Why You Should Offer a PC Disposal Service

New computers are one of those things where the novelty wears off pretty fast. One day it’s their new high tech toy and in a few months it’s just another computer. In another 2-5 years, many people would have already bought a new one and suddenly that high tech toy from a few years ago is just taking up space and they would like to get rid of it.

In this article I will show you how Computer Technicians can capitalize on this by offering a free computer disposal service to your clients.

A few weeks ago I had a client’s computer (about 3 years old) in my workshop and discovered the motherboard was fried. So, I sourced an appropriate replacement motherboard and quoted them the price of the new motherboard, operating system repair, diagnostic and install time. They then asked me how much a new computer would cost and I said around $500 so they went with the new computer option.

I built the new computer and delivered it to the client but also bought their old computer with me. Once I had finished plugging in the new computer I asked “what would you like me to do with the old computer?” and they replied “Is it any use to you?”. I said “Some of it. I can dispose of it if you like”.

Reason why I said “some of it” was because even though the motherboard was fried, it has a working Pentium 4 2.8 CPU, 512mb of RAM and a DVD-ROM/CDRW.

As you can imagine, I was fairly happy to be given these parts but they were treating me as if I was doing them a big favor by taking it away for them. They were incredibly thankful. This computer isn’t the latest technology, but it’s still fairly decent computer.

This isn’t the first time I have been given decent parts either. In fact, a few years ago I was given a small 12 inch laptop (Dell Latitude L400) in perfect condition which is a P3 500, 256 Ram and has a 20gig hard drive. Its old technology but with a little tweaking I have made it run pretty well. Its small size and low value made it the perfect laptop to take with me on site. I still use it on jobs today.

Some of the technicians on the Technibble forums have also offered to take away old computers for their clients and when they got them to their workshop they found that the computers weren’t even that old and the only thing that was wrong with them was a faulty power cable or some badly seated RAM. I guess the attitude that many of these clients have is “our computer was broken so we bought a new one”.

Anyway, here is how to start a PC disposal service:

What can I do with these old computers? What are the benefits to me?
You can sell them on as second hand budget machines or you can donate them to needy families or charities. You can take it one step further and send a Press Release to your local paper about your good deeds. If you do manage to get in the media, the exposure is worth far more than you could have paid for.

If you offer a free pickup service, it sometimes turns into paid work when you tell them that you can transfer the data from their old computer to their new computer for a small fee.
If you donate the computer to a family afterwards, there is also the possibility of reoccurring work from those that you donated to. These families and groups can also send you a lot of referral work.

How can I start and how do I advertise it?
The easiest way to start is to simply mention your disposal service in your current advertising.

Some technicians on the Technibble forums are doing specific mail-outs advertising their service and selling it by mentioning the environmental impacts that the improper disposal of a computer can do.

In your own advertising, you can mention that computers contain dangerous chemicals such as arsenic, nickel, lithium, cadmium, chromium and mercury. Some of the plastics used in computers is PVC which is one of the most environmentally unfriendly plastics around.

To add insult to injury, there is around 5 pounds of lead in older monitors which ends up in landfill and can possibly contaminate ground water.

Some countries are recognizing that the improper disposal of electronic goods is becoming a problem and are bringing in regulations to make it illegal. This is especially true in Europe where they are really cracking down on it.

After I strip faulty computers for their good parts, wont I be left with the problem of getting rid of the rest of it?
Some companies like IBM, Dell, HP and Apple have implemented “take back” programs where you can send the computers to them once you are finished with them. This is largely due to strict regulations being created in Europe and other countries. In countries like Germany, the “Product Recycling and Waste Management Act” hold computer manufacturers responsible for the disposal of computers and their components. Therefore, manufacturers have included a small fee for recycling to the regular price of their products.

The above information should be more than enough to persuade your clients to dispose of their old computers through you. It’s better for the environment, the client gets rid of an old computer taking up space and you get some free parts and possibly PR if you donate them. Everybody wins.