full time

On the profit and how steady it is, it truly depends on you. How much are you willing to get out there and hustle. After you get your material how far are you willing to break it down, or resale in a secondary market. How well can you negotiate prices at your yard, too many variables to consider. I can tell you this, whether it be me, tater, or johnc4x4 neither one of us scrap a car the same way, we don't even put them on the trailer the same and have different approaches to buying a car.

I'd say keep your day job jen, or college/whatever, and keep going at it as a part time, second, or summer job. There is a rapidly increasing number doing it, and an ever declining number of people letting go of it, or simply doing it themselves. The number of hoarded piles is also declining so much faster than they're being built. As with anything else that goes in that direction, the well will eventually go dry.
Sad fact of life, but it's just like a store shelf filled with bargains, each time you go by and grab a few, there's more people browsing with an ever decreasing selection from which to chose. Long as the store stays open they'll fill it up with something else, but who knows what(it won't likely be the same bargain they had yesterday). It's an ever changing world so proceed accordingly

Take this just for what it's worth.

I'd make up some home made business cards (don't have to have a business to have a card with contact info) and hit up all your family and friends and everyone you see at college. There is your "goldmine" in addition to your other scrapping. Start reading here in the electronic section about breaking down ewaste. The college has a ton of it. Your truck would be perfect for hauling ewaste.

I put an $800. load into my Taurus of ewaste going to my buyer. Can't do that with regular scrap. When you get more comfortable with the ewaste then you might think about pursuing the college itself. Every student has at least one laptop maybe a desktop and who know how many hand helds. The computer geeks (you know who they are) are constantly building or upgrading their equipment,
And their leftovers might be going into the trash now.

http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scrap...ess-cards.html

Electronics Recycling - Scrap Metal Forum

I cannot imagine many people contacting me from a flyer that says "hey ill get rid of your old computer stuff, old cellphones, ect." there has to be an incentive for them too right??

I wouldn't offer to start buying their scrap right away, use the proper recycling angle as their probably throwing it away now.

We had one member that put a large tote in computer class (after meetings with higher-ups) for them to throw their misc. boards in.

You know your talking about scrap that runs from 1.00 to 10.00 a lb or more. Does not take a lot to start adding up. Then we have a whole assortment of buyers on here that you can read their reviews (both good and bad).

One company even has generic recycle boxes for cell phone recycling.

That may be the most serious sirscrapalot post ever

Finish your education. Find a job in your field. Keep scrapping all the way. If the income is there, then make the switch.

I would love nothing more than to scrap full time. I work a full time (30 hour) job and spend 30 hours easily per week on the scrap end of it (This is picking up, breaking down, building a website, researching resale of items, refreshing Craig's list ads, making E-bay listings, shipping, etc.). I have just recently gotten to the point that my scrap income is typically equal to my regular job income. Sometimes more. You have to however figure making more than your regular income to become legit. You have to figure in the cost of medical insurance, (going up now) matching taxes, etc. Granted there will be lots of write offs, but you really need to get to the point of doubling your regular income to make the switch.

And then there are the dry spells. They come no matter how hard you market yourself.

Not trying to discourage you at all. I support anyone that wants to make the jump. Just think it through. And complete that education while you are at it so you have something to fall back on.

Originally Posted by KAM

You guys give **** good advice to newbies on here! I wonder if they realize this "is" the education you can't buy or go to school for?

Agreed!!! You can't buy your scrap education here but you can certainly help support the forum by becoming a scrap room member. It's such a small fee in comparison, the potential returns we get from reading and sharing the knowledge is phenomenal. We all pay for our education via what we do, how we do it, our experiences we learn from breaking down and marketing the scrap and resale items we get. Whatever levels we take our knowledge to will likely determine the returns on our time and the money results. I too market my products many ways, the scrap yards, eBay, craigslist and other avenues. The more diversified we get for the most part generates more revenue but does bring with it some headaches. Cutting the story short this forum is AWESOME!!

Originally Posted by KAM

You guys give **** good advice to newbies on here! I wonder if they realize this "is" the education you can't buy or go to school for?

That's why we (older types) call this "Scrap Metal University", all your education is right here, learn at your own pace or as much as you want. The ones that keep asking even after we point them the right direction are the ones that chaps my hide. lol