My Craigslist Ad

Just my 2 cents, but when I was in Ohio a few years ago, none of the towns took TVs. They all had recycling drop off days and charged $5 to $10 to allow local residents to drop off a TV or Monitor. And those were only one weekend a year. I was involved in a collection day in Cuyahoga Falls not far from Toledo and we got 2 tractor trailer loads of TVs at $5 each that people dropped off. Seems if that is still the case, lots of people would pay $5 each to have you remove them.

Most of my pick ups are at least 30 miles away. The benefit of rural living. I have family in the bigger towns. i utilize there locations to maximize profit. Someone has 1 or 2 pieces then i have them drop it off there. They pay for it and icollect once a week. The same with our used computer sales. We prep a few computers every week. Drop them off at my parents and sisters house. Advertise in their town and have it picked up there. saves lot of time and gas for the little items

I have been scrapping for almost 6 years and have never charged for a pick-up. Started out part time as I also had a full time job, now I scrap full time. I started curb shopping and dumpster diving and picking up scrap from where ever I could find it, now I have steady pick ups that I do once a week. I have moved out to the country and have to dr 1 1/2 hrs. to do my pick-ups but always come home with a full load. I also have to drive 1hr to my e-scrap buyer but make enough money to cover gas and time. For the newbe's out there just do what you have to do to get the scrap and learn from it and as you go you will find out whats right for you. Just because someone did it a certain way does not mean that you have to do it that way. Good luck and happy scrappin.

I can certainly sympathize with the newbies here, hell I'm not far from one myself. I used to leave the house for a single TV. That's right, I said it! The thing is that while at first I may have given away my time and lost money on gas, I was cultivating relationships the whole time and I wasn't too short sighted to see that. Like several others, I have been to quite a few pick-ups where either they asked what else I took and it resulted in much more on the trailer or (much more often the case) I'd see something lying around and 'randomly' comment on it; next thing you know it's on the truck. Quite a few of the people that I did that with would give my crappy handmade business cards to friends/family/neighbors and that really put me in the game.

Now I'm not sure I'd leave the house for a TV today, but maybe the next up-and-coming scrapper will and that makes me wonder if I don't leave, what kinda connection will HE make instead of ME? BTW, you know who doesn't want you to pick-up TVs and other low-end stuff for free? People who charge to pick-up that's who... Think about it men!

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

When I first started out I printed up some cards to hand out, then started to hit the "yard sale" route. Took the local paper on a Fri. and made a route out of it. Got lucky and hit 2 additions that was having a "community" sale that weekend, that's where almost every house has a yard/garage sale. Passed out a big handful of cards and explained that in addition to recycling that we would do haul-off of any yard sale leftovers. Got a lot of good stuff that went into the wife's yard sale. Clothes was sorted out and went to the local non-profit and Goodwill. Don't forget your receipt while your there. Most electronics were old and were recycled.

2 years later and still I occasionally receive a call from some of those houses so someone is saving the cards.
It's a cheap way to network and meet with people as their out in their yard already, not like cold calling, banging on a door.

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Hello Mech,

Thank you for the awesome idea...I will definitely be using that one!

one thing i've learned is that people don't know what you all you take ....

Networking and marketing is one of the most important aspects of any successful business. I'm only a few months into the scrapping biz, but even if/when I start building a legitimate business, I will still drive for a single TV or computer. The reason I would is because, you never know what opportunities that might lead to in the future. Word of mouth advertising is your bread and butter, so if you pick up a single item from one person, they might refer you to someone who has 15 old computers they're looking to get rid of. Obviously that's not always the case, but like others have said, who knows what opportunity you "might" have passed up by not picking up that one item. I've been in customer service/sales for most of my life, so that's just the way I think.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
― Winston Churchill

I changed all my ads to remove for free, but CRT's are $5, $10 or $15 for removal (depends on weight). I don't get many calls, but the calls I get are not a waste of time anymore. I hated how much of my time was wasted on explaining why thier stuff is not worth what they paid 3 years ago, when I said I bought electronic scrap.

Just found this. Both my wife and I thought it was genius. Thanks for the stellar idea.

here is one of my not worth it stories i have a contract with a local computer place i call them every time i am in town last timei called he had 2 towers so i skipped stopping because i had a large buy in a another town i needed room for so i stop in yesterday and see that they watered them and teh pile had grown to 6 towers and 9 laptops 2 of which are a pair one with bad mobo and one with bad screen (new laptop for me :) ) but one time i was gonna skip picking up 2 grills and decided to go anyways and that turned into a full pickup bed of non ferrous so not worth its can be the ones that make your day week month or even possibly your year