Better late then never

Over all I see all metals the same , Gold , Silver are the king and Queen Copper Brass Aluminum Lead SS - are knights in shiny armor . any and all metal is a part of the royalty. It's value can flux but seems to be the true economy .- Oil lower - scrap lower -

Better late then never what am I talking about ?
I scrap any time I am out in the world & as I am out and about I find something big or small . I see now to earn $100 per week from just casual finds is easy enough . But remember as I go places I look and stop , sorry Kids DEAL with it !!
So I do scrap NOW - But sadly I think of 38 years of no scrapping using age 17 when I started to drive and yes steel was probably .02 a pound at best
yet copper was .50's or so even AL was in the .30's as I have been told . fuel was under a buck slice of pizza .50



I feel I could of been casually finding the goods for the last 38 years with the equivalent value of a current $100 so yeah 1976 I just know I could of found $25 per week I bet more was out then
cause little publicity back then

OK lets do the math using $100 a week as the uniform value = $197,600.00 of reality

Understand what you are saying. That could of bought a home.

I worked in plumbing most of my adult life I used to throw cast-iron and galvanized pipe in the dumpster all the time. Steel was about 1 to 2 cents so not worth the bother for my boss, but we did save the copper and brass. I used to toss water heaters in the dumpsters too. When I went to the supply housed in the morning to buy materials. I saw like 20 water heaters a week some of them commercial weighing 700 plus pounds. They were left for Mexicans with a large stake bed truck with a lift to haul them away. I used to think it was a foolish waste of time. I feel different now that the supply houses recycle their own water heaters . Of course my yard only wants to pay .05 cents a pound for them.

Originally Posted by davidarlen

Understand what you are saying. That could of bought a home.

I worked in plumbing most of my adult life I used to throw cast-iron and galvanized pipe in the dumpster all the time. Steel was about 1 to 2 cents so not worth the bother for my boss, but we did save the copper and brass. I used to toss water heaters in the dumpsters too. When I went to the supply housed in the morning to buy materials. I saw like 20 water heaters a week some of them commercial weighing 700 plus pounds. They were left for Mexicans with a large stake bed truck with a lift to haul them away. I used to think it was a foolish waste of time. I feel different now that the supply houses recycle their own water heaters . Of course my yard only wants to pay .05 cents a pound for them.

So if you could of stashed all you saw in some airport hanger what do you think you 'd have now in money ?
Of course we know it's not realistic as who has the room for it and keep it from rust .
BUT if we could time travel I bet we would save every battery for the future and rotors -
ahh I'd have to save it all . and look like a nut till the cash in day ,
Just have to figure how to stay young .

i also think about the amount of scrap i missed in the last 20 yrs approx

of course, prices were lower but then there were much less people doing scrap
i remember a car caught on fire across the road from me about 15 yrs ago
it lay there for a few years

dont know who took it away but i know i could have made decent money from that
and other similar opportunities

but tomorrow is another day
and who knows whats waiting for us...

Once, Aluminium was worth three times its weight in Gold.

When I was born, Gold was worth US$30 a ounce.
Back then, a newish house here was worth $4000. Now its $100,000.
A friend of Dads, paid $10,000 for a house in Queenstown, sold it mid 80's for $250,000.
Now it would be worth millions.

My house, 16 years later, is worth 7 times what I paid for it. Not a lot, but I paid cash for it.

Ten years ago, with the NZ$1 being worth US0.40cents....
A US$4,000 deposit on a house here, would have paid the house off by now, and you would get US$100,000 cash if you sold it.

Land, in the right place.... Well, they ain't making any more of it.

Originally Posted by NHscrapman

It is realistic
unfortunately it's outside and as you stated thousands and thousands of pounds have oxidized away, but the weight is still there. a hanger would have been a luxury as the man has it all outside and his age has let the woods start taking back the land and scrap in the process. The problem with this is the manpower and machinery needed to move such gigantic piles. sorting would be years of work and almost pointless as piles merge and mix over time.
His property would be an undertaking!!! month or two of work for at least three men with an excavator, dump truck w/ trailer, chainsaws, torches all taking from the bottom line.
Not to mention all the items that are too good to scrap out forges, horse powered farm equipment, cars, trucks, semi's, boats trailer after trailer...It is unbelievable to try and comprehend doing a lifetime of junking all at once and taking the cost all at once.
That's his issue all at once turned into almost another lifetime of work. But he ain't gonna sell it off it is his life's work.. I feel it would be hard to get rid of that even for good $$.

True Even My amount has me walking in circles some times
get rid this - yes - no ? nope not yet
4 months later get rid this - yes - no ? nope not yet
I got some Not Yet items from day one