Suck it up

I know price's are down.

Businesses have trends.

One thing I have admired about all scrappers, they know the harder you work the better you get paid.

Iam a simple man. I love working hard. The f**message thing about getting old is I can't go like I want to.

So what do I do?

I hire an eager hard working individual, who doesn't back away.

I had to go thru alot of people to find someone, but I did.

There's an enormous amount of free money out there, even for us old dudes.

Sorry I stole your old handle Mike.

So suck it up and get busy.

Can't wait to hear for all you negative folks, giving me all the crying $hit about China.

Go to work!

Plenty of money to be made. We are having record profits with the prices being down.
First thing first- quit calling yourself scrappers. We are recyclers

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ResourcefulRecycling

Plenty of money to be made. We are having record profits with the prices being down.
First thing first- quit calling yourself scrappers. We are recyclers

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When I meet a plumber or a mechanic, I'm a "Junk Man". When I'm hobnobbing with doctors and lawyers, I'm in "The Recycling Business".

Shred is paying nothing out here. You can't profit at $0/Ton in a farming area. But, you can do other types of recycling or other recycling-based services. I work in more than scrap value computer parts.

There are opportunities out there. Those who can do alright in these times will really prosper when the cycle improves....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by matador

Shred is paying nothing out here. You can't profit at $0/Ton in a farming area. But, you can do other types of recycling or other recycling-based services. I work in more than scrap value computer parts.

There are opportunities out there. Those who can do alright in these times will really prosper when the cycle improves....

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That sucks, but you adjusted and still moving forward.
Having someone handle the grunt work for me is allowing me to focus more on better than scrap resell.

I posted this thread, not to point a finger at anyone, except myself.
I should have made this move a long time ago. Would have saved me alot of pain and down time with my back. Iam very stubborn. Lol

Taking your advice and many other members, has moved me into a completely different direction.

Thanks SMF members!

I'm in solid waste management. when the Sopranos was huge that scared the bejesus out of some people :-)

Shame on me ... but i just call it a hobby. (It's not my prime gig.)

To me: It really doesn't matter what you're doing. A business is a business. It's all honorable as long as a person conducts themselves accordingly.

At the end of the day it's about the bottom line. That's just a column of numbers. If you can find a way to hold the line during the hard times you've done well. Figure out a way prosper during the down times and you've done really well for yourself. It's quite an accomplishment !

junkfreak- I admire your grit especially knowing you've had your body busted up a few times. Good people are great assets but like you said, a guy may have to go through a lot to find the right one or two.

I have the luxury of doing "metal recycling" as a hobby so if I'm going to be sitting watching the boob tube as the only one in the family that likes a particular show, I might as well do it standing up breaking something down. I'm willing to discount my labor, to a point. If we got to the situation like Matador's and others where they were giving nothing for steel, then, yeah, I don't really have a place to stockpile much and wouldn't seek it out. But like that magnetic SS grill I found the other day, it was worth the adventure of wrestling into the wifey's van. I had fun breaking it down, got a few parts off of it that I might be able to sell for more than scrap price, got a few nuggets of brass, and now its on the way to the yard less than 3 miles from my house.

And now I have more room for my trapping adventures that start next week! Anyway, done with lunch break, time to get back to the 9 to 5 work :lol:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ResourcefulRecycling

Plenty of money to be made. We are having record profits with the prices being down.
First thing first- quit calling yourself scrappers. We are recyclers

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I like the title "scrapper".

I got friends in low places.......

I'm left to ponder:

Years ago, i read a book called " No Excuses Management ". The short version is that it's ALWAYS the boss's fault if things aren't going well. It's the same if you're running a business. Take an honest look in the mirror from to time to see what you're doing right and what you could be doing better.

On the other hand: In so many ways you're like the proverbial "sparrow in a hurricane". You're subject to large moving forces that are far beyond your control. About the best anyone could ever do is have the good sense to get out of the way if they can foresee a storm headed their way.

~ Not sure if there are any bad guys.~

It's hard to refute the logic that people always do the best that they're capable of. ( If they could have done something any different at that moment in time ..... then they would have. )

Adaptation. Adapt to survive and et.al.

Here is my opinion and yes I'm going to textually cram it down your throats. (no pun...definitely no pun.)


When I started in 2009 I was living in a depressed area of Louisiana. I worked an exceptionally boring job at Procter and Gamble. They paid me excellent money to tell them how to make soap, containers, caps and even labels. One day I learned about internal company auctions. We could literally bid on, win and take home obsolete (according to them) stuff they had no use for anymore. I bid on and won two shipping containers (20 foot containers, 6 pallets in each) of computers, desktops, servers, laptops...for less than a third of my bi weekly paycheck. At the time the only companies I knew to take scrap at all was board sort and a local yard who payed roughly what prices are now for things at 1700 gold price... I made out well and my perspective on scrap computers changed.

Fast forward through personal issues and illness, 2013 I was back at it again, at much lower PM prices, so I already had reason to be diswayed from e waste. I started to diversify. Buying alloys and e waste. Then I started to get into more than scrap value...then Ken and me got together and all the while prices have gone down, yet here we are...continuing to make it happen. So if you asked me why I thought we were still in business I'd have to say customer service. We aren't the highest paying, we aren't the fastest turnaround. BUT we are fair, transparent and personable people. When times are tough and everyone is feeling very off put by prices you have to find something to give those guys a good feeling about you. Being fair is ALWAYS a good ticket. I operate our ebay account as personable as possible by answering questions, being friendly and letting potential customers have my phone number so they can talk to an actual person about a larger lot they are interested in. You have to give people a reason to do business with you in lean times.

Theres other aspects to this. diversification is one. You don't have to do JUST scrap. The other side of that is focus. Because you also don't want to lose business to a large pool of buyers. I have equipment to do things other buyers may not be able to. Better still I work with some of the best people, you know who you are ;). So, chin up, pick it up, drive on. Let the pins fall and be the last man standing if it comes to that.

There's another aspect to it though .....

Last summer i was talking with on of my new clients. (I love to gather people's stories so that i might learn something new.)

As it turned out, he was a retired executive that owned his own company. He was a man of few words but did say that more than anything he owed his success simply to good luck.

Sometimes it's just a turn of the card that will set a whole series of events in motion. Perhaps you're in the right place at the right time where that golden opportunity presents itself.

Conversely .... sometimes bad things happen to good people. Maybe they were just sitting on the beach on a beautiful day when a tsunami came and washed them away.

Life is funny that way. A couple of years ago, I purchased a box van to do collection events. Then, I stumbled upon and joined SMF to learn about collection events. That didn't pan out (The van was an unreliable piece of junk), but because of that, I've met an excellent group of people- that I now serve as a buyer.

You never know what will happen. That's the fun of life. At the time what seemed to be a poor purchase turned into one of the best opportunities I've had.

Now, if only I had a crystal ball....

http://i10.glitter-graphics.org/pub/...zenyqttcne.gif

We are just repeating in history. Like the depression. The ones who work hard made it through why cant we make it today? There is a few differences from then to now yes but we are taking steps back there again! Only due time that it will get harder. Unless something goes right and we get our bums slightly toasted but not burnt. lol

And then reality set in.

I took a car trunk of steel in, mostly that magnetic SS grill I found on Monday and some other stuff. What was last time a penny a pound is now half a cent a pound. So, that grill, unless I sell some pieces off of it on ebay, was less than a buck scrap value.

To top it off, I had about 10 pounds of brass breakage (plumbing fixtures) that I took in just to pad the cash a bit. Well, not with the new sister steel yard down the road, got a measly 3 cents a pound whereas my old non-ferrous place such stuff is usually half of what brass is going for (I called them when I got back and they would have given me 40 cents a pound for such brass). My fault because I didn't ask until payout (very, very quiet in the massive new non-ferrous barn these guys have built, 3 guys wandering around trying to find something to do) but I wouldn't expect to get stiffed that bad!! Its only about $4 but those $4 will cost those guys any non-ferrous from me unless I absolutely know they are considerably higher than my old stand by.

So, I will continue to bin steel coming off of electronics and other small household items but will not pick up anything bulky that takes up room in the garage. At least through the winter. As Dirty Harry said in Magnum Force, "A man has to know his limitations"...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scrapbabe97

We are just repeating in history. Like the depression. The ones who work hard made it through why cant we make it today? There is a few differences from then to now yes but we are taking steps back there again! Only due time that it will get harder. Unless something goes right and we get our bums slightly toasted but not burnt. lol

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We kinda are going through a rough spell. It started over the winter of 2007 -2008 and things haven't improved much since then. We're at a point where money is getting harder to come by. If we can take some lessons from history it might help us get through.

This is all pretty confusing for us old timers. The situation changed. We're pretty set in our ways. We don't adapt well to change. Our answer will be " Do more of the same ..... harder ". We will say buck up and dig your heels in !

This really doesn't make sense because if it's unprofitable then doing "even more" will only put you deeper in the hole.

Work smart ....not hard !

If it's come to a point where it's not working for you anymore then have the inner strength to set it aside and move on to something that does work. Adapt or die.

Sorry for the double post but it seemed better to break it up into two parts.

Where we can take a lesson from history: We're in a time where money is getting harder to come by.It's probably going to get worse before it gets better. Most of us depend entirely on money to bring us everything we need.

I was talking with an old timer in his late 80's a few years ago. This was a man who lived through the Great Depression and had first hand knowledge of how to deal with it. He explained that life was different back then. He said that we were more like a farming and fishing community and that people did more for themselves. There was a government work program but it was only intended to provide part time work so that a family would have some money coming in. He always liked the four hour afternoon shift because he could get up early in the morning to tend the livestock. He would have his "work at home" done by noon and go off to the job where he made money.

If you're living in the city it's hard to do for yourself. If you're living in the country there are a lot more options. You can cut firewood, raise chickens & livestock, have a garden. There's plenty of work to be done where you're not working for money.

I realize the point of this thread is get off your a$$ and get to work/adapt or die out/quit whining.

I want to whine a little bit.

We here at SMF (I think) ARE all working and ARE all trying to adapt!
No offense intended JunkFreak ;)

The numbers came out yesterday or the day before, and the workforce participation rate in the U.S. Is at a 38 year low.

Google 'workforce participation rate' there's plenty to read there.

The people in this country who used to work and pay taxes aren't working and aren't paying taxes.

We who actually ARE working and ARE paying taxes have to pick up the slack because cuts in government spending don't go over well.

Take a look at the taxes you pay. Everyone should have to pay taxes QUARTERLY in my humble opinion. Getting a little taken out every 2 weeks stings, but you don't realize the actual BURDEN it is until you pay it all in one big chunk quarterly.

Somebody has to pick up the tab for all the programs and alphabet soup agencies that YOU pay for.

So yeah, get off your A$$ and get to work. Uncle Sam needs you.

Edit: done whining now. Have a good weekend :)

Most veterans of the forum know the unique situation I am in. The price of iron verses the cost to haul makes it a loosing situation. At the same time, room to store scrap is an advantage. So focusing on the future is the goal with plans to expand. I just picked up 20 chemical totes to store non ferrous and picked up 25 computers to try that this winter. I am working just as hard, just not making money.

Quote PJ

The people in this country who used to work and pay taxes aren't working and aren't paying taxes.

Scrappah:

Hummm .... Maybe that's not such a bad thing. I'm going to make an assumption that people are discouraged, that things aren't going well, and that the leadership coming out of congress is poor.

Many of us feel that congress has been grossly irresponsible in the way it spends OUR money.

One way to FORCE them to behave better is to cut off their money supply. That will bring them to their knees.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Patriot76

Most veterans of the forum know the unique situation I am in. The price of iron verses the cost to haul makes it a loosing situation. At the same time, room to store scrap is an advantage. So focusing on the future is the goal with plans to expand. I just picked up 20 chemical totes to store non ferrous and picked up 25 computers to try that this winter. I am working just as hard, just not making money.

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Not to hijack too bad but my yard I frequent a lot says they are just going to stockpile till prices come around. He opened up a few more acres of woods and is bringing in stone for driveways. He has already stacked as hi as he can on the non ferrous piles and when the price hits his magic # he'll be hauling by the semi load. He has a rather large trash and roll off service that pays the bills.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pjost

I realize the point of this thread is get off your a$$ and get to work/adapt or die out/quit whining.

I want to whine a little bit.

We here at SMF (I think) ARE all working and ARE all trying to adapt!
No offense intended JunkFreak ;)

The numbers came out yesterday or the day before, and the workforce participation rate in the U.S. Is at a 38 year low.

Google 'workforce participation rate' there's plenty to read there.

The people in this country who used to work and pay taxes aren't working and aren't paying taxes.

We who actually ARE working and ARE paying taxes have to pick up the slack because cuts in government spending don't go over well.

Take a look at the taxes you pay. Everyone should have to pay taxes QUARTERLY in my humble opinion. Getting a little taken out every 2 weeks stings, but you don't realize the actual BURDEN it is until you pay it all in one big chunk quarterly.

Somebody has to pick up the tab for all the programs and alphabet soup agencies that YOU pay for.

So yeah, get off your A$$ and get to work. Uncle Sam needs you.

Edit: done whining now. Have a good weekend :)

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No offense taken.
However, it was not my intention to suggest that any member doesn't work hard.
Let's be real, you can't scrap without working hard..

My intention is to motivate, like I've been motivated by members here.
I believe there is a solution to every problem. If I can contribute something that helps another member that's great. That's what this forum is about, for me.

I am encouraged every time I log on to SMF. Learn something new everyday.
Even from rants or "whining", as I did from your post.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Not to hijack too bad but my yard I frequent a lot says they are just going to stockpile till prices come around. He opened up a few more acres of woods and is bringing in stone for driveways. He has already stacked as hi as he can on the non ferrous piles and when the price hits his magic # he'll be hauling by the semi load. He has a rather large trash and roll off service that pays the bills.

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Mech, this is basically what iam doing.
I am lucky, I have land to stock pile..
I sell just enough to pay my help and keep the trucks running.
Scrap is not my main income, iam fortunate in that. One day ,hopefully, it will be.

Meanwhile I continue to learn, and now scrap is giving an income to another man and his family. It may not be much in the grand scheme of things, but its better than minimum wage, and he seems to enjoy the work.

I have a unique viewpoint because I grew up at what can be considered the end of prosperity. I was a mid 90s kid. By the time the dot com thing burst I was already an adult. Since then I've been told I'm too young an inexperienced to now the opposing viewpoint, I'm overqualified and they cannot make full use of my skill set, also known as they cannot afford me. This is where I was a few years ago. Highly educated, had a few years at a gigantic corporation under my belt...made my resume look fantastic coupled with military service and a slew of awards, certifications and continued education to go with it. So...for someone like me with enough school and transcribe-able military training to nearly produce a masters out of my butt...it doesn't mean much in today's economy.

I know we are in a full blow depression, a modern day super recession as it's been called. I know the commercial real estate bubble is about to blow as indicated by the signage all up and down my industrial park.

I know metals are way way way down. I expected this, with china not in a buying mood it was a matter of time. HOWEVER, unlike crude oil and so forth, as prices fall, supply will fall until it meets up with demand and starts to rise again...in my lifetime so far I've seen this wave rise and fall twice now. If history is an indicator, copper is the industrial metal to watch like a hawk, not gold, gold is inconsequential by comparison. copper is the every day metal by which nearly every industry in this country has some take on.

Also...you guys do realize that for palletized shipping of anything 1200 lbs on down to cost...18 to 25 cents on the lb you might just be MUCH better off sending your coppers/brass/non ferrous items to one of us buyers if your located in an otherwise depressed market. The brass in particular struck me... if it's that bad you can pretty much throw it all in a large flat rate maxed out for weight and send it to one of us.

Heck, I buy tool steels, steel alloys and aluminum alloys at enhanced prices that make shipping affordable, nickel based alloys...titanium, magnesium, if you can justify palletized shipping you can make quite a bit more than a local drop off. I know for the most part we reserve that kind of stuff for boards and parts and so on but I do buy some rather odd things, so do alot of guys here.

Diversify, Focus, Research. Make this your mantra.

With prices down I am stunned by the amount of scrap coming in to me - probably 3-4 times the amount as when prices were stronger. My situation allows a moderate level of stockpiling, but I am quickly reaching my capacity to manage and store.

Feels like I'm playing a game of chicken, and someone is about to make a pot pie.

Enough whining. Back to work.

same here record profits with so many dropping out because of a lack of knowledge or lack of wanting to actually work hard but there is so much out there right now trying to collect is getting even harder to do. gas prices are making it even easier to travel farther to pick stuff up today they dropped to $2.17gal I take all my light tin/scredd local here at a penny a pound and after overhead I make about $4avg trckld and its unlimited with all of it passed by. now awhile ago I teamed up with other scrappers as prices keep dropping to work together to send out gondolas of #1steel and 2-3 heavy and still am getting 7-9cents a pound down from 10-13 but still well worth the effort.
that's just the bottom of the scale though mostly steel is just what pays for me driving around finding the better of stuff like copper alu motors and so forth. then of course the bread winner of everything is electronics from resale to scrapping theres always plenty and always so much to do

I second calling ourselves recyclers, not scrappers.
In terms of talking with plumbers and other blue collar workers versus talking to doctors and Lawyers I don't see much difference. If course it's obvious that those in the ranks of the docs and Lawyers have made themselves substantially fancier than those who labor with their hands by charging inormous fees. But I have a cousin who has future doctor written on his forehead but is helpless when it comes to working with his hands. That sums it up. Everybody lauds the docs and Lawyers because of the "advanced" education they received. But it takes a certain skill and learning to be able to have the roughness needed to deal with a nasty meesed up toilet or washer hookups and still maintain the ability to get the job done right, no leaks. That unfortunately isn't something you can't learn in a university so we don't have the ability to charge enormous fees for our top notch labor with our hands. So I don't care who I talk to. If anybody plumber or doctor says scrapper my blood boils.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scrapdaddyj

I second calling ourselves recyclers, not scrappers.
In terms of talking with plumbers and other blue collar workers versus talking to doctors and Lawyers I don't see much difference. If course it's obvious that those in the ranks of the docs and Lawyers have made themselves substantially fancier than those who labor with their hands by charging inormous fees. But I have a cousin who has future doctor written on his forehead but is helpless when it comes to working with his hands. That sums it up. Everybody lauds the docs and Lawyers because of the "advanced" education they received. But it takes a certain skill and learning to be able to have the roughness needed to deal with a nasty meesed up toilet or washer hookups and still maintain the ability to get the job done right, no leaks. That unfortunately isn't something you can't learn in a university so we don't have the ability to charge enormous fees for our top notch labor with our hands. So I don't care who I talk to. If anybody plumber or doctor says scrapper my blood boils.

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Plumber or Doctor they both get you bent over!

I went to a concert on ZZ Top's "Recycler" tour back in the day. I thought I could find a you tube that showed the cool stage props like it was being shot in an auto salvage yard. Get a hint of it in this vid although the sound is lousy but I'm sure hobo and some of you others will appreciate some of the the visuals...:))

https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?...&hsimp=yhs-001

So, yeah, "scappdaddyj", being a "recycler" (if only very part-time in my case) is fine with me!

P.S. Pick the Madison Square Garden "Legs" video from the list

I'm gonna try using the word " Recyclers " exclusively starting to day

Thank u verrry much ,needed 2 here that ! Swandersteve

Quote:

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Originally Posted by armygreywolf

I have a unique viewpoint because I grew up at what can be considered the end of prosperity. I was a mid 90s kid. By the time the dot com thing burst I was already an adult. Since then I've been told I'm too young an inexperienced to now the opposing viewpoint, I'm overqualified and they cannot make full use of my skill set, also known as they cannot afford me. This is where I was a few years ago. Highly educated, had a few years at a gigantic corporation under my belt...made my resume look fantastic coupled with military service and a slew of awards, certifications and continued education to go with it. So...for someone like me with enough school and transcribe-able military training to nearly produce a masters out of my butt...it doesn't mean much in today's economy.

I know we are in a full blow depression, a modern day super recession as it's been called. I know the commercial real estate bubble is about to blow as indicated by the signage all up and down my industrial park.

I know metals are way way way down. I expected this, with china not in a buying mood it was a matter of time. HOWEVER, unlike crude oil and so forth, as prices fall, supply will fall until it meets up with demand and starts to rise again...in my lifetime so far I've seen this wave rise and fall twice now. If history is an indicator, copper is the industrial metal to watch like a hawk, not gold, gold is inconsequential by comparison. copper is the every day metal by which nearly every industry in this country has some take on.

Also...you guys do realize that for palletized shipping of anything 1200 lbs on down to cost...18 to 25 cents on the lb you might just be MUCH better off sending your coppers/brass/non ferrous items to one of us buyers if your located in an otherwise depressed market. The brass in particular struck me... if it's that bad you can pretty much throw it all in a large flat rate maxed out for weight and send it to one of us.

Heck, I buy tool steels, steel alloys and aluminum alloys at enhanced prices that make shipping affordable, nickel based alloys...titanium, magnesium, if you can justify palletized shipping you can make quite a bit more than a local drop off. I know for the most part we reserve that kind of stuff for boards and parts and so on but I do buy some rather odd things, so do alot of guys here.

Diversify, Focus, Research. Make this your mantra.

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How much for #2 copper I have shipped copper before