Who Do The Big Fish Sell Their Stuff To?

Why do folks find it surprising that there are no E-Scrap buyers out here in mid-western Pennsylvania? I live in the middle of the proverbial sticks !

I actually do more than rip stuff apart for YouTube ... electronics scraping is my part-time job when I am not working ...
The problem now, as when I started, is the very high cost of shipping. The small buyers can not pay enough to cover shipping costs.
I have quotes from 14 different trucking companies ... They range from $3.40 to $4.10 per mile ( + transport fees ) ... which is a far cheaper than the $1.20/lb +- I am currently being charged by UPS, FedEx, and USPS . [*1] [*2]
I currently have roughly 800 lbs of hard drives sitting around. Small buyers don't pay enough to cover shipping + the gaylord [*3], and I can not find a trustworthy refiner (yet) that I can ship them to ...
I can not ship low & mid grade boards, again because of price vs shipping.
My break even point is $0.59/lb shipping bulk and $1.60/lb in small quantities [*4].




*1 - my rate would go down to roughly $2.80 a mile if I would ship once a month
*2 - shipping LTL is slightly cheaper, but not by much
*3 - buying in bulk, a gaylord and plastic pallet cost $65 ( including shipping costs )
*4 - small quantity = 1 ton or less