Old hardware storage

Is the company looking to clear out old equipment that is no longer useful and is costing them to store, or are they looking to sell off assets?

If the first, I would recommend an open house for employees first. Put everything on tables with numbers next to them and do a silent bid or just give it away. You get a lot of good will out of this. Just limit how much anyone can take until everyone has had a chance.

Donate to a local charity and get a tax write-off.

Search the web,and you can find technical schools and universities in other less well-financed countries who will many times be willing to pay for the shipping and tax clearances (since you are giving them away, the taxable value to them is basically zero).

Many students in these countries only learn technical subjects from books because their schools can not afford equipment - they will take anything,and sometimes your company can get a tax break (maybe? - not sure).

Anyway, you will be doing good, and recycling inthe best way.

Dear Deanr156,
there are thousands of university students in africa that would gladly take off your outdated equpment for use and experimenting and building test rigs, or just sharing the internet.
You can donate to the universities directly

I sell most aged PC's by offering employees (users) first right of refusal as and when the PC's are replaced with new machines. A token amount (around $100/-) for depreciated H/W. Network H/W is dumped and usually have to pay for disposal. Have tried passing it on to charity organisations / schools etc., (no-one wants this stuff.) I do regret not keeping one of each equipment model for display / education or training purposes. Technology really has come a long way in the past 15 years or so.
Ted.

This is rather simple - offer them for free to organisations that are in no position to buy them. If you want to receive something in exchange - well, that is somewhat more difficult.
I can imagine that there are hundreds (at least) of small organisations and just guys out there who would love to have something like that, but they cannot afford buying things they still can do without.

Just what thousands of people would like is something to work with.
Give it away to a club where children can do something with it, or o country where the need is big and money so less.
Wish you luck
A.Deira

Just what thousands of people would like is something to work with.
Give it away to a club where children can do something with it, or o country where the need is big and money so less.
Wish you luck
A.Deira

email me a list of equipment yoiu have available to sell and I'll put you in touch with the people that can tell you what it is worth.

dbettinger@cxtec.com

donate it to poor schools and univrsity...where they can save funds in this equipments.

Consider donating it to a college in Africa. I setup a networked computer lab using Pentium 100's in 2002 and it has trained over 1000 students sucessfully in using computers since that time. Older laptops are also useful in Africa since they eliminate the need for a monitor, and their power supplies convert automaically to 240 V, 50 Hz power, and are easily powered by solar cells.

I know some organizations that help underprivilage kids in India. Maybe they could make use of this.
What were you hoping to do? If you don't have use,
best is to get rid of it quickly ebay or other means. Depends on where you live, real estate cost may be too high to store away something that you will never use.

A local Community College or tech school may be able to use the equipment for training. They may even pick it up at your location. You could also see if a charitable organization needs the equipment and get an estimated value for tax purposes. It is admirable to try to donate it to a lesser developed country, but there will surely be some logistics involved and the boss probably does not want the donation to cost the company anything.

I'm in the process of trying to obtain computer, computer parts, such as what you mentioned, for our church. Many nonprofit organizations are always in need of building on their technology. I'm sure out church would love to have what you have to offer.

Digital Opportunities sets up internet cafes / community computer centers in developing nations (using thin-client technology) and will take old P2, and P3 computers, cables, routers plus other networking "junk" and monitors etc providing they are in working order and give you a 501c3 tax receipt for them.
http://www.digitalopportunities.biz or email digitalopportunities@gmail.com

Feel free to contact me: smetzler@capasset.com or visit our website www.capasset.com.

Stu Metzler

here in north Wales UK we have a recycling group and I get all my cat 5 cables from them, a fiver for a plastic bags worth. True many have been painted various colours, but cleap plastic ducting solves that problem. The "old useless PCs" are just ideal for running SuSe Linux 10.1 and the older ones run DSL /Puppy/ Cymrux very fast.
Ethernet 10/100 cards sell at ?5 per pair make any PC with a PCI slot networkable. Many small businesses and Charities and local groups can easily use these fit 4 the skip PCs.
I use a battery of scap Epson color stylus 600s for doing posters and stuff for local groups.
These work in disgusting condition with a drop of 3 in One oil on the sliders.
Advantage FREE hardware, consumables,( non approved of course but who gives a damn!)
Black ?2, colour ?4, run by "fit 4 skip" PC any Pentium MMx running linux with a ?2.50 network card and scrap cat 5 cable. A 486 running DSL linux with a 120 MEG HD would also do it. Thats a "fit 4 landfill PC"
Yes there is a use for scrap IT bits but first use any of the free HD secure wipers to fubar any data on them.
OLd hubs and routers are very useful for such work, and if its free its for me!
Old keyboards and mice are usually still OK for years. I have an old IBM one that dates from 1991 and it is still working, they made them a lot better then.

hi,
I guess your company can sell them off at ebay. if they are ready to sell let me know the PIXFIREWALL(501), router 2500, 2600 and 1900 switch interest me. please write me with search_knowledge@yahoo.com
Thanks.
'Timi.

well this is going to seem a bit odd. But what you should do is recycle them, not in a manner of what you think but as scap metal. the copper wire from cables, keyboards and power supplies, ide cables can be sold as dirty copper at scap dealers and get money back for it. now tin is not worth alot but with more tin from racks and pc cases it will add up. just make sure and separate them into piles. now hard drives have both stainless steel and aluminium in them which pays well.

Donate it to Good Will.
write it off as a donation on taxs.
From onebrotherjohn@yahoo.com

I recomend you check out www.GreenTechAssets.com.

The biggest concern about retired assets is the risk and liability your company takes on regarding their proper disposal. Not only does GTA handle disposal with a zero-landfill program, they also transfer ownership and liability right at your site so that if the stuff spills on the highway and causes a major problem - it's not your problem. Sell stuff on ebay and if it ends up in a landfill - your company might be liable for the cleanup. GTA is a risk-management company that deals in retired electronic assets. Check them out.

Many cities have a local organization that will accept most any equipment (except monitors, you still usually have to pay for these due to disposal costs.) Do some checking, these organizations, from your local Lions club, to larger worldwide organizations, collect, catalog, repair, and distribute old hardware/software to inter-city children, schools, colleges, third-world countries, etc. It can usually be considered a tax write-off, and does some good in the process. We dispose of all our equipment that way, saving a bundle in trash fees, getting tax credit, helping the environment, and helping the unfortunate. Not many companies could object to this approach from either a PR or Financial standpoint.

I used to do volunteer work at a local computer recycling center. What they do is check everything out and determine if it can be sold, if its useful or recycled properly. They also do a lot of donations to charities and schools.
So, it mey be worth a look first.

The City I work for prohibits us from either donating or accepting used equipment by charter, however we do get calls often from non-profits (Boys & Girls clubs, shelters, etc) who are looking for both the equipment and/or the people to donate time to set it up...

After having no success in finding willing recipients of our retired hardware, I decided to donate it to a recycling center.

The one that I used is ARC International, http://www.arcic.com/. They took everything that I had on hand, even old copiers and PBX equipment. although they cross their hearts and promise to wipe all data, I removed the hard drives from every maching that we donated. I'd rather store 200 old hard drives than 2,500 pounds of old junk, any day.

PS. They accepted my old monitors, too. All at no charge. I'll call them again once I clear out a few more closets.

I recently asked that small question... I found a few local schools (one is a program for "high risk" kids) that uses old office equipment and computers to "teach" kids how to fix and work with various computer components. Not only does it get rid of your old equipment, but is a tax deduction for the company AND gives skills to kids who may have not had the opportunities before these types of programs. :)

Donate and get tax writeoff

Tell everyone in your company if they apply and attend classes to improve their computer skills, that THEIR company will give them, for their personal use, the hardware and software to advance their skills upon completion. And set up the company paid classes for them to attend that does not interfere with their daily work schedules. You get a better skilled and productive employee's, and they get better incentives to advance within the company due to their skill level increase.

We had a hell of a time just getting building managment to let us use someone to come get the crap. It was 6 weeks of circular logic, them telling us we have to take it out ourselves, but we can't throw out anything bigger than a small garbage can, etc etc...

Here's what we did.. (picture) Took a few loads, but we got it all out of there :)

http://tinyurl.com/kydxy

Just this morning on freecycle, a lady was looking for components to update her obsolete equipment enough that her daughter could print out her homework and use it for a learning exercise that required audio--neither of which her present setup could do.

My husband and I minister in a mission church to a disadvantaged community. There are so many resources that we could use if only the people had computers, but only a small handful--maybe 2 or 3--out of the group have computers because they can't afford it. This is in the good ole US.

I gotta say I was a little surprised and the number of responses. :) Thanks everyone. I guess in my original post I should have mentioned our ofices are in Canada, so some of those export laws may not apply here (or just may be a little different). I think in all likelyhood I'm going to recommend we ship off te keyboards, mice, hubs and routers off to some needy countries, auction off the servers to staff and probably ebay the racks.

Thanks again everyone for your feedback

Aloha, Dean:

I had the same problem 14 years ago when a friend went out of business & left me with 34 computers. But I didn't store them - I started the Hawaii Computers for Kids Program .

We currently coordinate the annual recycling of 8-10,000 computers to schools & non-profits state-wide. It takes an hour or two for me each day, but the PR & goodwill have been incredible. The schools always give my company preference for hardware sales & consulting services, the governor & mayor know my name, & a lot less electronic waste goes into our landfill.

Let me know if you want more details on how to get started.

Ken

Hewlett Packard has a recycling program for all brands of computers, printers, and rechargeable batteries. Here is the link.

www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/environment/recycle/index.html

Here is another place to look for recycling programs. This site is a collection of recycling programs throughout the United States.

www.earth911.org

Naturally you can talk to charities to see if they need old computers. I know of one charity that has a lot of old computers but nobody to set them up. They don't need hardware; they need expertise.

In todays educational environment where schools have to resort to bake sales and fund raisers just to pay for feild trips or a PE teacher, any donation is a great idea. Network materials that might be old to you would be a great value to a school that has nothing.

It's great to be able to recycle parts and give them a new life elsewhere, but watch what happens to your data!

We've recently had a TV programme here in the UK highlighting the problems with old data on drives being sold to the general public in places like Nigeria and India, where 2nd user PC's are a booming trade. Apparently 500 containers a MONTH, packed with PC equipment, end up in Nigeria. The TV reporter showed how easy it was to retreive bank account numbers from drives, as well as a lot of other personal data. He went on to show how he bought them for about ?15/$25, and then handed them back over to their very surprised and angry ex-owners.

Find within your community a charity that can use your old items and donate them there. If not local find a place within a 100 mile radius that you can donate them to so as they are not put into the waste sites. You just might beable to get a TAX write off.

I rebuild a lot of outdated school computers and then give them to our local family help center. That way they can sell them to raise money for the needy.They have even offered an itemized list to use as a tax deduction.

Give it to the needy of the united states, I can give you reference to plenty of charitable organizations in Kentucky Tennessee, and Virginia.

Depending on the size of your organization, there is a US Federal Regulation which can fine corporations if their computer/network equipment is found in a landfill; unless they used a certified recycler. (Who charges for the priviledge of recycling/reselling your old crap!)

sux

Working in a State Organization, we are required to Surplus CPUs which means they are taken away and disposed of. As for keyboards, mouses, and even old deskjet printers. . . I take them straight out to the dumpster. We just don't have the resources to deal with donating them and they pile up faster than you would believe.

Here in Chicago it is illegal to dump them in a landfill and most of what we have to dispose of is of no use to anyone anymore so we recycle them. There are 2 centers we use. Our main one is Intercon Solutions which is a national company that has a depot at their headquarters in the suburbs and a smaller general recycling company that accepts electronic recycling in the city. Both charge a nominal fee ($5/ computer or monitor) that includes wires, mice, and keyboards. It's quick and Intercon gives a certificate thast nothing ends up in a landfill so we have no liability.

[i]The schools (which we work closely with) do not want to take our junk, trust me.[/i]

If the local schools are so well-heeled that they can turn up their noses at computer donations, well, sock it to the taxpayers. Are there [i]no[/i] nonprofits or community groups within a reasonable radius of you that would be happy for donations, either to use themselves or to pass on to poor people? As I mentioned before, you may even be able to get the old stuff removed and hauled away by a computer club gratis.

[i]I put a 2002 era PC on there network for one of our employees that would be working there to use & they called me and told me they would just provide her with a new one[/i]

Wow. Most people would consider a 4 year old machine practically brand new. Are you using such advanced applications that such machines are too underpowered? Sorry, I grew up a Yankee and some degree of thrift was burned into me.

[i]and what kind of "Computer Club" do you suggest I get to handle the donations?[/i]

Around here, LUGs (Linux User Groups) provide a public service for nonprofits by setting up computer labs and such at the Boys/Girls Clubs and the like. Linux is happy to run on machines which are considered too pokey for the Latest & Greatest Windows bloatware. Schools are happy to get decent computer labs -- running Linux. LUG members even take free machines home and adopt them. Some set up their own Web servers or even build masssively parallel minisupercomputer clusters. Look on the Web for Linux User Groups in your area. Contact them and see if they'd be interested in hauling off your old "junk".

[i]Why would I give a printer that cost $100 and has well exceeded its capacity to a nonprofit, and pass our problems on to them?[/i]

What's the problem? If it's DOA, that's one thing, but if it works for even a little while, when it breaks and it's not a trivial fix, they throw the thing away. At least they saved having to buy a new one for a while, and maybe they can obtain another used one. Nonprofits are always begging for money so they can get the things they need, and just don't have the scratch for "luxuries" like computers. Or are they so flush with cash in your neck of the woods that they can't stand the thought of hand-me-downs?