- E waste question
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
Been messing around with scrapping computers. Got about another 100 motherboards this week, spent the day breaking everything down. Still don't have anyone in this area that buys ewaste, question is should I keep stockpiling or sell what I have separated. Was thinking about waiting till I had a pallet full of motherboards, and shipping the CPUs,ram,and pic cards with flat rate 70lb boxes from post office. Opinions?
Sounds like a pretty good plan. That's kind of how I'm doing it. You save so much on shipping with a pallet load that you can handle a small price downturn while you are stockpiling. Take time to check out several of the buyers on here, read the comment sections and email them with questions. They are usually pretty good at answering you when they aren't swamped with incoming ewaste. Most of the buyers even if they haven't posted in a while are still actively buying and you may have to request a price list for the items you have.
Good luck.
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my suggestion would be pallet load much cheaper shipping cost. you only need to et over 300 lbs total. feel free to pm me for other advice,, I'v been around here a long tine and have shipped 10000ns of lbs from under 100 lbs to over 15000 lbs.
"anyone who thinks scrappin is easy money ain't doin it right!"
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
Thanks pnut and eco do either of you have suggestions on a particular buyer your familiar with
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The cheapest I got was using a pre-payed label from Cashforcomputerscrap.com but I only sent in an 84 lbs. box, cost me .74 per lbs.. But I have sent in 183 lbs too @ about .81 per lbs. this was 4 separate boxs. If that helps? But will you please keep us posted because I am in the same boat as you. It's the price you pay for living in a small town.
Last edited by CapitalRecovery; 10-30-2016 at 10:50 AM.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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You are not allowed to use USPS flat rate boxes. They are property of the post office and are intended to be used for their services. Home depot has great boxes fairly cheap. I think you can get their medium box for about 70 cents.
And Capital Recovery, you will save money if you keep those boxes to just 69 pounds. There is a surcharge added by Fedex and UPS once that box hits 70 pounds.
It shouldn't take you long to create a pallet by the sounds of it.
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I didn't know about the surcharge. The box's were apple box's from Safeway. They just give them to you if you ask for them. The 84lbs box was from a smoker I bought. I'm glad I'm new so I haven't lost to much money shipping all this stuff. Hipogear do u know ruffly the shipping price for 69 LBs? I might be able to start shipping wire if its cheap enough, as of right now I have to either store it or give it to the metal guy here that doesn't pay for anything.
Last edited by CapitalRecovery; 10-30-2016 at 10:49 AM.
manjelle.....I have sold to several of the buyers listed in the Buyers and Sellers section on this site. They all were top notch, so it just depends on your location and what you have to sell. Check them out and you'll get a feel for it.
Capital....Yes, FedEx ads an automatic $10 extra to anything over 70 lbs. The boxes I get from Uhaul for $1 each are heavy duty and hold just about the right amount of circuit boards for 69 lbs or so. They also stack up nicely for loading on pallets.
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also, some of the buyers can arrange the shipping for you and deduct it from your payout.
Currently looking for a job in or related to scrap/recycling. Relocation is possible for the right offer.
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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I think it depends on where you live. I have shipped 52 pounds for $23.85 and 62 pounds for $25.08.
Most of the time though, my shipments are either much smaller or much larger. I have shipped two pallets out.
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Welp I will keep plugging away at boxes under 70 Lbs. Now, I will be working on my wire collections. If I strip it all I should be able to make a profit sending it out. I hope. Any recommendations on a wire stripper. I'm working out of my garage so it can't be supper big.
Hey
Manjelle
Consider it a blessing no one is buying in your location. I am in the same boat but that's with all scrap except recycled drinks. I went to the only computer shop in town and get most of his scrap. He had a big recycler for one of the bigger towns over (About 2 hours away) coming to get it. But one day he just and left him hanging for 2 months. So besides word of mouth I have 2 regular clients I collect from now.
Just my two cents.
Last edited by CapitalRecovery; 10-30-2016 at 07:32 PM.
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If your buyer has an account with FedEx, that's about as cheap as you can go when it comes to sending boxes. If you are shipping on your own you can check and compare the rates online. it's easy to do. I have found, in most cases, FedEx is usually the cheapest option out of all of them.
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I have my cousins worker Fed-Ex code but I don't know how to use it...
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I don't know how that works, but I'd steer clear of doing a thing like that. Either you or your cousin (or both) could get into a lot of hot water doing such a thing.
You may likely do better and be less hassled if you allow your buyer to arrange for shipping. I now ship pallet(s) but did ship via Fedex and had my buyer(ewasted) arrange it. In my case, a few years ago, my cost was about $0.50/ lb and fedex picked up the boxes from my front porch. I found the pick up to be a great advantage. One time I shipped through the local store that does shipping. I took the box to them and paid them. That was a mistake. It was far more than having my buyer arrange for shipping.Originally Posted by CapitalRecovery
I have my cousins worker Fed-Ex code but I don't know how to use it...
I have to mention that the over 70 lb box will cost a lot more, don't do it, I did an regretted it. The shipping costs will vary from your location to mine and others so keep that in mind.
Don't forget we have a member who specializes in arranging shipping and if you are dealing with a pallet(s) then give him a try. (gorven) 73, Mike
"Profit begins when you buy NOT when you sell." {quote passed down to me from a wise man}
Now go beat the copper out of something, Miked
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I don't deal with pallets I average about 100 lbs per month, if that. I also use E-wasted I think he owns CFCS right? I utilize his prepaid label witch is why, the cheapest I have got on shipping from 95531 is .74 per lbs.. I'm hoping to get it to .55 per lbs. so I can start processing copper wire.
I do feel your shipping pain. As I have said my cost per pound when I was shipping to Ewasted via his prepaid Fedex label came to about $0.50. Of course where you are will change that number per pound.
That high cost of shipping made me move to shipping pallet(s) at under $0.11/lb. But for me the big difference is I pack up my boards and store them in my large shed shipping about once per year.
I'm much more into selling used parts so I don't go after large stacks of computers any more.
For me the price of steel is low, in fact I paid a guy to haul off about 1000 lbs of shred last week. I gave him $30 and he kept the money for the shred. I guess he made about $50 for the time and effort.
Perhaps you can look at your own situation and find a different way of doing it. Imagine if you coud reduce your shipping to Ewasted from $0.74 to say $0.20 per pound that would be a great saving and like getting a real boost in prices. And it would midigate the risk of holding and having prices drop.
Keep in mind my last shipment was one pallet and about 1475 pounds of product if I had only shipping 1000 pounds my cost per pound would have been just under $0.16 per pound.
73, Mike
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Wow at .16 per pound I will be able to include a lot more items into my shipment. It may double the weight I ship per month.
OK now that raises another questions. Should I strip power supply wires for number 2 copper, or just ship whole power supplies?
Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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You're better off to keep your 70 lb boxes down around 62 - 65 lbs. I got nicked with the FedEx overcharge last year. It was more of a hassle than it was worth to try and sort it out.
If you keep it well below the 70 lb limit they don't get to play that game.
Ewasted price on power supplies at this time is $0.25 minus the imaginary shipping rate of $0.16 equals $0.09 per pound for your power supplies. Personally I wouldn't ship them and I don't. I have shipped them in the past to fill up a pallet or add to the shipment I brought up personally.(when I said "imaginary rate" I mean you have yet to determine what you will pay for shipping pallets).
Depending on your operation you may want to concentrate on using your efforts doing what will make you the most money for the time and effort.
Where I am at I have to drive 1 1/2 hours past 4-5 yards just to get to one that will buy power supplies from me for anything other than shred. In the past I have used an angle grinder to cut off the wires and tossed the rest in the shred pile. I didn't have the time to mess with them and needed them out of the way. I was not happy but you have to do what you have to do.
Keep trying different things to refine your process and you will improve it. 73, Mike
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