Repairing, remanufacturing, refurbishing and recycling cellular phones is the business of ReCellular Inc.
The company brings phones sent in by carriers, dealers and other clients back to new condition. And while some phones are serviced for return to the owners, ReCellular’s livelihood is derived from reselling its remanufactured products.
The idea for ReCellular was seeded by brothers Allan Newman and company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Charles Newman. Paralleling cellular’s growth is growth in subscribers trading in old phones for new ones. The Newmans, who had experience refurbishing computer equipment, saw opportunity in cellular and decided to make a go of it. ReCellular was founded five years ago in Dexter, Mich.
In the beginning, the company partnered with carriers to recondition phones. Recently, ReCellular has added additional services including processing of returns and fulfillment.
Phones, batteries and accessories are sent to ReCellular by carriers, manufacturers, retailers, dealers and agents. Jobs vary from cosmetic makeovers to rebuilding complete phones, said Eric Forster, vice president of marketing and sales. About 20 percent of the phones are serviced for these clients and returned, and ReCellular acquires and prepares 80 percent for resale to carriers, dealers, retailers and agents.
Used equipment saves carriers money, explained Frank Stoup, president and chief operating officer of the company. “They want to reduce acquisition costs of new customers,” he said.
ReCellular sells phones at about 60 percent of what they would cost customers new, said Stoup, and warranties phones for up to three years. Since the equipment costs the seller less, signing on a new customer with a phone and service package-where often the phone costs the customer nothing-costs the seller less.
Remanufactured phones fall hand in hand with the prepaid cellular market, where credit and cost are cards the customer brings to the table. Used equipment reduces the acquisition cost for carriers, and is an attractive buy for users on a limited budget.
ReCellular sorts incoming phones by brand and model and the components needed to rebuild each phone are assembled from the company’s equipment inventory. ReCellular said it remanufactures any phone model for which they can access original equipment manufacturer parts. All equipment is tested for engineering integrity and quality, and each phone part is cleaned and polished before work is started. Once repaired or rebuilt, the phone is inspected and tested, then packaged and shipped. The company said it remanufactures 2,000 phones each day.
In the United States, ReCellular has contracts with 12 of the top 20 carriers, which includes the Baby Bell cellular companies, AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Comcast Metrophone, said Forster.
