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| Author | Ready to give up on vintage computing? (Read 21672 times) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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roystonlodge
4 MB  Posts: 6 
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on: March 24, 2008, 21:39
So, you've done all you can to squeeze every moment of usability out of your vintage computer, but you've reached the end of your rope. It kills you to do it, but you're finally buying something new (or at least newer). Or, like me, you're a technology packrat who refuses to throw out a perfectly usable computer, but don't know anyone curious enough to give your old hardware to so they can tinker with it. ZDNet.com has a story today about a company that will take virually any electronic hardware off your hands and even pay for the shipping. Not just computers, but cell phones and MP3 players and PDAs, etc. In return, you get a gift card for a major retailer like BestBuy or WalMart. The company then sells the equipment on places like eBay to hobbyists, either whole or broken down into component parts. Think there's enough of a market out there for revenue from the sold equipment to be greater than the cost of shipping and the cost of the gift cards, not to mention the salaries of all the people required to process the equipment? The article: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6235339.html?tag=nl.e550 The company: http://www.econewonline.com/ |
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Minimalist
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128 MB Posts: 186
Reply #1 on: March 25, 2008, 02:24
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Sounds like a great way to launder money.
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Lichen Software
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128 MB Posts: 252 
Reply #2 on: March 25, 2008, 11:54
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Quote from: "Minimalist" Sounds like a great way to launder money. LOL ... Maybe yes ... Maybe no There is a company here in Barrie that recycles elecctronics. They have a sophisticated set up that will go right down to the component level so that even if the good itself is not recycleable, the metals or the individual components within the article are. They seem to be making money with it.Apparently their set up is state of the art and patented. You are seeing the birth of a new mining industry where the strip mine is replaced by the refuse pile. These guys are trying to get in on the bottom floor with a brand new procurement network. Interesting to note that in Japan the same thing is done with houses. It is my understanding that they must be built of predesigned parts such that the house can be dis-assembled and the components reused. My daughter-in-law works for a German subsidiary. They have a policy that everything on their boards must be recycleable. Boards are pressure stamped with codes, no ink, so that nothing will interfere with the recycling. Not sure if this is a company thing or a German thing here. the point is that it is already going on at several levels. Materials procurement is just another step towards making it not only green but an efficient and profitable practice.
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Minimalist
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128 MB Posts: 186
Reply #3 on: March 26, 2008, 03:20
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We have a business here in town that accepts and recycles old electronics too. I don't imagine they'd be in business very long if they had to pay people to get their old junk though.
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CyberMonkey
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16 MB Posts: 28
Reply #4 on: July 08, 2008, 14:28
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I could only see this working if you were self employed and ran the business as a hobby.
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Lichen Software
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128 MB Posts: 252
Reply #5 on: July 08, 2008, 21:01
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Quote from: "CyberMonkey" I could only see this working if you were self employed and ran the business as a hobby. Not an easy business, but a business just the same. I just had the opportunity to visit an electronic recycling place, not the one in my earlier post. They are not that organized. Much of what they get is sold for scrap. computer boxes are stripped of all plastic and sold for steel. Circuit Boards are shredded and then the minerals mined from them. Monitors are still a problem. They charge a fee based on monitor size. Then they ship them out to a place that can recycle them. They have to pay for that. The difference between what they pay and what they get is the profit there. They are trying to set up an inventory to provide either older machines or parts or both. Anything that can be sold for more than scraqp is a bonus.
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