Does anyone else see this in the yards you go to?

Yesterday I found a $100 diesel cat in the shred pile. It was sitting right next to an old, short horse trailer. I got to looking at it and it had good tires on it. If I was in the business of cruising for scrap I would have took it and cut the top off and would have had a perfect scrapping trailer. If I kept everything cool that I found in our shred pile I would be sleeping on my front porch because my house would be filled with rusty gold!

to them its probably more about the liability of having someone picking thru all the trash piles and getting hurt and what not...

i talked a little about this in a pm earlier. i got called to the office at my yard yesterday wondering wth. i havnt ever met the yard manager yet in person just talked to him on the phone. anyway he gave me an adjustment from the brass i sold on monday and we talked about 30 minutes. he wants me to cut up the old propane bottles from forklifts that have the nozzles already out he said they were aluminum. we talked about computers and he said that they sign a waiver on the big loads saying they have to goto the shredder, believe me i tried to buy them from him. i got a couple hook ups though while i was there though and feel very good about our meeting

My wife responded to a CL add last friday for 2 sewing machines, i was sent to pick them up on saturday since she was busy, wound up they were at a scrap yard. They pull items that are worth something and list them on CL. After i paid for the sewing machines, i asked them if they ever got computers, and the guy said every once in a while, i asked what they did with them, he said they go in the pile and get compacted, i said i would pay 2x what they pay for them and they took my number. The yard is out of my way so i asked if they would set them aside for me and call when they get like 5 or 10, they said that would be great. Then the guy asked about the green boards out of them and i said that is what i was looking for and he said he had started pulling them at one time but didnt know what to do with them and had a pile of them in a shipping container, i said i would pay $1.00 a pound for them broken down like he had them, wound up with 88 lbs and they have my number when they get more whole units in. They are a very small yard, so I would say it is definately worth asking at a small yard but the larger yards are more about the turn-over.
The yard that i take all my stuff to doesnt sell anything, they had a pile setting next to the scales one day and i asked about buying them, the yard manager said if i needed something to use for myself he would work somethig out with be, when i said i wanted to buy them all whole he said he couldnt do that, said he is under contract with the chinese for them.

under contract with the chinese? It is illegal to export it to China... he is full of it.

its obvoius that he is selling it on down the line, to whom who knows. all i know is he wouldnt sell it to me.

I have talked with 2 diff.yards about buying some of there electric motors with the idea of selling the material back to them.You would of thought that i had asked them a very personal question.One yard said they have never been asked that before.Hard to believe.Long story short, no dice.

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Originally Posted by directrecycle

definitely have better luck at smaller yards. Some yards we pay a .25 per pound. Our regular yard we recycle at lets me take them after i empty out and i pay just the .12 tthey do. They dont get many and they know the rest is coming right back to them. Just ask. if no then ask a month later, maybe persistence will pay off.

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I attempted to do some barter on CL but didn't get any hits. I had 2 fridges that I put up on CL for trade for some busted computers. Never got a bite. I figure $5 per complete CPU. So 4 cpu's for the 2 fridges and some misc stuff.

Man, that's exactly what I was think'n! :cool: I'd go 2-3 bucks each though and tell em I'd give them 4 each in quantity and good (no missing parts) condition and only $1 each if they were miss'n stuff. Then again, I'm on a way too tight budget and scarey balancing act but $5 like you said, would pull peeps in, Quick! lol lb

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Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

I would glady pay 2.5 times shred price. Thats what I offered them too in my email. That would curently be 30 cents a pound at that yard. I would also glady take a couple tons a week :) Maybe I should go one day and set up on the street with a sign for a free soda and pass out cards and maybe catch them before they go into the yard or make contacts with the scrappers. One of my best contacts so far was a scrapper who responded to my CL add to buy computers. I buy about 20 a month from him.

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Boom! Right on the money there PTS. I LOVE the Free Soft Drinks sign idea to lure your prospects in buddy. Now That, is thinking! :) lb

You have the right idea. If they don't want to work with you just take away what customers you can. I'm up to 10 from my local yard where they offer $1lb for all high grade board and 1.5 times shred for complete towers. I pass out cards with my prices to fellow scrappers and boom!! New buisness.

All the yards I use will not take any electronics in the shred pile, if they see it they'll make you take it back with you.

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Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

I would glady pay 2.5 times shred price. Thats what I offered them too in my email. That would curently be 30 cents a pound at that yard. I would also glady take a couple tons a week :) Maybe I should go one day and set up on the street with a sign for a free soda and pass out cards and maybe catch them before they go into the yard or make contacts with the scrappers. One of my best contacts so far was a scrapper who responded to my CL add to buy computers. I buy about 20 a month from him.

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I run ads in the paper and flea markets help aswell.
Ad in paper usually states...... Why PAY office supply stores for recycling your electronic waste. I will pay you for it and in most cases pick it up. Then have some prices listed. Gets me quite a bit of scrap. Just dont mention names like Staples or Office Depot in the ad. LOL get ya in trouble.

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Originally Posted by Ewasted

scrapyards have the resources (money and labor) and volume. Why train them?

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There is a difference between training and outsourcing. If they are not going to sort and process it, then they should sell it to someone that does rather than shredding it. Dropping a business card and price sheet off is not educating in my opinion. Odds are if they are shredding the stuff they have already made up there mind its not worth it to sort/sell/process. Id rather see this material get processed properly than be filling up landfills and sitting in shredded piles out on the ground leaching into the ground. You offer to buy computers as is at a fair price im sure they will sell them to you.

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Originally Posted by LarryB

Man, that's exactly what I was think'n! :cool: I'd go 2-3 bucks each though and tell em I'd give them 4 each in quantity and good (no missing parts) condition and only $1 each if they were miss'n stuff. Then again, I'm on a way too tight budget and scarey balancing act but $5 like you said, would pull peeps in, Quick! lol lb

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At $5 each you would think so but ive been advertising heavily before christmas trying to get cash out there to people to help them out. But all im getting is people that only have 1 or 2 towers. If i could get a few of them lined up in the same part of town i would do the drive to go get them. The problem is its gonna take me a full day to go around town and pick up 10 computers, not worth it.

Just remember if you tell people you pay a lot more than shred they will wonder why and then do a little checking like we all have here because the forum is up and runnig and full of info and buyers you will only make more competion for yourself. I just tell people I resell the parts to people who need them and thats no lie. Its not good to educate people because they wont to make all the money.