new customer, going to be tough.

been workin on my a scrap yard for over a year. they were never interested in e scrap, but have a new young lion with some decision making power.

been selling him my hard drive seperated scrap for float money.

the other day he wanted me to sell him my boards, I told him I probably could buy his. This got the typical responce. ( a holeyer then thou attitude). so I told him I would bring some boards down for him to look at knowing he would not come close to a realistic price.

off I went with an assortment of goodies. and just happened to have 3 pallets of servers and one of whole hard drives on the truck for a little intimidation factor.

so I arive and he brings outy some boards. 1 power supply board. one good mother board , a chinese blue board and a faded tan tv board.

I asked him what he was paying for the low grade board, he tells me .15 to .25. so I did a little educating.
and he asked what I paid for boards I quoted some prices where I could make a little money and his responce was, man I can't buy your boards.

I told him I was searious when I said I could probably buy your boards I was nor blowing smoke. sooooo he takes me inside to a 3/4 full gaylord and says He gets about one a month.

Here is the problem: they are all mixed boards. radio. tv. mid grade and mother boards Chinese and American. and wants me to make a bid.

Any one got any ideas how in H IM going to make a bid on this mess ?

I would ask for weights first a tare wieght on the gondola; if its not already marked. Then if possible, I would ask for a weight on the gondola when its full. I personally offer half way between what you would sell low grade and mid grade. even if it was mixed evenly between low and mid any high grade would be profit. You could have a ratio of 70 low grade 20 mid grade and 10% high grade and come out ahead.

I would ask him to separate them, or allow you to separate them, then weigh them and give him your price per pound. In doing it this way, you can always give him a price based on the market prices and you get to keep your profit margins about the same on every load.

Since this "young lion" is in the scrapping industry, he will understand that the markets rise and fall and that his price per pound may occasionally change. But at the same time, your profit margins will remain in your acceptable range.

That is just my $0.02

I don't believe you can.(period) high grade/low grade/mixed grade, either separate it, or gamble

I would ask for a total weight of the 3/4 gaylord that he has, pull a random 1% by weight. For example, if it weighs 1200 lbs., randomly pull 12 lbs, out and see what you have in high, mid and low grade.

I would make two or three random samples by weight, average the samples you found and make your offer based on that.

Well since he is a scrap yard pay him the lowist grade. If you bring a load of extruded and sheet aluminium they sure as heck are going to pay you the lowist grade for the most part. He should understand the mixed load concept for sure.

I had a yard with the same thing. They had 8 full gaylords. I spent a good bit of time seperating them all and we split the profit after shipping off to my buyer.

My point here though is in the mix that was there. Just grabbing a 10% sample will not get you anywhere. They were basically layered where nothing but crap with maybe 5% good stuff until we got half way through the box tehn it flipped to 40% good stuff for a foot or so then back to bad, then a layer of high grade telecom ........you get the picture. Next gaylord looked great on top, but maybe only had 10% good stuff all the way through.

I would offer him a price per pound for your various grades, then seperate it and weigh it right there at the facility.

Good luck on this one. Hoping for the best for you.

If you know what ou pay for low grade and what you pay for high grade take a chance on first load with a price somewhere in the middle. Then let him know that if he separates the boards you can pay according to the grades they are separated in. Tell him to set up three boxes, low,mid,high grade according to how you buy. A little lose up front on first box may turn into a big win down the road.

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Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER

If you know what ou pay for low grade and what you pay for high grade take a chance on first load with a price somewhere in the middle. Then let him know that if he separates the boards you can pay according to the grades they are separated in. Tell him to set up three boxes, low,mid,high grade according to how you buy. A little lose up front on first box may turn into a big win down the road.

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Then you have to educate the yard people on how the stuff separates and some just don't/won't learn cause it's not in their job description. Good luck if it works out.

Sometimes workers not knowing what is the good stuff keeps it from growing legs and walking away.

one problem with teaching them to separate it, they might decide they don't need you any more ; )

I would pass on the deal. One gaylord of mixed material isnt much, especially since he will want to circumvent you - almost all scrapyards do.

Oldude, as I suggested don't put much value on it, if you slip in an offer over lowgrade you will look competitive but not over zealous.( if you do make an offer). As Ewasted said; they will use you and then pitch you like a plastic fork. Do not give them a free education on the value.

I'm currently going through something similar at a yard by me. You can and will become expendable in their eyes. Stick to a lowball offer; as soon as they see its value you're gone.