It pays to call around to local yards

I acquired 270 pounds of plug in wall transformers. I knew one yard would not buy then without breaking them open and they would buy the transformers at motor price and the wire at computer wire price. The yard I called today said they will pay computer wire price for them with the wire still on them. That ends up being more money with less work! That is almost $100 for 1 hours work. [I had to take them all out of there little boxes. They where made wrong and still in there original boxes]
Chris

I broke down 50 lbs of them lately, would be great to just cut and run...

Originally Posted by hobo finds

I broke down 50 lbs of them lately, would be great to just cut and run...

I was looking at a lot of time smashing them to get the transformers. I will confirm the price tomorrow, I have them and a other wires, clean aluminum, dirty aluminum, a Subaru short block and other odds and ends loaded in the outback for a trip in the morning.

So true. I have always dealt with a small local yard. Decent staff, fair prices. But I recently called about bringing in a truck load of cat5 cable (no ends). Local yard offered me .03/lb. So I decided to call a Big/Mega yard. I have been a bit reluctant to call them. Its a intimidating setup, and I didn't think my pickup looked quite right sitting in line with the semi loads. They offered $1.25/lb for the cable. So I loaded 250lbs and took it to them (Just wanted to get a feel for how they were set up and how I would be treated). And I couldn't be happier. In and out in 20 minutes. Handed me a check. Price sheet showed them about 30% high than my local yard. Will definately be using them again. Also found out that they own my local yard. It is a feeder yard for them. Each yard is about 30 miles from me. So I will definately be using the bigger yard for most of my scrap. As they say (Just my .02 worth)

Immulmen,how much does that yard pay for computer wire. I always get #2 insulated (1.00#) for the wire and .32# for the transformer. The yard I use pays #2 insulated for cat5 wire, for .03# I would put it in with my shred.

Originally Posted by happyscraper

Immulmen,how much does that yard pay for computer wire. I always get #2 insulated (1.00#) for the wire and .32# for the transformer. The yard I use pays #2 insulated for cat5 wire, for .03# I would put it in with my shred.

SDSCRAP talked about .03# for cat5.
I was quoted .25 for transformers then when I asked if that was with the wires cut off they said put the whole thing in with computer wire at .37#. These are little power supplies, like 6v 300ma. I was given 18 boxes and each box is about 15#. Does this sound low?
Chris

I brought them to the yard this morning and got .40 a pound as "#2 CU insulated 39% recovery". If I had cut the cords it would have been .40 for the cords and .09 for the transformers. Much less.
Other prices where:
.20 for aluminum engine short blocks.
.49 for sheet aluminum. [is there a difference between cast and sheet? this was mixed]
2.88 for #2 copper. [I only had 6 pounds]
.25 low grade PC boards
.23 for lead acid battery's
.07 for copper/aluminum transformers [31 pounds but they where not aluminum, should have been .25, I did not notice this until I was home, about $5 less]
Altogether 619 pounds and was paid 199.56.
Chris

".49 for sheet aluminum. [is there a difference between cast and sheet? "

Yes, keep sheet and cast seperate.
Surprised you only got 20c/lb for the alu block. Must have steel "sleeves", freeze plugs and other non alm parts left on it :-(

Cheers