best way to sort/scrap all kinds of desktop/server equipment

Hey all,
I run a small IT consulting company and have been buying tons of servers and other PC equipment, usually we'll buy a pallet of junk to get a few good parts to use/sell. We have limited space in our office but have a storage unit down the street so we have room for scrap (just not items for sale because of the cold). My question is if you're getting 10+ pallets of misc pc equipment every month, how would you sort/scrap everything?

My thoughts so far are:

1. sort through everything and take the good stuff for us
2. group everything by type (pc, server, power cable, misc cables)
3. list everything on Ebay/amazon for min 90 days
4. things that don't sell within 90 days, sort for scrap
5. fill up scrap bins enough to fill large rental truck (enterprise with lift gate) and make 1 or more large trips

start all over with new stuff

Also what would you guys do with smaller things like power cords, keyboards, mice, video cables, laptop chargers, and other misc cables? I have about 500+ of each of these and know I'll never be able to sell them. what should I expect the approx scrap worth of each be?

Start reading here https://www.scrapmetalforum.com/computer-recycling/ Go through each page reading those posts that sound like something you will be working with.

It takes a bit of time to get an education. But it is here for the taking. Good luck!

Welcome to the forum.
The first thing you might want to do is read the FAQs and Forum Rules. When you get through with that, go to the Introduce Yourself thread and properly introduce yourself. You will probably get more responses if you do that first.

Thanks guys,
I've been going through all the info on here and have been learning a lot. We currently have tons of servers and cables and I'm not sure how to sort everything and what I should toss instead of scrap. I have an employee who's going to be tasked with scrapping and selling so I'm not sure what's worth his time vs just tossing it.

For Ebay sales we estimate it costs me about $1 in handling per item plus shipping, and seller fees so we have a handle on that side, but it's much harder to estimate costs and time when it comes to scrapping.

You may beadle to get a scrapper to pay for all your stuff?Save you time. The small town I live in, has 1 computer repair shop and he just wants his stuff gone. I now go once a month to pick up his recycles for free. I do charge for printers.

I would break down servers and PCs as you get them.

Sort into useable and unusable parts. If you want to mess with trying to sell replacement Mobos or other peripherals, be my guest. It can be a crapshoot. Depends on how much space you have to work with.

the cases aren't worth anything to pretty much anyone, I'd separate ABS from light iron and scrap both separately. I'm not sure how the plastic market has been lately. I'd then separate everything else into groups, keeping the cream of the crop (1GB+ ram, larger Sata HDs, some potentially good processors for upgrades, maybe some of the more expensive Mobos) in a separate pile again. I would then generate a pallet of computer scrap of presorted material to send off to be recycled. If you have a local buyer to make the delivery vs. shipping LTL, more power to you.

If your business is slow, focus more on selling some stuff. if you don't have time, just scrap. If you have room to hold onto scrap for a period of time, watch the market.




If I have any advice, it is time management. I had an opportunity to go back to my Family's welding shop between engineering jobs, and had several long discussions with my father and grandfather (only 2 workers there). I made some points and some ideas for what I'd like to do with it if I am coming back. They didn't care for my ideas since they are at the tail end of their careers (my dad not as much, but getting unhealthy). Biggest hole I saw was that they would continually leave early if they got caught up on work, whereas I saw that 1-3+ hrs a day during the slower periods to do general maintenance, and building things to sell, or working ahead on jobs. My dad gets mad at me when he goes on a rant about not getting vacation time, and I remind him he has about 8 hours of vacation a week. I laugh and he scowls at me.

Server cases aren't worth much? I figured since they weigh like 50lbs a piece but I guess they're not aluminum?

We normally get 4-8 year old equipment and focus on servers.

I'm planning on filling 20x20x20 boxes of scrap then when we have a truck full well scrap everything.

I'm concerned about cables, should I just put all cables together or are power cords more than cheap VGA or serial cables? Also what about laptop power supplies, are the bricks worth anything? We also have both cheap power cables (we call monitor) and super thick server power cords.

To be honest if it doesnt sell on ebay or locally u may find a buyer here.....i also sale parts and refurbish systems and have cut myself short on cords before by scrapping to many.....server cases around here if 50lbs worth around $3each......ewaste is good money but time consuming just remember the lowest value for any component is scrap

Ya check the forum buyers section. If I we're you I would buy my membership and when I have a bunch of stuff to sell, put it on the buyer/sellers section. If it's in bulk you may be able to get more money than the listed price per pound.
Just an idea.

To get the most scrap out of the cables, I cut the gold-pinned ends off, there are buyers here for those. The rest of the cable goes into my insulated wire bin. With the laptop power supplies, I cut the ends off, both plugs and from the brick, and sell the brick separately. There are buyers for the bricks here, too. Also, to squeeze just a little more value out of the plugs, I take pliers and yank the brass prongs off to sell as scrap brass. Note that this is just what I do, with me getting only a handful of items per month, and things may need to be a little different for you knowing you take several tons per month.

I'm in Coiumbus OH and there are a few scrap and escrap places locally which seem to have similar prices with others online so i figured its best to not ship items. I thought most server cases are aluminum but i guess not, what are they made of?

I have scrapped 1000's of servers and almost all are just a low grade steel usually goes as shred

Quote:

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Originally Posted by justinm001

Server cases aren't worth much? I figured since they weigh like 50lbs a piece but I guess they're not aluminum?

We normally get 4-8 year old equipment and focus on servers.

I'm planning on filling 20x20x20 boxes of scrap then when we have a truck full well scrap everything.

I'm concerned about cables, should I just put all cables together or are power cords more than cheap VGA or serial cables? Also what about laptop power supplies, are the bricks worth anything? We also have both cheap power cables (we call monitor) and super thick server power cords.

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Cases aren't worth shipping. I would still sort as you filll 20" cube boxes.

Like others have said, check the buyers on here. Maybe start conversing with the closest one to you.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lousypirate

Cases aren't worth shipping. I would still sort as you filll 20" cube boxes.

Like others have said, check the buyers on here. Maybe start conversing with the closest one to you.

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Yes, check the buyers on here. You might get lucky and find a very large buyer of ewaste right in your own back yard. Also buy a magnet and learn how to identify aluminum, steel and copper. While you're at it buy your employee a magnet also.

You said you have tons of servers and an employee who's going to be tasked with scrapping and selling. I don't think you'll find another site with as much information as you will find here. Get your employee to become a member here and both of you start reading. Everything you need is here but you are going to have to work for it. You're not going to find all of the answers in a few days or even a few weeks.

Do keep us posted on your progress and we like pictures also. There's a search box at the top and lots of info on how to post pictures.

Jim

Since you are working with employees training and trusting them becomes so important. I recommend you first educate yourself by reading as many of the old threads as you can, as others have. Follow up with hands on experience, you already have the materials on hand. With you current knowledge this education should happen very fast.

I suggest you put together a system or add to the system you already have. Perhaps use a flow sheet where progress can be quickly monitored. There by you can make changes to the process.

One of my problems has been deciding what to do with something, repair sell, test part out, break down and scrap. One of the issues I have is not retailing whole systems or parts soon enough before they obsolete. My 20/20 vision keeps getting updated with things I should have processed and sold long ago. So quickly turning over your unprocessed inventory is extremely important in my opinion.


In your study here on the forum do not stay exclusively in the ewaste area your material contains many different types of scrap.

In case it has not been mentioned before we like photos. 73, Mike

Here's our entrance of our office with stuff we haven't sorted yet
http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/x...pskyxixyhl.jpg
we picked up 5 boxes/pallets of these with keyboards, mice, and power adapters for thin clients
http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/x...psjq27uwsk.jpg
Heres just a couple stacks of servers
http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/x...psmvgks8yb.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by justinm001

Server cases aren't worth much? I figured since they weigh like 50lbs a piece but I guess they're not aluminum?

We normally get 4-8 year old equipment and focus on servers.

I'm planning on filling 20x20x20 boxes of scrap then when we have a truck full well scrap everything.

I'm concerned about cables, should I just put all cables together or are power cords more than cheap VGA or serial cables? Also what about laptop power supplies, are the bricks worth anything? We also have both cheap power cables (we call monitor) and super thick server power cords.

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If your going to scrap the wires cut both female and male plugs off and you will gte #2 Copper wire price which right now is about 60 cents per lb. Your power supply boxes the (brick) as you put it will be purchased as a power supply and you will get anywhere from 15 cents to 25 cents per pound depending on your scrap yards pricing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by justinm001

I'm in Coiumbus OH and there are a few scrap and escrap places locally which seem to have similar prices with others online so i figured its best to not ship items. I thought most server cases are aluminum but i guess not, what are they made of?

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Go to CashForComputerscrap.com they are in OHIO

Currently our policy is we bring everything back to our office, take everything we want/need or can sell to our clients. then we pull everything that we can easily sell on ebay/amazon/our site and then organize the rest. On the servers, we take all servers with DDR3 memory for our use and yank all cards in the remaining servers. You'd be surprised how many companies get new servers and leave 8GB fiber cards which are $1000+ new and $150+ used.

all the DDR2 and older servers we've just been pilling up and have about 4 racks full of them currently. I have a solid understanding on how much things are worth for sale just not in scrap.

seems like most of your questions are answered... except this.

Also what would you guys do with smaller things like power cords, keyboards, mice, video cables, laptop chargers, and other misc cables? I have about 500+ of each of these and know I'll never be able to sell them. what should I expect the approx scrap worth of each be?

All comes down to time vs. money, but here's a breakdown.

Power cords, some guys here buying them in various states. otherwise, cut ends off. Ends in brass breakage bucket, wire in standard wire bucket
Keyboards (non clicky), USB plug goes into gold plated IIRC, ABS scrap for enclosure, wire in cheap wire bucket, 3 sheets of plastic, sheets with the silver circuitry is silver mylar, worth about $3 a lb last i knew.
Keyboards (clicky), research on the eBay, sell or scrap as seen fit.
Mice, USB plug into gold plated, wire into cheap wire bucket, hammer mouse and pull the small board out, ABS scrap
Video cables, ends into gold plated bucket. wire into cheap wire bucket
Laptop chargers, cut ends for brass breakage, transformer in center goes into separate bucket, wire into standard wire bucket
Misc cords, gold plated ends in proper scrap, brass breakage in proper scrap, wire sorted between power carrying or signal
Ribbon cords I tend to put in their own bucket. Scrap yards vary on what they pay for it.

Current Pricing | Cash for Computer Scrap speak to them. Items that he wont buy contact a local scrap yard. Once you have the numbers you could then figure out if you should try and sell in bulk items on ebay and go from there... good luck and make sure you post what happened and how it worked out for you.

You are getting alot of good advice so far. The one thing I would be careful with is assuming that all of the advice will pertain to the yard you sell certain items to. The item in particular is cords / chargers / etc. Many people are saying you need to cut the ends off and separate the bricks. I would suggest you find a few local yards and ask how they need their #2 insulated prepared. The yard I sell my cords to, I don't need to do any of that and still get 65 cents a pound (December price).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jimicrk

Yes, check the buyers on here. You might get lucky and find a very large buyer of ewaste right in your own back yard. Also buy a magnet and learn how to identify aluminum, steel and copper. While you're at it buy your employee a magnet also.

You said you have tons of servers and an employee who's going to be tasked with scrapping and selling. I don't think you'll find another site with as much information as you will find here. Get your employee to become a member here and both of you start reading. Everything you need is here but you are going to have to work for it. You're not going to find all of the answers in a few days or even a few weeks.

Do keep us posted on your progress and we like pictures also. There's a search box at the top and lots of info on how to post pictures.

Jim

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Yep 3 that I can think of in Ohio, Two are members here! Check them all out... one is even in your town! Check prices two of them are within 2 1/2 hours from you and they may pay a little more.

Thanks. We definately got tons of info. I'm surprised in how low pricing is and always thought everything weighs more. We weighed a 20x20x20 box of standard pc power cords and it was 90lbs and at $.40 so only $36. We did however find a buyer for 10 of the servers for $3500 plus shipping so hopefully we get some more listed and sold.

Hopefully you are checking and comparing prices at all of the local yards for your power cords and other wire.

If they all work you might get more money reselling them or donating as a tax write off.