Scrapyards: Help Us Help You

Yes, I am a new member here. However, I have been reading these forums from time to time for well over a year, mostly for escrap knowledge, sometimes just to read some sirscrapalot quotes. some I use for myself I know the biggest rule on any forum is to use the search feature. I definitely don't want to get off on the wrong foot but I haven't been able to find exactly what I'm looking for. So here goes.



My question is what are some of your scrapyard complaints? I see a lot of posts about "getting screwed" or "never trust the yard" or any number of things. Explain what about it upset you, why you feel you were "screwed", or why you can't trust a yard. I'm not looking for any name calling, just experiences. My hope is to compile a list, answer as many questions as I can and or give the yards point of view, and use your examples to prevent them from happening within our yards. Then I'd like to start a thread based on how this one goes on things scrapyards would like the customer to know, maybe some they prefer you didn't know. I also welcome good experiences or why you felt you were treated fairly. Anyways, here goes nothing.

Misleading information. You shouldn't be telling people there is a troy oz of gold in a desktop. Yes I have a yard near me that does this, any many other silly things. I should write a book on this yard. It would show everyone how not run a yard. Yeesh.

Not letting people see the scale, when weighing. If you act all secret about it, I figure your up to something.

Oh one more..Attitude. Look I dig it your at work, this makes you pissy. Why take it out on me? Point..if your mad at work, keep it at work that you direct your ire, not me or the other poor bastard behind me, who is just here selling stuff to keep your butt employed an that job you hate so much open.

Oh I got more, but that's a start. I don't really need it explained, but thanks! Just getting the ball rolling!

An KZ I hear what your saying, on the customer thing, in that case, I'd like the same level of courtesy I give them. An the customer isn't always right. That goes for the yard, an..seller.

Sirscrapalot - I can see it now..Rededit Ask a scrapyard owner anything. Ha!

I really haven't run into anything bad. There are a couple where I have had to wait a crazy amount of time in the non-ferrous area. Crazy being over an hour. This is mostly because of understaffing though.

Other than that, I trust the yards that I go to, and they usually grade things very fairly.

KZ- Customer probably isn't the correct word to use, but nevertheless it's what we call people who bring in scrap to us. Some call them scrappers, some call them peddlers, vendors, we call them customers, maybe just an area thing.

Misleading information is one of the worst things in my opinion, because then I'm the liar trying to cheat you out of money, rarely works the other way around. Then other times it's just kind of funny, like when one guy asked me if I knew they put plutonium in "cadillac convertibles" (I was hauling a load of cats). He knew that was in the atomic bomb so he just quit messing with them entirely. Swear it.

I have not run into any problems with the yards I use, they have been very helpful and answer any questions. I use several different yards because one will pay top dollar for copper and brass another one will top dollar for aluminum and insulated copper and another will pay top dollar for electric motors and so on. I think that most of the people that say they get ripped off are the ones that don't know any better. They will go to a restaurant and check the bill before they pay for their dinner but won't look at the weigh ticket before they leave the pay window. My opinion

i was almost 20 years old when i found out it was not called a cadillac converter....i still say cadillac converter....honestly saying catilytic convertor doesn't sound right to me....i guesse folks around here pronounce a lot of words different...i know i can drive 1.5 to 2 hours north of here and people always ask if we are from tennesse or kentucky...

Happy, a lot of people don't bother to look at their dinner bill either. So trusting. I try to scrutinize everything, but then my pennies are hard to come by.

Yeah, I just avoid saying catalytic all together, especially with this southern draw and dialect

I appreciate your answering posts Mallard, don't get me wrong.

An I bet you get some good ones, I've herd good ones as just a seller, I can only imagine what my main yard hears day in an day out. My main yard is awesome, they do no wrong. Heh. It should be how all yards are, if they don't know, they tell you so, no blowing smoke up your ass. Their prices are fair, an they treat you the way you treat them. An their quite helpful if you have questions. I know cause I used to ask all the time when I first started going.

The yard I mentioned in my first post, relies on one hit wonders I think. Anyone foolish enough to go there a second time is just asking for it. They mess with your weight, they act as if they know it all(see the oz of gold in every computer), an are rude no matter when you go in. First thing in the morning? Pissy. After lunch? Pissy. Some time before the yard closes? OMG Pissy.

There is also another yard near me, but they've gotten better. Less moaning if you want to see the scale, they moved all the rude workers to positions where they don't do with the seller/customer. An some other improvements..I still don't go there unless I'm desperate but I feel better if I send someone there now.

Ahh..I love what I do for a living. I Meet some of the awesomest people, an some of the worlds biggest idiots.

Sirscrapalot - When I began playing the game, baseball was about as gentlemanly as a kick in the crotch. - Ty Cobb

Originally Posted by LordMallard

My hope is to compile a list, answer as many questions as I can and or give the yards point of view, and use your examples to prevent them from happening within our yards. Then I'd like to start a thread based on how this one goes on things scrapyards would like the customer to know, maybe some they prefer you didn't know. I also welcome good experiences or why you felt you were treated fairly. Anyways, here goes nothing.

I would love to hear the information you have regarding what the yard would prefer you didn't know.

As with anything attitude and professionalism is key. My best yard has a higher rate of said good keepers. But a few bad actors always show up at any yard or friendship. I don't need them like they don't need me. Because they said it first. Guess I'm a non factor with big loads of hassle. But to my best yard I'm good welcome business. They see the value in me and I support them on multiple levels. A home to smile in . 85%of the time. And people split up for less than that . Was it love ?

I've never understood the yards that are rude to the people putting food on their tables. Whether the load you're buying is big or small, piss enough people off and you go hungry.
Tj - One quick example. We hate cans. It's the absolute worst part of the job. They're just downright disgusting. Furthermore it's where we get cheated the most. Rocks, water, other metal, I've seen it all from a dead chicken to a gallon sized freezer bag of marijuana. And no one ever knows how it got in there. We won't tell you how much we hate them because then we sound unappreciative of your business. But the reality is it's not the 50 lbs of cans we want but the 10 lbs of other stuff you'll bring with it. We remember the people that have dry, clean cans and the ones we're gonna have to check every time.
blacksteel - Why are you selling blind? You should never agree to that. As a seller you should know of your rights as much as the buyers. I'm not 100 percent sure but I think it's against the law to not have your scale weight visible to the seller, at least in my state. Most systems wont let you punch a ticket until the scale balances out. We do have a tendency to try and rush you through, if there's 10 people behind you the reason is kind of obvious, no one behind you? We're more relaxed, but still want to be as fast as possible because there's always something else we need to do as well, inventory, load a shipment, paperwork. It's a hectic place, I agree. Hectic or not, the yard should always allow you to clearly see a weight.

One of my favorite sayings is: "Those couple nails in your old sheet isn't why I graded it 'dirty,' your attitude was." A simple smile and a thank you goes a long way.

Was guilty of not looking at the ticket the other day and left the premises with pay for electric motors at .08cents a pound. My fault, but I'm sure if I take the ticket back, they'll make it right. They always paid .15cents but I noticed there were a couple new gals running the office. So my warning would be to "Beware of New People". They make innocent mistakes.

My regular yard makes mistakes too but they're not intentional and always make them right. I make mistakes too.......unloaded unprepared the other day and then pulled under the mag without reweighing the prepared iron. I told them at the scalehouse so they just averaged the load and it's always in my favor so it appears.

Tearing up my trailer with the claw or mag? No, those boys are ALWAYS aware of my equipment and apologize when they think they've bent a fender. On the other hand, I never complain to them of such....I expect some dings and bumps. Hey, I'm not in a massage parlor afterall; things can get rough in a scrapyard !! Overall they like me for some reason. Unlike one guy who threw a hammer at the mag operator for roughing up his trailer. That particular operator knows all the words in the dictionary plus some he made up and that testy customer was invited to never show his ugly ___ back in the yard again.