prices/profit

i ahve been scrapping for the better part of a decade now, mostly small scale bringing stuff in that was laying around job sites and such, and over time grew more and more into it. the other night i was talking to an old friend in NY that is a scrapper and has been for a long time, and somehow the conversation got around to the price of metals versus the money we make. he told me he made more money easier when steel was at $70 a ton than he does now when it is 200+ a ton. i see what he is saying, and am curious if any of the old timers on here see the same thing? back in the day, granted im only 31, i remember steel beams just laying on the job because people didnt want them, where as now i cant leave a load in the back of my truck overnight without things walking out. i also really see it in auctions ever since the shows came on tv, but do any of you guys see the same with having to work/spend more now for the same? sorry if i didnt word that right but im sure you get the drift.

I started hauling scrap back in 1976 while I was still in high school. We used a cornbinder grain truck and every farm we went to had truck load after truck load of old equipment for us to haul. I don't remember what it was a ton back then but we were literally rolling in money. A tank of gas back then was like 15.00. I bought my first new truck (a 1977 gmc 4x4 fully optioned) for 7900.00 cash.

I have been hauling scrap for about 20 years and I feel the same way your friend does it is easier to make money at less per ton because I am able to charge people for the removal. I used to have over 50 auto body shops that I would pick up from like once a month to a month and a half at about 200 a shop with prices like they are I have not done a body shop in about 4 years. As well as the homeowner removals that I don't get because I will not pick up for free.