How do you avoid the little pickups?

Not trying to be a lazy newbee here asking for all the secrets and not even reading stuff.
Plus I have a pretty good common sense.

I have been recycling mostly appliances lately. Sell to appliance guys, occasionally sell on my own.
Not much of a people guy when it comes to selling. Just seriously despise active aggressive selling.

Anyhow...Good friend and I decided to expand into e-waste. Started advertising on CL and waiting for the first calls.
I understand the concept of trying to get big jobs, but how does one turn down small jobs?

I always picture the call of someone wanting to pick up a single toaster.

Do you straight out ask how much and tell them NO? Do you ask for a small fee, if it is a small amount or do you just take the good with the bad?
Looking at it as a mixed bag?

We have one huge e-waste collector in town. they pay for almost everything. Some only 20 bucks a ton, and printers I think are the only items they only take for free right now.
Otherwise I have not seen much competition and I actually plan on selling to them.
I believe they pick up for free and only pay when you drop off.
Larger accounts they might pay, not sure.

They have the system down pat with mailings, massive cold calling businesses etc.

Anyhow... I just want to make a decent living doing this and am eager to listen and learn.

Thanks in advance.
Martin

sometimes the "small" pick ups turn out to be a huge find. I can't tell you how many times I went on a run to grab what I thought would be a waste of time and ended up with several hundred dollars worth of resale items.

I do not charge for residential pick up unless there is a TV involved. Asking what they have is a good way to judge if the trip will be worth your time.

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We have one huge e-waste collector in town. they pay for almost everything. Some only 20 bucks a ton, and printers I think are the only items they only take for free right now.
Otherwise I have not seen much competition and I actually plan on selling to them.
I believe they pick up for free and only pay when you drop off.
Larger accounts they might pay, not sure.

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When you get into the better ewaste then check out our buyers on here, some of the better prices around. And take some time to do some reading before you make a $100 mistake.

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Originally Posted by AuburnEwaste

sometimes the "small" pick ups turn out to be a huge find. I can't tell you how many times I went on a run to grab what I thought would be a waste of time and ended up with several hundred dollars worth of resale items.

I do not charge for residential pick up unless there is a TV involved. Asking what they have is a good way to judge if the trip will be worth your time.

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I agree. Usually you can judge by what area of town they are in if it is worth going to do a pickup for smaller amount of stuff. I did a small pickup in an "old money" part of town that turned into one of the largest residential pickups that I ever did. One of the best parts of the recycling business, you never know unless you go!

For E-Waste, more than scrap value is your best friend. I've processed a lot of RAM- if it was sent as scrap, I know many scrappers that would have lost a few thousand dollars. Before you take something apart, make sure you know what you have.

Also, out here in Wyoming, I charge based on distance/time. In most areas, you likely won't have the long travel distances that we do out here.

A place here has this statement..

For smaller quantities we ask you to provide us a window of opportunity where we can pick up your recyclable materials while we are already in the area. This helps us to conserve fuel and costs. In most cases we can pick up small quantities within the first 7 days. Most electronics get picked up the same day. A good rule of thumb is that the further away from central Tucson you reside and the smaller the quantity you have the longer it may take. On rare occasion it makes no economic sense to recover recyclable materials. For instance driving 50 miles for one computer is a lose/lose situation.

First..

I try not to turn down loads. As Auburn said, sometimes small pick ups turn into future big ones, or money loads as I like to call them..higher value stuff. Now if you call me an tell me you got 20 32 inch tube tvs you can expect me to throw you a dumbassly high number to discourage you, but hey..if your willing to pay it I'll come pick it all up. :) I don't charge for my pick ups tho unless it's crazy like the above mentioned 20 tubes.

Second thing I'd like to touch on...Someone said you can judge based on the area. This is not always true. I've had folks who live in what I'd call..the older an..ah..economically challenged neighborhood, call an it's been..a high value pick up. It's like yard sales..go to one in a pricey neighborhood an it's going to be higher priced items then your average run of the mill yard sale. I think yard sale..I think cheap. It's why I'm having a yard sale. LOL. I need some money or I need to get rid of my crap. Ha!

Hell here on my sandbar, a lot of the locals live in the older sections..why? Cause we don't want to put up with the tourists, or it's a nice older home, or the newer ones are ridiculously over priced rent wise. These folks live in houses or trailers, an yet own businesses or have electronics they no longer want..I happily oblige them all an take it. ;) If i based on the area..I'd never get nothing. High end homes here sit empty 9 months out of the year...not exactly repeat business.

Anyhow...here is my list of things I say no to when folks call:

1. If it's out of my area, I won't go. I have a big area I'll drive, but..it's gotta be worth my gas an time. I won't drive an hour for a vcr. I ask questions tho an am honest if they have nothing else. "Sorry, that drive is just way to far for me to justify it at this time, but hey...next time I head that way I'll be glad to give you a call or a drop you an email in case you haven't found someone else.."

2. If they are fussy. I don't do fussy. DON'T BE FUSSY! I've done retail for many years, I've also done call center work..I can tell most of the time if your going to be a pain in my ass. If you are...call that other guy you keep threatening to. ;)

3. We can't come to terms on pricing, or at lest a ball park. "How much will you pay me for the tower?" "Hrrm..usually, between 3 an $5. Depends on the tower, whats been removed, etc" "Cool! See ya soon!" I go..if they start asking for anything above 5 bucks an it's not a working up to date tower..I just wish them a good day an good luck. I'm not a refurber. I buy, I smash, I profit.

4. Time of day. This is a factor for me as I live on a sandbar in a tourist mecca. To go north between the hours of 9 am an 5pm is just stupid if your me an live here. A 20 minute drive turns into 1 hour to 2 hours depending on the levels of stupidity. An I'm being nice. LOL. The area I speak of is the north end of my sandbar, an during summer months with all the tourists, the two lane road in an out of there is basically a parking lot due to all the lights, low speed limit an people. So if your in Duck or Corrolla an you want me to come do a pick up, it'll be very early or in the evening. I'll not make the drive during that crazy mess. This is unique to me an folks on my sandbar...you mainlanders will likely not have to deal with such.

5. It bears repeating...I try not to turn down loads, small or large. When I do, I try to have a good reason for doing such.

6. I ask questions. If I don't like the answers I turn down the pick up. "So what kind of stuff we talking?" "Oh a box of toasters, 4 waffle irons an a ram stick".

Anyhow...as always..YMMV.

Good luck!

Sirscrapalot - If the pen is mightier then the sword..I just slaughtered an army with that novel!

once you have things down pat this is no longer an issue because your scheduling people back to back and like a pizza delivery man your traveling routes that make it low on gas and time spent

I did a smaller pickup one time, as I arranged it with another trip I had to make. It was residential, no big deal. Turns out the guy runs and closes businesses and that's where we got the call for 3 truckloads of appliances and office/computer equip. Sometimes a little minnow turns into a large bass.

I have not turned down a pick up yet. I am somewhat lucky most of my calls are within 20 minutes, which I do not see as to far to drive. I always view it as a chance for more business down the road, which some have turned into. One of those calls has potentially turned into a huge job of helping to clean out a barn, garage, and storage unit full of goodies. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one!