>We are thinking of making a video tape about evaluating scrap and another
>about loading containers. Anyone interested?
Sure, I even have a title: Mondo Cane II: computers
http://www.click-here-now.com/videostv/mondocane.htm for reference. <icon
for weird humor> This is one sick flick, worse all is true. Great for
starting a diet or switching to vegetarianism.
I am VERY curious, as I think many of us are in the position of working
with, bidding against, etc. scrappers, and collectively they have to be
among the shrewdest buggers on the planet. Delighted to sell us items at
hundreds of times their cost, and dozens of times their usual profits.
Ironically I think most would rather do business with us as knowledgable
people even if it meant lower profits. Perhaps because it would make the
transactions much faster and more reliable, or more likely if we understand
them, maybe we will tip them to some good deals. The latter is worth more
than most of us would ever buy directly.
Specifics I am curious about.
Prices I mentioned were a sloppy mix of what some of the local scrappers
will pay for items, not at all what they get for them. Many scrap places
buy and sell to other places higher or lower on the food chain too, with
perhaps a good three layers of wholesale above the actuall metal shredders.
I am mixed at the price he is getting for 486/33 and up, on one hand thats
a lot ($10), but in practice it is fairly rare to get complete systems
working or not. Ram, cpu, and hard drives are stolen/removed by employees
before the stuff gets scrapped. Part of what I see as difference in price
though I suspect is again, buy vs sell prices, he may get $10, but only pay
$5 or less. A working 486/66 has a wholesale value someplace close to $15
right now, depending on the details and market.
What about PS/2 systems?
My salvage guy is sitting at $3 each as-is on the pallet (maybe 100+ units)
from 386 to 486 of mixed content (many I hope to find reasonably complete).
I have about zero interest in the 386 and below (except for a few with
kingston 486 upgrade chips), but would like to harvest the ram etc. out of
the others leaving him motherboards and chassis. My guess is that he is
giving me baloney and that his "buyer" at $3 each doesn't in fact want the
PS/2 pallets at all, just the compaq and HP vectra. Opinion?
Have any of you contacted some of the scrap or recycling organizations
(trade groups etc.)? There has to be some "computer scrapper weekly" too.
Received on Tue Dec 07 1999 - 03:42:22 GMT