Payday

Well I have been scrapping from a spot where other people dump scrapmetal, & anything else they want to...
& others pick up some of it out & then sell it & keep the ca$h...

**** the last lot, its getting to be a hassle, 1/2 the cars that arrive, suddenly do a swerve & drive off when they see me.
I help the ones that do drop off metal & chat with the ones who are genuine.

When I first started there, I'd been stripping a bit of nonferrous for a while & a guy pulls up & asks if I have talked to the owner.

I said "No, I was figuring if I spent enough time here I'd probably meet him anyway, I'm cleaning up as I go & drop off all my steel here anyway, so theres no loss in weight"

That seemed to please him & he told me he's 'the owner'....
(Good thing I got my speil out first..) So we talked & he said he's OK with it as long as I do drop off the steel & don't make a mess.
Over the last few months I'd probably been making NZ$50 (US$40) a week just in Copper.
The rest I'd just stored & I put the ferrous (I like using 'ferrous' or 'Iron', better than saying 'Steel' with all its connotations (steal))

So 'id scrapped God knows how many fridge compressors & stuff & carried it all home on my back, including 2 dishwashers, 1 washing machine, several microwaves & a wall oven (used 3 times, $1100+ value new. OMG! & a near new set of front forks for a motorbike)

Chatted with a bunch of people, got to know some nice ones & met a few I'd rather not know, listened to some complete bollocks. "Some computer chips are worth their weight in Gold..."
Only Gold is worth its weight in gold, unless its made from Platinum....
Figured out a few pesky pickers & stacked lots of sheet iron, volunteered a broom to clean up the dust & dross & been thanked countless times.

As the rest of the nonferrous built up I decided to put all the ferrous in a separate pile rather than just cart it back to the yard.
Since I'm cleaning it down I figured I'd get a better price if I took it in as 'light' & 'heavy gauge' iron & sell it at the same time as I sell the nonferrous.

I take the copper in by myself, I can put up to 10Kg (22Lb) in a shoulder bag & get the free bus (it all mounts up) & walk the few blocks to the scrappers.
I use a well known, world wide scrapper, they don't 'nickle & dime' me & they help out as well.
After a lot of sales I've noticed some of what the other scrappers do. Oh well.

So, after a week of trying to get a vehicle & driver to take everything to the scrapper, I finally got one. I really hate having to use someone elses vehicle, theres always too many variables...

I got This->
135Kg Ali, 20Kg batterys, 50Kg Stainless, 10Kg Brass, 700?Kg Iron. Or.

300Lb Ali, 44Lb batterys, 110Lb Stainless, 22Lb Brass, 1540Lb Iron.

Now, all of this has been put in a sack & carried over 10 blocks to home, on my back, in all sorts of weather. (+ the 15Lb Copper a week..)
And I got $670 NZ $$$
Thats US$538
After taking out the ferrous for the guy who's yard it is - NZ$260.
And $30 for the guy who's van & trailer I used, he gave me a hand too, 2 1/2hrs.

I got NZ$410 cash. (US$328)
Which is more money than I've had for a while, quite a while. A honest dollar too.

Oh, the guys van run out of petrol on the way back, figures, always happens when I rely on someone elses vehicle...

What a trooper!

^^^Torker, I'm confused on that as well. If people are dumping it sounds like a dump area but if the guy he talked to is the owner and the OP takes his steel there it sounds like a scrap yard where people are just dumping stuff off? Lol, OP - can you clarify?