be getting paid to pick this stuff up...so maybe if thats the case i could go pick it up, give him all the CRTs, and keep the rest. I dont knkw what his time is worth to him. I need to feel him out because hes the only owner that ive talked to so far that is getting a steady stream of waste, is wiling to talk to me on the phone, is wiling to sell me towers, told me he gives away scrap (neighbor), is R2 certified, and has multiple locations full of stuff. I'm just thinking on paper here...don't mind me.

At least I'll have ~20 computers to tear down when I get a day off. Not sure when that's gonna be. Im hoping this week. I'm on the " wish list" at work sonofnthey don't need me they'll cancel me. I'm in there in part to break down computers but also in part so I can start my unemployment claim. Work is about to die off like it does every year during the summer. I've never opened an unemployment claim in my life and I need a canceled day to do it so maybe it'll happen this week.

[CTSSolutions]

Just got back from the computer shop. I spent about 2 hours down there talked to the owner. He's R2 certified (told me it cost him $30,000 and 1.5 years to rush through). He's....an interesting guy. Pretty weird. Talked a lot about money and how much he makes, while being the cheapest guy in town. Also talked A LOT about how much of an honest guy he is. From what I found in my past, the more someone talks about how much of an upfront, honest person they are the first time you meet them...the more you should worry. He did give me a lot of information, though. And I appreciate that. He took the time to break down a computer with me...I kept telling him I've done my homework but he insisted and I'm fine with that. He told me the knowledge I gain from him is free...the scrap will cost a little bit of money.

All in all he seems super nice, but some of the things he said have me a little uneasy. But that's fine - I don't plan to partner up with him or anything so I don't have any worries about any of that.

I have found a problem with my initial approach to getting computers from computer shops. They know computers! These are basically stripped. I hinted a couple times, especially on my way out the door that I'm worried about not being able to make money on his computers. I popped some of the covers...they're basically all missing RAM. Only a few had HD's. And most..if not all...CPU's were gone. That's basically the $2/tower I spent...that's missing...never to be seen by me.

So that's a concern of mine..at least as far as computer shops go. They're going to snag all the goodies and give me the shred + wire + mobo. I can't be paying for that. That's supposed to be the meat on the bone after I get the CPU, HD and RAM...not my whole dinner.

But I'm learning. I picked up 14 towers and a couple cable boxes. I paid $28. Hopefully I can get all of that money back and learn something. It doesn't look like I'll be turning a profit on these considering all that they're missing.

We'll see what happens. I'm off to put them in the storage unit until I have a day off so I can break em down.

Here's pics. Everybody love pics.



Stripped. No HD. No RAM. No CPU. Chinese board. This is NOT what I want to be paying for.




And there was this. Supposedly his son was the one tearing them down and he told him to stop and throw the RAM back in one of the cases. It's junk 256mb stuff but at least I got some of it I guess.



Well..off to unload.

[CTSSolutions]

He also told me that I need to be careful stripping these. Apparently Pennsylvania has some new laws that prevent people from tearing down computers. I haven't heard such a law, but I need to do some research about it. I know the state has huge ewaste operations and I have a feeling that they're trying to squeeze all the little guys out of the game. I'll research it and go from there. I don't want to build my business on illegal activities. It won't end well.

He said I won't have any problems unless I'm processing tractor trailers. But that's not the point. I'm trying to build something legitimate. If I can't do it in Pennsylvania I will either abandon ewaste and do other scrapping/hauling or I will move. I'm not going to play the gray area game.

[Mechanic688]

He said I won't have any problems unless I'm processing tractor trailers. But that's not the point. I'm trying to build something legitimate. If I can't do it in Pennsylvania I will either abandon ewaste and do other scrapping/hauling or I will move. I'm not going to play the gray area game.

Why try to get real big real fast when your hollaring about not having a day off from your real job?? A lot of scrappers here would die for a steady 40 hour a week job. Don't try to jump in too fast, give it time to grow. I have found that John Q Public likes to take the ram and maybe CPU's out then carefully button the computer back up. I was getting a steady diet of them also, so that's why I changed over to a per lb. basis.

[CTSSolutions]

Why try to get real big real fast when your hollaring about not having a day off from your real job?? A lot of scrappers here would die for a steady 40 hour a week job. Don't try to jump in too fast, give it time to grow. I have found that John Q Public likes to take the ram and maybe CPU's out then carefully button the computer back up. I was getting a steady diet of them also, so that's why I changed over to a per lb. basis.

That's just the way I am. Always have been. The reason I'm trying to get into scrap/junk hauling is so I can quit working for the man. It may sound like I'm just b*tching to some of you, but that's just me. I have a 4 year degree in construction management, I have debt up to my eyeballs and I'm sick of working where I work. I've had a few run ins with the law and I'm basically just trying to become 100% self sufficient. I don't want to rely on a "real job" paycheck. I want to pay off my debt, buy a house and rely on myself. I can always get a job if things get too slow, but I know if I do I'll be just as miserable as I am now.

As stated earlier - I'm hoping scrapping/junk at the very least opens my eyes to walk through another door if the oportunity presents itself. I'm not 100% hellbent on making hauling my profession - but I am hellbent on being my own boss, quitting my job and being happy about it.

I've always wanted to own my own successful business. I'm hoping this one will stick.

By the pound isn't a bad idea. I actually just got a call from work telling me to stay home tonight. I'll be breaking down those towers all through the night so I can keep my third shift sleep schedule.

I'm going to bring my scale to the storage unit and run some numbers. Pretty sure I have 18 total computers. Pretty sure I have a whopping 5 HD's out of them. I will be running numbers and going from there. Gonna take it slow and record everything so when I go back to that computer shop I can explain why I'm not going to pay him $2/tower for shred shells. Most of them are just shred, mobos and power supplies. Pretty sure the dude wanted to take me for a ride and see what I had to say about it. I kept my mount shut because it was the first time meeting him and I wanted to hear what he had to say. I probably won't be so friendly next week.

[NHscrapman]

open the pc's.. 1 or 50 and look to see if parts are missing....THEN pay accordingly
he kinda took you for a ride but only because you did not thoroughly look before paying...
lesson learned
not too bad only 3... coulda just as easily been 300.
Protect ya neck

[CTSSolutions]

open the pc's.. 1 or 50 and look to see if parts are missing....THEN pay accordingly
he kinda took you for a ride but only because you did not thoroughly look before paying...
lesson learned
not too bad only 3... coulda just as easily been 300.
Protect ya neck

Yeah that's what it looks like. I'm digging into them tonight and seeing what's really left in them.

So far - worst case scenario I should break even on the money I spent which means I donated my time to learning a valuable lesson. I know my first purchases haven't been perfect but I learned something on both of them and that holds value in my book.

Just loaded up a mini fridge and dryer into the truck. Gonna be a huge shred load. At least 300#!