I've been scrapping for many years now. At least 10 or 11, maybe more.



Long ago I learned that curb picking was a money losing operation. It's typical for me to travel 25 miles just covering one neighborhood in my urban area and then taking the material to the scrap yard. Sometimes I will invest 5-6 hours a night into an operation like that, and gross only $40. Take out the expense for mileage and I net around $15. Not a great rate of pay!

So I have dabbled here and there in buying scrap, primarily from auto repair shops. I've heard many guys talking about "paying a buck a rotor" and wondered how well that worked out for them. As for me, seeing that rotors vary quite widely in weight, I came up with a different idea: build a working relationship with the shop owner based on trust. Arrive to buy scrap with an empty truck, load everything he's got, and then split the proceeds with him 60/40, I keep the 60%. And yes, I show him the ticket.

The one guy I've done this with has come back to me semi-regularly over the years. I've tried to make it work with another, larger shop recently, and the guy acts like he doesn't want to talk to me anymore. "Other people pay better than you do" he says. WTF? How? I doubt too many are paying on a percentage basis, is there another strategy people are using?

The guy didn't want to talk about it. He openly admitted to me previously he didn't know how much he would have gotten for the first load I hauled for him. I don't know what his basis is for saying I pay less than the other guys.

I suspect something else is going on there, but I'm not sure what it is. I'd be willing to adjust the percentage slightly, but it's a lot of work even for 60%.

Anyone willing to share their purchasing strategy? What am I missing here?