And it gets worse... - Page 3

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always be what you've always been.



Quit complaining and adapt.

Well it finally caught up with me here in MA. Shred steel prices finally tanked. Was getting .04 cents a pound and that was already down from a high of .06 cents a pound, but was holding steady. Dropped off 1140 lbs and got paid .0275/lb. I drive around now and see a lot of steel on the road - no takers lol

Mmm....pork steaks.

Yes...this entire thread an the one thing that jumps out is...pork steaks. Which are quite good when done properly. Auminer has good taste in music...I'm not surprised it bleeds over into food. Maybe wrong choice of wording but eh..go with it.

Sirscrapalot - Pork steaks, an beer. I feel a good one coming on. - Inspired by Auminer if not said...

< Smiles >

It reminds me of old uncle baseoil. He was my dad's great uncle -or- great uncle ... can't quite remember which. He was a real old time Downeast Yankee. Wicked thick Maine accent.

Anyway his name was Basil but when you add the accent it comes out as base oil. He was actually pretty smart guy and retired a millionaire. Gotta hand it to him ... that man had his wisdoms. They don't make em' like that anymore.He was a man from a bygone era.

In honor of Uncle Base ... a couple of his favorite quotes:

1: "Ayuh ... good enough !"

2: At the end of the workday: " Well boys ... we didn't make much but we sure had fun ! "

I am not in the country right now so i may be off by saying this but I have found that when i am actively scrapping when prices drop like they are I seem to make up the difference in volume. when prices drop most people give up. this in turn leaves more for me to acquire. you just gotta out smart the common joe and work harder than your next door neighbor doing the same thing. come up with different attack plans and your good to go. scrap metal is an ever changing game that you gotta adapt to. what worked for you yesterday may not work today. what works today may not work tomorrow. change with the times or get tossed out of the game.

Old Uncle Baseoil is going into the quote file.



His wisdom shall live on.


Sirscrapalot - Stick with me quote, I'll make you famous.

Just food for thought. The guy in the first video can't afford shoes. The guy in the second video is better dressed and can afford sandals. What lessons can be learned here ?

Originally Posted by hills

Just food for thought. The guy in the first video can't afford shoes. The guy in the second video is better dressed and can afford sandals. What lessons can be learned here ?

That things are not the same in other countries as they are in the USA.

Originally Posted by jimicrk

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always be what you've always been.

Quit complaining and adapt.

It's always interesting to see that the scrappers who complain the loudest about low prices are usually the ones who are extremely resistant to change when it comes to their venture. They say something along the lines of "I've done it this way for the past 10 years and I'll keep doing it this way in the future".

I generally prefer not to break my back for $5 of value, scratch that, $1 of value with the new prices, but to each his own.

Originally Posted by jimicrk

That things are not the same in other countries as they are in the USA.

See ... that's the thing. It's really not all that different when you break down artificial trade barriers. It all evens out. Our wages drop and theirs go up until an equilibrium is established.

=========

That's not really the point though. You know how you were saying before about how we need to change and adapt to the changing world around us. You hit that straight on man.

Here's the thing ... in order to know where we need to go ... we need to look back and see where we've been. Look at the growth and evolution of the scrapping industry.

In the first video we have a guy using brute force. That's back breaking work and very labor intensive. It's sloooow going. That's a hard life.

In the second video we have a guy that seems to be a little better off. He's a human working with a machine. With the right tool ... his production is way up.

So ... along those lines ... what is the next step in the evolution of scrapping likely to look like ?

The machine replaces the man ! Production is WAY up. Maybe a thousand times faster ? Production costs ( scrap prices ) drop to a fraction of what they are now and the guy that owns the machine is still making money hand over fist.

Most likely, that will be a shredder set up to process the sealed units into #2 copper and steel.

It would seem that the future is near at hand. We may go the way of the Rag N Bone man of the early 1900's.

I thought those things sucked doing them with power tools. jeez. nothing but a hammer and chisel and that first got knocked that thing apart in 6 minutes. it takes me 90-120 seconds to rip apart one that size. and i got a plasma, chop saw, vise, and impact driver. that guy was only 4 minutes slower using two basic tools. thats pretty impressive if you ask me. I'd like to see that same video 8 hours later in the day. see how well he can keep up that pace.

It seemed like the first video time lapsed at one point. It may have been quite a bit longer to break it apart by hand.

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

They obviously have access to camera/internet/youtube so they must not be that bad off..........We know little of their situations.........The guy in the first video may prefer to not wear shoes (If you have never worn shoes you wouldn't want to start)

It's kind of obvious Mike.

Just a quickie link. You can see that the world is not even.

https://www.worlddata.info/average-income.php

Word is down another $10/ton or more on steel next month

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

I never said the world was even.....I know I'm lucky living in my air conditioned home with running water/plumbing etc.....my point was they have access to camera/net/youtube but can't afford shoes.....cmon man don't let the wool be pulled over your eyes...yes conditions are terrible in some 3rd world countries but there is always more to every story that we don't know

Quite true ! Everything is a situation and things are seldom exactly as they seem. I could be standing right there ... watching everything that's going on with the filming ... and still walk away with the wrong idea.


* Ahem *

You gotta walk a mile in a man's shoes ... right ?