The answer to - How Do You Find More Scrap

Many new people on this forum frequently ask - "How do I find more scrap?" The answer is really simple. Talk to everyone you know. And then after that, talk to everyone you don't know. Then, talk to everyone you know again and hand them a business card.

That's it. If you do it enough, with the presence of a person that is actually in business, people will start to call.



I talked to the IT contractor that takes care of the office that I work in, that I was interested in as much old and outdated electronic waste as I could get. What happened? Three weeks later a school district called and asked if I was still in business and would I be willing to pickup what they had available. Four days ago, young son and I took the day off and ended up with over 100 computers, miscellaneous boxes of hard drives, memory, etc, and 4 additional pallets of VCR, DVD, overhead projectors, monitors, video production equipment and other items. Our cost? Driving 120 mile round trip with two trucks and 5 hours of driving and loading time.

While there we asked the school IT guy for a referral, he volunteered to put together an electronic flyer together with a list of everything we would pickup and send it to the other members of a state association that he is an officer in. ALSO, we have to go back this week to pick up material at another school that he helps with (he estimated 3 pallets)

Then, when I called the IT contractor to thank him for the referral he gave me the name of another school district (this one is closer) that has more material than the first one. Thus we shall see what that phone call will bring. By using the IT contractors name, it should make the pitch much easier.

So, it is who you know, your believability and how many people you talk to. The material is there, let's just keep it out of the landfill.

There is one more thing - Read, read again, and reread the posts on this forum until they make sense. We would not have been able to even think about getting this much material, or have any idea on how to process it, if it was not for all of the posts of information, advice and encouragement from the frequent posters on this forum.

So, thank you! Now, back to some tax returns...

Numbers

Great job on mining your contacts for referalls! All it takes is confidence in your abilities and the williness to get out and make things happen!