Does it matter to your customers if you are certified or not??
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Does it matter to your customers if you are certified or not??
Please vote in poll above
I think the more important question is "are you finding it matters to clients (and what clients) if you are certified or not?" What we think is irrelevant...it is the people you get your stuff from...granted some SAY it matters, but if you have a way that you explain things to them as to why you aren't and they go with you...that is GREAT info as well....
Just thought that would help clarify and give a bit better info for the question mikeinreco :)
I don't know how to edit the poll so I just just changed the question a bit.........Quote:
Originally Posted by webuyselltradestuff
Well for me its both yes and no right now I have a few customers who require me to go to a R2 recycler and rest dont care just want the most money for there scrap.
Great topic mikieinreco, glad you started the thread, let me first say that I am not going to say that there are not clients or business that don't care if you are certified or not, of course there are. You can say that you do not need to be certified to make a living in our industry and in most case you don't, when I reply to threads on the S M F, I give my opinions from my own life and business experiences. That being said right now my main business is scraping commercial A/C units, most of you know if you have ever read any of my threads know that I am a certified-by the EPA to recover freon, which by the way is no big deal to get the certification for, but where it comes into play is in this way, we have A/C contractors that will call weeks ahead and book our services for there up and coming jobs, yep they want us to be there scrap man on the job, and it's a nice to know that we will have with out bragging, thousand of dollars in scrap material on such and such a day. The reason is that they know that we will be there on time, do the job in a professional manor and the most important part for them, generate a detailed report that lists the model and unit number of the A/C unit and the amount and type of freon recovered from that unit. They are required to submit that report in order to get there final payment and sign off on the job. Is it a pain in the ass? well I am glad that most of the compaction thinks that it is, so I ask you does it pay to be certified? in my humble opinion I would not be in business today if I was not, well I guess I could find a couple of customers that don't care if I am certified or not and they would give me there window a/c unit along with there bag of pop cans.
If you use the correct scare tactics it can be quite profitable. Scare tactics are government enforced methods of making it difficult for the everyday Joe to do a job and make undeclared cash money. And really, it trickles down to liability and taxes.
It really does not matter in general to the vast customer base which is the general public, but I can see where in urban centres it would be hard to perform a big job like the ones you are getting 1956.
Out in the country it don't matter if you are certified or not. sticks vs. city
Like 1956, I deal with mostly refrigeration equipment, although on a smaller scale. All my customers require that I am certified to recover refrigerants and can provide documentation on how much and what types of refrigerants were recovered.
Yea I think the question is to broad.......For the A/C guys I can see being certified is a must.......For ewaste guys not so much........I buy thousands of dollars of computers for pennies on the dollar from gov't institutions.......These institutions already have procedures in place to either wipe or destroy any info..........By the time I show up the drive has either been wiped, degaussed, or destroyed and I pay accordingly...........
Another great question would be,
"Do you think being certified will help you get more clients?"
I would answer yes to that one as well.
//Quote:
Originally Posted by admin
I would have to agree that yes there would be more potential clients but then the next question would be is it worth it???
Depends on the goals of the entrepreneur in question. I think that with big goals, a certification can only help achieve them. That would be my answer anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeinreco
Yeah I have thought about this alot..........Lets use this as an example........I bring in $3000 a month my expenses are $1000 a month........$2000 profit...........I bring in $10,000 a month my expenses are $8000 a month .....$2000 profit..........Expenses are going to increase exponentially with employees, equipment, insurance, certifications, etc.........I have been torn over this myself for the past year or so.........Not really afraid of failure just do I want all the headache of going to the next level.....This has been obviously discussed before but has been brought up again lately and I am really on the fence about this............I wish everyone well no matter how big they are or how small........My scrapping adventures started digging beer cans out of trash cans and around 7 years later I have a fairly successful biz which produces more than I need every month...........I think the only one that can answer these questions is the individual themselves........
.....I have been told I certifiable: what does that mean?
:)
the thing about being certified for freon recovery...kinda like you want your AC guy to be licensed...it is pretty easy to get those certs and most people equate that to licensed...they are used to people being licensed in trades....ewaste recycling on the other hand...a FRIG ton of money and a PITA for be certified, for WHAT? It' doesn't say I am EDUCATED or using proper equip or anything...just that I dispose of things in a manner suitable to some agency....AND that I have to jump through a bunch of other stuff that really doesn't matter.
I guess I am saying, if certification was say $500 or less and a couple $250 a yr....then SURE by all means...but $10-15K and $2K a yr FOR WHAT????? No thanks...I am well educated on the ewaste subject and can and will take care of all your stuff in a professional manner without spending that kind of money...I can pay for a TON of insurance that says so too and it STILL would be less than the "cert" money...and far less of a pain...
Depends on who or what customers you are going after. I have one customer who requires several certifications. I have others who don't ask like hospitals etc. It also depends on your product. in the case of It scrap I have found, if your going to deal with any co that has any connection with the government i.e. schools government contractors, city waste management etc certification is required in most cases. in those not under government scrutiny it isn't even asked unless you run into a tree huger.
In many cases the certification process, permits etc, are just another form of tax. In some cases, like refrigerants, a certified collector can be used, in the case of electronics a certified end stream can be used. The most important thing is common sense. We know how much common seance the government has. THEY are the rectifiers
example: in Florida you can go to the boonies with a pack of hot dogs and a bag of buns build a fire from what ever is at hand. jam the dog on a stick and heat it, then serve it to your kids, your kids friends etc with what ever you want to put on it but if you buy a hot dog from a cart vender he better have $5000+ worth of certifications, liscenses , permits, 4 sinks, hot water etc. oh and by the way he better not put chili or cheese on it.
Sry this is so long but I'm trying to make a point.
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So old dude, what you are saying is the institutions, and government agency's, that are the most wasteful and are the biggest generators of e-scrap require the certifications,let me just end with this Tidbit, understandable there are costs related to becoming certified and a lot of those costs are directly related to the number of employees that you have, do your home work it's not as much as some would let you believe.Quote:
Originally Posted by olddude
While there are not any actual certifications that are relevant to my area of business (automotive core recycling), it DOES matter to a lot of my customers that I have an actual, legitimate business. There are plenty of "fly by night" guys around trying to buy converters who are NOT registered with the state as a business entity. Some don't even like to give you their real or full name (big red flag there), or tell you where they're from or really anything about them. Would you hire an electrician, babysitter or banker who acted like that? Nope, neither would I.
With my state business registration certificate and number, my clients know who they are dealing with and where to find me. True, some of them could care less, but it matters to many of them.
I think more certification always helps to make you look more appealing. Although the R2 certification is a big one and isnt a certification for a small business like mine. I plan on staying small with slow growth and if the time is ever right I would get it but, its not something I would want to jump into.
Perhaps the clients you have now dont care about the R2 cert. but, if you were to become R2 certified and advertise that, you would get clients that are looking for that certification.
What I do is tell my clients that I recycle my ewaste at R2 cert. ewaste companies (which I do). So, they know it is going to an R2 cert company which they like but, I dont have to go through the hassle of becoming R2 certified myself.
In order to legally run a scrapping business in my area *sigh* I need:
3 separate business tax licenses ...
Insurance ...
Bonding ...
WC Insurance ...
1 construction license ...
1 demolition license ...
2 transport licenses ... actually 3 (dry goods, hazardous & flammable, DOT transporter number )
4 EPA licenses ( pollution generator, hazardous waste generator, CWA, emissions )
I know I am forgetting a few ... the only people who ever want to know if I have all this legal junk is the government, the clients could care less !
For ewaste we're not certified. I'd like to get certification probably as R2 as I start doing more government work.
So far, I haven't had any clients ask about certification. I've had to explain a few times how we do data destruction, but in general, most clients don't seem to care. Only once in 4 years have I had a client run through a list of questions along the lines of "10 things to ask your ewaste recycler" or something like that. The funny thing was it was the second pickup I did for them, about a year and a half apart.