# Hard Drive pricing question



## snoman701 (May 31, 2018)

Why is a drilled, but otherwise complete hard drive worth less than a complete drive??


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## jimdoc (May 31, 2018)

Because people don't like getting slivers in their fingers?
I hate when I get drilled drives. I have got plenty where they totally missed the discs, but destroyed the magnets.


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## anachronism (May 31, 2018)

It's not worth any less if you go to a good buyer- the metal value hasn't changed at all. The ones who pay less are just tight. I get the same price for punched HDD as untouched ones, never mind just a drill hole!


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## snoman701 (May 31, 2018)

anachronism said:


> It's not worth any less if you go to a good buyer- the metal value hasn't changed at all. The ones who pay less are just tight. I get the same price for punched HDD as untouched ones, never mind just a drill hole!



That's what I figured.

I imagine it's something with their process....magnets are pretty universally disliked by shredders. 

I just pop the board off on the drilled ones, but wasn't sure what the motivation was.



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## anachronism (May 31, 2018)

The motivation is a lot simpler than that. If there's a way they can find something that allows them to pay less, they'll use it.


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## snoman701 (May 31, 2018)

anachronism said:


> The motivation is a lot simpler than that. If there's a way they can find something that allows them to pay less, they'll use it.


Heh...I learned that from the yard owners I'm friends with. Buyers will always look for a way to downgrade you....rare is the buyer that will upgrade your scrap. 

Too much plastic in the shred. Too humid so we have to downgrade cats because they absorb water. Wire has connectors on the ends and it skews the value. 

You name it, they've thought of it. 




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## Shark (May 31, 2018)

Local yard here will now downgrade electronics if the boards are gone. You take another hit if you have not removed the plastics. If you remove the boards and leave the plastics the .07 cents per pound has dropped to .03 cents, and if you have more than a couple hundred pounds with any plastic they won't take at all.


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## snoman701 (May 31, 2018)

Padnos?

That's ridiculous. I can darn near dump tires and bricks with my steel and get away with it. I'm getting shred prices, but it's within a penny of bailing, so I don't care. 


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## snoman701 (May 31, 2018)

Oops...nope, not padnos. I had you and Smack confused. One letter. And too much time in the sun today trying to get my next loads of scrap ready.


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## silversaddle1 (Jun 1, 2018)

The reason is quite simple. Some yards sell complete undamaged HDD to buyers to reuse/recover, whatever. We degauss and crush every single drive we bring in. We also remove the control boards. Our yard pays us sheet?cast aluminum price for the crushed drives.


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## anachronism (Jun 1, 2018)

silversaddle1 said:


> The reason is quite simple. Some yards sell complete undamaged HDD to buyers to reuse/recover, whatever. We degauss and crush every single drive we bring in. We also remove the control boards. Our yard pays us sheet?cast aluminum price for the crushed drives.



Sorry but that is not correct Scott. All my drives are degaussed and the client is aware of that, and the fact he cannot recover any. The price remains the same. You just have more greedy buyers over your side of the pond. 

How much do you guys get for HDD over there in both complete and drilled, and shredded form?


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## silversaddle1 (Jun 1, 2018)

Well, let's just see what the greedy Americans are paying right now on this side of the pond.

Hard Drives w/board .70
Shred Hard Drives .25 
Shred HD w/o Board .12 
Hard Drives - Punched .67 
Hard Drives w/o Board .33


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## anachronism (Jun 1, 2018)

I said greedy buyers not greedy Americans 8) There's a difference there. 

HDD complete or punched or drilled $0.8 per pound
Shred w/o board or whole w/o board $0.4 per pound
Shred with board $0.42 per pound. 

Also bear in mind we are both "in the trade" so we most likely get better pricing than most people because we sell in quantity.


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## jimdoc (Jun 1, 2018)

I was picking up a bunch of servers and UPS' from a company when the "Shred It" truck came and picked up two large, full trash cans of hard drives. One of the wheels broke on one of the cans it was so heavy. It made me sick that they were paying to get rid of those. I did get some good stuff.


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## snoman701 (Jun 1, 2018)

anachronism said:


> I said greedy buyers not greedy Americans 8) There's a difference there.



You are right, there are some greedy buyers in other parts of the world.

They just seem to play monopoly here 



> HDD complete or punched or drilled $0.8 per pound
> Shred w/o board or whole w/o board $0.4 per pound
> Shred with board $0.42 per pound.
> 
> Also bear in mind we are both "in the trade" so we most likely get better pricing than most people because we sell in quantity.



How many Lbs before $0.80/lb??

I remove boards from about 1/4 of them, basically those that make it worthwhile due to age or size.


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