full time

I''m actually looking at making it a full time gig. I have a lot of regular customers in businesses and plenty of new ones everyday. All I have done is order up a bunch of business cards and place them everywhere. You'd be surprised how much a polite tone, a smile and a handshake will give you. I deal in virtually any commodity as long as there is sufficient quantities and there is a large reclamation market out there to be explored. Its been a good haul and I'm looking to give up a $20/job for professional scrapping.

i've been mostly doing it full time for about 4 1/2 years ,.....depending on how you manage the stuff ,spread out cashing it in and how much room you can store stuff without someone calling the townships, is what factors in and depends on how steady the work can be ,....depends on the area you run and how much compition you have too
....for me ,my first year sucked but i was starvng and homeless so i still did it cause i didn't have any other work ,....probly put in 30 to 40 hours a week ,made about 15,000 that year ,...........second and third year ,i moved to a new region that didn't have hardly any compitition ,....there was flooding in my area for the second year also ,....but i put in about 35 to 45 hours a week in and made probly close to 40,000 each year .......for the last year and a half ,compitition and other work non scrap related slowed me down scrapping but i still probly made 25,000 last year ,putting in an average 20 to 30 hours a week

i imagine it's different for every scrapper and for every area ,.......the circustances of my area helped for me ,....but i do know other scrappers that do it sistered to other buissnisses or do nothing but scrapping making 40 to 50 a year and staying working all year ,.....but there usually folks that been at it a long long time and have built up alot of connections to get stuff

I agree everyones situations different. Also treating it like a business, reinvesting back into it and going out of your way to make those connections will make all the difference.

Ill tell you number wise
We are three scrappers My father older brother and I .
Last year alone My dad and brother scrapped full time and have been doing so since the past 5 years now .
My dad took the task of counting all the payout notes and ended up with about 80,000 a year but that's for two people , also take note that's not adding most of the electric motors aluminum copper brass and all those metals. So youd be looking at around roughly 90,000 they made last year alone . So it would end up being around $45,000 per person if you really do it full time and put the effort to it , make friends with plumbers hvac companies you might have to pay , give half of what youre gonna make and they'll always call you when they get metal. :winner:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheScrapper1

Ill tell you number wise
We are three scrappers My father older brother and I .
Last year alone My dad and brother scrapped full time and have been doing so since the past 5 years now .
My dad took the task of counting all the payout notes and ended up with about 80,000 a year but that's for two people , also take note that's not adding most of the electric motors aluminum copper brass and all those metals. So youd be looking at around roughly 90,000 they made last year alone . So it would end up being around $45,000 per person if you really do it full time and put the effort to it , make friends with plumbers hvac companies you might have to pay , give half of what youre gonna make and they'll always call you when they get metal. :winner:

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My gross revenue last year was high, but with expenses my net was almost zero. Most of the basics were met. Would I like more, yes, but I have made a trade off. Lifestyle is more important to me than a new truck. It is all about perspective. I would not trade my freedom and limited income for a six figure salary to sit in an office all day.

This was posted before I go out into a blizzard to work, so I know it is true.

Then there are those of us who don't absolutely HAVE to do scrapping to survive. I'm one who has many interests and I know it' true with others.....that our interests and hobbies change over a lifetime. For me, I had farm machinery that I wanted to get GONE while I was still able so I began to disassemble my self propelled combines out of necessity and realized a profit. One thing led to another and then a neighbor wanted to give me a combine so I accepted. Then another and another asked me to haul something and I realized it had business potential. Then a river flood drowned our farm and more of my "good" machinery became junk so I hauled it off. Now I've acquired the reputation of one of those junkmen who frequent our highways and byways with a load of "junk". It's PRODUCT to me and I enjoy the game. When it becomes known that you're in the business, conversations always lead to "What you hauling today"..? ...and the game continues. At that point, it's easy to put in a plug for yourself and therefore increase your business potential. Scrap is an eternal product...it's always there in some form or another.

Honesty is the name of the game. The reputation you form for yourself will either flaunt you or haunt you. People learn real fast how you operate and it happens without your knowing. Oh it's fun though. I lay awake at night planning my next load.