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profit margin on a whale?

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  1. #1
    Russell started this thread.
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    profit margin on a whale?

    I was contacted by a grade school friend. He worked for a manufacturing outfit since high school making arcade machines. They've recently downsized. Long story short we discussed this today. He estimated 10 ton; everything from galvanized steel to aluminum.



    With this kind of tonnage. What kind of profit margin would big players make on this?

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    Scrapcrazy's Avatar
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    Aee you asking how much margins would be for a large scrap yard or how much a scrapper would share with his client?
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    It all depends on how much you pay for it. Even if it was all steel, you'd be making approx. $1,400 gross profit at $.07/lb (my local price). Factor in the AL, and you could have up to $1,700 or beyond. How much you make depends on how much you get it for. If it were me, I'd offer $400 and negotiate from there. Personally, I'd go and look at it first before making any kind of offer, though.
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    Russell started this thread.
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    I will be doing a walk through with him.

    With so many large companies around here I was in the range of 100 to 150 a ton.

    My question is between a scrapper and their client. I don't think he will contact large corporate places. I want to be fair. I think by offering 50% of current market. He may be very happy. I would be happy with 50%. To those that have landed large deals... Is 50% selling myself short?

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    Russell started this thread.
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    In all fairness I know large corp work on much slimmer margins and their paying a lot more overhead. Then again I can't compete with their tonnage.

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    Scrap man's Avatar
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    Don't forget that you're going to be doing most of the work, as well as hauling it all to the yard yourself. That's a lot of gas. I'm not sure what prices by you are like, but I'd go maybe 30-70, just because that extra 20% would be going towards labor, gas, and other expenses. Also don't forget to ask the yard about bulk pricing.

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    At my yard you'd get $0.08/lb. So the overall load will bring in $1600. If 50 percent or $800 would be worth all your effort and expenses then roll with it. If I could complete that job within one day and my expenses were less than $100' I'd be satisfied with a $700 a day payday. I'd definitely look into seeing if your yard could spot you a roll off box.

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    Scrap man's Avatar
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    I'd split it by taking $1,000 of it and offer him whatever is left. Don't forget that your labor should be considered an expense too.

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    Personaly I would do a 60 40 split. The 20 percent difference would pay your expences. Just my opinion though.

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    my recent whale deal is turning out pretty disappointing to be truth full. when we started negotiations 6 month ago or so HD boards were at 14 + the 2 samples he brought me weighed out at 7 per LB the price has dropped to 10+ and most of the HD boards are weighing out at 17 per lb. steel dropped from 14 to 06 vhi grade boards have dropped about 25 to 35%. die cast to 27. extruded from 80 to 44 ect. so a lot of your profit will depend on unintended and unforeseen elements give your self the profit you want then add some more for a cushion. when you are dealing with a lot of weight even a small move in the market ads up very quickly. you may give him a percentage based on the price at the yard when delivered like the yards do.

    we will still make a decent profit on the whole 900.000 lbs but we are losing tens of thousands off the estimate 6 month ago
    Last edited by EcoSafe; 07-31-2012 at 10:35 PM.

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  13. #11
    Russell started this thread.
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    I'm leaning towards a flat fee way under 50%, more in the range of 25-30%. If we cant come to an agreement my final offer will probably be 50% split of ticket, just so I don't get burned on price fluctuations. My hopes are he doesn't call a corporate place like Sims or another large yard. I don't want to look like a scammer. He may open a company himself in the future, and he knows many others in the stamping/ plating industry. With only two regular accounts I'm looking more at the long run , rather than short term.

    You've all provided some good answers/ suggestions. Thank you.

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    Dont arcade machines have a lot of particle board and glass in em?

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    Dont forget the baords in a lot of older arcade and pinball machines are telecom grade or high grade....

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    Quote Originally Posted by ozzy214 View Post
    Dont forget the baords in a lot of older arcade and pinball machines are telecom grade or high grade....
    I just took a load of arcade boards to a buyer and they were all the Chinese grade boards.
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    Russell, maybe you should try to have your buddy speak to the owner, or set up a meeting with him yourself(if you haven't already done so) and just give him reasons why he SHOULDNT deal directly with a yard. Tell him you live in the same community, by him sticking with you he's helping you get by, supporting your family, etc heck everyone's got a soft spot

  18. #16
    Russell started this thread.
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    To clarify: These are all internal pieces of the games, not whole machines. This would be a lot of framing and bracketing type material used inside the machines. From my understanding they don't just make your typical arcade games. There's a lot of different types of entertainment machines nowadays. If any of you have been to Dave and Busters or Gameworks. You know what I mean.


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