Slight shift in Scrap Game
A few things happened so far this week. Gold crapped all over everyone, causing the buyers prices to drop. The thrift store i had on lock down partnered with a local non-profit for all their e-waste Wednesday, so now their back room is "Off Limits" to me, when i used to just walk back there and pick up my stack of towers and accessories every week.
My free tower supply is gone, no regular person wants to let their PC go for $3 or less, (it was hard enough getting them @ $5), and most of the computer shops here in town know their scrap value.
It's hard out here for a scrapper! But I also got quite a few new contacts, and had 3 different cell phone pick ups this week.
All because I recently moved my focus from buying complete towers from the public to convincing area scrappers that it would be more profitable for them to tear down their towers (instead of throwing them in the shred pile) and sell their components to me. Or if they don't have the time or inclination that i would buy them complete. My only guarantee being that the price i would offer would always be above current shred prices, with the added bonus that i would come to them to pick it up.
I know that i am opening doors for these guys and gals to do more research on their own, but honestly i don't think most of them care too much. On 3 occasions i even showed them how i wanted it separated, told them what everything was, and gave them a per pound price list for each component. They are scrappers so i didnt have explain that my prices would fluctuate.
All of the ones i have met so far are Hardcore dumpster divers. They have no other jobs, and by the looks of a couple of them, and their homes, they are doing better than i am! And they are all great people. They make me money, i make them more than they are used to, and everyone's happy.
Kind of rambling (i know i talk too much) my point is, at the start of getting into e-waste i saw it as an excellent way of doubling my investment extremely quick. Buy a tower for $5, break it down, sell it for $10. But with a 50+ hour a week job, a 9 year old daughter and 5 year old son who are on summer break, and a wife who enjoys the occasional dinner and a movie, I can't be tearing down computers and electronics all night long and keep everyone happy. Not to mention meeting people to pick up their stuff. So everyday at work I'm trying to come up with ways to maximize my supply, increase my profits, and cut down my "Scrap Time" And this, so far, is the best I've come up with.
Contacting people who already come across this stuff and showing them how to get more out of it is still allowing me to double my investment. Even more quickly. So far it's working pretty well. Hopefully in a couple months or so everyone i have contacted will be calling me to schedule pick ups.
No tear down, no big bulky towers taking up space. Just buy, box, ship, and get paid. One of the many ways to work smarter, not harder. This way instead of meeting someone and paying $20 for 5 towers and selling it for $40-$50 (after tearing it down), I can go buy $100 worth of scrap and throw it in a box and get paid $200. $100 profit for an hour of my time instead of $20 for at least an hour and a half after you figure pick up and tear down.
I'm not saying I'm not going after complete towers anymore (I have a couple contacts who bring me loads) i really enjoy doing it. I just can't have it taking up all my time. This is much quicker and easier.
Now if I could only get 50 contacts who would break down computers and sell me their stuff, this would become a huge success for me.
Thanks for reading my book :o
I believe Sirscrapalot would close this way
If you are a Fish and you want to grow up to be a fish stick, you have to have really good posture! - Mitch Hedberg
