Every stream on this site runs the same loop. Understanding it is most of understanding the business.
A single pickup almost never sorts into one bucket. A truckload out of a closing office holds machines worth refurbishing, machines worth parting out, furniture worth reselling and metal worth exactly its weight. The operator who sorts well makes money on all four. The operator who treats the whole load as scrap makes money on one.
The operator arranges the pickup, brings the truck and the labour, and documents what was removed. Terms, pricing and scheduling are entirely between the operator and the business handing material over. Some operators charge for a pickup, some take it free because the load is worth more than the hours. That is a business decision, and it is theirs.
Everything worth saving is tested, cleaned and repaired. Anything that stored data gets wiped, and the operator documents it — that documentation is often the reason a corporate account chooses one operator over another. Upgrades happen where the parts cost less than the lift in resale value.
Refurbished goods go to a retail floor, a marketplace listing, or a wholesale buyer. This is where most of the revenue in most streams comes from. Whether an operator also gives goods away — to a family, a classroom, a shelter — is entirely the operator's own choice and the operator's own arrangement.
What is genuinely finished is broken down to commodity and sold by the pound. It is the smallest line on the invoice and the one that keeps the yard clear.
All four steps belong to the operator, along with the truck, the yard, the licences and the customer. Our part sits alongside: we write up how the stream works, list the operators running it, and do the advertising that gets them found.