advice on viability of alternative revenue stream.

[Justincase]

I have been looking at the viability of alternative revenue stream to do with I.T. waste.

The first relates to tax,you can claim as a tax right off.(e.g it count's as credit to your tax bill) half the retail value of any thing donated to charity.
I am donating four multi media P.C. to a local music charity that enables people with special need's to wright and preform music as a test case.If successful there are an almost unlimited amount of similar projects that would benefit.a much better use than trying to ring a profit out of old kit and more rewarding.

The second trial is to do with refurbished Laptop's,They by them self's do not return a very high price because the market is flooded.But there is an opening for there deployment.Just about every Pub,cafe and restaurant offers free wi-fi now a days but very few people want to carry a laptop with them.A unit with a dedicated Linux system locked to Firefox would make a good service to offer in such location's.You could charge the vendor by the minute a small fee and leave it up to them if they pass the cost on to there customer.
Exeter is quite a quiet town and the threat of theft would be less than the larger city's ,but there are easy methods already used in the service industry to insure people do not run off with kit or without paying.
The only hurdle to running out this model is the proper soft ware,any ideas.
Regards
Justin

 

[Palladium]

Not to be rude because i'm not exactly sure what the E.U. data model is, but here in the U.S. i can tell you what your killer is to that idea, cell phone! More and more i'm not using my laptop except for business purposes and hardly even then. My cell phone has all the tools i need for travel. I wouldn't trust logging in to any of my accounts from just any old computer that could capture my data. To me that's your killer.

 

[Justincase]

Not to be rude because i'm not exactly sure what the E.U. data model is, but here in the U.S. i can tell you what your killer is to that idea, cell phone! More and more i'm not using my laptop except for business purposes and hardly even then. My cell phone has all the tools i need for travel. I wouldn't trust logging in to any of my accounts from just any old computer that could capture my data. To me that's your killer.

I have tried to use the I phone and other "mobile" devices for general use when out and about and found the small format to limit it's use.
Obviously I will not be using a public computer to organize bank transfers unless I am extremely dodgy.
But most of my general surfing is for open source information and media which is of a very low security risk.
already any data going through the local network is vulnerable to attack,if the premises offered the use of a dedicated device instead of an open network it would close quite a large vulnerability in modern life.
I my self do not trust the android phone platforms for this very reason,they are already far to open to attack and malicious programing.
Thank you for your input,all point's of view are helpful and once a proper test has been carried out you can match results with theory's.
The way it is set up would have to comply with data protection and privacy law's may be an auto wipe of data at the end of each use to keep compliant and avoid litigation?
Most importantly having it locked to only using the browser and media players so people can not access the operating system.
But having run a firm renting out P.A. and lighting in the 90's I have to say any kit you can place and leave to turn over is a winner.
It is a business run on averages and monitoring returns.you have to put kit in the field to gather data and only a small number of your initial attempt's will make a profit.
You then have to look at each rental and use that data to place equipment the next time if at all.

 

[MarcoP]

I wouldn't trust logging in to any of my accounts from just any old computer that could capture my data. To me that's your killer.

New, old, cell phone or laptop doesn't matter since in normal circumstances the data is easily stolen within Wi-Fi hotspots or wired LAN...that's what doesn't need to be trusted, the network. It is relatively easy steal passwords and such unless you use SMTP, POP3, IMAP, HTTP, FTP etc. over a secure connection.

Back on topic, I'll have to check about donating cell phones. For sure is a great idea!

 

[Pantherlikher]

Hey...
The pub idea is a place of interest but I'd think a desktop tied to a specific table or area would be better then drunks tossing a laptop at each other...Just saying...

Charity is a vast place to look at for helping others...For a Tax write off, here in America it's not so great.
The usual charities want $$$ to even talk to them. I've tried several years ago to get a small thing going and everyone, including local churches wanted a piece of the pie... How far can $20 over cost be stretched?...

I have a scrap supplier that takes donations and builds working computers for his wife to directly give Autistic kids so they can interact with something... Greatly helps the kids but there is no tax write off to be found...

But the kids benefit greatly.

B.S.

 

[kuma]

I have a scrap supplier that takes donations and builds working computers for his wife to directly give Autistic kids so they can interact with something... Greatly helps the kids but there is no tax write off to be found...

But the kids benefit greatly.

B.S.

This I like a lot, I'm an Aspy (Aspergers, autistic spectrum d*sorder) myself and my son is also on the spectrum, and heaven knows how much computers are a big part of his life.

It would be fair to say that 'computer' is the language that he speaks in.

Chris

 

[Justincase]

Hey...
The pub idea is a place of interest but I'd think a desktop tied to a specific table or area would be better then drunks tossing a laptop at each other...Just saying...

Charity is a vast place to look at for helping others...For a Tax write off, here in America it's not so great.
The usual charities want $$$ to even talk to them. I've tried several years ago to get a small thing going and everyone, including local churches wanted a piece of the pie... How far can $20 over cost be stretched?...

I have a scrap supplier that takes donations and builds working computers for his wife to directly give Autistic kids so they can interact with something... Greatly helps the kids but there is no tax write off to be found...

But the kids benefit greatly.

B.S.

I believe in the U.S. A gift to a qualified charitable organization may entitle you to a charitable contribution deduction against your income tax if you itemize deductions.
If the gifts are deductible, the actual cost of the donation is reduced by your tax savings. For example, if you are in the 33% tax bracket, the actual cost of a $100 donation is only $67 ($100 less the $33 tax savings). As your income tax bracket increases, the real cost of your charitable gift decreases, making contributions more attractive for those in higher brackets. The actual cost to a person in the lowest bracket, 15%, for a $100 contribution is $85. For a person in the highest bracket, 35%, the actual cost is only $65. Not only can the wealthy afford to give more, but they receive a larger reward for giving.
In the U.K. the system is quite complicated but Your business can claim Corporation Tax relief on the value of property, land and shares donated to charity. You can also claim the relief if you sell them to a charity at less than the market value. Gifts will also be exempt from Capital Gains Tax.
Although your assets have been donated rather than sold, the donation may still have to be treated as a sale for VAT purposes and affect your bottom line. If you are considering this course of action, you should consult HMRC for clarification.
I worked as a fund coordinator for a cancer charity for three years and would recommend any one interested to look up (http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk)
Why else do you think Apple, Microsoft, Google and other US firms committed $140bn to address climate change this week,It saves them paying tax and make's them look good.
If any one else has thought's on the best disposal rout for electronic waste I am in the middle of comparing a number of option's open to us in Europe.
If you have a viable rout or have dealing's with a particularly good firm it would be helpful to be able to compare figure's by an actual comparison of return from standardized lot's.