Does anyone else see this in the yards you go to?

I touched on this a little in another thread here tonight and wanted to expand on it a bit. Today I saw a scrapper drive by while I was delivering mail with computers in the back of his truck. I figured he was going to throw them in the shred pile. What made me think this was I made a run to the scrap yard this week and while I was there I was looking at the shred pile and counted at least 20 computers laying on the ground waiting for the front end loader to come by and sweep them into the huge pile. I stopped and talked to one of the yard foreman about it and asked him who I would talk to about maybe having them pulled to the side and I would buy them from the yard. He told me dont bother cause this company makes millions every year and they wouldnt even consider it. They allready have bins set on the side of the pile where they pull out CRT's and Propane tanks and such. In my mind I figured how hard would it be to pull the towers out of the pile as well. Anyone else run into this?

On a side note same guy asked what about sell phones? Told him I knew a buyer at $5 a pond for them. Well on my second trip to the yard that day he was like I got 6 allready. It was like 3 hours later. If he got that many cell phones in 3 hours just imagine how many computers get thrown to the shredder at that yard every day.

Lastly. Would you think it would be a problem if I parked my truck out on the street next to the yard with a sign on the tailgate saying buying scrap computers $5 each? I would think the yard might get mad. I know it wouldnt be illegal being on a public street but I might want to try this at a yard I dont use :) Thaughts?

Don't have any advice on the buying end, but we used to get frustrated seeing all the good car parts at the yards that we weren't allowed to buy.

Carbs, wheels, complete 50's and 60's engines., some NOS factory parts...just scrapped. Finally a friend of mine got an "in" with somebody and they let him buy a few pieces at scrap value.

After scoring a few $20 and $40 carbs, someone gave him a funny looking manifold with 3 carbs on it...67 Vette tripower intake, complete. $1500 on ebay!

I guess the moral is keep trying???

PTS, is your yard an independant? If so, talk to the manager and give him your card. Let him know how much a pound you'll pay for computers.

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Originally Posted by freonjoe

PTS, is your yard an independant? If so, talk to the manager and give him your card. Let him know how much a pound you'll pay for computers.

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After posting this I sent them an email. Hope to hear from them soon. Like the old saying goes if you dont ask the answer is no right?

I've bought stuff from my scrapyard so it can be done. If it's in the shred pile, I'll pull it out and take it up to the office. Helps that the yard knows me.

my yard lets me pick them up if i see them and pay shred price for them, but i have never seen more then 1 or 2 there when i go. they dont have many employees and if i offered 5$ a computer i doubt they would spend time picking them up not worth it to them.

I tried to talk to the manager of the big local yard about the same situation. They said that once they weigh it and put it in... they can't sell anything out. They're part of a larger scrap chain that owns 20 or so yards in the region. Apparently they're going to start buying up circuit boards too...

I get a small but regular supply from one of employees at the scrap yard. He has a deal with the owner. I don't get large quanities, ten at most. I also pay top dollar for them. I believe paying more for a regular supply. The reason it worked for me is the owner doesn't mind his guy making a few dollars. I don't know what the employee pays but I suspect a couple of dollars each. Mike.

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Originally Posted by prgiva

I tried to talk to the manager of the big local yard about the same situation. They said that once they weigh it and put it in... they can't sell anything out. They're part of a larger scrap chain that owns 20 or so yards in the region. Apparently they're going to start buying up circuit boards too...

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I know that some yards don't have retail licenses to resell.

We buy from yards all the time. The smaller yards are much more apt to do it as increasing their profits even a small percentage makes it worth it. The bigger yards are a bit harder, because they do see so much material come through and that extra buck or two is just not worth the time to them. If you can afford .25/lb-.30/lb i think you would get some better response. Some big yards we are paying .30/lb but are getting a couple tons a week.

I would glady pay 2.5 times shred price. Thats what I offered them too in my email. That would curently be 30 cents a pound at that yard. I would also glady take a couple tons a week :) Maybe I should go one day and set up on the street with a sign for a free soda and pass out cards and maybe catch them before they go into the yard or make contacts with the scrappers. One of my best contacts so far was a scrapper who responded to my CL add to buy computers. I buy about 20 a month from him.

Every time you go to the yard talk to the other scrappers as you are dropping of metal. Hand off your cards and let em know what you can give them. Best advertisement is word of mouth.

definitely have better luck at smaller yards. Some yards we pay a .25 per pound. Our regular yard we recycle at lets me take them after i empty out and i pay just the .12 tthey do. They dont get many and they know the rest is coming right back to them. Just ask. if no then ask a month later, maybe persistence will pay off.

Not sure if this should be in a separate thread, but it seems related: I was thinking of placing an ad on CL in the barter section. Basically, I would offer exchanging steel/shred scrap for computers. My volumes are low and I only collect computers and computer periphery so most of the steel/shred I get is from desktop chassis and the like. So I can't expect much in exchange. But then again, I don't have space or time to process a lot, so even getting half a dozen computers at once would be great. Plus it's not worth it for me to take the steel to a scrap yard myself so getting my backyard cleaned is another benefit.

Anyway, has anyone tried advertising such an arrangement? Did it work? How did you figure out a good "exchange rate"?

My yard started buying up computer scrap after handing out a couple handfuls of my cards, guess they wanted to get in on the act. Still buying from the trash company tho, on a monthly basis. No more than a dozen at a time. But you seen the shape they were in. Pretty bad shape after being drug out of the back of a trash truck.

I think alot of you will jeopardize your businesses by educating these scrap yards.

knowledge is key like e-wasted said keep it to yourself. Some stuff I let people know some stuff I keep to myself. Remember a scrap yard is in business to make money and scrappers come and go. If this was 10 years ago this forum would only have a 1/8 of the members it has now. Everyone wants to be a scrapper.

I think Ewasted is 100% correct on this. I would also apply that to other scrappers. I find myself constantly walking on eggshells when explaining to people what I do. Take a look at E scrap auctions on Ebay and see how many times the word "gold" shows up in all caps lock.

scrapyards have the resources (money and labor) and volume. Why train them?

PTS...what yard do you currently use if you don't mind me asking? Send me a PM and I can give you a few ideas.

As far as selling to the public...my yard doesn't have a license to sell to the public. Nor do I think they would ever pursue it. I think that it would open up a pandora's box. We would have people climbing all over the shred pile while our crane's are loading trucks. It would be an insurance nightmare!

Yesterday I found a $100 diesel cat in the shred pile. It was sitting right next to an old, short horse trailer. I got to looking at it and it had good tires on it. If I was in the business of cruising for scrap I would have took it and cut the top off and would have had a perfect scrapping trailer. If I kept everything cool that I found in our shred pile I would be sleeping on my front porch because my house would be filled with rusty gold!

to them its probably more about the liability of having someone picking thru all the trash piles and getting hurt and what not...

i talked a little about this in a pm earlier. i got called to the office at my yard yesterday wondering wth. i havnt ever met the yard manager yet in person just talked to him on the phone. anyway he gave me an adjustment from the brass i sold on monday and we talked about 30 minutes. he wants me to cut up the old propane bottles from forklifts that have the nozzles already out he said they were aluminum. we talked about computers and he said that they sign a waiver on the big loads saying they have to goto the shredder, believe me i tried to buy them from him. i got a couple hook ups though while i was there though and feel very good about our meeting

My wife responded to a CL add last friday for 2 sewing machines, i was sent to pick them up on saturday since she was busy, wound up they were at a scrap yard. They pull items that are worth something and list them on CL. After i paid for the sewing machines, i asked them if they ever got computers, and the guy said every once in a while, i asked what they did with them, he said they go in the pile and get compacted, i said i would pay 2x what they pay for them and they took my number. The yard is out of my way so i asked if they would set them aside for me and call when they get like 5 or 10, they said that would be great. Then the guy asked about the green boards out of them and i said that is what i was looking for and he said he had started pulling them at one time but didnt know what to do with them and had a pile of them in a shipping container, i said i would pay $1.00 a pound for them broken down like he had them, wound up with 88 lbs and they have my number when they get more whole units in. They are a very small yard, so I would say it is definately worth asking at a small yard but the larger yards are more about the turn-over.
The yard that i take all my stuff to doesnt sell anything, they had a pile setting next to the scales one day and i asked about buying them, the yard manager said if i needed something to use for myself he would work somethig out with be, when i said i wanted to buy them all whole he said he couldnt do that, said he is under contract with the chinese for them.

under contract with the chinese? It is illegal to export it to China... he is full of it.

its obvoius that he is selling it on down the line, to whom who knows. all i know is he wouldnt sell it to me.

I have talked with 2 diff.yards about buying some of there electric motors with the idea of selling the material back to them.You would of thought that i had asked them a very personal question.One yard said they have never been asked that before.Hard to believe.Long story short, no dice.

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Originally Posted by directrecycle

definitely have better luck at smaller yards. Some yards we pay a .25 per pound. Our regular yard we recycle at lets me take them after i empty out and i pay just the .12 tthey do. They dont get many and they know the rest is coming right back to them. Just ask. if no then ask a month later, maybe persistence will pay off.

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I attempted to do some barter on CL but didn't get any hits. I had 2 fridges that I put up on CL for trade for some busted computers. Never got a bite. I figure $5 per complete CPU. So 4 cpu's for the 2 fridges and some misc stuff.

Man, that's exactly what I was think'n! :cool: I'd go 2-3 bucks each though and tell em I'd give them 4 each in quantity and good (no missing parts) condition and only $1 each if they were miss'n stuff. Then again, I'm on a way too tight budget and scarey balancing act but $5 like you said, would pull peeps in, Quick! lol lb

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Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

I would glady pay 2.5 times shred price. Thats what I offered them too in my email. That would curently be 30 cents a pound at that yard. I would also glady take a couple tons a week :) Maybe I should go one day and set up on the street with a sign for a free soda and pass out cards and maybe catch them before they go into the yard or make contacts with the scrappers. One of my best contacts so far was a scrapper who responded to my CL add to buy computers. I buy about 20 a month from him.

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Boom! Right on the money there PTS. I LOVE the Free Soft Drinks sign idea to lure your prospects in buddy. Now That, is thinking! :) lb

You have the right idea. If they don't want to work with you just take away what customers you can. I'm up to 10 from my local yard where they offer $1lb for all high grade board and 1.5 times shred for complete towers. I pass out cards with my prices to fellow scrappers and boom!! New buisness.

All the yards I use will not take any electronics in the shred pile, if they see it they'll make you take it back with you.

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Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

I would glady pay 2.5 times shred price. Thats what I offered them too in my email. That would curently be 30 cents a pound at that yard. I would also glady take a couple tons a week :) Maybe I should go one day and set up on the street with a sign for a free soda and pass out cards and maybe catch them before they go into the yard or make contacts with the scrappers. One of my best contacts so far was a scrapper who responded to my CL add to buy computers. I buy about 20 a month from him.

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I run ads in the paper and flea markets help aswell.
Ad in paper usually states...... Why PAY office supply stores for recycling your electronic waste. I will pay you for it and in most cases pick it up. Then have some prices listed. Gets me quite a bit of scrap. Just dont mention names like Staples or Office Depot in the ad. LOL get ya in trouble.

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Originally Posted by Ewasted

scrapyards have the resources (money and labor) and volume. Why train them?

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There is a difference between training and outsourcing. If they are not going to sort and process it, then they should sell it to someone that does rather than shredding it. Dropping a business card and price sheet off is not educating in my opinion. Odds are if they are shredding the stuff they have already made up there mind its not worth it to sort/sell/process. Id rather see this material get processed properly than be filling up landfills and sitting in shredded piles out on the ground leaching into the ground. You offer to buy computers as is at a fair price im sure they will sell them to you.

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Originally Posted by LarryB

Man, that's exactly what I was think'n! :cool: I'd go 2-3 bucks each though and tell em I'd give them 4 each in quantity and good (no missing parts) condition and only $1 each if they were miss'n stuff. Then again, I'm on a way too tight budget and scarey balancing act but $5 like you said, would pull peeps in, Quick! lol lb

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At $5 each you would think so but ive been advertising heavily before christmas trying to get cash out there to people to help them out. But all im getting is people that only have 1 or 2 towers. If i could get a few of them lined up in the same part of town i would do the drive to go get them. The problem is its gonna take me a full day to go around town and pick up 10 computers, not worth it.

Just remember if you tell people you pay a lot more than shred they will wonder why and then do a little checking like we all have here because the forum is up and runnig and full of info and buyers you will only make more competion for yourself. I just tell people I resell the parts to people who need them and thats no lie. Its not good to educate people because they wont to make all the money.