Where did these scrappers go?

If you go back just a couple of years or maybe even three in my area if you had a surplus of monitors for scrap there were always someone around who would get them from you (for free of course). Now all of these people have disappeared. I know the price of metals is down of course but it just seems like no one any more is interested in doing any work that takes some effort. Have they all gone to being on welfare?

I notice you mention scrap monitors. You talking the dreaded nonworking junk CRT monitors that have become like the plague to get rid of? Or are you talking scrap flat screen monitors?

I think it has to do with several factors(wellfare's not one of them although that reminds me of a Eddie Murphy skit), one being the now low price of metal, another being the price of gas, and yet another the laws/regulations this country seems to pull out of thin air. Last summer there were a hand-full of scrappers that would circle the neighborhood for metal and now there's only one and he doesn't speak a lick of english(he's friends with my neighbor who also doesn't speak english). I'm still the only E-Scrapper between here and Fulton(there use to be a guy in Fulton who did E-Waste but moved out of state), yet business is what it is. People want exorbitant amounts of money for their stuff then get pissy when you don't buy it(guy tried to sell me an Iphone with a cracked screen for $450. Told him wasn't even worth a buck so he hung up). Of course with that several smaller business have gone out of business(Fulton's only redemption center became a landscaping business). The bakery just down the road from me keeps flipping between a bakery, a pool store, and a leather shop(it's currently a pool store) and the only Chinese food restaurant near me just went out of business last week. Speaking of employment, unemployment in Onondaga county's on the rise. We have alot of construction companies here that will hire someone, fire them, then rehire them to claim they hire people. It's rediculas.

It's gettin crazy out there.

yep this past 7 months have been a dream of dreams with the combination of prices being lower and people dropping out because they cant run a successful business or cant do the work to make the money its a open season for us long term scrappers. I have seen competition pass up on computer pallets (40-60cpus average each) and $50 and this past week got a pallet of 54 for $25 and been averaging $40-60 pallet these past months as low as its been. plus everything I buy pick up get dropped off and of course curbco has been so generous.
mind you alu is dropping again but its has been super high for awhile and people that dropped out when steel prices did in many areas they pass up everything. ext. alu. windows are not the heaviest but with hardly anyone left to pick them up I have picked um up like crazy. this last load was almost 400lbs. so I am loving the laziness.
as for work every where else its just simple laziness breed into society, people have no responsibility anymore. its not all but most and those few have to work harder because others don't even know how to and teaching them to work when everything is given to them in trade for freedom and original thought. business and government have trained people well and people want it that way so its not going to change but we can all cash in on this while the waste streams continue to flow ever so full of bounty

I think many people realized they were not going to get rich quick and that it takes a lot of work to scrap.

I appreciate the replies and yes, I'm referring to CRT's mostly although it really wouldn't matter if it was flat screens. I've had people call me lots of times complaining about being poor and not having any money so this is what I would do. I'd tell them I would teach them how to take apart computer stuff and would give them boxes of stuff to work on for free and then buy back what they would have dismantled. They would have no cost at all. Guess what? Haven't had the first taker and I don't expect any.
The only local e-scrap buyer in my region has quit mostly because of low prices but also I think because he can't get anyone to work for him. There are signs up everywhere businesses hiring here in southeast Tennessee. What gets me is that I see people out everywhere not working and hanging around someplace. How do these people get themselves fed? I guess they all are on food stamps.
Heaven help them when the economy finally blows up, the stock market craters and a lot heavier inflation sets in. I hope their EBT cards will cover bread at $10 a loaf.

Originally Posted by HyderConsulting

I appreciate the replies and yes, I'm referring to CRT's mostly although it really wouldn't matter if it was flat screens. I've had people call me lots of times complaining about being poor and not having any money so this is what I would do. I'd tell them I would teach them how to take apart computer stuff and would give them boxes of stuff to work on for free and then buy back what they would have dismantled. They would have no cost at all. Guess what? Haven't had the first taker and I don't expect any.
The only local e-scrap buyer in my region has quit mostly because of low prices but also I think because he can't get anyone to work for him. There are signs up everywhere businesses hiring here in southeast Tennessee. What gets me is that I see people out everywhere not working and hanging around someplace. How do these people get themselves fed? I guess they all are on food stamps.
Heaven help them when the economy finally blows up, the stock market craters and a lot heavier inflation sets in. I hope their EBT cards will cover bread at $10 a loaf.

Our tax dollars feed and house them.

I have picked up a lot of business this year and almost all of them say the same thing, finally a scrapper who shows up.