Took a huge step today

I took a huge step today towards developing my scrapping business. I have worked for a large retail company for the last six years that I have watched throw away a lot of electronics and small appliances. I have picked and collected a little here and there. Today, I spoke with the store manager regarding all of the damaged electronics and small appliances that are thrown out. I asked if I could pick up these damages every two weeks or so. He said it wouldn't be a problem but I told him that I was interested in doing this with all nine stores in the area. He said that he would speak with the district operations mgr and go from there. If he doesn't follow through I know 6 of the 9 store mgrs.

I can rent a dumpster but I will need a drop off locked one with lots of space. Then I have already spoke with management of the property the building that I work at and they said rent for the area of the dumpster is 500. I am trying the angle of picking up the damaged goods from within the building. My manager said that if they move forward on this idea that I might have to create a LLC because of their need to document everything and write it off as a donation. Not sure what that will mean for me.

Good luck with it Rolly. I've done renovations on some higher end stores, and some that weren't so classy, hek, one of em noted our jeans, shoes, color of socks, etc at night when we'd start, and again in the morning before letting us out ( i got one buy em once, they never did find that box of cookies haha ; )
What I mean to say was most all of em required returned merchandise to be crushed into a dumpster which was locked down tight on the outside, with the story being that they once donated those items to Goodwill and the like, but people got to bringing those donated goods back to the store looking for a full refund, so they stopped it entirely
I realize this doesn't have a lot to do with what you're hoping to accomplish though

Good deal for you an good on you for helping the store an yourself. Plus points to your GM for letting you do it, an not being a stick in the mud.

An on a side note..When I see your name I get hungry. We got a restaurant down here on my sandbar called..The Jolly Roger..lol. Excellent food, i should know, had our wedding reception there. LOL. It's like..Italian meets seafood meets steakhouse. An it's all good food! Cheapest breakfast on the beach an one of the best to!

Sirscrapalot -" Yes, I am a pirate two hundred years too late ;Cannons don't thunder there's nothin' to plunder " - From Jimmy Buffet Pirate Looks at 40.

Italian meets seafood meets steakhouse
Sounds good. Now I'm hungry!!!

$500.00 a month for the dumpster? And, at each location or just the one you work at? do they throw enough away to be able to recoup that $500.00 and still make money after taxes?

That does seem awfully high, but I'm guessing your in a high cost of living area. Maybe cause it locks up unlike your normal construction site bin/dumpsters?

An DWJ..yes..it's awesome. I would be cruel an find pictures an post them, but..then I'd be hungrier myself. :-o

Sirscrapalot - Do the hokey poke an shake it all about.

I won't make enough to cover dumpster cost and rent space. Though I am trying to get a spot inside the store on a pallet with a Gaylord.

Similar to Bear, I remodeled some Burlington coat factories. I was very offended one morning when the alarm went off and the manager accused one of my guys. Well, a month and 500 miles later, I caught the same guy trying to get jeans out in his toolbox. On the scrap note, the general contractor gave away all the scrap he could to keep it out of his dumpster. I never got any bc I Was too ft from home and truck was full of tools. Good luck. Most retailers have room for an extra Gaylord in the back.

RollyRogers, some of our people just starting out rent a storage unit at a facility and use it for storing scrap and sometime breaking stuff down.
Keeps the neighbors happy also. If you get the right one then you'll be within an extension cords length of a electric plug-in.

Yesterday mgr told me to they would put everything behind the dumpster. I said that wouldn't work because of too many people scraping in the area. They saved a shopping cart with 3 coffee makers, clock radio and vacuum. Not bad for 1st store.

You don't want to become a non-for-profit and when they said donate, sounds like that is what he is thinking. If you go that road there will be a lot of paper work and...the books would be hard...make sure or try to make sure that it does not go down that road.

Don't rent a dumpster, just buy a small trailer (I like using horse trailers) and have them locked up, they could just unlock it and load it up and when you need to pick it up you just hook up to it and go. If you use dumpsters you would have to remove everything by hand due to the fact I don't think you have a truck that has the gear to pick them up.

a 2grand trailer would be paid for in 4 months of work.

I sometimes kick myself for picking this username and wish I could change it.

It sounds like the run a rounds because they are donating right now, to garbage.

I got a new store manager who I have explained my venture for wanting all the damaged electronics and appliances. She loves the idea that I am recycling. Though she believes that the higher powers that be will say no because it's easier than do any more work. Another reason they might say no is that the company won't like the idea that I am making money on their products. I spoke with an attorney who said I can give them a signed affidavit that states I will only recycle the products and not resell the products.
It's a hard sell, but I am still pushing.

I have noticed this career/hobby is a lot like working for the humane society, you want to take them all home and it kills you when something gets away. I always have to keep perspective and know I wont get all I want and just be happy with what ends up in the truck, it was more than I had yesterday.. :) JMHO Good luck.

I appreciate you documenting your progress. I have recently made a small expansion, and and always watching and making plans for what the next step might be. The thoughts and experiences people share on this site are really helpful.

Today was a good day! We received in 3 Werner ladders today. We have a 7', 10', & 12' ladders that are missing parts. They said it's easier to replace the ladders then fix them. Yeah whatever! The managers asked if me I wanted to take the ladders for recycling. Cool right!

not sure why you would have to rent a dumpster ... the yards here will drop off a container - u load it - then they will come pick it up --- and pay you .... i know of 4 yards here that do that ---

I figure that I can put the dumpster away from the building. Where anyone in management wouldn't realize how much they are throwing away. The profit they can make and not me.

Maybe you can also pick up as often as you can so that they do not realize how much they are throwing away. Also, you will save them money because they might not need to have their dumpster emptied as often - just a thought.