Why do YOU scrap? - Page 2

Okay, I'm only 18, but since i was about 13-14ish I've saved all my cans to scrap, and once i got my license and needed gas money, i just toke in my cans to get the money, which was about 10 bucks or so. And my brothers started building houses and one of my brothers were walking and talking and he saw a piece of copper on the ground and said that its about 3 bucks a pound to go and scrap, and that got me thinking... And eventually expanded into taking CRT TVs and computers apart etc, and now that i have gotten a bigger vehicle, i now go around on big garbage day scrapping...

All in all I scrap to survive monetarily . I have come a long way from day one . I feel if one really wants consistency the real money is in cars . dismantling boilers and having customers from clean outs . Curb Co is very real but can dry out at times .

Because I have a seasonally restricted specialized skill that only allows me to work in my regular job about 6 months a year, I scrap for a little extra cash money $$. And to constructively fill the time for the other 6 months out of the year. And really it is because I get to break things down and not have to worry about putting it back together and have it work.

MikeD asked me that question in a post and it was a really good question to think about. As a result, I cut back on several things and became more focused to meet the reasons.

When I bought my first house, my dad told me to keep a bucket and throw copper in it whenever I got any. When it got full, sell it for $$. Luckily I remembered that when we put in a new water heater and I told the contractor to leave all the scrap pipe. I let that sit in my basement for nearly a year then during a cleanout, I found the scrapyard and took them in, not sure what I would get. I was suprised and what my 7 pounds of #2 copper was worth.

From that point on, I was saving every scrap of metal that came with the house and renovations. I made plenty of early mistakes like taking in 70 pounds of insulated wire unsorted. Half of it was romex and a quarter was #6. I also gave away probably 200 pounds of E-Waste at recycling drives or to goodwill to make room. I did a few runs a year to the yard getting 20 to 50 bucks per run. I was happy with the money, but always a little frustrated with how little I knew. I remember putting fan parts in a brass bucket that was probably 10 pounds with the fan, or 5 without. The guy pulled out a magnet and I got frustrated and threw the entire bucket in with the steel. I scrapped our washing machine that broke over several months.

When our neighbor moved out last year, I picked up their microwave and a few other things from the curb. I let the microwave sit for several months before I decided to take it apart. I remembered how much I had gotten out of the washer. Luckily I did a google for how to take it apart and found out about the capcitor and magnatron issues. That google is what really got me started. Eventually I found my way here, and nothing has been the same since!

I'm making 2-3 trips per month, bringing in arround 100/ month in just the standard metals. I'm making a few hundred a month in eBay sales. I love the paydays when I send a 65 pound box of E-Waste. I stick to the higher profitibility items like E-Waste now. Part of it is for the money. I had a binge of buying power tools last year that I'm working on paying back. We also have our 6th kid due in December, and just bought a new vehicle. A new house is down the road, but I'll need a little extra money to help with that.

To be honest, I don't HAVE to scrap. We get by on my salary alright. It's more of a hobby / puzzle. I think I'm trying to prove to myself that I am smart enough to figure this out and be successful. I think there's also a bit of a desire to overcome the scrapyard and be smart enough to be confident when I turn in my materiel. I'm light years ahead of where I used to be, but they still catch mistakes that I made in sorting from time to time.