Last night had a poor start, but good ending.
I got a late start last night on my curb shopping route. As I predicted before I left, I was turning up with a whole bunch of nothing for almost the whole night.
My Tuesday route is often one of my better nights, but it is one of the most competitive, due to other scrap guys out there. There will literally be a parade of us at times, rolling through this one sweet neighborhood. As long as you're in the front of the pack, you can often fill up your truck/van. Very densely packed area with a lot of disposable income.
Anyways, I got held up on some work I was doing, and didn't get to hit the street until almost 2 hours past when I normally leave. I almost bagged it for the night. The only reason I still went out is because even though there are so many scrappers, many of them are very poorly educated in how to get every last dollar out of their scrap. I'll be right behind another guy, and he'll snip cords, but won't take vacuums, TVs, fans, microwaves, etc. I know some guys just don't like that kind of work, but you'd be amazed at how much un-broken-down stuff I see get thrown in the shred pile at my yard. So I figured I'd at least be getting scraps last night.
I have 3 neighborhoods that I hit on Tuesday. The first one was a total blank. Not even a beer can to be scrapped. The second one was good for a vacuum (with the cord snipped off, naturally) and a couple of aluminum broom handles. I was so close to calling it a night, but decided to blast through my last hood and hope for at least something interesting.
Right off the bat, I found a computer tower. A big 'un, too. (it had a big mobo, P4 processor, heavy aluminum cooler, power supply, floppy drive, and a million fans in it... tons of wire. The case itself was probably at least 20 pounds). This made me smile, for sure. Then, around the corner I found a garage-cleanout with a whole bunch of odds-and-ends. I got an all metal tricycle, some good buckets, and some shelving. Ended up leaving some ice skates and roller blades behind, that I'm regretting, now.
Further down the route, I saw what looked like a guitar handle sticking out of a can, so I checked it... turned out to be a crappy toy, BUT the can held a 50' extension cord that was mega-heavy duty (burnt end on it that I'll replace for, like, $3 and I'm going to keep this) probably worth at least $50, one of those really heavy-gauge RV extension cord adapters, a carpet shampooer, and a vacuum (all with cords!).
Finally, at the end of my route, the biggest find of the night: one of those salon hair-dryer chairs. It was immaculate, except for the d*mn missing cord. That bad boy weighed a ton, and I accidentally tore a hole in one of the arms when I was shoving it in my van. I'm going to see what kind of market there is for these things, and see if I can make it work. Hopefully I can catch some money for this thing. Otherwise, it's got a HEAVY metal base, and I'm assuming a heavy-duty motor and wire in there. Scrap alone wouldn't be too bad, it weighs as much as a washing machine, I'm thinking.
