Would it be worth it?

I was thinking about calling goodwill and staples in the area and start buying computers from them. Any input would be great as to if this is a good idea or not.

All the goodwills around me sell the computers for way more than scrap vaule. They sell well too so I doubt they would want to scrap them. Staples probably has some stupid corproate policy about disposal.

When I worked at Home Depot we threw away tons upon tons of unused pallet racking. I'm talking still brand new on the pallet. It could sell for thousands to someone who needed it for their shop or would at least get hundreds as scrap yet we had to throw it in a dumpster with all the other trash......

Best thing to do is just call and ask. Make sure you get the manager though. It is better to get the facts than opinion or experiences related to other locations as they all seem to be a little different. One GW near me wont sell any computers b/c they dont know how to test them, and another one about 12 miles away just sells them cheap as-is.

Side Note: I bought a Pentium III Dell a couple yrs ago at the second GoodWill I netioned for 5 bucks and asked if I could buy all the computers when they get because I repair them and dont care if they work at that price and the cashier said: "oh, i have a friend that repairs them too...I should call him and see if he wants to buy them from us." Like It Was Her Idea!!!

Originally Posted by olddude

there was a thread on this just a couple of days ago; Good wills here also ship to a center, same with office depot. dealing with corporate robots is a total waste of time, and the lack of common sence and logic will drive you nutz.

yeah, I agree. In order to approach these guys you need to be a full service, 100% recycle company. Including tubes and plastic. Otherwise they already have someone that is doing that and you will have to beat their prices. It will be a tough sell. I am having some luck right now with the small local one store thrift stores. The charity ones that is. We have a lot around here that are privately owned and for profit. I have not approached them as of yet, but they may get a good bunch of electronic scrap from storage auctions and such that they do jot have an outlet for yet.