New to scrapping. Trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

ScrapHappy, welcome to the scrapping business! Ive been been doing it full time for about 6 months. So Im a newbie also. You will find that there is something to be learned everyday. I wish that someone would have told me what I am about to tell you when I was starting off. Here goes.

At every scrap yard I go to you have to fight (at least ask) for the price that you deserve. For example the scrap yard by my house, if you ask them how much they are buying clean aluminum for they will say .23 cents lb. Then all I do is ask if they can do .50cents lbs and without blinking an eye they say yes. Wow! that is more than double the price. This goes with lots of other metals. Ask them if they take competitor coupons, ask them if that is the best price they can do, You have to work to get the fair price. Get to know the people at the yard and try to get comfortable with them, if they are comfortable with you they will give you tips, pay you top dollar, and help you out as you are learning. Also when you go to different yard ask questions and make comments so they know that you arent just going to take the lowest price available.

As for the ferrous stuff (this is important), at the yard that I go to they have 3 types of ferrous pricing.
1. Tin: this is thin metal, stuff that comes off of appliances and other thin metals. $200 a ton (.10 cents per lb)
2. #1 unprepared: This is thicker metal (3/8in thick and up) and longer than 4ft. $260 a ton (.13 cents per lb)
3. #1 HMS: This is steel 3/8 and up but, shorter than 4ft. $290 a ton (.145 cents per lb)

So, I usually take all of the plastic and rubber and clean up the steel and cut it down under 4ft. I usually always get #1 unprepared or #1HMS. Sometime I have a mix of tin and #1HMS and I get the #1unprepared price. When I go in I tell them that I took the time to break everything down and take the plastics off, etc. and they will upgrade the price. If I have something like just a water heater then I usually get tin price.

As far as picking stuff up, try to have your truck full every chance you can. For example, if you are going to pick up a couple of water heaters, make sure on the way that you recycle the metal you got already and then pick up the water heaters. I usually dont go after soft leads. If there is an address of someone that is giving some metal away and they are advertising it as 1st come 1st serve I usually dont pursue it. I only pursue ads when I talk to the owner and they are going to hold it for me. I sometimes go after first come first serve stuff when I can arrive at the location before 30min from when the ad was posted.

alright scrap happy I hope that that helps.

Great tips. I really appreciate this.

For the lighting ballasts, were they the black sealed rectangular type?

I brought some to my yard, and they told me they we hazmat and that they would not take them even for shred

Yes they were black, sealed, and rectangular but they all clearly stated no pcb's.

I'm not familiar with the term shred. For the escrap I picked up I found a recycling outfit called guzu that said they will take old tube tv's and other less desirable items and pay me 8 cents a pound. I've considered this since I've read on average breaking down a TV set takes a bit of time and doesn't bring in much more than the 8 cents a pound. I'll definitely give breaking them down a shot to see if I can learn something but for now I think my time would be better spent trying to network.

Scraphappy you haven't been in this game long so whatever you do please dont underestimate the power of Craigslist I've said it in another post but I'm saying it again if it weren't for Craigslist I would not make a dime on the side but because of Craigslist I make at least 2k a month in profit! Sure I have a website but truthfully it gets hardly no visitors and I don't care.

.08 a pound for ferrous? That works out to $160 a ton. I think you could find a better yard that pays more. You should be getting $200 a ton at the minimum, especially being so close to a port.

At my local yard it is $160. ton for appliances and $230. ton for light steel/tin.

Scrap happy, what yard did you go to because I think you got low balled on the ferrous price. I am on the island too and since I started in March I haven't gotten less than .11# for my scrap metal. The two I use are Gershow which has 8 yards all over the island and 2 brothers which is on rte 110. Both yards have been good to me and helpful.

As for the ferrous stuff (this is important), at the yard that I go to they have 3 types of ferrous pricing.
1. Tin: this is thin metal, stuff that comes off of appliances and other thin metals. $200 a ton (.10 cents per lb)
2. #1 unprepared: This is thicker metal (3/8in thick and up) and longer than 4ft. $260 a ton (.13 cents per lb)
3. #1 HMS: This is steel 3/8 and up but, shorter than 4ft. $290 a ton (.145 cents per lb)

Yeah I'm definitely gonna to ask for a better price on ferrous next time around. That along with the sorting advice mrsamsonite gave me and I should be able to do a bit better with it.

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Originally Posted by Ptscrapper

Scraphappy you haven't been in this game long so whatever you do please dont underestimate the power of Craigslist I've said it in another post but I'm saying it again if it weren't for Craigslist I would not make a dime on the side but because of Craigslist I make at least 2k a month in profit! Sure I have a website but truthfully it gets hardly no visitors and I don't care.

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My ad is still up and I repost as often as I can to stay near the top but if I'm gonna make this work on a full time basis I'm gonna have to find an angle to separate me from the 100's of other guys all advertising on Craigslist and chasing the same nickel.

Ozzy you are lucky that your takes whole vcr's. I have not found a yard that will take any electronics, toasters,toasterovens ok but if they a cercute board they won't take it. Just sayen

i think you have the right approach, ive just been doing this since about the end of august, i didnt know anything about scrap, i took in a few sticks of copper from a house i was tearing down made some good money, the next day i took in all sorts of stuff from the same house and didnt know what half of it was, the yard sorted out all the stuff in my truck and was really patient with me, and started giving me tips plus i think i found this forum the same night i took in the copper. anyway that was then and this is now and i feel pretty successful, i posted a thread about advice called free tips not to long ago you might want to check out, the main thing is keep on picking and trying to find new leads and not to get discouraged, if you want it bad enough it will work out

Wish there was a low grade buyer near me. i WOULD BE ALL OVER IT. Bout ready to travel to Binghamton as copperhead said he has a buyer up there..lol./

Scraphappy, are you having conversations with yourself?

Advertise and stock pile! Don't always look for the home run......find 50lbs here 150lbs there 75lbs there......it adds up! I haven't done this long enough to be a pro at all but it's all about generating weight. Some days you get a lot....some days not. This hobby/job is a "find a way to make it happen" game as stated above.


Keep at it and it will all add up!

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Scraphappy, are you having conversations with yourself?

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Yeah, I didn't realize there was a reply with quote option so I just copied and pasted. I generally try to keep my rambles to myself to avoid a straight jacket. Anyway, thanks to everyone for the tips. I just unloaded another quarter ton of ferrous but I split it into #1 Hms and tin and got 9 cents for the tin and 13 for the hms #1.

Thanks all for a very helpful thread. Questions asked and answers given. I like it a lot.

BTW I would like the definition of "shred" also. I suspect it is small ferrous stuff (since you all seem to have a shred bucket). Where does the shred go? Just dump the bucket on the ferrous pile or do you take it to the nonferrous scale? I hate the thought of just dumping who-knows-what sharp metal (nails, screws and such) on the ground, which is what you do with the ferrous stuff at the two yards I go to.

Thanks again for the helpful conversation in this thread.

Bill

From what I understand shred is just a term for ferrous metals. Because ferrous metals come in such large quantities they just shred it all up.

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BTW I would like the definition of "shred" also. I suspect it is small ferrous stuff (since you all seem to have a shred bucket). Where does the shred go? Just dump the bucket on the ferrous pile or do you take it to the nonferrous scale? I hate the thought of just dumping who-knows-what sharp metal (nails, screws and such) on the ground, which is what you do with the ferrous stuff at the two yards I go to.

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My shred pile has computer carcasses in it also misc metal from printers and any other smaller things I break down. My bucket of screws, bolts, springs, clips, and any other bits of metal I usually dump into an empty paint bucket or an appliance or I find some kind of bucket or container in the shred pile to dump it into.

Hello Mechanic 688,

Im some what new to recycling (about 6 month). You seem like you have been doing this for awhile and might know how to answer this question.

I pay a working of mine $10 an hour to break stuff down. We are trying to figure out what is worth to break down and what isnt. Are there certain things that you break down all of the way and other things that you just move along? We have been going after the non-ferrous stuff and cleaning it up to get full price. As far as electronics we break down monitors, but, other stuff I am thinking of not breaking down like printers vacuums. I will probably just do partial break downs for some of the stuff. For example, when doing printers I will take out the ink cartridges, and cut the cables off and then just recycle the rest as e-waste at .05 lb. For vacuum I will just cut off the cord and the recycle the rest as e-wast .05 lb.

Any advice that I could get would be appreciated. Thanks!

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We have been going after the non-ferrous stuff and cleaning it up to get full price. As far as electronics we break down monitors, but, other stuff I am thinking of not breaking down like printers vacuums. I will probably just do partial break downs for some of the stuff. For example, when doing printers I will take out the ink cartridges, and cut the cables off and then just recycle the rest as e-waste at .05 lb. For vacuum I will just cut off the cord and the recycle the rest as e-wast .05 lb.

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I do a lot of ewaste and small appliances and occasionally a washer or dryer. The printers I pull the motors and boards esp. if they have card readers in them, ink cart's and the strip that the cart. touches.(you'll see gold dots). Sweepers I pull the cords and motors. Motors and transformers and chokes and coils all pay .30 lb. Motors can have the fans and brackets at my yard, they don't penalize for the add-ons. Anything that heats usually has the special wires. (alenco-sp) Pull the motors on washers-dryers. That'll get you started.

Stay on it. Keep us posted on your progress. SMF is like an online college.


*edit* just saw the date ... got up and got on SMF...should have had coffee first....