Uneducated (or just plain stupid) scrappers.. - Page 2

I go to case in oakland ca. They have a magnet that sorts out non ferrous as it comes to the shred pile. It is a two man operation one one the magnet picking up metal then dropping it to the side of the pile then the worker on the ground picks the non ferrous out and the operator picks the metal back up and throws it on the pile. This way all of their shred gets sorted before it goes on the pile. The supervisor says they pull out thousands of pounds per day. The steel yard at cass takes in an avg of 500,000 lbs of ferrous per day. And by the way if you live in the bay area I would recommend going to cass they help you separate your metal and always give you way more #1 on your ticket I bring a lot of appliances and am getting an avg of about $280 per ton.

Cobre that could work either way. How about the other way around crane operator loads three trucks during the hour at an average of 1,000.00 dollars a piece that's three grand. I am not gonna argue you with because we both see it differently and everyone has a different opinion. I just don't see the point in picking through the pile. When you have thousands of tons of material to process messing with a small amount of non-ferrous just seems like a losing proposition. How often does non-ferrous really end up in the shredd pile to is another question. Most scrappers aren't stupid and most companies aren't either about what they throw into a container now a days. I think we are both right in the end because every yard is different and runs differently with different buying prices and management.

What happens as they are loading up a truck and see some unattached motors or pile of copper? Someone is usually on the ground as they are loading up the trucks, so would it be ok to take it then?

Hobo, I am just curious as to why someone would have to be on the ground when a magnet is picking the material up? I have never seen ground people while loading anything. Now sorting through cast yes. Sorting through prepared plate and structural no.

Yard I go to you are dropping off stuff while they are loading trucks up, gets kind of crazy to say the least. Guy is like a traffic cop! LOL
And this is sheet iron.

My neighbor gets so much scrap that for awhile he never broke it down, for him it was efficiency.... I would troll him hard, and tell him what he needed to break apart.....I offered to buy all his scrap. He got smart now he hired someone to help him break the stuff down.

I think for most it uneducated, a few are stupid and just need quick cash.

At my yard the guy running the crane does other stuff when not loading trailers. The other guy with the bulldozer watches what gets tossed in the shred pile. He keeps a eye out for lets say,,,, Logs, bricks, stormdoors with glass, ect. But when its time to push the pile in, hes in the dozer. They pull out the good stuff like towers, Transmissions, Car rims, aluminum chairs/ tables ect thats acessable and put it off to the side. It could be that its in the ghetto and the tweeks just throw it in the pile and go get there fix money. I hate those 55 gallon garbage can walk-in people that cut everyone in line to get on the shred scale.

Wow...I din't know I was starting a s**t storm with that post! Kinda funny to think that that innocent post stirred up a hornet's nest.

G_P: The guy with the pay phones did have documentation. My yard has been in business under 2 owners for 80 years. You don't do that by buying stolen material.

Pistone: What led you to believe that I was a crane operator? Or even a worker on the yard? Believe me you would not want me out there operating heavy machinery! Junker had it right... I am actually the inside buyer for the company. My position is similar to that of a salesman, but instead of selling I am buying the material. A big part of my job is getting to know customers and seeing what they are bringing in. If I were to spend the whole day in my office there would be a disconnect between I and the customers. So when it is slower in the office I throw on my hard hat and go out to the yard. I help customers unload by hand, hand out magnets and say hello to people I haven't seen in the yard before.

So what you may see as a waste of company time and resources, I (and my company) see it as customer relations. Wouldn't you rather have a conversation with someone at the yard rather than be herded through like cattle and treated like you are just a number?

All the goodies that I pull out of the shred pile are just the icing on the cake. We don't run a shredder, just a shear. All of our shred is shipped to a local shredder and we upgrade the cut grades that end up in the shred pile.

Ohh and the tanks that I pull out of the shred pile SAVE my company money. If we were to ship a load with too many tanks in it, it would get rejected by the shredder. This essentially would cost my company thousands of dollars in freight cost. It might even save a life, because I have seen firsthand the destruction a sealed tank can do when sent through a shredder.

Pistone...my company processes the second most scrap in the state of Colorado. We do this because employees such as myself go the extra mile, get to know the customers and genuinely care about the company and the bottom line. You will forever be relinquished to being the worker bee instead of the queen with your mindset.

Now get off the computer and get back to stripping wire before I fire you!

High Voltage...I appreciate the offer, but I left the East Coast for the slower pace that I found in the tranquil Rocky Mountains. My family back east keeps trying to get me to move home and I keep trying to get them to move to Colorado.

bohemianlush i like your mindset