Printable View
Recently, I have come across several strands of Christmas lights. I called my scrap yard and found out that they pay 15 cents per pound (USD). That's pretty bad right? Would it be worth it to cut all of the connectors and light sockets off and have a better grade of wire or take them in as is?
Call them back and ask about #2 insulated wire price. And then see if they have a copper content price that maybe you can put the bulbs in or if not add them to the shred. Then do the math $.15 AS IS doing nothing or $x.xx
Filling up a Gaylord with #2 insulated wire allows me to throw in some Christmas lights with bulbs without penalty. As long as I do not over do it, I can also include telecommunication wire. The time to separate these items may not be worth the hourly wage, s.s., ins., etc. of an employee. Building a relationship with your yard and providing consistent loads will provide benefits.
Sold a tote of clipped xmas wires last week, I always kept it separate from my normal #2 ins wire. After haggling with the manager I was able to get #2 ins wire price again, but the yard manager said next time throw it in with extension cords because of the recovery factor of copper is low. That was news to me
I just called my scrap yard and found that they pay a good #2 price so I'm going to cut all the connectors off. Thanks for the advice everyone! I really appreciate it.
I cut em apart if im bored but id rather just take the dirty price. If you figure your getting paid $.15 a pound for the bulbs by the time you cut em off and weigh just the copper your really just getting about the same amount of cash any way. 3lbs of x-mas lights at $.15 a pound =$.45 now chop off all the bulbs to get $.40/lbs for the remaining pound of copper= $.40. So i guess its all about what you feel like spending your time doing.