should i ask the school for their escrap?

i don't know if i should help me on this guys

The answer will ALWAYS be NO if you don't ask the question

yep ask everyone always I don't even go to church and I have 6 around here I pick up from a few times a year and one I do a electronics drive with now during the end of the summer which they do get their cut for the collection plate but for a nice day in the sun and a few thousand dollars extra in my pocket asking questions will always get you answers just like my $2 to play the lotto I cant win if I don't play

olddude and beardo are absolutely correct

I will in no way profess to be an authority on this (or on much of anything), however I am in the middle of a situation now and I will share the highlights...

I approached my local school system about this very matter. I was directed to an individual who told me "no". I pressed for some detail on what happened to the ewaste (sold, discarded, etc.) and frankly never received a direct answer. The answer I did receive was vague and when I questioned further, I got silence.

Flash forward a few months and a friend of mine gave me a heads up about the school board declaring a significant amount of material to be surplus and a name for another person to attempt to contact. This person got the ball rolling for me, and while I missed the big score I was hoping for (there is still some type of strange "void" involved here I have yet to figure out), there is still a significant amount of material to be had.

Flash forward yet a couple of more months and I have yet to recover much, but I am now in touch with the IT folks and should be picking up the bulk of the material over the next 2 -3 weeks.

That's a condensed version. My point is, by all means ask. The trick will be getting in touch with the one(s) who make(s) the decisions, and that can be frustrating. Their responsiveness (or lack thereof) can be an issue. Getting to "yes" may take awhile. Even after you get a yes (which I hope you do), it make take even longer to put your hands on the first piece of equipment. This situation is really no different from negotiating deals like the pros on here do all the time, though I do think the bureaucracy involved in schools can complicate things. Stay at it. If you can't get anywhere with the staff / admin, get on the agenda to make a case to the school board. As noted, if you make a case to save them time or money, or appeal to environmental concerns, somebody somewhere ought to eventually pay attention.

Good luck and report back if you will.

Update: picked up 22 towers (no HD's) and 16 laptops.... several more to go back and get plus projectors, printers, etc.....

i havent asked yet i might ask

Originally Posted by hunterandscrapper

i havent asked yet i might ask

The answer will ALWAYS be NO if you don't ask the question

As long as you don't live near me, go for it!

Having an "in" is huge, though.

Consider it your introduction to networking. I would ask someone in the office if they could direct you to the IT director, or depending on how big the school/school system is, find out who is in charge of the entire department and go from there. The worse they can say is no, and no doesn't necessarily me no. You might just have to talk to the right individual who could make that call. I recently started with a temp agency where I live reimaging all the computers in the school system. I've already got 2 lcd dell monitors that need new bulbs, and five hard drives that were removed. All I did was ask if I could have them since they were just going to be throw away. Its not much, but there are more then fifty schools in the district and this is all in the first week. There is a poster at one of the schools I was working at today that said " You will always pass failure, on your way to success" - Mickey Rooney. Get comfortable with talking to people about what you do, and even if the first 10 say no that next one might just say yes. Not sure if you're wanting to do this as a career, or just make some extra money on the side, but whatever the case you'll get out what you put in. Best of luck and keep us updated.

Ask my young friend, nothing venture nothing gained. An heck you'll impress your teachers and Principal.

An side note...You guys dropping quotes...bold it, hit return something! Your making it hard on me to gather them!

Good luck to ya H&S, as John said, if you don't ask the answer will be no.

Sirscrapalot - Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved. - William Jennings Bryan