Neighborhood Scrap Route

Hello Scrap forum,

Me and my brother run a scrap hauling business (hauling/cutting ag lots) and we have been doing this for about a year part time (both are college students).

My idea is to purchase some 5 gallon buckets (real cheap on craigslist) and go door to door in a dense neighborhood (1 house every 200 or so feet). We would knock on doors offering to haul small scrap items (Pretty much anything like wire, ferrous, electronics we can make money on, etc) as well as free hauling of large items we can break down like washer or dryers. If the people are interested we say just put any metal items in the bucket and any large items out front and we will pick them in a week or so.

Our current business is mostly ag lots with some appliances. My thought proccess behind this is it gives the people with say 20 or 30 pounds of metal (I get messages all the time asking if we want 10 pounds or 20 pounds) a chance to recycle that. It would also give us the ability to take small lots because we would be getting so many of them.

Thoughts?

Thanks!

I believe your time would be better off concentrating on get some Commercial accounts, auto body shops and places that generate scrap on a regular basis. I think you will get a lot more material getting commercial customers than home owners. just my Two cents

The only way that you'll know if it works or not is to try it. Good luck.

My experience is that most people could care less what you have to say when knocking on their door. They just are trying to think of a polite way to make you leave. If you were wanting to do the door to door approach, I would recommend making flyers, with a phone # and e-mail.
http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/smf-s...tomizable.html

There are lots of threads about flyers here. Just type 'flyer' in the search box

Just make a flyer with catchy colors maybe the name of your business, what you recycle, and your name, email and number. This is way more effective in cost and I know I wouldn't want to keep a bucket around, and most of the metal you are getting Is probably bigger than a 5 gallon bucket.

I think that if some stranger came to my door offering me a free 5 gallon bucket, I would say "thank you very much" and they would not see it again..

I started a similar project with AL cans. buckets were provided by the town (mandatory recycling) but the people still have to bring them to the transfer station. I stepped in offering to lighten their load to the transfer station it was only a couple at first until word got out in town....
I did not go door to door,instead I talked to a bunch of people I knew in an area already on my daily route and let word of mouth do the rest.
Once I was in the door with cans all other items are then mentioned after the fact. I will have to agree with 1956 households that are visited regularly do not produce a whole lot of scrap on a regular basis ( besides AL cans).

Go for it man.
Nothing ventured Nothing gained

Cold calling with a bucket in hand? Idk, man. It wouldn't fly here. Not in my town, not in my neighborhood, and especially not at my house. I mean think about it. The homeowner just got off work. He's tired, had a bad day. Maybe a bad week. He don't wanna deal with you. A stranger showing up unannounced and uninvited. He just might answer the door with a baseball bat, a knife, a gun..... Or maybe it's female home alone? Little old lady? Kids? Whatever. You done scared em to death. Then you gotta deal with that fallout.

Look, it's good you're trying to come with honest ways to make money. I'm not knocking that. I just think this idea has the potential to go wrong in so many ways. Keep on trying tho. You'll come up with something better. And good luck to you in all your future endeavors.

Oh, one last thought. If someone ever does offer to give you any large items ( washers, dryers, fridges, cars, etc...) DON'T WAIT A WEEK OR SO TO PICK THEM UP!! ;) Chances are the item won't be there that long. Remember, the early bird gets the worm. :)

Alright so scratch the household recycling idea.

I have looked at commercial accounts and have run into some problems such as we only have a F150 and a single axle aluminum trailer. We should be getting a F350 dually soon as well as a bobcat trailer. Thoughts on trailer? Our current buyer doesn't have a magnet and we either throw it off the trailer or if he has a baler in he unloads it with that. Should we spend the extra money to get the dump trailer? Or should we stick with the bobcat trailer until we can afford a roll off trailer?

I read somewhere on here that people are doing routes to restaurants getting the large tin or aluminum cans (A gallon?) and they are making money going once a week. Thoughts on this? I know several owners around here (pizza buffet and a bar and grill) that would probably be willing to give me them if I provide a container. Is this worth doing?

Thanks for the help!

The large #10 cans are steel
they do add up if you get enough of them, just don't be like me and make a huge pile only to find out the yard does not take them v:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NHscrapman

The large #10 cans are steel
they do add up if you get enough of them, just don't be like me and make a huge pile only to find out the yard does not take them v:)

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Smash them and add to microwave/refrigerator carcasses for filler.

I put a few in microwaves and the rest went to the landfills steel pile.
Spring had sprung and Mr. Bear was hanging around the shop a little too much.

Not to mention the yard has it in big bold red letters NO FOOD CANS!!!

NH - Learning the hard way lol

Skyline you make a good point. I can knock on almost any door in town an address the person answering by their first name. This is probably not the case where others live.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NHscrapman

The large #10 cans are steel
they do add up if you get enough of them, just don't be like me and make a huge pile only to find out the yard does not take them v:)

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That would really suck for me if my yard stopped buying them. I get a contractor bag full of them about every other week.