Special thanks to Volkswagen Canada for choosing to work with CellCycle.ca to recycle their old cell phones as part of their fundraising initiative for Heart & Stroke Foundation Canada.

When they decided to change cellular service providers, the good people at Volkswagen Canada took the time to research options for recycling their cell phones that would also benefit charity and found that CellCycle.ca fit the bill.

Thanks to their generosity and sense of environmental responsibility, over 70 cell phones have been diverted from desk drawers and landfills while also helping a great cause.

Thank you Volkswagen Canada!

If you’ve ever had to make a long distance call on your cell phone you know how shocking the bill can be when it comes in.  Local time on my plan for instance costs $0.40 cents per minute for local calls if I go over my limit.  Adding a feature like unlimited incoming minutes can soften the blow but once you dial a number outside of your local calling area, watch out.  For instance, my plan charges me an additional $0.40 for each long distance minute and there really aren’t any deals if you prepay for long distance minutes.

A further complication is  that when you are outside of your local calling area you are billed for long distance incoming calls so even if you have unlimited incoming minutes the meter is still running.

The thought of recycling my cell phone and living without has occurred to me on several ocassions…

The options to save used to only include using calling cards or going to a local pay phone (which are becoming fewer and farther between, not to mention the “ick” factor).

Yesterday I had to make a call to Texas and wasn’t thrilled about using my home line for privacy reasons.  I also use the cell phone exclusively for our family business which makes accounting easier.  I investigated the options and found that Skype is now offering a neat service that you can use to make outbound long distance calls for about $0.02 per minute within Canada and the USA.  You just have to dial a specially assigned number first, then enter the long distance number you want to call.

If you have a list of people you call on a regular basis you can also preprogram their numbers so dialing them is a cinch.

I deposited the minimum amount I had to in order to test out the service and was amazed by the clear sound quality and ease of use.  I was also very happy with the fact that it only cost me $0.04 – FOUR CENTS – for the call instead of the $1.60 it would have cost.

The only irritation I have with the service at this point is that you need a local access number for the particular location you are in to avoid paying exorbitant long distance charges from your cell phone.   I would be willing, and I suspect others would be too, to pay a small premium to have a toll free access number to dial from anywhere. 

At least until Skype brings local “Skype In” numbers to Canada…. or Google Voice services are launched here.

With a growing network of over 100 private and charity collectors, CellCycle.ca is not slowing down!

In the tough economic climate we’re faced with today many organizations are looking for new ways to raise needed funds – and adding a new revenue stream through recycling fits the bill.

Whether you are in charge of fundraising for your cause or are looking to raise cash for a great cause you are passionate about, you owe it to yourself to check out what we have to offer.

Learn more here.

For the past 36 months my family and I have been Bell Mobility customers paying our bills faithfully and on time.  Our accounts are current and it’s time to renew.  We spend a minimum of $120 a month for a family plan of 3 subscribers.

Like any self respecting value conscious price shopper, I began looking around for the best deal.  Now that I can take my cell phone number to any carrier, we’re not particularly interested in one company over another.  As long as the deal is good, we’ll go for the best value. Hype about who’s network is best is just hype to us, we just want to communicate for the best price.

Having studied marketing at college in the past, I am well aware that traditional wisdom says that the cost of acquiring a customer is higher than retaining one.  I’m very surprised that the high paid executives at Bell have ignored this tenet.

Bell and other carriers offer handset upgrade credits at the end of every contract which is where my issue lies.  Ma Bell has offered us $200 to upgrade each of our 3 handsets if we commit to another 3 year deal.  That’s not bad, certainly better than a kick in the pants.

Upon closer investigation though, the deal is no deal at all.

As new customers, we would be rewarded for our business with a reasonable credit for a new handset.  Our price for buying a new iPhone 3Gs 16 GB model would be $99 for the handset if we were new customers.  As existing loyal customers, however, we would have to pay $399.95 on a 3 year deal for the same phone – FOUR times the price!

As someone involved in the industry, I am aware that Bell would recoup the $200 handset subsidy they are offering us within 4 months.  Even if they offered us the full $600 subsidy, they would recover the subsidy in 12 months.

As existing customers we also do not qualify for sign up bonuses like free local calling for 3 months or a bag of candy or anything else.

Given the lack of incentive to remain faithful customers I’m gonna do what my momma told me and shop around.

Maybe you should too.

** UPDATE **

I called in to cancel our three phones and it turns out that if I sign another 3 year term I can get an iPhone 3Gs 32GB model for $149 instead of the price advertised online.  Of course, it only took 1 hour on the phone with the representative attempting to get me to sign on for another 3 years for the other phones before that deal was offered.  I understand the concept of upselling and cross-selling but this was beyond ridiculous.

After repeating that we no longer had a need for the three phones the rep offered to convert the existing 3 year old phones into prepaid ones – for a small fee of $50 each! It’s no wonder there is so much waste when anyone can go into their local Zellers or Wal Mart and pick up a new prepaid phone from any carrier for as little as $40 sometimes – with some airtime credits too.| The major carriers don’t seem to want to admit it but what they are selling now is like margarine and butter – some people swear that one tastes better than the other but to most of us when it comes down to it we can live with one or the other.  *shrug*

After standing my ground I was asked to try and find someone else to take over the ending plans since they were working phones and I thought to myself “Isn’t that your job?”

I eventually caved and agreed to renew the main line of the contract for 3 years on the provision that they give me the full upgrade credit towards the iPhone 3Gs 32GB model.  They agreed and “gave” me an OK plan which will add up to triple the value of the phone.

In the end though the joke is on me – after shopping around all afternoon Saturday I learned that the 3Gs 32GB model is sold out everywhere.  Guess I’ll be using my recycled phone a while longer… not that  there’s anything wrong with that

I don’t know where the saying comes from but it’s pretty morbid – “There are many ways to skin a cat.”

Well, there are many ways as well to recycle your cell phone.

You can give it to us or any one of hundreds of services online.  Like those other services, we do the work to determine if the phone can be reused again. You can also take up a larger collection of cell phones and we will offer payment based on the resale value of the phone and the amount of time & expense it takes us to make the phone functional.

On the other hand, you might have a cell phone that is working perfectly and is worth more than a few bucks – namely newer model iPhones and Blackberry smartphones. Giving something away that is worth $200 or more can be a hard pill to swallow which is why the phones we typically recover are usually over 3 years old.

There are options out there that can help you recover value for your old phone.

The first option is to sell your sell phone to a “cash for cell” type service.  A quick review of the service options out there reveals that you’ll get between 10% and 80% of the phone’s value.  Not bad but there are so many weasel words in the fine print of these services that allow them to reduce the payout to nothing if your phone is scuffed or scratched.

The second option is to list your phone on eBay.  Believe it or not between March 23 and April 5, 2010 there were more than 81,000 listings of used cell phones on eBay according to terapeak.com.  Only 33% of those listings resulted in a sale – but eBay charged its listing fees for each post whether successful or not.  Since the auction giant charges a sliding scale for what they term as insertion fees based on the initial ask price of your item, this is a significant expense for each person who is not successful in selling their item.

Newspaper classifieds, Kijiji, and Craigslist are also options when it comes time to sell your phone.  The problem here, however, is that we all have a natural tendency to offer less than the ask price when it comes to buying through classifieds.  There is also a potential safety risk here as you are required to either reveal your location or meet the buyer in person -  and there are many scary stories you can find online.  Lets not forget also that newspapers need to cover their costs of printing so a classified ad is not necessarily going to be free, in fact in my city of Barrie the least expensive classified ad costs about $30 for 1 day!

Given these challenges it’s no wonder that so few of the estimated 30,000 cell phones that are deactivated daily in Canada ever find their way out of drawers.

So I decided to do something about that.

Since my family & I simply don’t have the cash to offer payment to each person who has a high value phone for recycling we launched a new web service where you can offer your cell phone for sale on either auction or for a fixed price.  The best part about it is that there are no listing fees for a basic listing which includes up to 2 photos and a video if you’re so inclined.  The only fees charged are for add-ons to your listing such as making it featured on the homepage and a flat 10% commission on successful sales.  The bottom line is if it doesn’t sell, you don’t pay.

The service is called CellKitty.com where you can get the purrfect deal for your cell phone

Please check it out & leave your thoughts.  We will continue to offer both CellCycle.ca and CellKitty.com services and hope to serve you well.

Just received word that the fundraiser to collect hair, cash & cell phones has been postponed for an undetermined amount of time due to roadwork in front of the venue.

In the meantime if you would like to help please consider sending us your old cell phone & indicate that you would like us to apply the value of it towards the BP Oil Spill hair boom cleanup project.

You can mail your cell phone to us using our free mailing label from anywhere in Canada or drop it off at one of our collection points.

I’ll update as soon as I know more.

I wrote previously about a hair and fur collection drive taking place here in Barrie to make booms to help soak up the BP oil spill.  Since then, CellCycle.ca has been asked to set up a collection for used cell phones there as well.

On Sunday, June 27 2010 we’ll be at David Anthony Salon at 67 Toronto Street from 9am – 3pm collecting old cell phones to raise cash to send the booms to the Gulf of Mexico.

If you don’t need a trim but do have an old phone, please stop by and contribute.

I was contacted today by the organizer of a unique but very worthwhile initiative – Cheryl Lago of Barrie, Ontario has put together a group that is looking for donations – of your hair.

The idea is simple but brilliant – hair is an absorbent material and with nylon stockings can be used to make booms that float on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico to soak up oil.  She’s put together a group on Facebook called “Recycle your hair” that is accepting nylons, hair and animal fur donations to build the booms.

If you’re going for a haircut why not ask your barber or hairstylist to donate their clippings to the cause?  Pet groomers are welcome to donate fur as well as animal fur/hair can serve the same purpose.

She’s also organized a Cut-A-Thon on June 27th where you can get a cut for $30 and donate your hair at the same time.

Check it out: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=863295367#!/group.php?gid=126039010763247

Apple’s iPad is out and iPhone 4 will be coming out in Canada soon.

I’ve attempted to use an iPhone in the past but just can’t seem to get into using a touchscreen.  My current handset (a recycled one, I might add) is a touchscreen phone and I have to say that overall I don’t really care for it.  I find that the touchscreens I’ve used in general have been pretty imprecise – resulting in more typos.

Perhaps I just don’t have the knack for it.

Blackberry cell phones look more appealing to me because of the QWERTY keyboards but I find the Pearl/8100 series in particular have buttons that are way too small.

My wireless carrier sent me a notice saying that if I’d like to sign another 3 year contract I can get a $200 credit towards a new phone but I’m in no hurry to sign another deal with new competitors in Canada like Wind, Mobilicity & Public Mobile so I’ll hold on for a while yet.

I’m also kind of anxiously anticipating the release of Windows Mobile 7 which is supposed to be a vast improvement over Windows Mobile 6 – would love to test it out but I again wonder if my inability to accurately use touchscreens will effect my experience.

I hope someone comes up with a hybrid touch/push button model to give people like me who are all thumbs the ability to choose between touching & typing on a keyboard.

Has anyone had experience with Blackberry vs. iPhone vs. Android vs. a preview of Windows Mobile 7?

Fido wireless has done a decent job at recycling cell phones over the past few years.  They’re advertising that they’ve recycled 500,000 cell phones and raised $750,000 for food banks across Canada.  While they are competition to CellCycle.ca, that’s no small accomplishment and they deserve kudos for their accomplishment.

If you do the math, that adds up to about $1.50 donated per cell phone.  CellCycle.ca’s philosophy when it comes to recycling cell phones is different though.  We don’t pay flat rates per phone, instead what we do is analyze the phones collected by our charity and private collectors and pay them values based on the fair market value of each phone with a guaranteed minimum of $0.25 per handset to no maximum.  A Blackberry under 3 years old would earn one of our collectors much more than $1.50.

That said, given the low recycling rate of cell phones in Canada, Fido deserves praise for this accomplishment.

Good Fido! You deserve a treat!