Wake up Dude

The lower prices don't particular upset me - But what does are some perspective customers
I used to be one of the eager beavers after all why not . Home owners and business owners gave it away .

A recent land lord wanted me to clean his basement and keep scrap the old days sure but now Nope I watched him try to sell me on the project . He goes I need some one to clean Look at all the metal its yours Ahhh Ooooo
I said sorry to inform but see this pile of metal it's only worth $1 - He says you'll work it out -
I have not called him Yet !!

People in general are slow to adapt and tend to be conveniently stupid. So many times, even when scrap was up, I heard "well, I can get more for scrap". No; I KNOW you can't but you don't want to hear that from me. As I said in another thread: the same amount of scrap is still out there. It's just a question of how long people want to sit on it.

Which brings up the question: how do franchise companies like "1-800GotJunk" do it?

the do it because they NEVER went for the "free cleanup in exchange for the scrap" model...they ACTUALLY ran it like a business. When you immediately go for "FREE pickup and removal" model, it is very hard to move back to a "pay me" model. It was a race to the bottom and now the consequences are not pretty.

I have NEVER advocated that model...and several others on here are in the same frame of thought. If someone needs something removed, then fine, it is $X for the job. Now whether I take it to the dump or recover some of my "costs" because I had bid a lower price on the job, then that is my business.

MORAL of the STORY - STOP WORKING FOR FREE

Many people will hire you for free .

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Originally Posted by webuyselltradestuff

the do it because they NEVER went for the "free cleanup in exchange for the scrap" model...they ACTUALLY ran it like a business. When you immediately go for "FREE pickup and removal" model, it is very hard to move back to a "pay me" model. It was a race to the bottom and now the consequences are not pretty.

I have NEVER advocated that model...and several others on here are in the same frame of thought. If someone needs something removed, then fine, it is $X for the job. Now whether I take it to the dump or recover some of my "costs" because I had bid a lower price on the job, then that is my business.

MORAL of the STORY - STOP WORKING FOR FREE

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Another trade you could be in wbsts: Poetry. That was beautiful.

Agree with Webuyselltradestuff, stop doing it for free. With that being said, there are certain instances where a free pick up is warranted. If someone calls me to pick up 100 i5 laptops I can re-sell, I am probably going to do it for free. You have to pick your battles this way and decide if demanding a few hundred dollars is worth loosing thousands over.

I had a guy from a company that sells coupon books call and ask for a pick up. I told him it would be x amount and he asked why it was not free. I asked him if he went about giving free coupon books to everybody and he said "of course not". He still didn't get it, and I passed on it.

When you do it all for free, you are devaluing yourself and your services. There are many companies/people willing and expecting to pay to have items removed. If you have "free pick up" advertised all over the place, you might be loosing revenue from people who were initially ready to pay for your services.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AuburnEwaste

Agree with Webuyselltradestuff, stop doing it for free. With that being said, there are certain instances where a free pick up is warranted. If someone calls me to pick up 100 i5 laptops I can re-sell, I am probably going to do it for free. You have to pick your battles this way and decide if demanding a few hundred dollars is worth loosing thousands over.

I had a guy from a company that sells coupon books call and ask for a pick up. I told him it would be x amount and he asked why it was not free. I asked him if he went about giving free coupon books to everybody and he said "of course not". He still didn't get it, and I passed on it.

When you do it all for free, you are devaluing yourself and your services. There are many companies/people willing and expecting to pay to have items removed. If you have "free pick up" advertised all over the place, you might be loosing revenue from people who were initially ready to pay for your services.

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There are many times when "free pickup" gives the impression "uninsured and unqualified" . You will find that many companies are accustomed to paying for removal and proper disposal of material. They will often not be willing to work with a "free pick up" service. Mike

I'm doing things different now . I have a log book . From years of recycling
I can tell weight from handling and the way truck feels
Like today I was driving and on the curb was an awesome find (during hey day)
felt like 1250 pounds
Lots of short
about 100 pounds AL pistons from cars
and high poundage of car starters

I jot on my log book
free find
found wile driving ( not a special pickup)
30 min load time
20 min unload

Next will be

Time needed to reload and sort
Time needed to drive to yard & unload
Time needed to get back home
Total fuel cost
Total hours
These factors used to be of no concern but I need to get to the bottom of it all
what is my hourly rate
and % profit over fuel cost
If I don't see a decent % over fuel cost to give
decent hr rate then free finds might have limitations

Todays find I figure $ 50 or so / more if I clean the AL pistons to Clean AL
But load as is - I estimate 2 1/2 hours total
$10 fuel
Any way just an estimate I hope I hit higher
but if not
the free find might
go the way of
Dinosaur