Given the market, why are the newest scrappers even bothering?

I've worked with one of the posters in this thread. The answer for some is "More than Scrap Value" items. I've been receiving material from more people than before the market crashed, so I tend to draw the conclusion that many people are looking to more than scrap as an avenue to offset losses. When RAM was $18-20 per pound, it wasn't worth the effort to a lot to sort. Today, with $12 per pound RAM, selling sticks for more than scrap can make a pretty large difference.

If you're just calling everything shred, and going straight to the yard, it won't pan out with these prices- especially if they fall farther.