Howdy From Texas

**spottrouble** · 06-25-2013, 12:09 AM

Hi everybody, my name is Kristi, I've been lurking for the past 2 days and reading up on your adventures in scrapland. I'm not exactly a scrapper in the same sense as most of y'all, I just haunt a few scrapyards and cherry pick the industrial stuff for components to resell. I started out about 20 years ago in military surplus, back then I could buy huge lots of scrap and the yards would deliver roll-offs and the gov't employees would load it, all I had to do was pick up the checks, ahh the good old days. I used to deal in lots of BIG industrial stuff too, had 14 acres of nothing but machinery back in 2005, decided to get out of the business then and lots of it went to scrap, should have held onto it for a few more years. When the economy tanked I decided I'd better get back to work, take what I learned my first go around and work smarter, not harder. These days I mainly deal in small parts I can throw in a box and ship anywhere, no employees, and minimal overhead, and best of all vacation when I want to.

Kristi

**Bear** · 06-25-2013, 12:36 AM

Hi Kristi

Welcome to SMF. 2 days? You musta pretty well covered the whole forum by now haha What edge of nowhere is your middle of nowhere close to? I'm in southeast oklahoma, but I can see texas from here ; )

**DiamondN** · 06-25-2013, 12:45 AM

Welcome from Indiana...

**greytruck** · 06-25-2013, 02:32 AM

Welcome from south of Chicago

**spottrouble** · 06-25-2013, 02:38 AM

Originally Posted by Bear

Hi Kristi

Welcome to SMF. 2 days? You musta pretty well covered the whole forum by now haha What edge of nowhere is your middle of nowhere close to? I'm in southeast oklahoma, but I can see texas from here ; )

Well actually I have 2 places to rest my head, central Texas where my yard was, and middle of nowhere Nevada, its not close to anything. Texas was hounding (and threatening to imprison me for failing to do inventory) me for inventory taxes so I bought an abandoned 20,000 sq ft building in Nevada for long term storage, I pick for 6-9 months of the year and then haul it to Nevada and thats my vacation, and NO inventory taxes to worry about. I have people on both ends that can ship stuff for me when needed, not exactly employees, but then again I only have to pay them when I make money. I've even contemplated getting a 30 ft box trailer and putting an apartment in front, then line the rest with shelving, then just travel and pic and ship from wherever I am that day, when its full head back to the mountains of Nevada and unload, then travel again. I love my job

Kristi

**miked** · 06-25-2013, 10:13 AM

I just have to say WAY COOL lifestyle. Mike

**Bear** · 06-25-2013, 10:33 AM

Cool beans Kristi

**BroJer** · 06-25-2013, 10:49 AM

Welcome from SW Ohio
and
DITTO on what Bear said

**Bear** · 06-25-2013, 12:46 PM

One thing about being on the road is no matter how peaceful a place may look when you go to sleep, it might be completely different when you wake up, possibly something going on you just don't want to mess with. Unless you're staying in an attended park every night, I prefer direct access to the driver seat, for those times when you'll just want to make a smooth quiet exit. That might not be possible if you're back there in a trailer somewhere.
If I was going to consider such a thing I'd consider a bus, maybe even an old school bus, they're built like a sherman tank, and would easily hold all your store supply, and leave as much room towards the front as you wanted for sleeping area. The floor in them is usually above the wheels leaving gobs of wasted, empty space on both sides along the chassis. Anyone able to fab boxes along the sides could increase storage space a Lot(sort of like the old Greyhound buses did for luggage).
Not sure what kind of mileage you could expect, but it could possibly be comparable to pulling a 30 ft box trailer.

**KzScrapper** · 06-25-2013, 10:10 PM

Hello from Denver.

**ginofrater** · 06-26-2013, 12:13 AM

Welcome from

York Region

Canada

**tski72** · 06-26-2013, 04:58 AM

Welcome form the north western suburbs of Chicago. Sounds like a "good life" time, can't wait till I get there.

**spottrouble** · 06-27-2013, 02:04 AM

Thanks guys, trust me, it has not all been peaches and cream, there have been some pretty dismal days where I contemplated the un-thinkable, getting a real job

. Seriously, some days the driving to Nevada and back thing gets old, been doing it for 10 years, and pretty much living out of a suitcase the entire time. And considering I did not have a significant other when I started, finding one with this wacky life is not any easier, oh I get offers, but they think I'm going to settle down and become little suzy homemaker for them, I'm a lot of things in this world, but that ain't one of them lol.

**GlenBroomfield** · 06-28-2013, 11:48 AM

Kristi,

Howdy from Texas, also! I'm also new to this forum.

I look forward to interacting with and learning from you.

Glen

**spottrouble** · 06-28-2013, 11:32 PM

Hi Glen, well you know a girl can't give up all her secrets

. Best advice I could give to someone wanting to get into the surplus equipment biz is find some cheap storage, buy it cheap and stack it deep is the motto. And if you are in Texas keep in mind that if you have over 20K in business assets/inventory (scrap metal counts too) you are supposed to do inventory every year and send it to the county so they can tax you on it, and they have no problem taxing you on the same scrap every year, and if you do not file they can send you to prison

.

Never, ever, EVER scrap something without doing the research to figure out what it is, and what its worth. I got my start in 1990 working for a military surplus buyer, went solo in 92' because he went to prison. But looking at millions of pounds of stuff daily, and researching it nightly, got me where I am today. I still don't know everything, but any time I see something that I cannot figure out I research it, and its shloads easier with the internet.

My main market is new/unused industrial parts and used/tested parts if they are pricey new, yet there is also a market for industrial antiques. I don't ever want to hear of any of you guys scrapping old flywheel engines, there is a market for all of them. #1 mistake I see of scrappers selling old engines is that they want to fix/paint them so they look purdy, but the guys who collect do not want them fixed, they want the project of restoring them, and they worry about non-expert fixes, so they will not bid as high if its been fiddled with. Here is a prime example of something most scrappers would have scrapped, no I did not bid on it, but I'd love to find one

Vintage Stationary Inverted Tangye Gas Engine RARE Find Collectors Must See | eBay