- Supporting SMF E-waste buyers, when things are good or not so good!
Another name for this thread could be; Dilemma-Discernment-Decision
Dilemma A situation that requires a choice between options that are or seem equally unfavorable or mutually exclusive.
Since market prices have dropped, there are a number of local options to sell all of my escrap, that are now "pretty competitive" with the buyers I have been working with on the forum. I have had to take a close look at the overall picture and NOT just on what they may offer today. A few local buyers, never seem to pay more, when the market is up. But, shipping costs mean a little less of a return, now.
Discernment Is the activity of determining the value and quality of a certain subject or event, particularly the activity of going past the mere perception of something and making detailed judgments about that thing. As a virtue, a discerning individual is considered to possess wisdom, and be of good judgement; especially so with regard to subject matter often overlooked by others.
If I take the obvious factors out of my thinking, ie... can make more or equal selling local TODAY, do not have to deal with shipping, get paid on spot, etc
and then look at the overall other things at play. Who have I learned so much from? Has paid better when the market is up? Has been willing to be inconvenienced by my time and availability? (and quirks) Who will benefit, who may be hurt, by what I do, in the long term? Will I be hurting myself, by being "greedy" now and lose a dollar later, because I made a dime now? What is more important to me than just the "money" in what I do? There are a lot of other things going through my head, but I think you get the idea.
Decision Is a judgment, conclusion, or resolution reached or given; verdict.
Then the point comes when one has to "pull the plug" and move forward. I think it is wise, healthy, good business, to always be looking at every possible option. Exploring new opportunities, questioning ones past decisions, evaluating oneself, and making changes when necessary, is what will allow us to grow. Not just in the business sense, but as humans, to strive to be more mature in the way we deal with people and life in general.
Over the past few weeks I have wrestled with all of this. Have met with some new buyers, will be changing how I do some of my local business with low grade, keyboards, (bulky material) metals, etc. Asked for quotes, studied company histories, reflected on my experiences working with new, and old, buyers. And, reflected on how much things have changed, for the better, as a direct result of becoming an active member on SMF.
Then the time came, to make the "decision" as to what to do with the higher grade material. I need to keep things moving. Hoarding makes no sense to me. If I am going to sell to a buyer when they are paying well, and NOT when they can not, hoping to hold all my material until prices go back up, I am then like a clog in a pipe, that needs water to keep rushing through it! How is the buyer going to recover from a "big hit", if they paid well when things were up, and if we stop the flow when things are down?
LOYALTY!!
The buyers I have dealt with through the forum, DESERVE... my support, by continuing to sell to them...now. How can I justify selling to someone local, who never come close in pricing, to what I was getting six months, a year, a year and a half ago, from the buyers here? Knowing, that when the market goes up, the local guys won't, but the buyers here will? Take material away from a forum buyer now, to make that dime, and go back to that buyer later, hoping to make that buck? I CAN'T!
In the past few weeks there have been a lot of "rants" about other humans. Some of the underlying comments were... "it just ain't what it use to be, when a word and a handshake, meant something!" Well, we can be part of the problem OR part of the solution. I sincerely hope, that those who have the chance to meet me in real life, know...I choose to be part of the solution. "LOYALTY" is not contingent on what the other humans do, but on the decisions we make, and how we live our lives. So, I will remain loyal to those that have treated me fair and have taught me so much. THANK YOU!!
I hope that many of you will support, or continue to support, the buyers here on SMF, in good times and bad, as they have helped many of us get to where we are today. Some, in the short time I have been here, have become buyers themselves. Taking what the learned and applying it in their own market and still selling to the buyers they learned from. There is a true sense of "community" here, along with all the dysfunction that comes, with human interaction.
Yet, I thank the Lord every day, that I stumbled in here, and for those that I have had the chance to work with, and for those I have yet to meet!
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