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Can I scale these?

Razdaz87

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Hey guys,
I had a couple other ideas for possible Fastlane careers. I wanted to get your opinions on the potential scale upside of them. First, the area in which I live has no electronic recycling pick up services. I would basically charge (per item) to pick up unwanted electronics (TVs, cell phones, laptops, iPods, tablets, etc..) and take them to the nearest electronic recyclables location. If I marketed it right, do you think the scale could eventually reach out into other areas (states, cities)?

Second, I could start my own copy writing business. Businesses are always in demand for copywriters and if I could start my own business and expand, I think this could be a great Fastlane opportunity. Let me know what you think. Thanks
 
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sle3pyguii

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I was under the impression that most things could be scaled nowadays.
 

Razdaz87

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I'm talking about how wide I could scale them.
 

Emanuel

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I don't think your first idea has too much potential. Most people throw their electronics in the garbage even if they're not supposed to. How much could you possibly charge someone to pick up their old cell phone and recycle it for them? If it's more than a couple of dollars, very few would pay.

The second idea sounds better to me, but only if you're really good at copy writing or know someone who is and who wants to start the business with you.
 
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Razdaz87

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I was under the impression most people let their old electronics store up in their basement and garage, not blindly throw them in the garbage, which is harmful to the environment.
 

sle3pyguii

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I'm talking about how wide I could scale them.

Wide? Not sure I'm following. Are you talking about how much of the market you can potentially capture? There should be figures online where you can find your market size online.

In any case, for the recycling there are some online electronics recycling site that you can probably replicate that don't require you to do any physical pickups. If you do want to do physical pickups, you can probably just modify those. I believe one of the biggest sites is worth over a few million...
 

ExecutionisKing

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It would save people time and labor.

Like Emanuel said, it's not a question of whether you can save people time, it's whether or not saving them time makes you enough money to be worth your time...

From what I see (and read) flip phones have died in popularity overall. Those used to be recycled, only because it wasn't worth anyone's time to sell or fix them. With the value of smartphones and nearly all modern electronics, I see many people put their phones on Craigslist or Ebay, since even a 3 year old iphone could be worth $75.

Even for broken smartphones, there are so many places and options for repair for the average consumer. So I think it would be hard to not just break into the market, but to actually be profitable, at least if you planned to scale this across a large area.

Now if there are no shops like this near you, what would be your total cost to get from a customer, to a resale shop, on average? What kind of profits would you expect to make per item?
For scale, you would eventually reach areas that would house your competition. How could you differentiate yourself? Quick pick-up, at the customer's sacrifice of top dollar?

I think the margins would be too slim with your overhead (vehicles running around a given city, employees, expenses, etc). Also, if you were to resell on ebay, fees on resale would cut your profit even thinner.
Craigslist doesn't charge a fee, and I do plenty of flipping, but I think you'd have to get AMAZING deals on a phone/tv/laptop to not only constantly resell everything for profit, but take on overhead and essentially ASSUME that you could continually replicate this.

Where are you located? I'm wondering if you're in a small enough city to make it work initially, but also a small-enough city where it wouldn't be sustainable over time...
 

Razdaz87

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Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure if this would make a difference but I'm not looking to go to a customer, pick up their electronics and go to a resale outlet. I wanted to focus more on businesses, picking up unwanted computers, monitors, etc.. and taking them to an electronic recycling center. I would charge a price specific to the item, (e.g. $10 for a computer monitor) and a travel fee. I live in a small enough city in New Jersey (about 25,000 people).
 

Torrey

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Heres the thing. Many people dont care where their electronics go. It doesnt surprise me when i see a computer monitor or a tv in the dumpster- if someone wants to get rid of something, what stops them from throwing away their electronics in the local dumpster, or listing them for free pickup on craigslist? Why would they pay to get rid of them? Theres no incentive when they can get rid of them for free. No incentive means little to no need. Now if YOU paid them for their electronics, scaled it to where you could profit from recycling, repairing, and selling those electronics, thatd be different. But thats if you can find a profit margin in doing so.
 

~Phil

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What if you partner with your local trash/recycling provider and did this service free for them? You would be offering value to them, picking up electronics which shouldn't be sent to the dump anyway. Their customers can feel good about proper disposal of electronics. You get access to all of their clients overnight!
 

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