So what's the plan guys? Haul light iron and hoard non-ferrous? - Page 2

I break things down, separate and haul in iron and aluminum. I can only haul so much weight at one time, so the brass and copper I stockpile until I have enough weight to negotiate better prices at the scrap yard. What I mean is I can't negotiate #1 iron unless I haul 10k pounds at a time. On the other hand, 250# of copper gives me negotiating power.

Scrap accounts for approx. 1/3rd of my income. I'm scrapping by myself again. I'm no longer servicing the thrift store. All I'm doing now are water coolers.(like 2000+) and stuff I've been stock piling(read: too lazy to break down). Now I turn in when ever I want to/need to. Space to stock pile non ferrous is nearly unlimited. Ferrous, for me presents a problem. 35 miles to the nearest major scrapyard.($40 a ton) or 5 miles to a small yard in Carson city($10 a ton) now since I don't rely heavily on scrap anymore, I fill a 20foot trailer and haul it to Reno when its full. The front 8 foot has a truck bed with 6foot sides for small things, the back 12 feet Is a decked flatbed. Parts of cars, appliances, big bulky stuff in back. I'm averaging 6k pounds per trip with the 20 footer, of just tin. It goes about once a month.

I cycle through the steel. It just takes up too much room. I will also cycle through brass as it becomes too much to store. Much of my brass is bought at garage sales and to cycle it through just adds to the garage sale purse to buy more brass and other items to make money on.

I sell my ferrous when I have a car load full, which is around 500-560lbs. I get like $4/100 lbs right now, but it used to be $7.50/100lbs. Terrible, but not worth seeing it build up to unmanagable levels. I just bought 5 trash cans to hoard copper, small aluminum shred, motors, brass, and cuircuit boards. Not sure this was a great idea, since they are already nearing 1/3 full.

Also, compounding my issue is that ALL of the trash cans have developed an infestation of some species of moth. It cannot be good, because the moths get into my garage. I hate moth balls, but I might need to add a few to each can. Not sure, at all, why I've got these moths. I do live in Florida, and we've got more than our share of bugs. One time, at a gas station, I saw a bug / insect thing that had 2 fangs 3/4" long on its head. YIKES! The wife, not too crazy either about these moths.

BY the way - WINDEX kills bugs mostly on contact. Try it. You'll be amazed. It works.

Moths? Get some lizards or geckos, I have heard about a guy that bought a few geckos and had them live in his garage he did eventually put up a heat source for them for the winter. They lived a long time