What does piss you off at the scrapyard?

[mtalbot_ca]

Personnally it is the screws/nails in the yard that punches your tires.

[Recyclersteve]

Personnally it is the screws/nails in the yard that punches your tires.

Definitely agree with that. I'm always kicking stuff out of the way of my car after I park.
Other things that I don't care for:

1) When someone ahead of me needs help sorting every little thing they have and the total is something like $5.

2) When someone behind me lays something on the scale I'm about to use and says "this is all I've got".

3) When the yard closes early or runs out of cash.

4) When the yard makes it more difficult for me to do business with them by imposing new restrictions (i.e., requiring me to snip the ends off of all wire and cords, telling me to throw electrical ballasts in with steel (when they used to fetch a lot more money), etc.).

Now that probably paints a pretty bleak picture of scrapping. I have to admit that overall the guys at the place I go to are pretty good. They don't tell me I need a business permit to sell bare bright copper. They accepted a catalytic converter that three others wouldn't take. Their prices are competitive and I seldom have to wait for more than a few minutes to be served.

[smackvay]

The people that bring $2.18 worth of stuff in when they are driving an old v8 truck

[Recyclersteve]

I agree that $2.18 is a bit extreme. But there are times when I will go to the scrap yard with less than a full load of stuff. This time of year, since the weather is nice, I am under pressure from Mrs. Recycler to get the stuff out of the back yard. I let it pile up during the hot summer months. Also, the scrap yard is about 15 miles each way, and I don't usually have other stuff to do in the area.

So, when there is a reason for me to be going anywhere near the scrap yard this time of year, I won't hesitate to take less than 1 full car load of stuff. A good portion of what I drop off is copper wire and it takes quite a bit of time to snip the ends off, so sometimes I will go down there with just a few 5 gallon buckets of wire.

That all said, my last trip with less than a carload on Friday netted me $25- a lot more than the amount you were mentioning.

In a way, I'd rather have someone ahead of me with $2.18 of stuff than with $500. I figure I get to the head of the line that much quicker.

[mtalbot_ca]

3) When the yard closes early or runs out of cash.

At mine, they pay by cheque when over $500....

[Dr. Cadmium]

1) People violating the right of way and cutting each other off, particularly when driving on the scale. Dangerous and completely unnecessary.

2) Customers coming in with less than $5 in scrap every day of the week instead of doing a bigger load once a week or once a month. The per transaction costs for them and the yard mean it's a waste of time for everyone.

3) Customers coming in drunk or high.

4) People driving vehicles that are barely operational, which break down in the worst possible places, such as on the scale.

[Recyclersteve]

I was just thinking...

We've painted such a bleak picture of scrap yards. For anyone whose never been to one, the chances they will ever go has plummeted.

In fairness, it isn't all that bad. I don't ever remember running into someone I thought was on drugs or acting really strangely. Also, I've never seen a vehicle break down in a bad place- although I have seen some vehicles that will never go up for auction at a Barrett Jackson show.

[spacecase0]

I have only bought from one
they demanded ID and home address for buying from them

was upset for a while about it
but then I got that it really is law here that anything you buy that has been stolen is your liability
the laws are in place to discourage buying from criminals
I would have like to have thought the place I bought it from would take the hit for buying from the criminal, but that is kind of a hard line to nail down.
then again, the record only had how many pounds of aluminum I bought...
so why the record of buying ?

eventually I gave up caring and decided that many others has stole from me
and the police seemed to never care (they don't even show up to drunk driving cases in san fransisco (ask me how I know, my car is still dented from that bitch))
so if the police don't track stolen items, then why do they collect names and addresses of who buys or sells ?

[Sheikh_yer_Bu'Tay]

Telephoning the scrap yard and getting a price per pound, then discovering (after they unloaded my trailer) the price somehow dropped significantly as I drove to the yard. I understand why the cashier is behind a bullet proof glass wall that would make a bank teller envious!

[mtalbot_ca]

I was just thinking...

We've painted such a bleak picture of scrap yards. For anyone whose never been to one, the chances they will ever go has plummeted.

In fairness, it isn't all that bad. I don't ever remember running into someone I thought was on drugs or acting really strangely. Also, I've never seen a vehicle break down in a bad place- although I have seen some vehicles that will never go up for auction at a Barrett Jackson show.

So I propose that you start a new thread along those lines...what is the best feature/service etc....

[Recyclersteve]

Fair enough. Will do.

[thecrazyone]

For me, it's simply the lack of money they are paying you. I get that you're not there to get rich, but after my last trip where I brought quite a few heavy items, and they gave me 5 bucks for all of it, I could just have easily put those items in the trash and found 5 bucks in change on the street. It was mind-blowing!

[Recyclersteve]

For me, it's simply the lack of money they are paying you. I get that you're not there to get rich, but after my last trip where I brought quite a few heavy items, and they gave me 5 bucks for all of it, I could just have easily put those items in the trash and found 5 bucks in change on the street. It was mind-blowing!

There is quite a learning curve to scrapping. Unless it is easy for you to transport heavy steel items (especially if you have to drive far), I'd generally avoid steel and look for the ABC's (aluminum, brass and copper). You will get way more for them and you won't get $5-10 for a whole carload. It is a good idea to get one of those little magnets (made of neodymium- easily available on eBay and cheap) for testing items to determine whether or not they are steel. If a 2-drawer steel file cabinet weighs, say, 20#, I would get less than $1 for it. Not worth my time and gas money to even handle it. I look for things that are more dense (like wire) so that I can get more money from only a small amount of space.

That's just one little item to look out for. Serious scrappers will also need to become good at quickly determining whether wire is worth stripping for the copper or not. Sometimes you actually get less for stripped wire than unstripped, even though that sounds counterintuitive.

Keep in mind that some things are flat out dangerous to take apart. A couple items that come to mind are microwave ovens and thermostats that contain mercury. The microwaves have ceramic insulators (usually a pink color) that contain beryllium, which is highly toxic if not handled properly.

There is also the part about learning which scrap yards in your area have the best prices, and for which stuff. Some pay more for uncrushed aluminum cans- others pay more if they are indeed crushed. I think this is because some people try and cheat by putting stuff like dirt into aluminum cans to make them weigh more. If I couldn't lift a Hefty trash bag full of aluminum cans, I would be VERY suspicious.

There is also the subject of market conditions. The scrap yard you sell to may all of a sudden tell you that the motors you used to sell them for 15-25 cents a pound now need to be thrown in with steel (at perhaps 3-5 cents a pound). They may pay 70-85 cents a pound for some types of aluminum (especially cans) and yet call other aluminum you have "dirty aluminum" and pay only 10-15 cents a pound for it. It feels like they are screwing you (and sometimes they might be), but they have to pay their employees and make a fair profit just to stay in business.

And so on. There is a lot to learn. There is another website called the Scrap Metal Forum for those who really want to get seriously involved with scrapping.

If you think you want to get serious about scrapping, I'd seriously consider spending at least 10-20 hours reading up on the subject and watching videos. Even then, you will still have a lot to learn.

It would have been very interesting to be in the Houston, TX area after they were hit by Hurricane Harvey two summers ago. The amount of stuff that went to scrap yards must have been absolutely staggering! Take a look at some of the Youtube videos showing huge volumes of stuff sitting by the curb. I'm sure there were rules as to who could take what, but I can't help but think that several months after the catastrophe (when there was still stuff to be disposed of) there were certain people who went under cover of darkness and did quite well for themselves.

Before you spend any real time on scrapping, it is highly recommended that you get a Tetanus shot which I understand is good for up to 10 years. I have read about and seen some really sad stories about people getting cut by glass, bit by critters, etc. I myself had an incident where a rogue gust of wind came out of nowhere on an otherwise nice day and blew a metal dumpster top (about 60-65 pounds of steel) onto my head, causing me to spit up blood and have my glasses fly off into the dumpster. Fishing those glasses out of the dumpster while bleeding and with nobody around while using one hand to hold back the top was an event I don't want to have happen ever again!

[everything]

That aluminum isn't worth much or worth it to recycle (cans yes), which is probably good because glass sometimes comes with it. Otherwise, not much, I know the non-busy times to go, and that makes it easier. I'll be bringing some iron in again soon, not much but it's either bring it in my day off, or throw it in the dumpster like everyone else does, maybe I will throw it in the dumpster.
I'm a amateur scrapper, my total for 2018 was about $300 in scrap, this year has been less, I'm just not putting the time in anymore, their is plenty around for the taking, but I'm not about to stop it from going to the landfill anymore.

[Recyclersteve]

That aluminum isn't worth much or worth it to recycle (cans yes), which is probably good because glass sometimes comes with it. Otherwise, not much, I know the non-busy times to go, and that makes it easier. I'll be bringing some iron in again soon, not much but it's either bring it in my day off, or throw it in the dumpster like everyone else does, maybe I will throw it in the dumpster.
I'm a amateur scrapper, my total for 2018 was about $300 in scrap, this year has been less, I'm just not putting the time in anymore, their is plenty around for the taking, but I'm not about to stop it from going to the landfill anymore.

It is sad (not just for those of us who are scrappers but also for the environment), but many of us who read this are just nodding their heads (in the north south way- not the east west way).