new forum member in oregon

hi everyone. I'm Dave aka badkarma. i found this forum in a link on one of jack's youtube videos. tons of info here, i've been lurking for a couple weeks debating wether i need another reason to be on the computer...

i started scrapping in 04 when i got out of the service, my unckle roped me into haulling in a bunch of junk cars that were out on the family farm and i've been hooked ever since. i've done farm machinery, buses, boats up to 40 ft, motorcycles, estate/ rental cleanups, and now i primarily am Ecycling as i'm home with my boys and they aren't big enough to really help yet. although my three year old loves to take apart computers and if he could break the screws loose would be faster at it than i am.

Welcome to the forum! What part of Oregon are you in?

Hello from Denver.

i'm in silverton. any plans on expanding your escrap to oregon? we have a shortage of buyers here.

Howdy Dave! I am a newb scrapper down in Medford, OR. I hope it isn't as competitive in Silverton as it is here for scrap.

-Tony

Welcome from the dry side of the state! (Burns)

welcome aboard. Let me know if there is anything I can help you with.

Welcome from Kentucky.

its fairly competive here. i do most of my scrapping in the salem area, but i have 1 contract that i drive almost a hour up to sandy for. Tony, one thing i've learned over the years is that scrapping is 105% customer service. when approching new contacts a collared shirt is mandatory, bring donuts from the best donut shop in town. that gets you in the door, selling yourself as a enviromentaly responsable recycler that is providing a service for free to the company/ person. be honest about how much you are making ( i like to have a couple weight tickets and a bar graph of what i've done in the last 6 months or so.) communicate with business people in thier language. they expect a salesman approach from everybody that talks to them. when you get a contract have a supervisor/ mnager that you can call thier cell if there is ever a question of what your supposed to take, it is always better to take two trips than to leave with something that you werent supposed to. this also builds trust in your integerity. i always keep a broom and a flat nosed shovel in my truck to clean up after myself.

the idea here is to have that company think, what would we do without this guy? there is always more scrap, inside, around back, in the basement, but untill you build the relationship they are not going to think of you when they are looking at it going, what do we do with this stuff?

in 6 months you wont have any competiton.

Dave, I like your approach and your business practices. I can tell you are very successful at this.

I scrap in my spare time as I mostly take what I can from my day job. Luckily, we have a great deal of construction going on and I am taking home quite a bit of copper and shred. Our two largest metal processors in the area have a pretty good lock down on most of the big companies around here with their pickup service. However, I did recently negotiate with a local DME supplier for their old/broken equipment and should make out pretty good with this.

I really do enjoy scrapping (much more than staring at computer screens) and may take the plunge into full-timing depending on how my agreement with this supplier goes.

Take care and best of luck to you!

thanks everybody for the welcome, i've ridden through CO, KY, Medford, and Burns, (i'd rather live on the dry side...) i put many miles on my bike before i had kids.

Hi gang, its been a while since ive posted anything. I took one of those fancy city jobs that i went to college for (paid my way with scrap and my gi bill). But i really miss working for my self, i dont miss the hours and the getting off at 330 every afternoon leaves tons of time to spend with my boys. Its horrible i know... ive been trying to avoid scrapping (im like a magnet for junk) it just follows me home. Ive had a few deals that i couldnt pass up to my wife's dismay and sadly i now have a storage unit.. ..and a pile of circut boards/ scrap gold that im waiting till the next economic crash to push it up over 2000 a oz before i sell. Its really nice to basically have a scrap savings account instead of trying to make a weekly paycheck. Anyways im just rambling on.

Glad ya doing well an seem happy!

Always good to see a update.

Good luck with the continued scrapping even if only in your spare time now!

Sirscrapalot - Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little. - Epicurus