Setting up a truck and trailer in a parking lot?

Me and my buddy thought of this after we saw all the E Waste bin around town. Toying around with the idea of taking Our Trucks and trailers, and setting up in a vacant area of a plaza/store parking lot (Thought maybe a home improvement store?) with a large sign that reads "Scrap Metal Drop Off" or something to that effect. Maybe Put an ad on Kijiji (Canada's version of CL) a week prior. Of course, I would get permission from the store owner/City before I do anything.

A school did it once as a fund raiser, they had a dump truck sized bin overflowing, and the parking lot full of driers, stoves, washers, bikes, etc. Was a HUGE success. If we go through with this, we aren't expecting that big of a turn out, not even close. But I was thinking of maybe donating a percentage to charity, to get people interested and to help a good cause.

Anyone out there have any success doing something like this? Any ideas, tips or opinions are welcome.

as long as it is legal I would give this a try, my first thought when I saw this was where can I do that haha never hurts to get your name out there

I would get in touch with any of the fundraising groups or school teams,boy/ Girl Scouts just a example of a few, with there support behind you you should have a good turn out,not to mention any local law or enforcement issues would be resolved 20 percent of the gross would be the percent I would give to the group,Good Luck.

Yeah I was thinking in the 15-20% range as well. My only concern would be having too much for our trucks to handle. May look into getting a bin dropped. Our local yard will drop them places for things like this.

I would also be sorting most of it, unlike the school fundraiser I saw. They just dumped it in a bin. (may have been sorted at the yard, as the yard I deal with sorts the stuff they pick up in the bins)

I'll contact a few organizations and see which ones would like to take part, will update later on.

First off, ALWAYS expect a huge turnout. I'm not saying it will happen, but it would be best to be prepared for it. I've actually been looking into doing one of these, but I've been swamped lately and have had no problem getting material to process. From what I hear, E-waste drives can be pretty successful if done right. Advertising is key here. Take out an ad in the local newspaper, put up big signs in high-traffic areas, use Kijiji, and whatever other advertising mediums are available to you. In my town, people put up huge signs in front of the highway exits to advertise big events. Also, having a sponsoring organization attached would probably draw a lot more support, as was mentioned above.

As far as how much to donate to the organization, I'd recommend paying them whatever you would usually pay per item. Keep a tally on everything throughout the day, and then cut them a check for the value, and maybe add a bit extra onto the final total. Just a few thoughts. Good luck if you decide to

I'll be doing a drive this fall with one of the local churches and hopefully the local school. I'll be giving more then 15/20 % but then again I'm a one man operation. An the extra karma never hurts. I might be silly for it, but eh..its a church an a school. I'd rather make a little less and gain more for my rep then make bank and ruin my rep with these folks. My sandbar isn't very big an word travels fast..good an bad.

Now I gotta go find those threads again on doing such a drive!

Let us know how it works for ya, and trust me, I'll be doing the same come fall.

Sirscrapalot - Banking Karma..the new investment.

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/elect...iser-idea.html

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/elect...ing-up-me.html

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/elect...essionals.html

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Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

I'd rather make a little less and gain more for my rep then make bank and ruin my rep with these folks. .

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That's another thing i'm worried about, people thinking i'm "Greedy" for not donating more. Reason for wanting to donate 20%, Number one, its me and a buddy/business partner. Not to mention we would both need to consider our time, it would be an all day deal, gotta account for our time, cost of fuel for our vehicles, etc, which I would take out after the 20% was donated. Honestly though, people should be happy with the fact that these organizations are getting much needed donations. Big or small.

10,000lbs +/- of material = apprx $1000

That's 200 bucks to a good cause, and that's calculated with it being just shred. Not bad in my opinion! .

We have done three drives this year. Each time we had to get an additional truck and trailer to haul everything away. It saves so much time by being able to have things brought to you rather than driving to pick items up. We just finished one for a high school cross country team. The coach, a long time friend, extremely skeptical. We did it at the high school parking lot from 9am to 1pm. By 1030, the coach realized that it was going to work. We ended up with 140 towers, 20 laptops, 8 washers, 2 freezers, and two 18 foot trailers stacked 4 foot high of printers, monitors, vacuums, etc. Plus 6 pounds of cell phones. All this from a town of less than 2500 people. The only advertising was 10 posters in town - post office, bank, convenience store, hardware store, etc, and a Facebook event which invited everyone on the cross country teams friend lists. This was followed by Facebook posts to followup and people were asked to share the event to their friends. That was two weeks ago. The coach stopped by the house today with another full truck load - 8 towers, old cash registers, a few monitors and printers. It works. Partnering with a "group" that you know and are willing to help makes it work very well. We also really stress the fact that look how much will end up being recycled and kept out of the landfill.

As others have said, plan for a lot of material. It will make the day much easier.

Gotta do what works best for you Jord. Like ya said you got a partner!

Unlike most you guys I'm in a very small community as I said in a previous thread, word travels fast on my sandbar, good or bad. So I do what i have to add to my rep and protect it. Once I run out of businesses..thats it. So I go the extra mile for the folks like the church or the school, cause as I said..word travels fast. I don't have big cities less then a 2 hour drive, an I won't put myself having to drive to VA or further into mainland NC. Cause that would kill my profit way more then giving 20% would one time.

An again I'm a one man operation. Yea I'll have some help when I do the drive..but I don't pay my wife. LOL. An a few folks who are volunteering to help. Plus afterwards the cooler will be opened back at the house, and the grill fired up. An that's all folks are asking in exchange for their help. :)

Either way I wish ya luck, and would like to know how it goes for you. Be sure to keep us informed!

Sirscrapalot - Your mileage may vary.

PS - Thanks for those links Mech. Much appreciated.

Ok the only thing I would do is cover up the yards dumpster with a sign or something not good to show where the scrap is going just my two cents good luck again,20% is the right number for the charity this way every one will be happy

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Originally Posted by numbers

All this from a town of less than 2500 people.

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......wow, all that from 2500 people?! our city has 143,000 people...

If you are dping this...make sure to take advantage of the free advertising to get in front of a ton of people...facebook yard sale groups...seach for county or city and you can find them. Ask the admin if you can post something about it and post the dated times...heck you can even get calls for pickups that way...ut works...I can tell you from experience.

Killer thread with great input..
I can see this definitely as a money maker for all involved...

What I was thinking, was having for like fundraisers, basically, just have your prices set, what ever you get, like say you get 50 computer towers, 40 lbs of cellphones, 50 lbs of wire, 20 lbs of motherboards and etc. I was thinking instead of going through the hassle of giving the church/school a percentage, you just flat out, buy it like you would a computer shop or what not. That would be the easiest I think for a E-waste fundraiser. Pay them up front, makes them happy, and they don't have to wait on their money.