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Author Topic: The never ending collection of USB flash drives Mark Hajducki Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 500 From: Edinburgh, UK Registered: May 2003 posted 05-18-2013 11:23 AM                     quote: Jim Cassedy I've just always assumed, as others have said, that the handling cost of re-using the USB drives would exceed the cost of just shipping out new ones, since they probably buy them dirt cheap in bulk. I suspect it is cheaper for them to reuse them (the process of inserting them into the copying machine will be the same for a new or used drive). If they can be returned with another item or in bulk the saving will be greater than using a pre-paid postage label for each individual drive. What is not worthwhile is tracking and enforcing the return of the drives as this would increase the staff time considerably, complicate the process and lead to disputes. This is much the same as the Real-D glasses recycling scheme where enforcing the return of the glasses is not cost-effective.  |  IP: Logged Gavin Lewarne Master Film Handler Posts: 278 From: Plymouth, UK Registered: Aug 2009 posted 05-18-2013 12:47 PM                     quote: Aaron Garman Save those 35mm trailers because one may never see that content again. I treasure my 35mm trailer of the GCC Candy Band. Also have an original version of the dolby "jiffy test" on 35mm in very good condition. I treasure it as it is quite rare I believe now.  |  IP: Logged Ben Wales Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 602 From: Southampton. England Registered: Jul 99 posted 05-18-2013 05:02 PM                     quote: Gavin Lewarne Also have an original version of the dolby "jiffy test" on 35mm in very good condition. I treasure it as it is quite rare I believe now. Not as rare as the Dolby Cinema Demo film "Listen" .  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-18-2013 05:24 PM                     at cinemacon i asked dolby why there was no dcp of listen (which i have on 35) and jiffy apparently the test of jiffy distroyed to many speakers  |  IP: Logged Marcel Birgelen Film God Posts: 3357 From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands Registered: Feb 2012 posted 05-19-2013 07:47 PM                     I've done some work for a company that distributed content on Compact Flash. At the quantities they bought them, it was cheaper to send them out and just forget about them. Don't forget that there is more to it than just shipping cost, you also need to keep track off those cards, if you're going to "recycle" them. In the end, the system was replaced by an on-line distribution system, which, all costs considered, wasn't really cheaper, but at least it was almost real-time and didn't produce huge amounts of excess waste.  |  IP: Logged Richard May Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1057 From: Floral Park, NY USA Registered: Aug 2004 posted 05-20-2013 10:55 AM                     We have over 70 of them sitting in a film can. Mostly 4GB but a few 8GB. The ones with trailers on them always go back. The one with ads on them NEVER go back. They say "just throw them out".  |  IP: Logged Bruce Hansen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 847 From: Stone Mountain, GA, USA Registered: Dec 1999 posted 05-20-2013 06:24 PM                     The smallest USB drive that can be found today is 4GB. Micro Center is selling them for $5. These people are buying them in LARGE lots, without packaging. They may be getting them as low as $2. To get them back, they first have to pay to ship them. Once they have them back, they need to format them to get rid of what was on them, and hope that no one loaded a virus onto them, that could infect their computers. It is not worth it to them, to screw with all this.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 05-20-2013 06:49 PM                        Why would they need to format them? Just write a new disk image onto the drive and you're done. They would have to do exactly the same thing to get their data onto a brand new flash drive, so I don't see why it would matter.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 05-21-2013 09:47 AM                        Formatting has the advantage of doing bad-block checking. I don't know exactly how this applies to solid-state media, but it seems like a good idea. Writing an image with a tool like "dd" does not account for write errors on the medium (or read errors, for that matter).  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 05-21-2013 11:26 AM                     I was looking at the pocket-full of usb drives I picked up the other day. (see my earlier post) I noticed they've all got sticky-lables on them that don't always come off in one piece. OK, so it doesn't take THAT much time to get the whole label off, but if you've got to remove hundreds or thousands of these things, the labor costs probably outweigh the benefits of 'recycling' them. Today's Fun Foto- These are my favorite thumb-drives! I have a whole box of these things. Mabye this is why some of my friends say I'm "all thumbs"  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 05-21-2013 12:42 PM                        All of the flash drives that I have received so far don't have a sticky label attached. They have a cardboard tag tied onto them.  |  IP: Logged Gavin Lewarne Master Film Handler Posts: 278 From: Plymouth, UK Registered: Aug 2009 posted 05-21-2013 12:55 PM                     none of the drives I have here have any label or tag on them.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 05-21-2013 01:23 PM                     95% of the USB drivethingys I get have sticky labels on them. The rest have the cardboard type attached by wire like Frank sez. I like them the best. Mostly cuz the printing is larger and I can read the labels without having to find my glasses.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 05-21-2013 02:23 PM                        Shortly after getting the digital equipment installed in my theatre, I had to start keeping a magnifying glass in my projection room so I can read the small print on those hard drives. I guess they think they're saving money on the size of the labels or something by printing stuff in a 2-point font.  |  IP: Logged

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