Taking a break?

With uncertain times and a growing number of coronavirus cases in our community, I’ve decided to take a one month break from scrapping. Other factors roll into this as well. I’m 61 years old as is my wife. She is compromised with a previous lung issue, and lastly, we are now caring for our five-year-old granddaughter whose Dad is a detective on 24 hour call. (Plus prices have been cut by half in our area.)
How about you? Are prices or outbreaks affecting your approach to scrapping?
And as always, I wish you all the best in your health and that of your family.

Originally Posted by snorton1

With uncertain times and a growing number of coronavirus cases in our community, I’ve decided to take a one month break from scrapping. Other factors roll into this as well. I’m 61 years old as is my wife. She is compromised with a previous lung issue, and lastly, we are now caring for our five-year-old granddaughter whose Dad is a detective on 24 hour call. (Plus prices have been cut by half in our area.)
How about you? Are prices or outbreaks affecting your approach to scrapping?
And as always, I wish you all the best in your health and that of your family.

I have also taken a break from curbco. I used to go 3-4 days per week on my way to work. However now I am working from home, so it is not only out of the way to just go out just for trash (and not on my way to work like normal), but also, it doesnt seem a great idea to touch hundreds, to thousands of peoples trash which they could ave touched. The rona can live on surfaces for a few days so it would be a lot of exposure. so ill wait until the rona dies down probably before going out again.

However I am using this time to dissassemble things Ive hoarded, organize stuff, improved layout in my garage, test/wipe some harddrives, and other such things that are all at my house and scrap related

I’ve already processed everything I have but about 5 computers. Definitely not seeking out curbco. Being in health and safety I’ll be the last one who gets to work from home but still there’s less going on, it’s more about making sure other employees being safe trying to put peoples minds at ease. Definitely reading more lately. Use the time to learn a new skill, walk more, family time, cooking, whatever floats your boat.

Originally Posted by RustyDollars

Sorry about that large picture. I guess I have to figure out how to resize.

thats a real nice vise table wheelie thing ya got there! neat!

Originally Posted by greytruck

I do this full time so i have to keep pushing. Im ganna cut it back to my town and the day early saturday area.... mabey the town to the north too. Im going to concentrate on the better items.... No tent poles, curtin rods, stuff like that. Also ganna keep picking up from the contacts and hitting my dumpster area's. My plan is to find new contacts since im sure all of the "little leaguers" are ganna stop scrapping for a bit. Then i move in..... Classy fella

I would think at a time like this, if this was your main thing, you would be taking tent poles, curtain rods, etc. Anything you can get your hands on. With scrap prices going down, more volume will be needed to make the same as before. Plus.... scrap yards by me arent even open, so anyone who was a scrapper full-time, literally cannot take scrap in to get paid.... its times like these that having an emergency fund or some mattress money is a life saver....who would have ever thought that theyd be in a situation where no scrapyards are even open. I feel bad for people doing this full-time... cant take in scrap even if they have material, cant get unemployment because they are a small biz owner/one man show (which do not qualify for unemployment)... not sure what the full time scrappers are going to do right about now by me.

Originally Posted by kss

I would think at a time like this, if this was your main thing, you would be taking tent poles, curtain rods, etc. Anything you can get your hands on. With scrap prices going down, more volume will be needed to make the same as before. Plus.... scrap yards by me arent even open, so anyone who was a scrapper full-time, literally cannot take scrap in to get paid.... its times like these that having an emergency fund or some mattress money is a life saver....who would have ever thought that theyd be in a situation where no scrapyards are even open. I feel bad for people doing this full-time... cant take in scrap even if they have material, cant get unemployment because they are a small biz owner/one man show (which do not qualify for unemployment)... not sure what the full time scrappers are going to do right about now by me.

I try not to brag but i got some good contacts so curb co isnt my bread and butter, but if the yards close, ill just hoard. i got room.

Saturday i was coming home from the yard and i saw a guy with a shopping cart walking to the yard. I feel bad for these people

Originally Posted by greytruck

I try not to brag but i got some good contacts so curb co isnt my bread and butter, but if the yards close, ill just hoard. i got room.

Saturday i was coming home from the yard and i saw a guy with a shopping cart walking to the yard. I feel bad for these people

Right, not bragging at all, being prepared and having a good biz is always a good thing. as long people have enough to get by saved up, or still have income, or can get unemployment, most people can get through this. The people with the shopping carts, or the people with no savings who rely on curbco and scrapping for their money to pay bills and rent and dont have any other job and therefore cannot get unemployment, are in real, immediate, trouble. If we dont do something for the people like that (in many industries, not just scrap) things are going to get very rough for everyone

They're trying to push an emergency economic stimulus bill through congress at this moment. That would provide 1,200.00 to just about every adult ASAP. Might offer some measure of relief to folks for the short term.

Rusty ... i love that bench vise. I've got one just like it in my shop that i use everyday. Yours is much prettier to look at. Nice work !

I think i'm just gonna keep on truckin' with my (part time) scrapping. I'm doing metals and electronics but there's not much coming in this time of year . Spending most of my (spare) time processing stuff that came in last summer. I don't foresee any trips to the yard in the near future. I set a goal of putting up a thousand pounds of copper by this time next year. It might pay off or be a completely wasted effort but it's something to work toward.

They cut our hours by about 20% on my regular job. I don't see it shutting down because we provide a vital service to the community but there's no telling how things might unfold. We (apparently ) had two separate incidents of murder within the last 36 hours. One occurred just down the road from where i was working this afternoon. This type of crime is virtually unheard of in this area. The person whose life was lost this afternoon was probably somebody i knew and saw on a regular basis. We're a tight knit community.

Come what may ... i'm just going to keep my head and carry on ... till i can't anymore.

One day at a time !

There's only about 3-4 non-ferrous places in my metro. I've always liked these guys more than the steel yard that obviously also takes nf metals. These guys post their prices and I know things can change but a person gets the general idea. About a week ago, they changed their prices list to this: (under "products"). I know they're trying to survive but who would take stuff in unless they are 1) truly desperate for cash and will take anything, 2) have so much stuff coming in and can't store it, or 3) just don't care. I won't be taking anything in until they post prices again. Tidy up, bin up, hunker down, and keep eyes and eras wide open. Things are pretty fluid, and not just where's the bottom on scrap prices...

https://www.randtunitcancompany.com/products

Originally Posted by DakotaRog

There's only about 3-4 non-ferrous places in my metro. I've always liked these guys more than the steel yard that obviously also takes nf metals. These guys post their prices and I know things can change but a person gets the general idea. About a week ago, they changed their prices list to this: (under "products"). I know they're trying to survive but who would take stuff in unless they are 1) truly desperate for cash and will take anything, 2) have so much stuff coming in and can't store it, or 3) just don't care. I won't be taking anything in until they post prices again. Tidy up, bin up, hunker down, and keep eyes and eras wide open. Things are pretty fluid, and not just where's the bottom on scrap prices...

https://www.randtunitcancompany.com/products

"Prices determined at time of sale due to market instability".... IE we know you're boned and the market is boned and it could tank at anytime so we need to offer super low prices so we don't get boned if/when it tanks

Whew ... this is a wild one. They ordered all nonessential businesses here in Maine to shut down. I'll have to talk with the boss but i think it means that we will have to shut down our bottle redemption center till further notice. At least our grocery stores are still doing a brisk business.

The running joke here is that we are a drinking village with a fishing problem. The Lobsterman's motto is work like a captain and play like a pirate. They all but emptied out the beer cave.

Still plenty of Corona to be had though ......

Originally Posted by hills

They're trying to push an emergency economic stimulus bill through congress at this moment. That would provide 1,200.00 to just about every adult ASAP. Might offer some measure of relief to folks for the short term.

Rusty ... i love that bench vise. I've got one just like it in my shop that i use everyday. Yours is much prettier to look at. Nice work !

I think i'm just gonna keep on truckin' with my (part time) scrapping. I'm doing metals and electronics but there's not much coming in this time of year . Spending most of my (spare) time processing stuff that came in last summer. I don't foresee any trips to the yard in the near future. I set a goal of putting up a thousand pounds of copper by this time next year. It might pay off or be a completely wasted effort but it's something to work toward.

They cut our hours by about 20% on my regular job. I don't see it shutting down because we provide a vital service to the community but there's no telling how things might unfold. We (apparently ) had two separate incidents of murder within the last 36 hours. One occurred just down the road from where i was working this afternoon. This type of crime is virtually unheard of in this area. The person whose life was lost this afternoon was probably somebody i knew and saw on a regular basis. We're a tight knit community.

Come what may ... i'm just going to keep my head and carry on ... till i can't anymore.

One day at a time !

Out of curiosity, is the motive known? Was it a domestic thing where the confinement got the best of a couple or family, or was it a desperation thing where a home invasion/robbery went bad, ro unknown at this time?

Originally Posted by t00nces2

Out of curiosity, is the motive known? Was it a domestic thing where the confinement got the best of a couple or family, or was it a desperation thing where a home invasion/robbery went bad, ro unknown at this time?

It's too early in the investigation. There were very few specifics released to the media. The first incident identified the man,his age, and that apparent cause of death was gunshot. In the second incident they gave approximate location & confirmed that the death occurred under suspicious circumstances.

I wish i could help more, but about all i can do is pass along publicly available information.

My attitude is that i can't draw any conclusions about the circumstances till i know more.