Keep on swimming...keep on swimming...

Wow! Prices at the yard are pretty dismal across the board, but I've decided to ride it out. I know I'm just a part-timer and that I don't really need the extra income right now, but when I look back over the last seven or eight years of weekend scrapping, I get that through thick (last year) and thin (now) it has been well worth the trips to the yard.

I sincerely hope that the many members of this forum, especially those of you that are full-time, can find a way to prevail until the prices do rebound. So many of you have proven that your ingenuity and drive allow you to find other sources of revenue to survive times like these.

Once again, I'd like to thank you for your wonderful threads you've started and all the advice that I have gleaned through your thoughtful responses. Because of so many of you, I was able to pay my son's tuition to the police academy at a time when he could not afford it. He is now in his third year on the job. And because of your contributions, it was only a hiccup in my finances when my mother called last summer with a $2000 bill from her apartment complex for emergency AC and duct work.

In short, this is what scrapping has helped do for me. So please feel free to write about what scrapping has done to help you over the last few years, and hopefully, by reading of your many successes, we'll all be encouraged to stride through this market lapse until a time when we are truly reaping the benefits of our hard work.

Nice examples of helping your family when in need from your hard work!!

From what I know from being on SMF for the last 6 months or so is that most "scrappers" (that includes all the ways people make honest money on here) don't let the world dictate their choices but they get up and figure out new ways around things if necessary. Real scrappers are doers!! I've been amazed not only the knowledge about scrap metal on this forum but just knowledge in general. The politicos and elites badly under estimate free men and women who just won't sit and take it. Our enemies do too...

Great idea for a thread. I must congratulate you on your ability to help others because of your scraping efforts.

Full time scraper. Spent an entire career working for others and scraping provided freedom. Learning how to be a mechanic, how things work, being self sufficient, controlling time and lifestyle, teaching others how to read iron, and a whole new lifestyle are all benefits of starting this profession.

This forum also provided the base line for this learning curve. An entire life has been devoted to learning and this education is as good as it gets. Without it, life would be quite a bit different. Made friends, contacts, and received a great education from the forum. In three years eight farms, one community water tank, one large power plant, and a potato factory have been scraped. A lot of metal is on the ground, ready to haul, and still trying to learn the business side of scraping.

Some of the contacts mentioned above include a metal broker, two big metal demolition companies, and several scrap yards. They all advise to stockpile and wait out the storm. With the low ROI, time is invested into research, handyman work, and personal projects. You have to be creative, productive, hard working, and determined to succeed in this lifestyle. Hope to be successful before my days run out.

Scrapping will always have a special place in my heart because when I first started looking for work and nobody would give me a job because of my age, scrapping allowed me to have my own source of income and ended up paying much better over these 2 years or so that I've been scrapping then any of those jobs I was trying to get would have. I've gotten stronger then I used to be, learned a whole lot about how various machines and devices that everyone takes for granted actually work, have been able to help out my family during tough times and when my cat got very sick and needed urgent care at the vet, I was able to pay to save her life. I got a part time job working with a home theater installation company because the boss of the company saw me working around the neighborhood and saw I was a hard worker. I even have a possible future oppertunity to work with a HVAC company that the yard I go to works with. Prices may be down right now but I'll never stop scrapping, I may have to find some other ways to make some money for the time being but I've learned that if I work hard, look out for opportunities, and have enough willpower things will work out.

I always scrap because it is very therapeutic for me, and my kids have fun with their imaginations setting up the motors, aluminum fins and wires like monster and fortresses when they go outside. Since I am in an apartment and have no truck, I just grab small appliances and electronics, harvest wire, motors, aluminum, boards, ballasts. I only take the metal housings/ pieces with the motors and ballasts when they take up too much room. Then I take the wire #2 insulated as it fills up in a five gallon bucket. I save the aluminum heat sinks only for future melt inot ingots with a small backyard foundry. Hope to use it for copper, gold, and silver too.

I myself am loving this and I do hope for higher prices but right now I am on my way to tripling my income this year for example this morning alone I took in over #500lbs tin at yes here it 0.0157clb and batteries that $7 tin was more than the $4 in gas I spent and if people were not dropping out and winning and hiding in their warm homes. fyi it was -10wc here this morning the batteries I took even at the lower end at 15clb that's over $20 in my pocket with the day not even started because it was the route I drive plus a few extra blocks after finding so much to push my luck on my way to get coffee lol.
its like Christmas out there and with alu still so high and people leaving everything like motors and wire and all that jazz because there afraid of a little hard work it makes my wallet smile. like above I can only lift so much for so long but what keeps me going all the time is that I do not want anything to be tossed away cause I know our trash guys will come back and get it after work lol

Yes balancing out a load with known items - CU - AL - Motors - Batteries - are essential now