Board grading

[Ewasted]

This is certainly an interesting thread.

Stillwater, you are making an attempt to compare cats to motherboards for refining, which is like comparing bananas and M&M's.

Did you say 60 cats? Hell maybe 120 cats? Circuit board refining is extremely complex, there are millions of types of circuit boards. Additionally the quality control standards used by the Chinese for manufacturing these motherboards are less than reliable.



What does this mean? This means there are significant variances. In the world of board refining there are acceptable levels of variances in recovery. Loads out the door are 20,000+ lb LOTS...

Further more the discussion on what makes a better board better, such as chokes, doesn't necessarily equate to great precious metals or great precious metals recovery.

It appears your post is more so to disrupt the board and draw some attention.... as well as make the buyers "mad".


Here is a little secret about assays with circuit boards... well not a secret... I have mentioned this before. NO two assays are the same... EVER!
The assay is as only as good as the man (men... or women) who performed them.

In the world of board buying, you can't justify creating dozens of subgrades that will take substantially longer, tie up more cash flow, etc, etc... in order to pay the customers more up front? Most buyers would be put out of business for that kind of practice.

Different buyers find different ways to manage all of the variables - colors of boards, socket sizes, etc. If you don't like the way one does it, shop around.

We discovered something that worked a long time ago - simplicity, customer service and reliability.

My recommendation - (if anyone cares) quit counting other people's money and focus on what you can do to improve your business model.

[ryanw]

"My recommendation - (if anyone cares) quit counting other people's money and focus on what you can do to improve your business model."

The best suggestion you can give.

When I first started learning, I was obsessed with the grades of different boards, and in the end, although I learned a lot, it really doesn't matter that much. If I'm making an acceptable profit on what I get, then I'm happy. If I have questions about board grades, it's usually from inquiries from my own customers that are wanting better or definite pricing, and that's more for quantity. Ones and twos here and there are a drop in the bucket, and there are other things to do.

Ewasted - I remember a post you made a long time ago, but I don't remember exactly what you said. Anyway, the impression I got from it was to stop worrying about the intricacies of grades, especially with lower value items, and start worrying about volume. That made a big difference on how I moved forward with my business.

[URBANERECYCLING]

Well said my friend: Its almost as if some of the sellers on here thinks its like when kids are 5 and 6 years old(not calling you all children) and they think that when they go to bed the parents have some kind of pizza and ice cream party with pony's and toys all night( saw a film like that once and im still disturbed by what I saw but that's for another post).
What actually happens when you leave our place of business is we deduct the amount we just paid you from our cash flow ledgers and add it to our inventory that will be sent out anywhere from a few days to a whole month depending on how much more of it we can get and how soon we can get it, because in order to pay you the price we just paid you, we need to get it refined or send it to a special market that allows us to make money, which is just about always a much lower percentage of profit then you just made. Then we get to wait for anywhere from 15-60 days to get that money back so we arrange lines of credit in which we must pay for the use of the money that we are borrowing in order to pay you immediately because that's how the scrap business works. On the bonus side of things I get to know you and help build your business whether it is a hobby or a fulltime gig. You bring me pictures of your newborn babies or let me know someone in your family has passed. We create a family atmosphere and I love what we do. We help you out at times when your bills are short and we trust that you will pay us back either in cash or material and not always at once but over time. We get burnt by a few that don't pay back (Dunemaul) but don't let that one person stop us from doing it again ..
We cringe at posts like this questioning how much we actually make when its really none of your business. You don't worry how much I have to pay each week for payroll or rent each month or insurance and taxes because we are a legitimate recognized business so please don't stay awake at night worrying that we are making too much money on your material...
To the customers I have that will read this you know I appreciate each of you greatly and many and most of you are considered friends. This is for members on here who like to comment on a lot of things that are basically wrong and works against the people who take what they say. The buyers on here, especially Mario, spend a good portion of the day answering emails and phone calls from members who have a question. We love doing that because that is how this business works and we appreciate you asking . Just because you comment on 20 different subjects and try to tell everyone that gold will hit 3000 when it is sliding and all information says differently does not make you an expert. It makes you dangerous to the people on here that are trying to make money doing this...
So to sum things up. Separate things by socket send them or bring them to your buyer and let us worry about how we are going to make our money on it..
To the customers of Urban E Recycling I thank you for being the best customers I could have and as always my phone is always on for your call on any questions or needs..

To Mario's customers: He would like you to call him from now on after 11:00 pm each night California time ....

[numbers]

"My recommendation - (if anyone cares) quit counting other people's money and focus on what you can do to improve your business model."


Straying a bit off the original topic but veering off where others have been, here would be my comment.

I had to decide if I was going to be a hoarder or a seller. I had to chose the middle of the road on this. Why? Freight costs. With no acceptable buyers within 140 miles, my best choice, in money and time, is to ship out all of my material, except for light tin/iron/etc. I am a hoarder until I can fill multiple pallets/gaylords. When I have that much material, I become a seller. I can't afford to sit on material and take the chance that the price "might" go up. I need to sell to guarantee that the price won't go down on what I have on hand.

I started shipping out one 68 pound box by Fed-X every time I was able. I then realized that if I shipped multiple boxes at one time I would be able to save some money. I never thought I could ship out a pallet/Gaylord until I tallied up the number of pounds that I had been shipping. I started with one pallet/Gaylord at a time. That worked well. What could I do next? After a few emails with a few different members on this forum, I realized that I should see if I could send multiple pallets/Gaylords at one time. Again my freight rate dropped.

I have no control over what happens to prices in the metal markets. I do have control over all of my costs though. As strange as it may seem, I am now able to ship power supplies in pallet loads and receive more money (after freight!) than I can by selling them to the local yards in my area. When I can decrease my freight rates by over 60%, that makes me more money than worrying about if my buyer is underpaying me. Everyone in the food chain has to make some money. I would rather that the buyers that I ship material to make a lot of money. That is the only way that they will be there tomorrow when I need them.

This is one step I have taken to improve my business model.

[happyscraper]

Well said my friend: Its almost as if some of the sellers on here thinks its like when kids are 5 and 6 years old(not calling you all children) and they think that when they go to bed the parents have some kind of pizza and ice cream party with pony's and toys all night( saw a film like that once and im still disturbed by what I saw but that's for another post).
What actually happens when you leave our place of business is we deduct the amount we just paid you from our cash flow ledgers and add it to our inventory that will be sent out anywhere from a few days to a whole month depending on how much more of it we can get and how soon we can get it, because in order to pay you the price we just paid you, we need to get it refined or send it to a special market that allows us to make money, which is just about always a much lower percentage of profit then you just made. Then we get to wait for anywhere from 15-60 days to get that money back so we arrange lines of credit in which we must pay for the use of the money that we are borrowing in order to pay you immediately because that's how the scrap business works. On the bonus side of things I get to know you and help build your business whether it is a hobby or a fulltime gig. You bring me pictures of your newborn babies or let me know someone in your family has passed. We create a family atmosphere and I love what we do. We help you out at times when your bills are short and we trust that you will pay us back either in cash or material and not always at once but over time. We get burnt by a few that don't pay back (Dunemaul) but don't let that one person stop us from doing it again ..
We cringe at posts like this questioning how much we actually make when its really none of your business. You don't worry how much I have to pay each week for payroll or rent each month or insurance and taxes because we are a legitimate recognized business so please don't stay awake at night worrying that we are making too much money on your material...
To the customers I have that will read this you know I appreciate each of you greatly and many and most of you are considered friends. This is for members on here who like to comment on a lot of things that are basically wrong and works against the people who take what they say. The buyers on here, especially Mario, spend a good portion of the day answering emails and phone calls from members who have a question. We love doing that because that is how this business works and we appreciate you asking . Just because you comment on 20 different subjects and try to tell everyone that gold will hit 3000 when it is sliding and all information says differently does not make you an expert. It makes you dangerous to the people on here that are trying to make money doing this...
So to sum things up. Separate things by socket send them or bring them to your buyer and let us worry about how we are going to make our money on it..
To the customers of Urban E Recycling I thank you for being the best customers I could have and as always my phone is always on for your call on any questions or needs..

To Mario's customers: He would like you to call him from now on after 11:00 pm each night California time ....

I can be a witness to this post. Urban has been a great help to me for over a year. He has helped with the purchase of e-waste, he has sent me leads on pick ups of free e-waste and answered hundreds of questions. For these reasons I don't mind driving one hour to get to his place. I would like to add this to this post. I have delt with four different e-waste buyers over the past 6+ years and everyone of them grade thiere boards different and they all pay different prices. Whoever is my I will sort my boards they want me to and I'll take whatever they pay me and I'll be gratefull for whatever I get.

[stillwaterrecycling]

Ewasted good advice. That's why I'm here. Not for attention.

At the same time I'm wicked excited about recycling and its potential.

Another awesome thread and info.

Aaron.

[stillwaterrecycling]

Mrsam great analogy!!

You def must be missed at that job!