darksky1x
Jr. Member
- Oct 21, 2017
- 32
- 33
- Detector(s) used
- Do not use, I specialize in e-scrap
- Primary Interest:
- Other
Here’s some info for you that may help you decide if you want to scrap Smart/cell phones or not: It takes 10,000 cell phones to make a ton, so it should take approximately 5 cell phones to equal a pound(+-)
There are 10 Troy Ounces of gold in a ton of smart phones. That’s approximately $15,800.00 worth of gold. That’s approximately $1.50(+-) worth of gold in each cell phone.
Boardsort.com currently pays $3.75 for a pound of intact cell phones with the batteries removed. At 5 phones per lb that works out to $0.75 cents per cell phone.
BUT WAIT, that figure does not take into account your shipping charges to get them to boardsort.com. So, what we need to do is figure what your “break even” point is using conventional shipping. First let’s try USPS options (all rates are using South Carolina as a ship from and Ohio as a ship to address)
1) USPS Flat rater envelope cost approximately $6.90 to ship, if you shipped 2 lbs of cell phones ($3.75 x 10 cell phones(2 lb) = $7.50 – $6.90) you would make a grand profit of $0.60 on the deal( that’s $0.06 profit per phone). You should however be able to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 cell phones in a flat rate envelope. So $3.75 x 4 lbs.(20 cell phones) = $15.00 – $6.90 = $8.10 profit or $0.405 profit per phone. Better than $0.06 per phone bur still not worth it.
2) Lets try a “Regional Box A” which has a max weight limit of 15 lbs.It should cost you around $10.00 to ship so, to break even you must ship more than 13 cell phones in a box. You should be able to get somewhere between 30 to 40 cell phones a box. For arguments sake lets say you get 35(7 lbs) in a box. So $3.75 x 7 lb = $26.25 – $10.00 = $16.25 profit or $0.464 profit per phone. That’s still not worth the effort!
Now, those numbers do not take into account your cost of the cell phones. if you pay $1.00 per phone you are out of business before you even get started.
Lets try one more option before we decide. Let’s figure shipping using FedEx ground. You should be able to ship a 20″ x 20″ x 6″ box from SC to OHIO for around $12.00. Best guess you should be able to get somewhere around 125 to 175 (maybe more) cell phones in a box that size. For arguments sake lets say you get 170 phones in that size box. So, $3.75 x 30 lbs.(170 cell phones) = $120.00 – $12.00 = $108.00 profit or $0.635 per phone profit if the phones are free.
Again.if you pay $1.00 per phone you’re out of business before you even get started.
IMHO, even with free shipping @ $3.75 per pound there still is not enough money in intact cell phones. However, you can get $9.00 per pound for cell phone boards without their cases. I don’t know how many boards it takes to equal a pound but if you take a few boards and weigh them you should be able to come up with a working figure and you can do the math again using that number to see if there’s enough profit in them or not.
Hope this helps you figure things out
There are 10 Troy Ounces of gold in a ton of smart phones. That’s approximately $15,800.00 worth of gold. That’s approximately $1.50(+-) worth of gold in each cell phone.
Boardsort.com currently pays $3.75 for a pound of intact cell phones with the batteries removed. At 5 phones per lb that works out to $0.75 cents per cell phone.
BUT WAIT, that figure does not take into account your shipping charges to get them to boardsort.com. So, what we need to do is figure what your “break even” point is using conventional shipping. First let’s try USPS options (all rates are using South Carolina as a ship from and Ohio as a ship to address)
1) USPS Flat rater envelope cost approximately $6.90 to ship, if you shipped 2 lbs of cell phones ($3.75 x 10 cell phones(2 lb) = $7.50 – $6.90) you would make a grand profit of $0.60 on the deal( that’s $0.06 profit per phone). You should however be able to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 cell phones in a flat rate envelope. So $3.75 x 4 lbs.(20 cell phones) = $15.00 – $6.90 = $8.10 profit or $0.405 profit per phone. Better than $0.06 per phone bur still not worth it.
2) Lets try a “Regional Box A” which has a max weight limit of 15 lbs.It should cost you around $10.00 to ship so, to break even you must ship more than 13 cell phones in a box. You should be able to get somewhere between 30 to 40 cell phones a box. For arguments sake lets say you get 35(7 lbs) in a box. So $3.75 x 7 lb = $26.25 – $10.00 = $16.25 profit or $0.464 profit per phone. That’s still not worth the effort!
Now, those numbers do not take into account your cost of the cell phones. if you pay $1.00 per phone you are out of business before you even get started.
Lets try one more option before we decide. Let’s figure shipping using FedEx ground. You should be able to ship a 20″ x 20″ x 6″ box from SC to OHIO for around $12.00. Best guess you should be able to get somewhere around 125 to 175 (maybe more) cell phones in a box that size. For arguments sake lets say you get 170 phones in that size box. So, $3.75 x 30 lbs.(170 cell phones) = $120.00 – $12.00 = $108.00 profit or $0.635 per phone profit if the phones are free.
Again.if you pay $1.00 per phone you’re out of business before you even get started.
IMHO, even with free shipping @ $3.75 per pound there still is not enough money in intact cell phones. However, you can get $9.00 per pound for cell phone boards without their cases. I don’t know how many boards it takes to equal a pound but if you take a few boards and weigh them you should be able to come up with a working figure and you can do the math again using that number to see if there’s enough profit in them or not.
Hope this helps you figure things out
