ATOT -- I need your help with a decision

[nick1985]

Background info:

I just graduated college with a BA in history and a BA in anthropology. Ive started to try and find a full time job, but ive always had a love for computers and working with old junk. Ive done a lot of thinking and heres what my little brain came up with.

I was thinking about trying to create a sort of computer recycling small business. A few years ago my county(im a part-time county employee) hosted an event where people would donate all spare electronics, computers included. Since I worked at the event, I could snag anything that caught my eye. I loaded up a car full of crap and made over $1000 like it was nothing. My thinking is that if I keep putting in newspaper adds, that computers and the like will keep trickling in. I did some math and I figured that if I sell between $100 and $120 worth of stuff a day, I would be making around 40k a year.

Any thoughts before I put an add in the paper? Im thinking of just doing it once to experiment with to see if its profitable before I try really expanding it and making it an official business.


Oh, I almost forgot. About 30 minutes away there is a place where you can turn in scrap computer parts (I believe for gold/silver recovering) for some cash. I thought that any computer parts that didnt work or would not sell I could haul over there for more profits.


I need some advice and opinions on this though, has anyone ever tried anything like this?


**EDIT**
My county assumed that since the event I described was in papers for weeks throughout the county, that they would possibly fill an 18-wheeler. By the end of the day, two 18 wheelers were full. People liked the opportunity to get rid of old crap, and its a tax write-off. My only concern is that business would die down after a month or two and I would stop getting computers.

 

[SWScorch]

It's worth a shot. Might turn into a nice little side business for some extra cash.

BTW, how's it going? I haven't seen you in a while, mostly because I've been without internet for about a month. How's the running going?

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: SWScorch

BTW, how's it going? I haven't seen you in a while, mostly because I've been without internet for about a month. How's the running going?

Ive been REALLY busy with college and track. Running is going good, since im out of college im not doing 80 miles a week anymore. But hey, Im still in shape

 

[AnandTech Moderator]

Originally posted by: nick1985
Background info:

I just graduated college with a BA in history and a BA in anthropology. Ive started to try and find a full time job, but ive always had a love for computers and working with old junk. Ive done a lot of thinking and heres what my little brain came up with.

I was thinking about trying to create a sort of computer recycling small business. A few years ago my county(im a part-time county employee) hosted an event where people would donate all spare electronics, computers included. Since I worked at the event, I could snag anything that caught my eye. I loaded up a car full of crap and made over $1000 like it was nothing. My thinking is that if I keep putting in newspaper adds, that computers and the like will keep trickling in. I did some math and I figured that if I sell between $100 and $120 worth of stuff a day, I would be making around 40k a year.

Any thoughts before I put an add in the paper? Im thinking of just doing it once to experiment with to see if its profitable before I try really expanding it and making it an official business.


Oh, I almost forgot. About 30 minutes away there is a place where you can turn in scrap computer parts (I believe for gold/silver recovering) for some cash. I thought that any computer parts that didnt work or would not sell I could haul over there for more profits.


I need some advice and opinions on this though, has anyone ever tried anything like this?


**EDIT**
My county assumed that since the event I described was in papers for weeks throughout the county, that they would possibly fill an 18-wheeler. By the end of the day, two 18 wheelers were full. People liked the opportunity to get rid of old crap, and its a tax write-off. My only concern is that business would die down after a month or two and I would stop getting computers.

So, basically you are publically admitting to stealing from the county? Which county was this?

 

[azazyel]

Originally posted by: AnandTech Moderator


So, basically you are publically admitting to stealing from the county? Which county was this?

GBTW County?

 

[nick1985]

I didnt steal anything. My county hosted the event and I was asked to work it, basically help unloading the crap out of cars. As a bonus, my superiors said that If there were some things that caught my eye I could go ahead and set them off to the side to keep. So I kept between 6-10 old computers. I should have said I had permission to take some things ><

 

[torpid]

Are you assuming the average would be $120 per day? Don't forget vacation or similar. Also, you have to account for "business" expenses including the additional tax you'd pay for self employment and the fact that you'd be paying out of pocket for all your various insurances. And you have to realize that your income would not be steady and as such you could not realistically budget yourself at $120/day because if ever a rough week occurred you might get into a hole of debt.

Those are all long term issues, though. It would be fun and interesting to experiment with it a bit.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: torpid
Are you assuming the average would be $120 per day? Don't forget vacation or similar. Also, you have to account for "business" expenses including the additional tax you'd pay for self employment and the fact that you'd be paying out of pocket for all your various insurances. And you have to realize that your income would not be steady and as such you could not realistically budget yourself at $120/day because if ever a rough week occurred you might get into a hole of debt.

Those are all long term issues, though. It would be fun and interesting to experiment with it a bit.

Yeah I thought about the whole insurance thing. Ive been looking into seeing how much health insurance would cost me if I went ahead with it. And yeah, $120 a day would be an average that I would try to shoot for. But from my experience, you would be suprised at what people throw away. Pentium 4 computers, decent laptops, all sorts of crap.

 

[MotionMan]

Originally posted by: nick1985
Oh, I almost forgot. About 30 minutes away there is a place where you can turn in scrap computer parts (I believe for gold/silver recovering) for some cash. I thought that any computer parts that didnt work or would not sell I could haul over there for more profits.

...My only concern is that business would die down after a month or two and I would stop getting computers.

I think your immediate problems are shipping costs for th unsellable items (cost of gas and wear and tear of driving 60 minutes (round trip) for each load).

Also, you may run into a lack of supply once people get rid of their old stuff. At the very least, I would think the business would be terribly cyclical.

MotionMan