#2 insulated wire price

Hello;
amateur scrapper here and new to the forum.

the sort version:

What are you guys getting for #2 insulated wire and do you think its a little low right now?

the longer:

I just stripped a bunch of phone , computer , intercom and speaker wire (plus so 12aug romex) out of a commercial building attic. it took about 2.5 hours and I ended up with 115 lbs of #2 insulated and about 20 lbs of 12 awg romex. its probably not that big a score for you guys but I collect slowly over a period of months and never have 110 plus lbs of wire.

any way. I was excited to call and find out what #2 was going for and its only 70 cents a pound. the last time I payed attention to the price of wire the #2 was 90 cents. Thats what I was hoping for.



so is it a little low right now and what do you think the prospects of it going higher in the next couple of months? MY trailer is almost full so I will be going to the yard soon and was wondering if I should hold the wire for a while.

Originally Posted by Mick

You really expect anybody to have the answer to that?

I could not imagine for the life of me why anyone would think this an impossible question to answer. What are you getting for #2 insulated wire? thats pretty straight forward. does it seem low? either its usually higher. usually lower or usually the same price.

pretty easy stuff

Originally Posted by Mick

Cause in the last sentence you're asking someone to predict the future. If we could do that we'd be rich. I may be getting more than you but are you going to bring your stuff to Maine? Anyway, what I get is based on a little more than 100 pounds.

it isn't predicting the future. it would be following trends. past results may nt be a 100% accurate map to future results but trends are often validated.

Just wanting to know if the current prices are the norm, the high or the low. it may be higher in maine than florid but more than likely if the price lowered in florida of a 3 week period it probably lowered every where over the same time span. nothing is absolute though

Originally Posted by NHscrapman

prices in the link were from 2012

Sorry but I did not see a link

heres the thing. I don't have to unload the trailer right now. I have a good load on a 16 foot trailer but its not filled to the top. waiting isn't harming me. If the general consensus was that .70 is pretty low and its usually higher then I would keep filling the trailer.

when I look at what you posted now I see it in a new light but not the way you may see it. If I invested $80 in something how long would I have to wait to get 25% return on my investment? of course you can always lose money on investments also.

There are two rules that are followed by Scrappers when selling there goods if they know it or not. Number one rule you need the money you have to sell, Number two rule you have no room to store any more you have to sell, so when the markets are low and you do not fit into the two reasons to sell, hold on to what you have. The prices should start to rise, should does not mean will.

.70 for number 2 wire is a little low, but copper has been down for a while. I just got .85 per pound a few weeks ago. The problem I have noticed with wire is that the yard says it is #2 this week, then next week it's #3. One week they will say, you can leave the ends on, next week, hey you have to cut those off or it goes as #3.

You really need to check with multiple yards, get their prices and how they classify things. I have 3 yards that I deal with and am looking at another place for some of my wire.

My 1st and primary yard gets 95% of my ferrous and some of my non-ferrous. They classify wire as 30%, 50% and 75%. 30% is power cords, etc.. Prices are $0.15 to $0.35 depending on customer. 50% is romex and THHN, etc. Prices are $0.50 to $0.70.

I have another yard were 30% is $0.68, 55% is $1.23 and 80% is $1.78

A third yard classifies power cords and romex all as #2 insulated and is paying $1.00. Recently sold them over 200 pounds of power cords.

A 4th place that I'm looking at pays $0.71 for low grade (power cords), $1.29 for romex and $1.71 for THHN. They actually pick up if you have over 100 pounds.

Do some calling around before you decide which yard or yards you are going to use.

Originally Posted by AuburnEwaste

.70 for number 2 wire is a little low, but copper has been down for a while. I just got .85 per pound a few weeks ago. The problem I have noticed with wire is that the yard says it is #2 this week, then next week it's #3. One week they will say, you can leave the ends on, next week, hey you have to cut those off or it goes as #3.

I'm not certain they use a #3 here. at least it has never showed up on my receipt. If I had paid closer attention to the price per pound I'd have my own answer. I only looked at the end figure.

I know they always say the ends, wing nuts or zip ties need to be off. if there is a lot of zif ties they call it wire harness. No idea why a few zip ties are more difficult for them than all the insulation.

.70 was the highest of 3 places I checked. the other 2 were .65 .

I just looked up some news about copper prices. something is going on in china which has driven down the price recently. there was a sharp 4% decline very recently. so copper may be down or even lower for a while.

Originally Posted by miked

Don't discount the idea that bringing in a larger quantity can get you a higher price. I have asked "how much do I have to bring in to get a better price?'. Mike

The one time I was assured I would get a special price for 500 lbs of cast aluminum I was basically lied to. I got the price on the phone of 45 cents. then I asked "well how much for 500lbs" and was told they would give me a bulk price when I came in. I went in. the fork lift operator gave me a bin and said I'll be right back with the price. I unloaded about 1/2 and found out I was getting 45 cents a pound.

just received 1.05 from my preferred yard. other yards in the general area were around .70

#2 Insulated wire
Today I got $1.10/#
Last month I got $1.20/#

Looks like Im doing pretty good up here compared to you guys lately. I got a price bump for bulk though.

Originally Posted by ParkerFlyer4

#2 Insulated wire
Today I got $1.10/#
Last month I got $1.20/#

Looks like Im doing pretty good up here compared to you guys lately. I got a price bump for bulk though.

how much was the weight? is 100 plus lbs considered bulk for wire?

Call and ask your yard, They don't mind answering questions if it means getting your business.

I'm not sure exactly, but I had just over 200# and that was considered bulk.