What do you do besides scrap metal? - Page 6

I'm a funeral director. I've worked in the funeral industry for several years, so it's just about all I know. It's a bit of a specialist job, but I really like it.

I am very practical, and I am happy fitting a kitchen one day and mending a laptop computer the next. For me, scrapping started when I was doing up a previous house. I took the copper water cylinder to the scrap yard and got £35 for it. That's it, I was hooked!

When I was about 7 or 8 I had a large mechanical alarm clock that you had to wind up with a little wing nut on the back of the clock. Being inquisitive I took the clock to bits to see how it worked. Well, after I poked and prodded at the insides of the clock with a ridiculously large screwdriver, the large coiled spring popped out and there was bits of clock everywhere. I never did get it back together again.

Nowadays I still take apart all sorts of stuff. The only difference is that over the years I've learned to put the bits and pieces in separate piles. I still use ridiculously large screwdrivers sometimes though

I've retired twice, once from the Army and once as a lab tech at the U of Arizona. For about 8 years I sold $30k+ every year on eBay, mostly meteorites, hence the handle Starbits. Ebay changed and I haven't listed a single thing for over 2 years. My wife and I spent the last 3 years as the primary care for my 83+ year old Dad. When my Dad died last May my wife was so burned out she wanted out of the house and out of the state so we moved to North Carolina. Once I found this site it has become a way of getting my fat lazy butt off the couch and out of the house. First time I lifted a printer over my head and smashed it on the garage floor sending plastic everywhere I said "Oh man I think I am going to be doing this for a long time."

Starbits

I teach AP calculus in NY

Originally Posted by jonnyjeb

I teach AP calculus in NY

wish we had this back in the day when i went. i always like a teacher. tis how we all learn.

If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is. ~John Louis von Neumann

I am a truck driver. I deliver live plants (flowers) to Lowe's, Walmart, and Sam's Club in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. It is a seasonal job. It is only busy during the spring and fall seasons and dead in the winter, summer months. No one buys flowers when it is really cold or hot outside. I am just starting to become a scraper. It all started when my wife told me to start picking up cans along the road (She was joking). She gave me an idea though. Collect cans from households everywhere and create a route. It's only a little bit but, multiply the small amount by hundreds or even thousands. I benefit from the exercise, I stay busy, the metal stays out of the landfill, and as a side benefit, I make cash money. That's a win win situation. It is also a repeat business. a steady income once the full route is established. The scrap prices may go up or down and yet the cans will always be profitable.

I am a website designer/developer by trade. I love scrapping because it gets me out of my computer chair. Before I could easily work 10 - 12 hours or more in front of my computer daily. Now I have to force myself to get my web work done. All I want to do is scrap.

Previously I've been a locksmith, computer repair technician, wedding photographer, professional clown, office manager, internet technical support, day care worker, graphic designer, janitor, computer class teacher... I think that is it. LOL variety is the spice of life.

I'm a programmer by trade - work for a hospital doing medical billing and various IT related jobs. Saved cans as a kid was extent of my scrapping. Got into Storage Auctions when Estate Auctions dried up in my area. From there I started looking into how to max profit from a unit which caused me to find my way to these boards. So now I work full time job, hit storage auctions when can, and scrapping everything else. Big surprise at how much "trash" is really "money" going to the landfill.

It would be too long for me to explain.
Basically I love being a metal worker, and ANYTHING related to that.
Mainly STEEL work.
Lately though I fear perhaps a lot of my scrap is being sold to China(???)

I work scrap full-time for now.
I scrapped cans with my grandma at 3 or 4 Y.O., sold bunch of Alum. I found once, sold some copper pipes on the side when I worked HVAC, only in may '11 did I learn/consider Full-time scrap.

I also into cutlery making (knives as well as swords) been studying that for 2 years online, but recently ordered my first knife grade steel, and been setting up for heat-treating it.
Scrap-metal has afforded me a chance to do such.
This week my wife has dental issues so everything besides scrap related stuff is on hold.

When I worked at the steel factory (which layed us all off 2 days before x-mas 3 years ago) I was getting into setting up a small motorcycle shop in the backyard where I rented...But that's all gone now.

I also sell wood pallets, and considering scrapping cardboard.
Been Thinking about maybe selling marijuana while I'm out on my route , but I don't like it, I prefer to drink beers myself.

Originally Posted by ComputerScrapper

Just before turning to e-scrap I was a full time writer for the internet...I was one of the people that helped websites gain rank in Google by writing SEO articles for their websites. I still write one every once in a while for a good client that gets in a bind. But it is really not my bag anymore....I got tired, after 6 years of doing it, of sitting in front of my laptop and just writing all the time. Not to mention the fact that there would always be someone out there that did not pay and then that was a major hassle.

I've done quite of bit of SEO writing also. It's mind-numbing to me. I'm still writing, but for publication. Enjoy it so much more to write in my own voice, instead of for Google bots--which is the case no matter what some say. (Except for business writing.)

I wouldn't mind doing some work again for business clients, real site content, but there's just not enough time in the day.

I gave up the SEO stuff due to not getting paid, and not paid enough when I was paid.

I just thought it was pretty cool to see another writer-turned-scrapper here--lol.

My husband is a painting contractor, and I also sell books on Amazon and have bought and sold antiques and collectibles for over ten years, off and on. Other than that, we were a homeschooling family with four kids. Now they're all grown (our youngest 17yo ds is pretty sure he's there!).

That's pretty much it for the basics here.

I was half owner in a auto repair shop and I used to see the cars come in on the hook and I told myself that is something I should look into cause it doesn't take a rocket scientist to operate a rollback so I bought a 2000 Freightliner and eventually got on with the police for the non preference tows and the rest is history. The police tows are my bread and butter but I love to scrap out cars for what I call the "down and dirty" stuff that is easy to remove like batteries cats and wheels. Only bad thing is I'm a one man show so I don't have a life anymore and my free time is very limited and even if I hear of a good deal I can't leave town cause if I miss a tow then that scrap car I might be picking up all of a sudden gets real expensive. Ideally it would be great to hire somebody to work for me but I just can't seem to make that leap and take on all the paperwork that I don't have to deal with now as a sole owner. This website has really opened my eyes to all the ways to make the most of what cha got and how I know I've been letting good money get by me.

We do Trash Outs working with Realestate companys cleaning out forclosure homes and commercial buildings left by tennents keeps the ball rolling

I work at the apt. I live at, and a foreman on a small ranch NOT a lot of work but it helps out with the bills. And what is good is that when I help out at at the apt sometime others see my truck and call me for a pickup.

Anything to keep money in my pocket. Im a jack of all trades and a master of none.