Scrap Yard Mistake

Today I took a bunch of AL storm window and door frames, and some AL wire. One bucket was bare AL wire the other was insulated. Well the guy at the dock gave me the sheet AL price of .55/lb instead of the .72/lb I expected for my bare wire. But he assumed that the insulated wire was copper so I got 1.50/lb instead of .30/lb.



I didn't notice this till I was at the bank w/ my check. I'm just glad it worked out in my favor instead of theirs. I came home w/ $180.

I've had that happen once or twice at my local yard. I took in 7 lbs of brass one time and when I got my check, It said I had 27 lbs. Not too bad

So generally they pay alright for insulated aluminum wire?

Getting paid the wrong price I think I would be ok with as the prices fluxuate and there have been times I was not happy with what I was paid for some stuff but
I was overpaid $26 yesterday.. as I was driving home just after I left the yard I notice he added my 260 lbs of steel twice... I went back and showed him the error and gave him the money back.... I know it sounds crazy but doing the right thing will always come back to you...

nyjetsfanx93, I think you did the right thing if your a regular at his yard. That might get you pass on some questionable stuff that otherwise could get rejected, or a lower price. Mike

The yards I deal with for steel scrap, everything is so computerized that its hard for a mix up to occur. The scales input digital readouts into a computer and as they say, the rest is history.... There's not much room for error that way. Although a place that I sell non ferrous and cores to hand writes a ticket indicating what you have, they weigh it all right there in front of you where you can see it, then you initial the ticket to show that you agreed with and approved of their weighing and grading of your materials. That ticket is handed to the office where it is input into a computer and you're given a nice easy to read printed out receipt plainly marked what you brought, how much of it and what the price per lb or unit is and the total on that item, then the total of everything at bottom.
Very little margin for error with the places I deal with, which is only better for me. If its all correct all the time I will probably come out ahead VS. someone who gets shafted here and gets a bonus there due to errors....

Yeah.. Im kind of regretting doing the right thing by giving them back the money they overpaid me... they screwed me twice today on stainless steel... first time I had a BBQ grill cover that was Stainless and Cast Aluminum only the inside had this thin sheet metal on it which if taken off weights maybe 10 ounces... they paid me .25 cents a pound for the thing which ticked me off... I complained and I could see in the guys eyes he knew I was right but they arent going to back down.... He made up for it tho because I offered to buy a small snare drum I saw in a scrap pile thats worth about $50 at least and he let me have it for free... Later on I brought another Stainless Steel Grill there as well as some other stuff... he only paid me .50 cents a pound for it... I stripped that thing bare... was not dirty at all and everything in that pile was 100% stainless steel... other yards are paying .65 cents per pound on stainless so I am thinking about switching yards when I have some good stuff...