Taking a break? - Page 4

It breaks my heart. There seems to be a political divide here where those who refuse to wear masks are shaming those with masks. Others are halfway in and halfway out. They'll wear the mask pulled down under their chin and pull it up when they think they're supposed to. It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Bottom line: This only works if we're all in agreement. By not wearing masks out in public ... the dissenters have made the choice for the rest of us.

I'm hoping for the best, but with over a million tourists coming through the county every season, it doesn't look good. Heaven help us if it ever gets loose here.



I'm figuring a two year timeline before this all settles down.

This is a stark contrast to how the coasts are reacting, at least around me. PA, Philly suburbs, you'd get crucified if you tried to go anywhere without a mask right now. NO restaurants are allowed or doing anything except take out. Everyone out in public has a mask here. Literally everyone. There is a line (6ft apart) to get into the home depot. they are counting and only allowing X amount of people in the store at once. So when a person leaves, a person radios that the person manning the line can let another person in. Some of our counties that are less populated have started transitioning into a "yellow" phase but higher populated areas arent going to even start getting off lockdown until June 5th. And that is only one of the many phases of phased reopening. Things wont be "back to normal", like, completely back to normal, such that you could go out and get dinner and a movie if you wanted, until 2021 if I had to make a guess..... at least around me.


Im pretty sure I already had it and got over it, so I am not too concerned about it for my sake. But people around me are for sure taking it seriously and I know one of my co-workers' father has died from the rona, and another co-worker is currently in ICU teetering on the edge at the moment with it.

kss- Here are some stats from SD. I've been tracking them from the state health department every weekend for the past 6 weeks and putting them on facebook. SD has about 850,000 people

South Dakota Health Dept. covid numbers update. I've tracked the the last 6 weekends. Here are the differences between last Sun and today. The percentages are my calculations: Total Tested- 35,283
Negative- 30,697
Positive- 4,586
“Infection Rate” (positive/tested) 13.0% Down 1.0% from last week
Minnehaha Co- 3,274 (71.4% of state total positive) Down 6.6% (state total) from last week
Ever hospitalized- 370 (8.1% of positives) Up 0.3% (of the positives) from last week
Deaths- 50 Up 4 from last week
% Deaths 80+ Years Old- 28 (56% of total) Up 2% from last week
“Death rate” (deaths/positives) 1.1% same as last week week
“Recovered”- 3,415 (74.5% of positives) Up 6.5% from last week

On a bit more of a positive note, “Taking a Break”’is officially over for me. Most scrap prices in FL have bounced back far enough to turn things in profitably. $4.25 per 100 lbs. for shred is doable at today’s gas prices. My yard boss says we should continue to see other metals rebound slightly as demand creeps higher. I know I’m not talking big bucks here, but for the guy who has run out of hoarding space or his/her spouse doesn’t wish to run the high hurdles on the way to the car, this is a bit brighter.
I’m still out working in a mask and gloves, and got the once over from a rent-a-cop on Memorial Day, but maybe some things are looking up.
Continue to take care

4.25 cents per pound is a lot better than a penny and a half. Maybe it will reach 2 cents here by sometime in June!!

I am also done taking a break. Somehow busier than ever.

Hey, P76! Did you get those atm machines yet...? I'm bad at returning phone calls, although I think I now have all my gardens in and weeds somewhat under control, at least the one here.

Originally Posted by SKWrapper

Still on break from this - looking to be permanent, it was almost time for me to stop anyway, mission was nearly accomplished from when I started this side gig.

While wearing a mask and gloves, I just gave the rest of my stuff that was sitting in my back yard to my neighbor 2 streets to the north and west of me that has 3 scrap trucks, just gave him a heads up and put it in one of his trucks - about 6# of copper leftover from cleaning a large transformer, a bag of aluminum cans, some solid core copper wire and about 75# of ferrous. I could have just driven the 2 miles to the nearest yard and cashed it but didn't feel like it + pretty sure they closed for the day.

I still have my e-waste for when/if I decide to start back up again, but probably not going to do the metal anymore - i'll just give whatever metal I get leftover from e-waste to my neighbor or if I see a scrap truck roll by - if I even continue with e-waste.

Oh - my wife tested positive for covid19 at the end of last month and is recovering - so it wasn't allergies. I bet by the time I tested (3 days after she tested positive) I had recovered, my test was negative as was my son's. In case anyone read earlier in this thread, our young family friend that was on the ventilator had to go back in to the hospital but is home again from the hospital, they are all doing well.

Man you've commented on a lot of my stuff. It is unfortunate to see you give up scrapping but I gave it up before too. As have many people. Sometimes people find their way back to it. Other times not. Good luck with whatever you are doing that isn't scrapping hope to still see you on here from time to time. Scrapping isn't my main way to make money, its probably less than 1% of my annual income, but my actual job isn't nearly as fun. Hopefully if you've given up scrapping it's for something that gives your more joy than scrapping does!

Originally Posted by DakotaRog

Hey, P76! Did you get those atm machines yet...? I'm bad at returning phone calls, although I think I now have all my gardens in and weeds somewhat under control, at least the one here.

He did get them... He posted pics in that thread you started I think! He thanked you for the tip.... Unless I am misremembering I'm which case ignore me

It seems like not terrible news SK. Covid -19 isn't anything one would want but at least there have been no fatalities. There's so much information flying around there these days that you can't trust any of it. Fog of war i suppose .... All you can do is go by your gut instinct on how best to proceed forward.

Still scrapping but i keep telling myself that i have to take a pause. I seem to have hit one of those spells where i'm bogged down with the material that i've got on hand. Starting to lose patience with it. There are so many other things that have to be done this summer. There aren't enough hours in the day so i'm going to have to pick & choose how best to spend my time.

Hate to put it on the back burner till next winter cause i may never get back to it again.

During this time off, my wife and I have gone and done something a little bit crazy. After many years of scrapping and several years on this forum, today we have opened scrappertshirts.com. This online store will feature scrap metal designs on t-shirts and more as we introduce new products and designs every couple of weeks. I hope you will visit and come up with a few fun ideas that we can give a try.

On a far more serious note, when I started this thread, I had hoped for conversations and inspirations about people fighting and surviving or even thriving through this tough time. I deeply appreciate the voices here and I hope that SKWrapper and all the rest of you find peace, hope, and prosperity as we move through the remainder of 2020.

After 10 years hauling scrap, I am calling it quits.

Prices have been low for a couple of years here.

Mag truck is coming to my rented yard tomorrow to haul away the last of my shred.

The roll off bin for the loose tin is going away as well.

Have one more month of yard rent to pay on my lease agreement.

Been an interesting 10 years. Good luck to the rest of you.

Originally Posted by bullion

After 10 years hauling scrap, I am calling it quits.

Prices have been low for a couple of years here.

Mag truck is coming to my rented yard tomorrow to haul away the last of my shred.

The roll off bin for the loose tin is going away as well.

Have one more month of yard rent to pay on my lease agreement.

Been an interesting 10 years. Good luck to the rest of you.

You'll be back! Or maybe you wont. Thats the thing about scrapping. It's something you can pick up and put down years at a time. Good luck with your next endeavors!

Originally Posted by snorton1

On a far more serious note, when I started this thread, I had hoped for conversations and inspirations about people fighting and surviving or even thriving through this tough time. I deeply appreciate the voices here and I hope that SKWrapper and all the rest of you find peace, hope, and prosperity as we move through the remainder of 2020.

I must say that I feel a bit guilty, as being in the cleaning business has given me job security during this pandemic. I've never been busier and the scrapping side has been busy too, especially electronics, but the copper, brass, lead has been pretty good also! I know others are struggling and hope they can endure this. Sometimes a reset is a great way of reevaluating your present journey. I wish everyone well if they choose to follow another dream. But for me this pandemic has only made me more resilient and more determined to finish my dream.

I'll have to admit that the break from scrapping has been welcomed. My regular job has been very busy this year. With many businesses working with skeleton crews the calls from regular contacts haven't been coming in.......until Monday this week.

Pics coming soon.

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

I can hardly stand the anticipation

You don't want to see what I'm bringing home?