Real Scrappers are not greedy

Yesterday day helped a plumber take apart a 1260 lb steam burner round trip for me to drive was 100 miles $30 fuel added some more from home about 340 lb so it was a good day / cause I am not greedy .
See another guy he used all of a sudden wanted not to scrap cause of the lower price lately .Even the plumber says to me so it's still OK with you cause i bid this job low . I said It does not matter to me low or high ( low within reason) i just keep scrapping. My load generated $170 with $140 profit. Just keep it flowing mother scrap .

Your either crazy or a genius ! I prefer higher prices, more money for me and more for the people I'm buying it from but as long as there's money there I'm right in there too.

Guess you never plan on being rich then!!!

Making $140 off of 30 is a 4.2% profit! I'd be happy with that ; )

Bear check your math. 100 miles. Countless hours wasted. Wear and tear. 30 in gas. Driving here and there. Lets say it took 8 hours out of your day total. Break it down its 12 dollars an hour.

That's all true Pistone, still, a $140 is a $140.

Yes - true hrs are not my full concern . The yard closes by 6 but need to be there by 5:30 so thats my time keeper for the day & the drive home don't stop looking
$140 is $140 - I know there is way more money in scrap then that AMT , but I have also made less from some slave drivers for sure & kissing A** for it . I am grateful, I also drive my truck ever so easy. All in All no driving no finding wear and tear is the inevitable gift

A "real" scrapper wouldn't even be worryin about the money! He'd just jump in there with a pipe wrench in his teeth, a hacksaw in one hand and a hammer in the other, and rip it apart with that and his feet. He wouldn't worry about a truck, he'd sling it across his shoulder and trot it on down to the yard, toss it on the scales and say, I'll be back soon with more.

Some people are just natural born haters but I don't let that bug me one bit. Almost every scrap yard operates the same way, make a decent but slim margin and they keep rolling all year long. Bears make money and bulls make money but hogs always go broke, an old time saying that stills holds true now.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PistoneScrapProcessing

Bear check your math. 100 miles. Countless hours wasted. Wear and tear. 30 in gas. Driving here and there. Lets say it took 8 hours out of your day total. Break it down its 12 dollars an hour.

---

and that's exactly $12 an hour more than I can make sitting at home crying bout the prices like a little sissy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bear

A "real" scrapper wouldn't even be worryin about the money! He'd just jump in there with a pipe wrench in his teeth, a hacksaw in one hand and a hammer in the other, and rip it apart with that and his feet. He wouldn't worry about a truck, he'd sling it across his shoulder and trot it on down to the yard, toss it on the scales and say, I'll be back soon with more.

---

I have seen a few of them one guy rolls in his product in a trash can with wheels .He has a big smile on his face . It's pride that your load is worthy .It's a nice feeling yanking out 4 - 300 lb ( average weight cause ends are heaver ) sections of a steam burner that there is no gray area - it's short steel & i am the lucky one to have it. When it's out of your truck you also know that getting more is up to the source .
I have 2 heating specialist that can supply me .Yesterdays heating specialist had great technique vacuums out as much soot as possible carefully cuts bolts . As he separates the sections he has me spraying water on area's to keep dust down .
The other specialist is a bit more aggressive ,dust a flying

I feel ya. I only took a 36 dollar load to the yard yesterday but I felt more pride in that 36 dollars than I did working 12 hours at my "job".

One of the things I like about scrapping is everyday can and will be different. Driving that far would not be my first choice but at some point you have to decide if that is what the plan is for the day or am I going to sit around and wonder if something better is going to come along.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bear

A "real" scrapper wouldn't even be worryin about the money! He'd just jump in there with a pipe wrench in his teeth, a hacksaw in one hand and a hammer in the other, and rip it apart with that and his feet. He wouldn't worry about a truck, he'd sling it across his shoulder and trot it on down to the yard, toss it on the scales and say, I'll be back soon with more.

---

Maybe when I was younger... :-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by KZBell

One of the things I like about scrapping is everyday can and will be different. Driving that far would not be my first choice but at some point you have to decide if that is what the plan is for the day or am I going to sit around and wonder if something better is going to come along.

---

Agreed!!....I made alot of money driving to places noone else would go

There are different ways of scrapping , I saw a post from PistoneScrapProcessing of a locomotive scrap project .Thats what is great about the forum how we really have different - social classes of scrappers - but we meet here and we are the same . Now back to the way of scraping, I welcome the drive - the drive exposes me to the - curb - the untapped dumpster ( metal mix with normal trash ) the TV on the side road ETC. That is the whole game plan 7 days a week i go to the yard big orders and small I will go for $30 but I count on finding scrap one way or another & it seems to happen .The math works out a ride to the yard @ $30 can net you $70 to $100 for the next day. Be strategically have the $30 day to allow you to hit the evening before garbage day at the curb (save on fuel ). The best is heading down with a small load early and finding metal .One sure consensus is when you stay home you find ZERO .

doing jobs like that gets you exposed to homes and neighborhoods not normally on your radar.

if the homeowner getting the new furnace had other scrap metal out in the garage or workshop they could have easily tossed that on the back of your truck to sweeten the load.

if the homeowner had a stash of obsolete pc's or other electronics and there was still room on your truck.......

if the neighbors were peeking out the windows or over the fence and saw an opportunity to get some junk hauled away while there was a truck parked near by....

back in the 80's a small garage cleanout got my name and number recommended to an "A list" couple needing some very expensive furniture moved.
turns out the small garage cleanout was the personal secretary for the folks that gave us hagen daz ice cream and there were several more direct calls from this couple for smaller jobs once they got settled into their new home.

point of all this is that you'll never know when a small job can turn into something better so every chance to get your name and number out there is worth it.

Quote:

---

point of all this is that you'll never know when a small job can turn into something better so every chance to get your name and number out there is worth it.

---

I took 10 minutes to stop by a computer store last summer, didn't hear anything for about 3 months. One day we get a call from them for a cleanout. Well it took 2 full truck loads to haul all the empty chassis to the scrapyard then bought 2 1/2 truckloads from them for cash.

I picked up a couple of junk appliances from a ministry in downtown Denver(further then what I advertise) a couple of months back...That led to a call from their heating and air guy that works on the ministries housing and now he calls me to pick up stuff from his other jobs.

Most of my drives are 75 plus miles. The reality of living in the middle of nowhere and loving it. Every trip is a truck and trailer full of escrap a couple times a week though. On a good day I sell a working pc/laptop on the way through as well. Even a trip to the scrap yard is 45 miles round trip. On tthe other end though i can leave a barrel of wire or circuit boards or anything else in my drive way and it will be there when i get home.