It pays to ask

A little background - I have a part time job and I run a full-time business so I scrap with my dad. He is disabled but likes to tinker in the garage. It is my job to get the stuff, bring it to him, do the heavy lifting and then after he tears it apart take it to the scrap yard.

There is so much out there it pays to just ask! I've gotten 4 pickup truck loads of computer components just by mentioning to my friends what I do. Add to that a regular monthly pickup from a local school.

Today, however was an awesome score. In between jobs I stopped at a local thrift store. This store sells donated items to benefit a local shelter. I asked the cashier what they do with their old/broken electronics. She said, "we we just discussing that this morning" and went to get her manager. The manager said sure I have a ton of stuff for you, can you come back later today? Of course I could! We loaded the pickup with tons of old electronics, I'll try to get some pictures up later but some of the stuff I got was: an old hand crank cash register/adding machine, polaroid cameras still in the boxes, monitors, tvs, satellite boxes, a old 80s boom box, a working RCA 5 disc cd changer, about 100 different power cords, kodak slide projection machines (still in the boxes), an 8 track player, a stenograph machine, a handfull of cellphones, commercial vacuums and more. The best part...the manager said I could come every week and she would fill my truck up. Oh my word, I think I'm dreaming. Someone pinch me!!

Wow, it so totally pays to ask. You just never know what you will get. Last week I stopped in a storage facility and gave them my card. The man went to the back room and came out with a working Black and Decker drill. He just lost the cord. Sweet!

congratulations erg. I'm glad things are working out so well for you...and your Dad.

Thanks so much. I really enjoy this and he loves keeping busy so this is a win-win. :)

A few things you mentioned are very sellable on maybe CraigsList or Ebay.

Yes, I think be sorting and listing for the next few weeks. My idea is to just keep getting stuff while I can. I can always list and sell during the dry spells. Do you find that works or do you have another method?

Also, I am thinking about making an e-thrift to sell my finds. I could set it up with a PayPal account and deal locally or ship. Do you know of anyone that does that? Any thoughts? I'm wondering if it would be worth my time/effort.

Thanks!
Linda

Yes, I think you have the right idea. I restock when I can whether it's curbside, garage/estate sales, auctions and then post stuff to Ebay or Craiglist depending what the item is. If the item has run its coarse by trying to sell, then it gets scrapped or donated. When posting stuff on Craigslist start at the optimum value you hope to get and each time you renew the item(every 48 hrs) drop the price till sold or scrapped. I try to post or renew when I think people will be looking from work like mid morning or lunch time and on the weekends mid morning. Take the email option out of your posts to eliminate spam, I deal with phone numbers only and prefer text so I can muli-task better. Also, use Photo Bucket or some other pic host for better, larger pics in your posts rather then the Craigslist pic upload. And Linda please be careful when dealing with Craigslist folks...it just takes one bad apple. Here's an example of one of my posts.
http://denver.craigslist.org/fuo/2753090051.html

Thanks so much for the info! I like the idea of not using email to get rid of spam. I will try that.

I can not agree more about being careful on Craigslist. I ALWAYS take someone with me, meet at a busy, well-lit location and keep my guard up. You just never know. When in doubt, I can do without.

Thanks for the pointers!
-Linda

wow, KZ, that looks more like $2500 to me !

Yea what she said. That looks like something worth more than $250. Check out design firms in your area you may be able to do better. Unless you think its a very new reproduction, best of luck with your sales, Mike.

Yep, it never hurts to ask a question. Went out to pick up a carpet for my day job, while waiting I noticed an old bar fridge sitting by the door, so I asked "is that garbage?" "Yes, you want it? It still works." "I sure do"

I was just looking for an excuse to give him my card, which I did, and explained "metal or plugs in, I'll take it". After 10 seconds that registered in his head, "Hey wait a minute, would you want this?"

We go around the corner and theres at least 200 lbs of steel and some bx wire. Score! I go back to get it Friday.