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I live in a rural community 30 miles from the main population center which has 2 scrap yards, and 60 miles south of a large city with several. the 2 yards pay about 60 to 66% of what the yards up north pay. do you think it would be profitable to pay the lower price, saving the local folks the fuel to town, (on a small scale) then when I get a truck load (pickup and 8x10 trailer) take it up north for the 30 t0 35% mark up. would cost me about $30 a trip.
Depends on what you buy. If it's iron, steel or aluminum, I'd say it's not worth it. I'm in somewhat close to that situation. The MOST I'll pay for ANYTHING is 1/2 the yard price. I won't pay anything for Light Iron (tin) or Aluminum and only 15% for #1 Iron. I'm using a 22' car hauler and taking 1-2 tons at a time. Brass and Copper is a different story but still don't pay more than 1/3 to 1/2, depending on amount and what it is.
Yep, I second Mick on that one, except if there's a large load of aluminum you could go a third of scrap and still be ok. If I was in your location, the local yards would not see one lousy ounce of my scrap until they brought up their prices to be comparable...I'm just stubborn that way! You might try getting the 2 yards to work against each other on prices.
I guess I should clarify about aluminum. I meant Sheet Aluminum. Personally, I just don't like it. Too easy to get cut on it, blows around and really got to make sure it's strapped down real good. Takes a lot to make a pound and hard to handle. I don't even want it. Cast aluminum is good, but a lot winds up as Irony Aluminum as it takes a lot of grinder action to cut out the connecting bolts like in aluminum heads. I'll take all the window screens I can get for Extrusion. But, like Mechanic688, I still wouldn't pay more than 1/3 due to the labor involved to process it.
10-4 frontdoor
Ya i planned to just buy the good stuff, copper, cans, cast, e stuff etc unless it was a really good load. but not sure if i can get it for 50%. but was hoping i can get free stuff to like comps, washers etc. I never use the local yards they dont supply vasoliene with their prices.
NOT even a kiss, ain't that the $hits. Yea, the difference in price between the two yards will pay for the fuel to haul it there. If more people were like you, the 2 local yards would be upping their prices or closing their doors.
Just as a thought, a lot of times on material like that if the bolt/stud is sticking out of the cast aluminum, and it's a smaller diameter bolt, just give it a quick whack with a ballpeen hammer. Lots of times the bolt will just pull out by breaking off a small bit of aluminum, if it's not threaded in too far. Other times, the bolt will just shear off, leaving a bit of threaded shaft in the bolt hole. Same end result as using a grinder to cut them off or actually a bit cleaner final product, and will save you some time on cleaning, as well as going through fewer cutoff wheels.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mick
As for the original post, yeah I think that's a great idea. Even if you're hauling steel/iron, it might very well be worth it. If iron up north is going for $180 a ton at the bigger yards and you can get it dropped off at your door for the local price of $120, if you haul 2 tons up on your pickup and trailer (that should be quite doable) that's an extra $120 minus your $30 cost. Heck, even if you have to pick up the 2 tons and can do so with a single stop, it could be worth it. If you're picking up from someone say like a bigger brake shop or similar, tell them you'll show them the scale ticket and pay them the local price on that weight, maybe a bit less than the local price seeing as how they didn't have to do any hauling/work themselves. On the more valuable materials, it would be even easier to make money that way I think. Once you get a regular client list built up who know you pay a competitive price and are good to deal with, it could be quite a good way to make money in your area/circumstances, and saving you a lot of time you would otherwise spend driving around or searching for that same scrap.