Given the market, why are the newest scrappers even bothering?

Urban .. you are right .. you know that I deal with you and you see my outputs grow. volume is the answer and your right you have to be willing to wait and grow slowly. I am currently taking on two new members (1-scrapper 1-general helper) just this week. we are growing so fast. sure we must put out more product but my search efforts is paying off bringing in the volume to keep all the guys working.
Its been mentioned here about attune and the way you project yourself. This is only just so "TRUE"! You must chat with people be kind listen to a story or two and ask questions. You must be a good salesman. The first rule of sales is to be a good listener! what you learn will point you in the direction of the sale.
so be a good sales "person" and you will do well in this business...

You do need mechanical expertise or handyman knowledge. Youtube will teach you the rest. And the sell, sell, sell. Online is the key.

Going to the scrap yard anymore for me is a chore I do not want to be bothered. I been sending the emplyee with van and trailer or truck and trailer. I let him keep it as a bonus. My paycheck is parts.

O and another thing. We are in a throw society. Soemtimes the reward is greater than the risk. Somtimes you should gamble and throw untested items as workign units on ebay. A lot of tiems, things or parts are fine. Just someone wanted a new shiny unit or want to upgrade or what not.

I just sold a furnace control board and gas valve for close to 200 on ebay. Buyer tickled pink, worked fine. I never tested it, went buy gut instinct.

Thats my two sense.

And last piece of advice. Stay away from the casinos. I lost 4500 in casino in the last month playing slots. Mine and some pots I won. Gambling is not a sure bet, but parts resale is. Scrap on

jeanbean- Sounds like you have a good gig going. Where's your general location (part of state, etc.?). How do figure a price to start off some of your parts; ebay histories? a certain % of what the part is new? other? Just curious...

Low prices lately mean that stuff still has cords attached! Resale or use at home better than scrap value...

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Originally Posted by hobo finds

Low prices lately mean that stuff still has cords attached! Resale or use at home better than scrap value...

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My new Radial arm saw is a nice example... sort of , it was on the shred pile with no cord. New cord, new saw for me

still have to explain it to the wife though... every new tool is a battle:&

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Originally Posted by jeanbean0109

You do need mechanical expertise or handyman knowledge. Youtube will teach you the rest. And the sell, sell, sell. Online is the key.

Going to the scrap yard anymore for me is a chore I do not want to be bothered. I been sending the emplyee with van and trailer or truck and trailer. I let him keep it as a bonus. My paycheck is parts.

O and another thing. We are in a throw society. Soemtimes the reward is greater than the risk. Somtimes you should gamble and throw untested items as workign units on ebay. A lot of tiems, things or parts are fine. Just someone wanted a new shiny unit or want to upgrade or what not.

I just sold a furnace control board and gas valve for close to 200 on ebay. Buyer tickled pink, worked fine. I never tested it, went buy gut instinct.

Thats my two sense.

And last piece of advice. Stay away from the casinos. I lost 4500 in casino in the last month playing slots. Mine and some pots I won. Gambling is not a sure bet, but parts resale is. Scrap on

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To use baseball as an analogy: gambling is looking for a home run. It's unlikely to happen. A game can be won on base hits. Every parts sale or scrap load is a base hit. One has to stay in the game and swing at every pitch that is in the zone. Strive for the base hits. Enough of those will win the game. Not as exciting as a home run but much more do-able.

I was the only scrapper in a yard today. The staff had some time to clean up the yard.

Hoarding is a compulsive disorder, some folks frame the first dollar they earned while others hoard everything. I have several friends that fit the latter, I myself am not a hoarder.

I call it hardware disease, we once butchered a chicken that had a spark plug in its crop, It's also a well known fact cows that eat staples, nails and wire are termed to have hardware disease.

Also cattle sometimes have a large hairball inside their stomach, some as large as a soccer ball.

http://i1207.photobucket.com/albums/...psohdtemu4.png

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I used to buy portable engine driven welders that were no longer working to repair and resell as a side line to scrapping. Sometimes getting an old Lincoln welder back up would as simple as polarizing also known as flashing with a 12 volt battery to restore residual magnetism in the generator.

The shipyards during the war years, usually only one Lincoln welder would have electric start, once started the operator would take the welding leads over to the next nearest machine starting it from the power generated from his machine and this is the way it went until all the machines were up and running.

Lincoln welders are also known for the commutator to become egg shaped, when this happens the brushes will bounce on the high spots no longer making full contact, this is another easy fix using a long piece of flat wood with sand paper affixed to one end while the board is supported against the generator frame the sand papered end is placed against the commutator just far enough enough to make contact with the high spots while the engine is running. Soon your commutator is back to being round..

Usually I could buy these non operational welders at $100.00 or less, as you can well imagine the profits were substantial.

Miller big 40's have their own set of problems, worse case scenario broken or cracked stator rings, in most cases I would find a burnt out rectifier diode or a broken wire at this location. The diodes at that time cost me around $20.00 each and there are two of these used on the machine wired in pairs.

My dad one day asked me why I always bought this junk.

No matter what the price of scrap is, being on the road gives opportunity to find more worthwhile treasures. And this is why I scrapped even when prices were low, often I would buy cores from the yards I frequented.

Transmission shops are often looking for cut out cores ( transmissions and differentials ) to use as parts or rebuild for inventory, also engine rebuild shops are a good source to sell heads and some engine blocks.

Ford in Edmonton would buy all the 9 inch diffs centre pots I could bring in. If you find a differential that has a gear ratio or posi unit ebay is a good place to market these items.

You just have to enquire before hand making a list as to what is in demand, shops get a bit dissed when your bringing in everything you find some of which has no value.

A small selection ford 9 inch which have recently sold.

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I have the hoarding problem....
And 'situationally positioned amnesia'. (I forgot where I put the b****y thing)

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Originally Posted by DakotaRog

jeanbean- Sounds like you have a good gig going. Where's your general location (part of state, etc.?). How do figure a price to start off some of your parts; ebay histories? a certain % of what the part is new? other? Just curious...

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NE PA. I believe in capitalism 101. Whoever has the cheapest parts gets the sale. I also strive to get everything cheap or free. I look at past sales and base it on that. Then i look at current sales and drop accordingly. I firmly believe in cutting everybody throat since i have zero overhead other than a helper. Gas is not figured in the equation since I primarily run junk cars. And use the drain gas. Oldest gas I ran was sitting in a field for 7 years. Threw it in my van, ran perfect. Ddint smell funny or nothing. Wasn't going to let a full tank of 20 gallons go to waste. Fuel filters are cheap. Ok case in point. I pay scale price for cars. No title cars are free or maybe 20 bucks, thats it due to having to cut them in pieces to dispose. I used to have connections to run cars without titles across the scale and not have to do it, but they dried up. There is a nice handy dandy webite for free that will tell you if a vehicle is stolen or has a lien before you run it without title. Anyway case in point. 02 kia sedona van. Guy literally said get it the f out of his driveway. Give me anything. Mind you scale price was about 125. I said 50, he said 75. I said done. Profit 50 bucks before i left the driveway. Only had 104k miles on clock. Made a video of it running. Motor was going for 700 on ebay for same mileage. I sold motor for 400 picked up. Now you may say I lost 300, I dont care. I was already in profit. Then cats paid like 100 for 3 cats if I remember right. 40 for alu wheels. Sold a bunch of other stuff. All told almost 1500 in a month cutting everyones throat and selling at reduced cost. Scrap is not the answer..parts is. Just had a washer I sold almost for 300 in parts with zero expense...all the electronics and even the door. I literally leave my house once or twice a month and make 2 grand with 2 runs.

I also cruise craigslist and will pay up to 500 for certain cars, because if you know what is worth what...then you can make money. Foreign whips are bucko dollars in parts.

Here is my last rant. Interesting story. Last july or august. Guy called me up from craigslist. He was cutting a car up with no title to dispose. Supposedly his buddy was in rehab in jersey and couldnt get title due to that. He asked for assistance in cutting it aaprt. I said no, no profitability. He also mentioned he was selling parts. I told him not worth my time, when your done call me. And I will make the rest disappear. Sure enough just 2 weeks ago, he called, 6 months later. Didnt know how to proceed further. His dad wanted it gone. Got there and all was left was drivetrain, cats, and the floor. Literally doors, half the trunk, roof, front clip all cut off. He literally tried cutting trans in half with sawzall. It was quite interesting nonetheless. Dragged it up on trailer. Made 85 what was left running acoss scale. Amazingly cats still there, so another 100 there. Saved the drive train. Trans probaly going for 25 as a core in spring. Will pull heads from motor. They are 200 a piece if good. Scrap the rest. So all told almost 750 profit for two hours work and 15 bucks in gas.I got pictures if you dfont belive me. At this point, I would say cars are most profitable in parts. The last one case in point was a all wheel drive audio a8 quattro with a 2.7 or 2.8 v6. If it was complete, that would have been a small printing press of ben franklins. High dollar parts car. Sadly I did one mistake. A week after I ran it across scale, a guy need the rear diff. I could have sold the rear diff for 400 and I forgot to save the rear calipers. They were 8 bucks a side as a core and 50 a piece on ebay.

So to sum it up, their is a lot of gold out there if you know where to look. Hell I have the cutting edges from a d9 dozer that look like new outside. They got to be a couple hundrend. They were free and part of the deal with the sedona. Looking for a buyer for them currently.

O and another thought. As long as you know the proecuder and the laws regarding abondened vehicles and vehicles with out titles, you can make money that way. I literally turned down 4 cars for free in the last 7 days. That would have been quick 500 in shred and cats. All of them free, just needed it gone. Out of their way. Winter is here and Im sick from a accident last year. So said to the hell with it. This year I think Im buying a farm tractor with a backhoe and claw. That way I can crunch and tear crap up easy for disposal. Yard rules are simple. Cant look like car to go without a title. So crunch or cut it up. Easy money.....

https://www.nicb.org/theft_and_fraud_awareness/vincheck

To check for theft, salvage, and insurance liens for free before pulling it uop on your trailer

And if you want to do it the easy way unlike the hard way where i pull all parts, then just pull batteries, alloy wheels, cats and lights....maybe some interieor parts. Maybe alt and cat and rad..scrap rest...still can make a couple hundrend per car..some headlight and tail lights are bucko dollars on ebay

And you want to make more money, I shouldnt say this because it will flood the ebay market in a hurry. Go to a u pull it yard and pull parts like ecms and easy crap. Some ecms are worth 150 on ebay and you can get it out of the u pull it yards for under 25 a piece...you can load ya truck with 500 inventory and make 4500 on ebay in a month. This is the time of year. No wants to go to the yard to pull parts. They rather go online and have them mailed to them. I just sold 10 ecms for 1500 and only had 200 invested and 2 hours time.

Just dont forget to save 25% for taxes is all

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Originally Posted by matador

More than scrap value is always a winning combination. Out here, a Cat 3208 or a Cummins 5.9 would be an easy sell.

There is a vehicle scrapper in the area that uses old buses to haul scrap in. He pulls the stuff he wants (Mostly engine/trans), loads the rolling chassis with shred, and tows them to the yard. At the yard, he sometimes pulls the tires and sells them to farmers for their beet trucks.

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I can still remember way back I spent a couple of years down in South East Kansas. At one time the only job I could find was working with a custom baling crew. The owner would buy school buses, strip the body, hang a small hydraulic elevator on the front, Pull all the seats but the driver's and it was ready to stack hay bales on. Drop the elevator and pick up the bales automatically, all the guys had to do was keep up stacking. Straight from the field to the barn. Reverse the elevator and shoot the bales right into the hay loft.

This is a stock photo online:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gnr6nQkoMh...0/IMG_3558.jpg

But, years ago, there was someone running around with a similar rig to deliver hay and straw. The problem with buses is that a lot of them are over 26,000 GVWR, meaning that a CDL is needed (Though Wyoming passed an exemption for farmers earlier in the year). I came very close to actually buying a 1986 Wayne Lifeguard for that purpose, but that particular bus was just too far gone, and I let it go to the crusher.

Farm Show magazine did a book on nothing but things made from old combines and school buses. They're so common and dirt cheap- one of these days, I'll probably make a straw hauler out of one. The only problem is removing the roof- that could be a challenge for me....

I always saw low prices as the easy time to get into this trade! Very little competition and the material just starts building up all over. Back in the late 90's I was the only scrapper willing to pick up in a county of 50,000 people. 3 trucks ,7days a week on a route. I had a small charge to cover fuel. I shipped the ferrous and saved the high grade for years. Then pay-day hit and big. Opportunity is oft disguised as hard work, that is why few recognize it (Ann Landers!).

A lot of people just don't know what the "good old days" of good prices were. They may be doing the only thing they know to help their selves or their families for one reason or another.
I can't believe anyone can see easy money in what we're doing at the moment. It will turn around, just gonna take time.