Should you pay for your scrap appliances/and just plain scrap????

Well this tread is more for the newbies but even our veterans of the scrap business, some will agree or disagree but being in this business for 20+ years I would like to post it. I have all ways paid for all my material. My father who was a scrap man when he used a horse and wagon to pull his loads also paid. Believe me a couple of bucks gives you the right of choosing what you will take and won't take, there's nothing worse to me than being at a customers mercy. That being said the key to this business is to have a steady flow of material to sell, and in order to do that you must have a customer base that when they have scrap they call you and you only.If you think that you are going to be able to make a living chasing bulk day pick ups you are only kidding your self. We do all kinds of jobs all sizes and amounts
But we have never given up our appliance pick ups.We advertise in many ways but the one that has always generated calls is good old Free Craig's List, the thing that sets us apart from the rest I believe is we pay them for there appliances only five bucks but, that allows me to say * ALL APPLIANCES MUST BE OUT SIDE OR IN THE GARAGE*
We do not enter your home, now how cheap is that five bucks now. I wanted to share this one story will you. I get a call one day the women on the phone says she is calling for her boss and that we pay 5.00 could we pick up some fridges tomorrow they need the room in the storage room ok so in my mind I am thinking two maybe three but I ask her how many do they have see says hold on, see says bring a big truck o boy score .well if I tell you that day we picked up 37 fridges. The customer is a real estate company that owns six rental developments in S. Florida we serve them all, when ever they replace the appliances some are good and we resell them for around a hundred bucks in the picture you can see a few along the left wall so I do believe in paying for every thing and building a customer base.what are your thoughts/ experiences .

Great advice, I will definitely use some of those tips when advertising for items. Hard to argue with success! :)

I have noticed this.........When I was doing scrap in Nashville (bigger market) plenty of work and free scrap...........Now I'm in Knoxville (smaller market) I pay for all my scrap........I also think Nashville is a more wealthy city by average than Knoxville which means people have more disposable income..........I do pay now for most everything but I think it has alot to do with your market or situation

I avoid paying if I can but don't have a problem loosening things up with some $$. Yesterday I gave a guy $100 over asking for a junk Blazer...he had more biz to throw my way and I wanted to make sure he knew I was serious.

I bought appliances for 5 bucks until a good customer base was established and like said above they were always waiting at the top of the drive.

I always pay for scrap, be it refrigerators, ice machines or a/c's and it has done well for me for the last 10 years or so. The only time I charge is when it is a remediation job. So if you have 150 pop machines that need to be done this week, give me a call! (I have actually had that call 4 or 5 times in the last couple of years.)

I do a mixture, a lot of my metal stuff is free, where as I do pay for a majority of my ewaste. I'm not above paying though, my market just doesn't call for me having to all the time. For me it all balances it out.

YMMV

Sirscrapalot - Wisdom begins in Wonder. - Socrates

Thanks, that is a good idea to build you business.

I also wanted to add that bringing a dozen Dunkin assorted in a box also can do wonders, it becomes more of a friendly relationship, much more than just business.

Commodity versus service

Basically it comes down to this: do you view your business as a commodity trader or as a service provider? Neither is wrong, it comes down to marketing and your capabilities.

OK here it goes, if I buy anything it is e-waste and then it will depend on what they have. For an example last week I bought 12 servers at 10.00ea they were conplete except for hards in some of them. They all had the processors(2ea) all had 2-2gb memory and the power suplies, all had small sockt mother boards. Most of the e-waste I get come out of businesses and they just want to get rid of it and they are glad that I come and pick it up for free. Alot of e-waste is not worth paying for, like printers, scanners amd crt monitors. Scrap steel I will not pay for and I do not go out looking for it but I will take it if someone gives it to me. E-waste is my gig.

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Originally Posted by Russell

Commodity versus service

Basically it comes down to this: do you view your business as a commodity trader or as a service provider? Neither is wrong, it comes down to marketing and your capabilities.

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And if you customer views it as unwanted clutter or a commodity.
Mine usually opt for the latter so Im a buyer, but I never turn down the free stuff.

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Originally Posted by 1956

Well this tread is more for the newbies but even our veterans of the scrap business, some will agree or disagree but being in this business for 20+ years I would like to post it. I have all ways paid for all my material. My father who was a scrap man when he used a horse and wagon to pull his loads also paid. Believe me a couple of bucks gives you the right of choosing what you will take and won't take, there's nothing worse to me than being at a customers mercy. That being said the key to this business is to have a steady flow of material to sell, and in order to do that you must have a customer base that when they have scrap they call you and you only.If you think that you are going to be able to make a living chasing bulk day pick ups you are only kidding your self. We do all kinds of jobs all sizes and amounts
But we have never given up our appliance pick ups.We advertise in many ways but the one that has always generated calls is good old Free Craig's List, the thing that sets us apart from the rest I believe is we pay them for there appliances only five bucks but, that allows me to say * ALL APPLIANCES MUST BE OUT SIDE OR IN THE GARAGE*
We do not enter your home, now how cheap is that five bucks now. I wanted to share this one story will you. I get a call one day the women on the phone says she is calling for her boss and that we pay 5.00 could we pick up some fridges tomorrow they need the room in the storage room ok so in my mind I am thinking two maybe three but I ask her how many do they have see says hold on, see says bring a big truck o boy score .well if I tell you that day we picked up 37 fridges. The customer is a real estate company that owns six rental developments in S. Florida we serve them all, when ever they replace the appliances some are good and we resell them for around a hundred bucks in the picture you can see a few along the left wall so I do believe in paying for every thing and building a customer base.what are your thoughts/ experiences .

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Just thought I would repost this thread it was pretty popular.

the problem i have is that since im a small op- one man show
the big companies are all contracted to big, established scrap companies who leave a big steel skip at their premises

they charge them a fee for the skip- i suppose
and the scrap in it becomes all profit

ive contacted them
most dont reply
those that do say they already deal with their "preferred" ompany

also, at other companies, the staff take all the scrap for themselves
i was offered to pay for full van loads of scrap from a big container & transport company but i know the guy will be doing this WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE & APPROVAL OF HIS BOSSES
NOW THATS STEALING

its so tempting but i dont want to do that stuff.

im a bit depressed cos my van was at the mechanics all week
i had one guy from an auto shop ofering me a load of stuff-but he wanted it gone ASAP
i got my van back now & when i contacted him saying i will be there tmrw- he replies that he gave all away today

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Originally Posted by msmoorad

the problem i have is that since im a small op- one man show
the big companies are all contracted to big, established scrap companies who leave a big steel skip at their premises

they charge them a fee for the skip- i suppose
and the scrap in it becomes all profit

ive contacted them
most dont reply
those that do say they already deal with their "preferred" ompany

also, at other companies, the staff take all the scrap for themselves
i was offered to pay for full van loads of scrap from a big container & transport company but i know the guy will be doing this WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE & APPROVAL OF HIS BOSSES
NOW THATS STEALING

its so tempting but i dont want to do that stuff.

im a bit depressed cos my van was at the mechanics all week
i had one guy from an auto shop ofering me a load of stuff-but he wanted it gone ASAP
i got my van back now & when i contacted him saying i will be there tmrw- he replies that he gave all away today

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Manufacturing facilities are not your best bet. Look for office type environments, service/repair shops, small retail shops, and of course thrift stores. The possibilities are endless.

if you give 5 for a fridge how many of them does it take to make a ton usually and how much do they bring a to there.
I think they are 210 a ton here maybe.

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Originally Posted by Focker

if you give 5 for a fridge how many of them does it take to make a ton usually and how much do they bring a to there.
I think they are 210 a ton here maybe.

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Well to answer your question refrigerators full size average around 400 lbs. The thing about refrigerators is that most of them are in working condition most people are up grading and just want there old appliances removed, that is also true with ovens, now if the appliances are let's say junk after bringing them back to the warehouse and plugging them in, we then we will first recover the freon gas witch is mostly 134, then we scrap the compressors, copper lines, wire and depending what other appliances we are scraping electric motors, dryer barrels, ect. Most appliances after being checked are cleaned up and disinfected are put-on Craig's list, here in Florida all rentals apts come with appliances I know that is not the case in all areas. So landlords are always looking for used appliances, they sell very fast any fridge working can be sold for 125.00 at a minimum. So paying five bucks for them is not such a bad deal, the worst case is the are just scrap and that works out to be about 40.00 scrap value white goods here are 190.00 a ton now.

well that doesnt sound to bad then.How do u recover and or remove the freon?

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Originally Posted by 1956

Well to answer your question refrigerators full size average around 400 lbs. The thing about refrigerators is that most of them are in working condition most people are up grading and just want there old appliances removed, that is also true with ovens, now if the appliances are let's say junk after bringing them back to the warehouse and plugging them in, we then we will first recover the freon gas witch is mostly 134, then we scrap the compressors, copper lines, wire and depending what other appliances we are scraping electric motors, dryer barrels, ect. Most appliances after being checked are cleaned up and disinfected are put-on Craig's list, here in Florida all rentals apts come with appliances I know that is not the case in all areas. So landlords are always looking for used appliances, they sell very fast any fridge working can be sold for 125.00 at a minimum. So paying five bucks for them is not such a bad deal, the worst case is the are just scrap and that works out to be about 40.00 scrap value white goods here are 190.00 a ton now.

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They must go for big fridges in your area. Around here, a 20 cu. ft. fridge at around 200 lbs is typical.

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Originally Posted by Focker

well that doesnt sound to bad then.How do u recover and or remove the freon?

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My main focus is a/c recycling so every day we recycle all different types of freon, as far as appliances go it's pretty simple, what you have to do is fit a line tap valves to the suction line at the compressor, this enables your gauges to be fitted to reclaim the gas.hope that was a helpful tip for you. As far as recovering freon there are plenty of courses on line to get your self certified, once you get certified you can go to any HVAC supply house and they would be able to sell you a machine that you register with the EPA so you could do this and be all legal and such.

How can you make money paying 5 bucks a piece? That leave 5-7 dollars profit a piece. After gas and labor to get then your negative I could see if people were getting rid of 20 at a time but how often does that happen

He makes the bulk of his money from reselling working ones. You have to look at the average that you are getting from resale and scrapping instead of piece by piece.

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Originally Posted by directrecycle

Manufacturing facilities are not your best bet. Look for office type environments, service/repair shops, small retail shops, and of course thrift stores. The possibilities are endless.

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i took ur advice
thought about it a bit and sent out a whole lot of emails to law firms & accountants/auditors & some IT firms

got two bites already

& got a request for my full contact details from another decent sized IT company

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Originally Posted by F350scrapper

How can you make money paying 5 bucks a piece? That leave 5-7 dollars profit a piece. After gas and labor to get then your negative I could see if people were getting rid of 20 at a time but how often does that happen

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Yes, profit margin is narrow, but if you are a legit business...

The $5 is a write off.
My vehicle is low cost and the $.55 per mile actually puts money in my pocket.
You can tell the person where to put the appliance to be picked up since I am now the customer.
Builds a customer base and increases volume.
I wouldn't go further then a 5-10 mile radius and quite a few people don't even want the $5.