Increase bottom line with low scrap prices

I started scrapping 4 years ago and it was a good time to start. The prices for scrap were high, light iron $165GT topping out at $180GT. #1 prepared $245GT topping out at $265GT. These prices were high so I kept on scrapping. I didn't test anything and just scrapped everything. Last August I went to the hospital and ended up having heart surgery. I was in the hospital for 2 months and laid up for another 5. I got back to scrapping this past March and got paid $85GT light iron. Wait what? What happened in those 6-7 months? Prices were cut in half. Of course I'm gonna keep scrapping, I mean I'm getting paid to recycle and I would recycle anyway.

So this price drop is a curse and a blessing in disguise. Now I test everything I get. Especially appliances. So if I scrapped a refrigerator for $7 total, now if it tests good I can get $70. That's 10x the amount compared to scrapping it. Of course you don't have a buyer immediately (scrap yard) but if you price it low enough it will get sold in a day or two. Around here anyway. So, with the scrap prices so low now, I'm actually making more money by testing and selling working items. If scrap prices were still high I probably would not be testing anything and still turn and burn. See the blessing in disguise?

The refrigerator is just an example, it all depends on age, condition, ect.

Tis' better to have scrapped and lost then to have never scrapped at all...

If you have room to store above scrap value goods that's always the way to go. Everyone is getting creative at this point. I know I am.

p.s. that hammer of Thor would be worth tons in scrap value... lol

I found a microwave in the scrap metal drop off area. It was in a cardboard box with some polystyrene blocks in there too.
So I chuck it into the back of the car and notice the box is a microwave oven box, I look and find its the same brand as the microwave.
' Coinedence that they brought the same brand and chucked the old one into the new microwaves box before chucking it out' . I thought.
Its dark when I got home and pulled the box out and put it with my scrap.

The next day I scrap a old dirty microwave and look around for another, then I grab the one that's in the box, rip the back off it, scrap it out, yay "Double Copper" transformer!

I flip it over so I can remove the plastic trim off the door...
And the instruction manual falls out.. Uh huh?
I take another look inside to see a sparking clean interior....

Oh, no. I just scrapped a brand new microwave.

Yeah, I'm double checking everything now and looking to sell before scraping. My wife did a house clean out the other day (what a gal) and brought home a 10X6 trailer with washer, dryer, tons of toys, electronics and clothes. She goes through the clothes and either sells them online or at local flea market for dirt cheap. Turning nickels into dimes and dimes into dollars. Like some of you said, if prices were higher we'd get have a lazy eye toward some stuff that can bring decent money with a little time and effort.

Oh no is right. Add that one to the thick "lesson learned" file