Even WalMart...

So, of course my logic dictates that LARGE companies have LARGE disposal companies to take care of their waste on contract, which for the most part around here is waste management. But when I am at the tire and lube getting a tire plugged I notice there is a red unlabeled dumpster cocked at 30 degrees all by itself filled with banding, broken carts and a few wire shelving units that looked pretty good. I figure hey...who know that dumpster might not be contracted. Ask clerk, clerk calls management whom asks to speak to me, I tell him, hey you have wire shelving in your red dumpster out by the tire and lube lot that I could really use if you don't mind. He says heck no, we have to pay for the dumpster, take what you want.

Soooo...6 trips later, I took the entire contents of the dumpster, minus some mangled banding I didn't want to mess with. I kept the wire rack shelving and sent the rest to the yard. 4800lbs shred. I even clarified this with management who then asked what color and type my truck was and he said anytime I want something just stop and and let the lube clerk know. I suspect the company that dropped off the dumpster might get upset so I plan to only hit this in spurts and in the future I'll keep it to shelving if I can.

I may offer to drop a dump trailer here in exchange for a bill of lading if they are seriously going to put carts in it, the scrap yard gave me a weird look about the few carts I filled with brake rotors and junk car parts...Can't believe a big company like sadoff missed the metal from a company like walmart...

Congrats Greywolf. I would approach it from another angle. I would visit with the manager about brokering all of the metal. Tell him he has been paying to haul the stuff off and you will do it for free. Then ask him to contact other managers to make the same deal.

In my opinion to be successful in business you have to find a niche. Walmart is paying someone to haul metal, that some one is double dipping and selling the metal. When you reveal to the manager you can save them money, he goes to his superior to get credit for saving them money. That superior goes to his superior with same story. You are making lots of people look good in the corporation. The secret in management is to make the company as much money as possible with as little effort as possible.

Therefore you can set yourself up with multiple stores with this strategy. If you play your cards right you could be sitting in a meeting with a regional vice president discussing options. Then when you have commitments, you go back to Sanoff (I assume this is the company you alluded to) and work a deal for them to haul the metal that you own. You have found your niche without touching the metal, you are paid to keep the same arrangement Walmart had before. The difference is you stepped in between Walmart and Sanoff to make a profit. Sanoff may not like the idea that they are paying you to get what they had for free before, but that is okay. You can always take your business to another scrap yard.

If the arrangement between Sanoff and Walmart is that they take all of the trash, then you broker a deal similar to that that does not require Walmart to pay for garbage removal. If Walmart is willing to separate metal from trash, (good PR to be environmentally friendly) you could still make money without any work, just your business insight.

I realize you referred to the fact that Sanoff missed an opportunity. But the middle guy was selling it somewhere. Step in between, make Walmart look good, and make a profit for your self without doing anything but logistics. Name of the game.

Also mention that you recycle electronics too.

Walmart will want you to be a business too if you go up the chain.

Eric

Just wanted to add to a previous post. A career in education provided a steady income, benefits, and comfort. I did not understand how people made a living in private business. Now that the eyes have been opened, your opportunities are only limited by your creativity, hardwork, and values. Do some soul searching because this is a great opportunity for you. It would be great if you could post a year from now that you are the CEO of recycling for Walmart. Dream big and they will come.

I am a business, I tune cars for a living, and build and install fuel injection systems on things that didn't originally come fuel injected (Like old jeeps). Performance and eco tuning if it concerns ;) And yea, never thought about the "They are double dipping" thing. Personally I just assume NOT deal with electronics. By weight and labor your asking alot, and the newer electronics use less and less gold. I took 110 CRT monitors two months ago and I'll never do that again, simply not worth the hassle for 1.4 lbs of copper each on average and a small low grade board. I do laptops and with the competition even that's less and less worth it. Business is in batteries, always has been, it's the only thing I can think of you will always make a profit on. I buy from every shop in town, I also take the lithium ion batteries from local businesses including best buy, the manager is happy to not have to pack and ship them he says it wastes employee time doing it...and while federal law mandates buy back, that's our tax dollars so the hell with it and most people I deal with wholeheartedly agree. I am hoping to fill two gaylords with lithium ion batteries this year. I segregate layers and keep a very large purple K fire extinguisher for this reason.

Around here flipping cars is what most scrappers do, you don't see alot of random shred at the scales anymore.

I wanted to clarify something else. All I have is my garage space atm, I share a shop with a local tire shop/car dealer and have zero available space there either. All my vehicles stay outside, even the motorcycle is on it's stand in the house to save space. I do not have room for shred at all, it must be hauled as soon as the bed of my truck and trailer are full, no exceptions. Even then, sometimes my trailer has a car in it so I can't even count on filling it up either.

Professionally speaking...I don't know if I even want to deal with walmart, they have a bad habit of fishing contracts once they've got you. Right now it has nothing to do with corporate and is just an addition to my route, thus within my capabilities. Ohh and state law as a business nothing recyclable according to law can go in a garbage dumpster or it's a fine.

Side note: I could probably score a finder's fee for Sadoff, the biggest recycler in my area, I know them well enough since I've been selling them monel and titanium for a long time.

If that's not your main source of income then don't go corporate just try to keep it on a handshake agreement level , if something goes bad with a walmart contract remember they have expensive lawyers I don't assume you do

helped an electrician change all the exit signs and emergency light fixtures at a Walmart here in town. they where just going to throw it all away. I took it of course. batteries weighed in at just over 300 lbs. they throw a lot of good stuff out

I've found that sort of stuff before in dumpsters...amazing. When they switched to LED lighting I found sodium light fixtures in the trash...again, shocking since they are pretty dang heavy.

It is a Sadoff dumpster...which if you wanna guess is exactly where I take 90% of my metal. I get better than yard prices because of the materials I bring them on occasion so I cannot burn this bridge. It was too good to be true. That said, I talked to the manager and he said anything I find in the dumpster that I want is mine for the taking so I will continue to pull shelving out when I see it, so it's not all lost.

my walmart does have someone but I do pick up from kmart which I am not the only one its a free for all but they make sure someone is there for liability I think or so your not taking the wrong things I guess either way its not a lot but it all adds up I mean even our lower scrap yard local prices 400-600lbs still is a quick $20-30 bucks