{"id":23,"asset_id":"692","title":"A Day In The Life Of An E-Waste Trader (Part 1)","alias":"icon-picker-for-icons","introtext":"<p class=\"g-lead\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.16px;\">It's a sunny spring morning, the scrap yard is bustling with sellers toting their wares for a penny a pound. When a smiling older man with shining grey hair drives in with a trailer in tow.<\/span><\/p>\r\n","fulltext":"\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.16px;\">Nestled in the back of the trailer, neatly concealed behind old rusted kettles and bicycle parts, like the booty from a pirates last crusade, lies a large cardboard box. Inside, the spoils of a year's worth of scrapping old VCR's, derelict computers, scavenged tablets, and cellphones galore. Meticulously cleaned, perfectly sorted, as if to note their precious value was that of pure gold panned from the Alaskan rivers.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">His grin broadens as he pulls the box out to be weighed and valued. The box is laden with golden cell phone motherboards and a few sticks of ram laid atop for effect.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">The expert is called from the sorting line to inspect the lot. A young boy comes from the large building behind the office, looks to the old man, who stands smiling, his gold tooth gleaming against the morning sun.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201cMorning,\u201d says the boy<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u2018A good morning to you as well young man,\u201d says the old man eccentrically.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201cWhat\u2019s in here?\u201d Asks the boy.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201c323 kilos\u201d Says the clerk at the weigh station.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201cOh these are all cell phone boards from the old push button type phones, some ram sticks, and I think a computer board in there somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201cAlright, we have to sort them and give you an estimate of what we pay.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">The man\u2019s smile dims ever so slightly, \u201cHow long with that take?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201c30 minutes maybe.\u201d responds the expert, as a forklift comes and takes the box away, \u201cyou\u2019re welcome to come in and have a coffee while you wait, you can watch the sorting.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">The old man and the boy enter the large sorting facility, an hour passes and 2 coffees later the boy comes from his office with a list in his hand.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201cHere\u2019s your list, we can give you three thousand for all the items.\u201d says the boy.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">Delighted, the man signs the paperwork, collects his spoils and leaves.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">Later that month, a truck leaves the scrapyard headed for the Collector. A massive facility with acres of the remnants of old computer parts, out of date electronic parts and piles upon piles of green fiber boards. The truck stops. There\u2019s a light rain in the yard. The old mans box is taken off the truck, dumped over a few pallets and a woman with a cell phone conveniently snaps 2 or 3 photos of the spread out contents.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">Back on the other side of town the scrap yard waits for an answer on final payment, the email arrives no more than fifteen minutes after the truck has unloaded. The procurement director calls the electronics expert into his office.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201cYes sir?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201cHave a seat Steve.\u201d says the director, \u201cwe have a bit of an issue. The truck that unloaded at Milton today, shows a list of e-waste valued at One Thousand Four Hundred Dollars, title 83899, which we show here we paid Three Thousand for. Not to mention 7 other bags that have come back lower than expected. Why's this happening Steve?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201cAhh, can I see that please?\u201d The boy asks.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">He takes the printed sheet from the director, on it, is a listing of items, categorized by quality, perfectly ordered and valued with an image of the material attached with each lot of goods.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">He looks bewildered, calculating in his head the 18 tons, browsing his memory thinking of the all the gold parts he remembered.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201cThis has to be wrong sir, how could they sort everything already, they have to be lying. I think we\u2019re getting screwed sir. The truck's only been there 20 minutes, there\u2019s no way they can sort 18 tons in 20 minutes. Besides, we made money on the other bags, so it's not a big deal.\u201d The young man interjects. There\u2019s a distinct sound of uncertainty in his voice.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201cSteven, the fact we didn't lose more money isn't the point. Why are we over pricing materials? Look at the order, the top of the sheet says ViewPasTM, Powered By Pfane Scientific. Do you know what that is?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\">\u201cNo sir, I\u2019ve never heard of it. Have you?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.16px;\">\u201cNo I haven\u2019t, go look it up, see if you can find it online, and make sure you change the pricing on e-waste for next month, we can\u2019t be over pricing this crap, and tell the guys in the shop to watch what they\u2019re sorting, if they don\u2019t know what something is they need to ask you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"g-lead\"><span style=\"font-size: 12.16px;\">\u201cYes sir\u201d Says Steven, closing the office door behind him. \"Ask me,\" he mutters, \"what do you think I am, a robot?\" - To be continued.<\/span><\/p>","state":1,"catid":"10","created":"2020-10-02 05:49:34","created_by":"88","created_by_alias":"RocketTheme","modified":"2020-10-20 13:27:13","modified_by":"88","checked_out":"88","checked_out_time":"2020-10-20 13:26:46","publish_up":"2020-10-02 05:49:34","publish_down":"0000-00-00 00:00:00","images":"{\"image_intro\":\"images\\\/rocketlauncher\\\/pages\\\/blog\\\/vp111.png\",\"float_intro\":\"\",\"image_intro_alt\":\"\",\"image_intro_caption\":\"\",\"image_fulltext\":\"images\\\/rocketlauncher\\\/pages\\\/blog\\\/vp111.png\",\"float_fulltext\":\"\",\"image_fulltext_alt\":\"\",\"image_fulltext_caption\":\"\"}","urls":"{\"urla\":false,\"urlatext\":\"\",\"targeta\":\"\",\"urlb\":false,\"urlbtext\":\"\",\"targetb\":\"\",\"urlc\":false,\"urlctext\":\"\",\"targetc\":\"\"}","attribs":"{\"article_layout\":\"\",\"show_title\":\"\",\"link_titles\":\"\",\"show_tags\":\"\",\"show_intro\":\"\",\"info_block_position\":\"\",\"info_block_show_title\":\"\",\"show_category\":\"\",\"link_category\":\"\",\"show_parent_category\":\"\",\"link_parent_category\":\"\",\"show_associations\":\"\",\"show_author\":\"\",\"link_author\":\"\",\"show_create_date\":\"\",\"show_modify_date\":\"\",\"show_publish_date\":\"\",\"show_item_navigation\":\"\",\"show_icons\":\"\",\"show_print_icon\":\"\",\"show_email_icon\":\"\",\"show_vote\":\"\",\"show_hits\":\"\",\"show_noauth\":\"\",\"urls_position\":\"\",\"alternative_readmore\":\"\",\"article_page_title\":\"\",\"show_publishing_options\":\"\",\"show_article_options\":\"\",\"show_urls_images_backend\":\"\",\"show_urls_images_frontend\":\"\"}","version":4,"ordering":"5","metakey":"","metadesc":"","access":"1","hits":"0","metadata":"{\"robots\":\"\",\"author\":\"\",\"rights\":\"\",\"xreference\":\"\"}","featured":"0","language":"*","xreference":"","note":""}