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I'm Back, For My Vegas Scrapping Diary

| A Day in the Life of a Scrapper
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    CyberScrapper started this thread.
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    I'm Back, For My Vegas Scrapping Diary

    Hello All,

    Yes, I've been absent for a big. You know life changes sometimes.

    I started out this diary awhile back and didn't get into it full-time, but that has changed. I got let go from my job Thursday because business is slow was the excuse? Ok!

    So now I got plenty of free time and figured I would work on my YouTube channels, websites, and naturally get back into scrapping on my bike. For those that didn't see my rig check it out here in my original post https://www.scrapmetalforum.com/day-...ing-diary.html

    This diary was mainly centered on how much money can you make a day scrapping with a bike? Most videos on YouTube are people scrapping with a vehicle, usually a pickup truck which makes things much easier and your ability to make more money easier. But what about those who don't have a vehicle. We poor people that need a way to make money scrapping and what can we do?

    Well it's either going canning while walking? Not too good and time consumming. Using a shopping cart? A little better but still walking which means not able to cover a lot of ground in one day? So a bike and trailer is the best I could come up with that might give you a change to make something worth the time.

    Also, even after the long period I was away, I still see not a lot of people on here from Vegas? Do you know how much competition is out there here in Vegas? Tons. Granted, most are homeless and don't get on the internet but still.

    Anyway Hope I can contribute some valuable info on this threat and that it helps other out.

    CyberScrapper

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    I will enjoy reading about your journey. A man that is his own boss, controls his own schedule, and gets plenty of exercise demonstrates a honorable lifestyle many of us will envy. Good luck.
    Give back more to this world than we take.

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    I just read through your initial diary post. You didn't update it with any scrap adventures. Did it not work out that time?
    I wish you the best this time around. Prices are just now going up a bit after being really bad for a long time.
    Care to share your youtube channel?
    Copper, brass, and Leather. 3 of my favorite things.

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  7. #4
    CyberScrapper started this thread.
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    Quote Originally Posted by HipoGear View Post
    I just read through your initial diary post. You didn't update it with any scrap adventures. Did it not work out that time?
    I wish you the best this time around. Prices are just now going up a bit after being really bad for a long time.
    Care to share your youtube channel?
    Hello HipoGear

    It's actually a longer story than I'll present here but I'll try and break it down the best I can. I have a number of things going usually at once. Most everything I do is about making money online, or from home.

    Did it not work out that time?

    A few weeks after making that post a situation came up with a friend of mine that owns two local 7-Elevens. He was needing some help and asked me so I said ok. That's pretty much turned out to be a full-time job, while at the same time all my other things are going on too. So some of them, the ones that I could, got put to the side for the time being and I worked the full-time job into my schedule.

    But now, I have been relieved of that job and have nothing to fill the 40 hours a week time slot. The schedule I had with all the other projects I'm happy with except for a few things which I'm adding those back to the schedule too. One of those was my YouTube channels "which I will provide a link to. Along with my personal site/blog which has EVERYTHING I do with links to them too", and scrapping and this forum.

    I was homeless for a couple years and that's where I initially got into scrapping "dumpster diving" but it was mostly cans and plastic at that time. That was done using a shopping cart which is time consuming. But now I'll be using my rig which I can get around faster. Also I want to help others who might be thinking about getting into scrapping and that I will do through one of my YouTube channels using a scrapping playlist.

    Prices are just now going up a bit after being really bad for a long time

    Yes that might be true but probably still lower here in Nevada than other places because everything has to be shipped out to California, etc. I'm sure the recycling yards hit was hard on the prices and volume might play into it too. I'll find out more when I get back into it next week and doing some research.

    I have an OCD about documenting the things I do which I will share on my YouTube channel for you all to see here. It breaks down my time spent scrapping, how much I get of each metal, how many cans and what size "12oz, 25oz, etc". So you can see how that info could help someone when there starting out.

    Again hopefully the info that I provide here will help others and that you can put up with me...LOL

    CyberScrapper

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    How about getting a can / bottle place to pay for a sign that you can put on the bike trailer kind of like a sponsor with your YouTube info? Also is there a market for all the glasses that people take from casino to casino and leave all around the strip? Could you collect them and sell them back to the casinos? I am sure the casinos don't care about the glasses that walk away though...

    I do the same thing with numbers here is my info on empty miller lite cans. ( I did the study myself) LOL

    # to make a pound
    32 - 12 oz.
    32 - 16 oz. tall cans
    16 - 24 oz. cans
    18 - 16 oz. alum bottles with caps
    12 - 32 oz. alum can

    And at $.95 a pound for cans here it comes out to..
    $.03 a can for 12 oz. and 16 oz. cans
    $.05 a can for 16 oz. bottle with cap
    $.06 a can for 24 oz.
    $.08 a can for 32 oz.
    Last edited by hobo finds; 03-26-2018 at 01:44 PM.
    Better than the dump!

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  11. #6
    CyberScrapper started this thread.
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    Quote Originally Posted by hobo finds View Post
    # to make a pound
    32 - 12 oz.
    32 - 16 oz. tall cans
    16 - 24 oz. cans
    18 - 16 oz. alum bottles with caps
    12 - 32 oz. alum can

    And at $.95 a pound for cans here it comes out to..
    $.03 a can for 12 oz. and 16 oz. cans
    $.05 a can for 16 oz. bottle with cap
    $.06 a can for 24 oz.
    $.08 a can for 32 oz.
    hobo finds, that is about exactly the numbers I come up with. I also have the numbers for plastic. I did plastic for a bit here because prices was pretty good and there's a **** load of plastic that gets thrown away in Vegas.

    What I did is purchased a scale off eBay that measures grams and collect about 50 pieces of each can, plastic bottle, etc and weight them and got an average. Then I made an excel sheet with all the measures and downloaded Excel for my mobile phone. So all I have to do is each time I pick up a can, plastic, etc I add it to the excel sheet and it keeps a running total of the weight I have for each item and my total weight.

    So I know about exactly how much aluminum, plastic, etc I have when I go weight in at the recycler.

    Yes, some of my friends say that's pretty much OCD...

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    Yep places out here do plastic as well can get $.30 - $.40 a pound for #1 plastic and it can be a mixture of water bottles and other #1 plastic like liquid soap bottles and such. As I am going to the can place I save the #1 plastic as well. They do buy #2 plastic ($.10 natural and $.02 color) as well as glass ($.03 glass jars and liquor, wine bottles & $.04 glass crv bottles, beer, soda, coffee etc.).
    Last edited by hobo finds; 03-28-2018 at 06:55 PM.

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    Thanks for your response. I look forward to your adventures withe the cycle Re cycle rig.

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    omg, who is getting .95 a lb for cans!
    WI ITAD LLC, IT Liquidation Services, we remarket, buy and sell scrap electronics No customer too large or small!

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    Right now am getting $1/lb

  17. #11
    CyberScrapper started this thread.
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    Quote Originally Posted by JJinLV View Post
    Right now am getting $1/lb
    Yes we have buys driving around town buying cans off homeless canners for $1.15/lb and there's plenty of competition among them. It's only cans though. None of them buy metals, etc

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    Quote Originally Posted by armygreywolf View Post
    omg, who is getting .95 a lb for cans!
    Yep it is crazy, places pay more than the price of aluminum, it in not illegal in AZ to buy or sell these cans at the inflated prices, even though people know they may make it to California for the deposit. I wonder if Oregon is getting an influx of California cans now that they have raised there deposit to $.10 a can...

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    CyberScrapper started this thread.
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    Quote Originally Posted by hobo finds View Post
    I wonder if Oregon is getting an influx of California cans now that they have raised there deposit to $.10 a can...
    Yes, I mean if you're buying them for $1.15/lb and taking them someplace else and getting .10 a can that's pretty money right there.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hobo finds View Post
    Yep it is crazy, places pay more than the price of aluminum, it in not illegal in AZ to buy or sell these cans at the inflated prices, even though people know they may make it to California for the deposit. I wonder if Oregon is getting an influx of California cans now that they have raised there deposit to $.10 a can...
    I can't imagine that they will let that go on for very long. The legislature here in Maine recognized the potential problem of out of state cans coming in a number of years ago and put countermeasures in place.



    Closer to home: A part of my job at work deals with the bottle and can redemption division of the company. We don't have exact numbers, but it's believed that we lost ten or 15 k. to fraud in 2017. The worst offenders were rooted out and they're likely looking at some jail time. A couple of employees were fired and rendered homeless in the process. A couple of others are under a cloud of suspicion and will most likely be released from their job in a month or two.

    I went in afterward and tied up all of the loose ends where we might be losing money after all the commotion settled. It sucks to have to drop the hammer on someone but the well being of the business has to come first. The jobs of over 60 people depend on the company doing well.

    Our operation is just a sideline that was intended as break even community service so we're not that big, but we do have pickup trucks filled with bottles coming in on a regular basis. We even have a couple of guys on bicycles that bring their bottles & cans in so it is doable. They have these big mesh bags that load on like side saddles on the back.

    I don't know how the numbers would work out but most plastic bottles and cans here are five cents. Liquor and wine bottles are fifteen cents.

    Would there be more money to be made by going legit and passing a bottle bill in AZ ?
    It makes a lot of jobs all up and down the supply chain.
    Last edited by hills; 03-31-2018 at 04:22 PM.


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