# Tip for finding people to bring you computers



## Ocean (Oct 27, 2010)

I go down to my local metals buyer (scrap yard) 2 times a week.

I do it for 2 reason: 
For $ in my pocket for lunch,
and
To hand my card to junk men and scrappers.

I let them know I pay for old computer towers and cell phones, and they have been bringing me the goods!

I get anywhere from 1-4 people a day stopping by with cell phones and computers to sell me, simply from those cards and craigslist.


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## gold4mike (Oct 27, 2010)

Thanks for the post. I have left my card in the office at all the local scrap yards in my area but I sometimes notice complete computer towers on the heap when I go to sell my steel cases. Maybe beer would work better than donuts to get them to call me.

I'll follow your advice and start giving cards to anyone I bump into while I'm there.

What do you generally offer someone for a computer tower? Do you offer less if components are obviously missing?


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## Ocean (Oct 27, 2010)

gold4mike said:


> Thanks for the post. I have left my card in the office at all the local scrap yards in my area but I sometimes notice complete computer towers on the heap when I go to sell my steel cases. Maybe beer would work better than donuts to get them to call me.
> 
> I'll follow your advice and start giving cards to anyone I bump into while I'm there.
> 
> What do you generally offer someone for a computer tower? Do you offer less if components are obviously missing?



I think the beer to the people who run it might be a good idea, :mrgreen: but employees probably can't divert the computers to you. You will need to speak to an opwner, or someone up the corporate ladder.

I tell them I pay $3 for a full tower and $2 for one that is not, and then everything gets evaluated when they bring it.

Sometimes I give them only $1 because so much of it is missing.


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## rusty (Oct 27, 2010)

Ocean said:


> gold4mike said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the post. I have left my card in the office at all the local scrap yards in my area but I sometimes notice complete computer towers on the heap when I go to sell my steel cases. Maybe beer would work better than donuts to get them to call me.
> ...



Devious for sure, once the hook is set $3.00 for a fully appointed tower. Why not just purchase the loose boards the scrap yard has in inventory. If the yard is not currently buying loose boards get them to set aside a gaylord then act as your intermediate agent. 

It would be very easy for the yard to add another account into the computer, you would either have to have to supply a pre-approved letter of credit form your banker or leave a cash deposit or some other form of surety like gold bullion to cover future purchases made on your behalf.


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## Ocean (Oct 27, 2010)

Hey Rusty,

Not devious in the least! 
$3/tower is about twice the $ they get by selling it as scrap metal.  

I like your ideas on the scrap boards and such though, but none of my local metals yards buy components, just whole towers and into the roll off they go.

My plan is to try and do something like you've suggested with them as soon as I have built up some more capital. I've only been recycing computers for 2 months.

Thanks


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## rusty (Oct 27, 2010)

Ocean said:


> Hey Rusty,
> 
> Not devious in the least!
> $3/tower is about twice the $ they get by selling it as scrap metal.
> ...



How much a ton are you getting for scrap stripped out towers, should be in the neighborhood of $250.00 a ton, taking that number let us assume the average tower weighs in at 60 lbs it would take 33 towers to make up the ton, and your paying how much ---- $3.00 on your advertised promise then pay less if the tower is short.

At 60 lbs average it would take 33.33 towers to make the ton, your cost is $100.00 delivered to your door.


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## Ocean (Oct 27, 2010)

rusty said:


> Ocean said:
> 
> 
> > Hey Rusty,
> ...



Well, I think your #'s are a little high, at least for here and my experience.

Here are my thoughts:
Most towers don't weigh 60lbs. That seems about twice as high as normal, just shooting from the cuff without weighing one.

The difference in weight between a "full" tower and a "stripped" one is quite a lot. Once the plastic and compnents are removed, there is about 4-6lbs of steel left (guessing).

We are getting about $100/ton around here for steel right now. That sounds a lot lower than you are getting.  

So, as far as I can tell, I am still giving these "scrappers" a better deal, and everyone wins.


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## Ocean (Oct 27, 2010)

The other thing is this:

MOST of these scrappers don't want to take anything apart.

I've even told some of them they would make more $ from me if they took these apart, but they don't want to.


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## patnor1011 (Oct 27, 2010)

Rusty`s numbers may be the case of apple computers or old systems where CRT is included. Normal desktop tower may weight from 3 to 8 kg so 6 to 16 lb so you need 125 to 300 towers to make one ton. Some old systems may weight more but that will not be more than 10kg (20lbs)


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## escrap (Oct 27, 2010)

Here is how I do it. I offer scrap yards .25/lb for towers(use to only pay .20), tell them i pay cash and pick it up from their location. I don't tell them about buying individual components because I don't want to set out competition for myself. I know most places don't wanna deal in computers because if you take towers you inevitably end up taking monitors too, but why make competition when you don't have too. By offering them .25/lb(which is about .10 more then they are getting) and picking it up from them, saves them from taking up space in a truck. I currently generate 3000 or more lbs a week from just one scrap yard.


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## rusty (Oct 27, 2010)

escrap said:


> Here is how I do it. I offer scrap yards .25/lb for towers(use to only pay .20), tell them i pay cash and pick it up from their location. I don't tell them about buying individual components because I don't want to set out competition for myself. I know most places don't wanna deal in computers because if you take towers you inevitably end up taking monitors too, but why make competition when you don't have too. By offering them .25/lb(which is about .10 more then they are getting) and picking it up from them, saves them from taking up space in a truck. I currently generate 3000 or more lbs a week from just one scrap yard.




Maybe you can shed some light on this topic, what is the average your paying for a tower.


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## Ocean (Oct 27, 2010)

escrap said:


> Here is how I do it. I offer scrap yards .25/lb for towers(use to only pay .20), tell them i pay cash and pick it up from their location. I don't tell them about buying individual components because I don't want to set out competition for myself. I know most places don't wanna deal in computers because if you take towers you inevitably end up taking monitors too, but why make competition when you don't have too. By offering them .25/lb(which is about .10 more then they are getting) and picking it up from them, saves them from taking up space in a truck. I currently generate 3000 or more lbs a week from just one scrap yard.



Nice! I am moving towards this as well.

Thanks.


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## escrap (Oct 27, 2010)

Our average weight for computer is 23lbs. We have averaged this for many many pallets. Weighing them up and dividing the weight by the number of computers. Seems to always be right around 23lbs. So we are usually paying right around six dollars a piece. I know everyone can not pay that, but that is just our situation. As long as you are offering the scrap yard more than they are getting for steel price, they should be happy.


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## hfywc (Oct 28, 2010)

escrap said:


> Here is how I do it. I offer scrap yards .25/lb for towers(use to only pay .20), tell them i pay cash and pick it up from their location. I don't tell them about buying individual components because I don't want to set out competition for myself. I know most places don't wanna deal in computers because if you take towers you inevitably end up taking monitors too, but why make competition when you don't have too. By offering them .25/lb(which is about .10 more then they are getting) and picking it up from them, saves them from taking up space in a truck. I currently generate 3000 or more lbs a week from just one scrap yard.



once you gutted out the towers--cpus, fingers and pins removed...what do you do with the unwanted parts? thanks. alan


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## escrap (Oct 28, 2010)

Alan,

Once we have stripped down the towers we throw our steel in a roll off container, and all the separate pieces into different gaylord boxes.


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## silversaddle1 (Oct 28, 2010)

At $6.00 a tower, that is a very slim profit margin per unit, no?

Are you picking these up yourself?

Are you paying labor to de-manufacture?


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## Ocean (Oct 28, 2010)

silversaddle1 said:


> At $6.00 a tower, that is a very slim profit margin per unit, no?
> 
> Are you picking these up yourself?
> 
> Are you paying labor to de-manufacture?



Higher quantities bring higher prices.

One motherboard is 1 or more pounds.

At $4/lb, that is 2/3 of the cost recouped right there.


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## silversaddle1 (Oct 28, 2010)

Ocean said:


> silversaddle1 said:
> 
> 
> > At $6.00 a tower, that is a very slim profit margin per unit, no?
> ...



I know all about high quantities. Even at $4.00 per pound for the MB, still not much profit left to cover other costs. So you must make up the rest on the following parts:

steel
power supply
memory
CPU
internal wiring
drives

Can you still make out on it Zack?


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## Ocean (Oct 28, 2010)

Must be or wouldn't be paying it out... :idea:


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## rusty (Oct 28, 2010)

escrap said:


> Our average weight for computer is 23lbs. We have averaged this for many many pallets. Weighing them up and dividing the weight by the number of computers. Seems to always be right around 23lbs. So we are usually paying right around six dollars a piece. I know everyone can not pay that, but that is just our situation. As long as you are offering the scrap yard more than they are getting for steel price, they should be happy.



Based on your figures, average weight 23 lb purchased at $0.25 lb your paying $5.75 per tower which brings your per ton total to $500.00 and your picking this up at the scrap yard.

Average weight 23 lbs would give you 86 towers per ton, you say that your picking up 3000 lbs weekly, so your cash outlay is very high considering your cash is tied up while your processing these towers.

You say "WE" dismantle the towers discarding the tin into a roll off, so I assume your paying labor even at minimum wage with benefits , compensation minimum by law in my country.

Even if compensation were not law only a fool would hire workers with out coverage, I'm a one man operation and pay this for myself as having this coverage allows me to work on other peoples work sites IE scrap yards as an independent.

There's very little logic to your scheme.


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## escrap (Oct 28, 2010)

I don't see how you can say there is very little logic in my scheme. I own the business along with two others. We do pay ourselves well and are fully insured and incorporated. By "we" I mean me and another partner tear down computers. Since we are owners we can opt out of workman's comp which saves us on money. We easily double our money with every computer. This is very easy to do.

Take for example a load of 800lb of large servers we just took in.

We payed .25/lb. There was a total of 22 towers.

Each server had 4 rambus 512mb stick in them. We recieve 10.00/stick, giving us a grand total of 40.00 per computer just on the memory. So for the whole lot we made 880 just on memory. Then you add in your boards, power supplies, processors, steel, floppies, harddrives and we didn't double up, we made close to 6 times our money. I would trade 200 for 1200 any day.

Each month we sell close to 4000.00 in just memory alone, which easily pays for rent, bills and a large chunk of labor.

New computers, Money is made from memory,
Old computer, money is made from processors.

Silver saddle here is a breakdown per computer
We average 
Steel.=1.50
Powersupply-1.00
Cpu-.50-5.00
Harddrive-.90
Disc Drives-1.00
wire-.75-1.00
Memory-Varies(.75-22.00/stick)

Zack


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## trashmaster (Oct 30, 2010)

ZACK thank's for your post; this is something we don't normally see here ;;; a buyer posting his sale info.. this is honest and stright forward thank you;;; and yes i am working on my next sale to you... : :lol: :lol: :idea: 

if other members are wanting to sale there boards here .






are a couple of things to do to insure high prices;;;;; :idea: :idea: 

1. remove all large can type compasitors.
2.remove all excess steel and other metal .
3. remove the engines,electric moters or copper elements..

if you would not want to pay for it then remove it.. :mrgreen: 

please forgive all thping errors and spelling as i don't post very often..
:| 


paul (trashmaster)


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## wrecker45 (Oct 31, 2010)

i load my emty towers in my truck and a scrap car and take them inlast one was a honda civic over 5000 lbs


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## EDI Refining (Oct 31, 2010)

escrap said:


> Powersupply-1.00
> Harddrive-.90



Those look like export to china prices...


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## escrap (Oct 31, 2010)

P3M

All of the businesses that we currently do business are all ISRI certified and must obtain to strict guidelines set in place by the group. Things are now becoming more and more strict around here. In talking to you on the phone awhile back I can remember you guys are not allowed any exports, but as of now we in the US are but it is very regulated. We have all seen the pictures of the conditions over seas and never want to be part of the cause of that. With this being said, the companies that we do sell too are some of the most credible and reliable regardless if the end source is in the US or overseas.


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## Ocean (Nov 11, 2010)

Signed up my 1st large trash hauler!  

I am now working with the largest trash hauler in one of the surrounding counties. 

They do free electronics recycling once a month to all of their 66,000 customers, and they are going to sell me the towers, laptops, and cell phones!

Working on the local metal scrap buyers, but most of them are large corporate owned multi-national companies.

I did sign up one local independent place! :mrgreen: 

Thanks for the info and ideas.


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## LeftyTheBandit (Nov 26, 2010)

Is anyone interested in this type of business located near Richmond, British Columbia, Canada?


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## hfywc (Nov 27, 2010)

escrap said:


> .
> 
> Silver saddle here is a breakdown per computer
> We average
> ...



hi escrap.

where do you sell your stuff?

thanks,
alan


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## silversaddle1 (Nov 27, 2010)

I'd sure like to get in on those $1.00/pound power supplies. What will you give me for two gaylords full of them?


Scott


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## escrap (Nov 27, 2010)

Silversaddle, I agree, I would love to get that price for them too. The numbers that i put down was the average dollar amount i get per computer. Most power supplies we get are heavier than 1 lb.


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## dtectr (Nov 27, 2010)

silversaddle1 said:


> I'd sure like to get in on those $1.00/pound power supplies. What will you give me for two gaylords full of them?
> 
> 
> Scott


A flunky at the junk yard told me the other day that I could tear down my power supplies & sell them as motors(?) 
Does that make any sense to anyone? Will most places buy big, coppery transformers?


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## silversaddle1 (Nov 27, 2010)

dtectr said:


> silversaddle1 said:
> 
> 
> > I'd sure like to get in on those $1.00/pound power supplies. What will you give me for two gaylords full of them?
> ...



Our yard buys them at just about the same price as motors if you leave the pigtails attached.


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## silversaddle1 (Nov 27, 2010)

escrap said:


> Silversaddle, I agree, I would love to get that price for them too. The numbers that i put down was the average dollar amount i get per computer. Most power supplies we get are heavier than 1 lb.



Yea, duh. My bad! I knew that.


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## escrap (Nov 27, 2010)

Haha, yeah if you ever find that dollar a pound i would be happy to sell mine to you.


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## lithea (Jan 15, 2011)

While recycling computers, check it for laboratory instrument interface cards !!! 

Old used lab instruments are usually sold without them and new ones are very expensive.
I look for example for interface card for connecting FTIR Bruker Vector 22 and the new one is for 3500 $ !!!

Check the cards and what look to be rare, offer at ebay... you will earn more and save values ...


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