Slow week, scary fuel costs...what to do!

I wanted to know how other scrappers are affected by the high fuel costs in your area, and how it changes your strategy?



I've been getting calls the past few days (and some of those originated from my posting in this forum, which is great!) but they've been from locations that are just far enough to be cost prohibitive to hook up the trailer, drive out and pick up.

It really bums me out when that happens, because I hate passing on jobs, especially when the person is kind enough to call me first, but I always explain to them the situation, and they are typically very happy that I was honest with them and they completely understand.

So how many of you are turning small jobs down because of fuel costs? Surely I'm not the only one?

Sidenote: Fuel here is $4.00/gallon

it TOTALLY sucks.. you shouldn't have to turn jobs down because of gas but yes you are right. Makes me sick. If you had enough runs in one day I guess it would be productive but in this economy.... Ugh.

I'm in the same situation. Do I go and hope there is more to be had when I arrive? Do I pass? It's a tough call. I'm using a minivan that's been stripped of all but the driver/passenger seat, so I can get quite a bit in, but it still drinks the fuel when I'm running 20/30 miles r/t for an item.

I have wondered if people would be willing to hold something until I have more stuff for pickup in the area. Not sure how it is in other areas, but I'm fairly certain that in this area they would call until someone gets it, or post on CL for pickup.

Yep, I was about to pounce on a "Tear down my camper" ad on craigslist, then saw it was 45 miles away. Worth it? maybe. seemed too marginal. Fortunately I just found a gold mine right by my school. Friendly's had a fire 6 months ago and now EVERYTHING is being torn out and thrown away. Big AC's, breaker boxes, plumbing, flashing, and such.
I'm lucky compared to a lot of people seeing as my scrapyard is half way between home and community college, 7 miles from one and 4 from the other.

All I do is junk cars and automotive cores. If I'm picking up a car and someone has other scrap or appliances they want gone I'm happy to take it but 9 times out of 10 it isn't worth my expenses to go do pickups for small stuff. I'm geared and setup for larger stuff and it's not cost effective to roll it down the road for small stuff. If someone calls with small stuff, I do give the lead to the guy that lives next to my shop. He has a Ranger and is very glad for the free lead.

It's all in the setup though. There's lots of guys around here that scrap whatever they can get just like most of the guys here on the forum. To be honest, those who take whatever they can get probably operate with a higher profit margin. But I've got it setup where I do a minimal amount of work. I buy cars, pick them up and drop them off at my shop where cheap labor strips them down. When he's done with that I haul them in. My health isn't the greatest and this keeps me out of the labor intensive parts and keeps me doing easy work that's just time consuming (lots of driving).

For you guys that pickup small or odd scrap items, I do have some secrets to minimize your operating expense but it won't work for most of you. You can make your own biodiesel if you have a diesel powered vehicle. What would be perfect is an old VW diesel pickup. They already get super fuel mileage, can haul items or pull a small trailer, and are very ideal candidates for running homemade biodiesel through. Homemade bio fuel is extremely cheap to make. You do have to build the initial setup and there can be a little experimenting involved. But I think a little VW diesel truck running on homemade bio diesel would be perfect for running alleys and picking up small stuff with. Think 40 mpg @ less than $1.00 gallon cost. Usually more like $0.05/gallon cost!!! Homemade biodiesel also works well in 89-98 Dodge diesel trucks and most older diesel engines with mechanical injection pumps.

This is actually becoming a real pain. I spend 20-30 bucks a day in fuel costs just driving my local trash route and business route, and my route is huge. I'm in Southern Indiana by a major college. I usually find about 60-70 bucks a day in appliance and building scrap laying around. I also get anyway from 3-5 calls a week from clients via my website and craigslist ads. I used to pay out a decent dollar for the stuff I picked up as well, and now I factor in fuel costs for out of town runs and even my clients take a hit.

Also... Before high gas prices, I would run my loads into the yard at the end of the day and just take an easy 50 dollar profit after fuel and food costs. Now I get really down and dirty and clean my metal and stock pile as much as possible. I try to go that extra mile to get the most I can.

Example...I took a grinder to an electric mower to avoid throwing it in the light iron bin. 20 minutes of grinding for an extra 2 dollars for the tiny arse electric motor. It's a little uneasy and nonsensical but then I think about how that's half a gallon of gas and I'm okay with it.

Fortunately, there are 3 scrap yards between my house and my shop. I haul scrap on my way to work twice a week. No matter how you slice it up, the gas prices are squeezing me tighter than ever.

Agreed. Gas here is around $3.79 a gallon. Not as high as some places, but it hurts. I run a 1970 ford, with a 460 in it. She DRINKS the gas. About 5-6 mpg. So i definately have to figure if the trip is worth it. And it kills me, considering i have a competitor 2 houses down. We used to race each other basically to calls off of craigslist. But not, i'm out front tearing things down, and i get too watch him run out and pick stuff up. I reckon if i was runnin a nissan pickup that got 20+ mpg id be doing the same.

I had too turn down a job for a trailer tear down. Its about 30 miles away. Would be profitable, considering all the trash would be burnt on site. (Owners decision, not mine. His property, his rules). I ran out there to take a look. Unfortunately again, too make matters worse, its about 4 miles off the paved road, all dirt roads poorly maintained, with hay all over em. So when it rains, the roads are just undriveable. Here in idaho, we get a LOT of rain. So i'm double scr3wed here, haha.

Haha would that do alright with towing? I tow a LOT of different stuff with her. She actually gets better mpg when i have a load on then empty.

Originally Posted by Kris Kringle

Need to put a 300 Inline Six Cylinder in that beast it will up your Mileage be about 15 MPG

I just sold a 1 ton truck with a straight six. That thing pulled. Also had a 1/2 ton with a straight six about 15 years ago. Even for a 1/2, that pulled anything I hooked to it.

I am on the lookout for a 1/2 or 3/4 with a 6 for smaller jobs. Have an older S-10, but it's not much for pulling. End up putting most of my miles on the 460 powered 4x4 F350.....8 mpg's on a good day. I'm 15 miles from the nearest town. My non ferrous buyer is 30 miles away, my iron & electric motors go 60 miles away. My car batteries go 165 miles away. Really gotta stock pile for the core buyer...he is about 800 miles out. On the plus side, I have 10 acres in the middle of nowhere for stockpiling.

So, yeah, I can relate.

Well i just buy cars and dont care at all about fule prices really.Here local but when i am going far out 30 miles + i will knock of say 30-50 off of what i would give for the car.I have a 1994 dodge ram 2500 diesel it gets 20 mpg's.

Thats what you guys need to get a big diesel dodge that gets great mileage.I will be selling it soon.