Tell me, why do you scrap? - Page 2

I scrap because I am better at breaking things than fixing things. My wife working for a small IT company helps a lot too! Lots of free computers, modems, monitor, etc... I also have a small commercial cleaning company, so I get a lot of free scrap. The money is always a nice plus, but the quiet solitude is refreshing!

I scrap because i quit my fulltime job. Worked 18 years as the night manager for a major grocery/drug store chain. I would scrap on the way to and from work. Not to mention all the shelfs, and racks i got form work. Long story short, I got sick of the corporate bone heads there and Quit. So Im a fulltime scrapper now.

I started when a 4 year old flat screen TV blew up on me about 3 years ago, and every guy i called to fix it said throw it away and buy a new one, it's cheaper. So after a little research, including finding this forum, i learned about scrapping. Once i made my first dollar(literally), I opened a separate bank account and that is where i put any money i make, as well as use for any costs I incur. This account is set aside for my sons college(which he starts this year). Initial goal was to pay for 4 years of books with scrap money. Happy to say that was accomplished awhile ago, now working on paying for a complete semester. Plus as others have said, I can't fix many things, but i sure am good at breaking things apart.

From 1983 to 1997, I worked in maintenance at a retirement home and when I got there, the crew would scrap and split the proceeds. I learned there to tell the different metals and how to sort to get the most from a trip to the yard. Once I started my own handyman business, I would save the goodies I could as well as what I would find curbco. I also love to shop garage sales and have found I can buy brass and copper for pennies on the dollar. It all gets processed as a dollar gained to effort spent. It is all put into the garage sale/scrap proceeds/ebay/craigslist purse. It will get spent on items that I can turn for more money or on items I believe will be a store of value or things that would be helpful in a survival situation, if things get tough, or even if they don't. It is the closest thing to alchemy I have been able to find.... Turn nasty, trashy metal into gold and silver.

I started out "scrapping" houses ( architectural salvage ) at a young age during home remodeling projects during the early 90's . I sometimes stripped parts from cars that were left in the fields.
By the 2000's I was digging computers out of the trash, fixing them, and than reselling the units. I ( accidentally ) discovered E-waste was worth some $ after I threw out hundreds of units I could not salvage parts from.

The area I live in now-a-days is not good for "making a living" from scrap. It's a hobby.

I deliver pizza a couple nights a week. I scrap. People seem to look down on people who deliver pizza and people who scrap. In my experience, people who deliver pizza and people who scrap are some of the most ambitious people I know. Love your lives, people.

I'm new in the scrap world, but my reason for being here is simple. I wanted to be my own boss. So far it's off to a good start.

I scrap because I like the extra pocket change! But actually, and more importantly, b/c of the environment. I find myself spending A LOT of time at dumpsters rearranging garbage. It is amazing to me how many people don't recycle in today's world. And it's very frustrating how much garbage I find in the recycle bins. So, I try to move as much of the big stuff as I can...cardboard boxes only take a sec to break down and toss in the recycle bins. I consider this as doing my part. I do what I can when I can. And then I grab the cans! And I haul my scrappy ass down to the local recycler and cash in!

I started in high school because my friends sister died and her boyfriend left his old car engine in their garage. My friends mom wanted it gone and i needed something to do as my foot was broken at the time and i needed something to do. So i broke it down in to as small of pieces as i could since my foot was still broke and i couldn't lift much. It was fun and i made money doing it so when my foot healed i saw a grill laying down by the river. Went to go get it and found a whole truck that washed up on the river bank. So since I didn't have a job then Me and my friends spent that spring clearing abandoned cars and other metal stuff out of those woods with nothing but a generator, hammer, and sawzall. After that I found you could get stuff on trash day so i was hauling loads in to the yard every day for awhile. It was nice money back then and I learned how to do it completely on my own. Soon it became an obsession. Even scrapped the whole time i was in the army.

to answer your question I continue doing it because its fun and I need to get myself out of debt, its the only thing im actually good at and I really like breaking things by hand. It gives me a work out and im doing productive things for the world instead of wasting my life worrying about dumb stuff that doesn't really matter.

I also enjoy building things out of other peoples waste. My main scrap trailer right now is the back of a pickup truck i bought from a junk auto auction. It was built by me out of scrap i found in a dumpster. Ive also got a 300k mile dakota i bought from the yard that I use for hauling stuff thats sure to put dents and scratches in the tacomas i use. When i load the dakota up i really don't care about what happens to the body work and The look people give you when your hauling a washing machine or two on the roof of your truck, is pretty priceless and that alone would be enough reason to keep me hauling.

Originally Posted by CopperHeadAKA

6) I wanted to be able to WAVE to people - wile in dumpsters
15)Develop a reputation as " That Guy " there he is
"

LOL Thats me

Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

No particular order...


1. I like money.
2. I like working for myself.
3. I have a very big cooler, an beer an beverages don't grow on trees!
4. I like breaking ****.
5. I like breaking ****
6. see 3.
7. See 4 & 5.
8. See 3, 4 and 5.
9. It's fun.
10. It lets me do fun things like...take the wife to Disney, or wherever she decides we're going.
11. It's cool being "that" guy at a social function an when they ask what you do you can say..."I break **** for a living." an it's true! An a good thing.
12. I was going to put another one here but hell...thats to much work, see 3, 4, 5,..ah screw it..just reread the list.

Good luck with your goal. Always good to have goals. I'm betting the trip well be worth all the hard work.

Sirscrapalot - Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. - Henry Ford

Bonus quote! - You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream - Les Brown

agreed i to like money and it is fun taking things apart like a/c's the tubes can sometimes be a hassle and some of the motors to i strip every cord or wire i can unless its ali looking then i dont. it also cleans the enviroment to=)

It's been a while since anyone responded to this thread, so I thought I'd add my two cents (wait a minute the cheap guy at the local scrap yard says it is now worth only a penny!)

I retired about a year ago and this gives me something to do. It is something I can do (i.e., clipping ends off wires and stripping wire) while listening to a ballgame and I love that multi-tasking part of it. Also, my wife is less inclined to complain about my listening to a game if she can see that I am also working at the same time.

The money part is a mixed bag for me. I feel like if I can make $50 or a bit more in a trip to the scrap yard that I've done pretty well. I have no idea how someone can actually make a living scrapping. I know there can be a fairly steep learning curve (for instance, knowing what types of wire are worthwhile stripping), but I feel like I am way behind anyone making decent money. If I get a total of $1,000-2,000 for the entire year, I will feel I've done reasonably well. So I need to learn more about how to be efficient to make more money. If I could up my game to $25-50k a year, that would be fantastic. Not sure if that is realistic, but I will keep trying.

The environmental aspect is also important to me. I love the concept of taking something used and giving it a new life, perhaps as something totally different. Example: We had a neighbor who had an old swing set they wanted to scrap. The guy was nice enough to cut all the pieces of steel into about 16-18" pieces. We took several of these and put chicken wire around them to keep rabbits out of our garden. It worked just great!

I like the idea of helping provide a job for someone else (the guy at the scrap yard) who might otherwise find it difficult to find work.

This can be surprisingly strenuous work at times and I can really work up quite a sweat. That helps me keep my weight down a bit from what it would otherwise be.

The idea of working my own hours is truly fantastic!

I like being a good example to others and this gives me an opportunity to talk about things like Henderson Island. It is between New Zealand and Chile in the middle of nowhere. Google that one if you like to see some of the sad photos. The island is uninhabited, yet it is one of the most polluted places on the planet. This is because the ocean currents carry lots of trash to Henderson.

I also trade stocks and must admit that making $100 at the scrap yard feels much better than making the same amount on a stock trade. It could be because the yard pays me in cash, and seeing that cash has a different effect than a number changing on a computer screen.

I don't mean to sound overly preachy, but recycling is kind of a way for me to make amends for stuff that I've thrown in the trash in the younger part of my life that should have been recycled.

This is a great topic for a thread!

I like it because you (usually) get paid right for the hard work you do. I had stopped scrapping cause I had 2 slow weeks and was starting to lose it. Worked framing for 6 mo getting paid 10 an hour, working my butt off for maybe 300 bucks a week, granted, it was fun sometimes, I learned things, and obviously it was a good workout. We used no safety, and one day, while 20 ft up close to the edge of a gable, I thought, yknow, I can make at least this much easy scrapping, and i'd be on the ground. So, I quit, and got back into scrapping.


And obviously the freedom aspect is nice, for example: i'm home now, just rode my bike around a little, it's 2 in the afternoon, got some stupid scrap to break down thats been kicking my butt so it can wait, already got my main stuff/calls done earlier, i've been tired all day so i'm probably about to take a nap. Also i'ts Wed. and i've already made more than a week of framing.

Originally Posted by recyclersteve

The money part is a mixed bag for me. I feel like if I can make $50 or a bit more in a trip to the scrap yard that I've done pretty well. I have no idea how someone can actually make a living scrapping. I know there can be a fairly steep learning curve (for instance, knowing what types of wire are worthwhile stripping), but I feel like I am way behind anyone making decent money. If I get a total of $1,000-2,000 for the entire year, I will feel I've done reasonably well.

I'll tell you as a 20-something doing it for a living, I'ts really possible just from having a few ads up, getting connections, and just driving around the neighborhood sometimes. I've had shred loads that were close to $200, not counting non ferr. And between scrap and selling things, i've had (not many) weeks over 1,000. But that's a good week, not normal (yet).