Amateur scrapper from Northern Virginia

Hey folks. This is my intro thread.
I'm in my late 20s and I'm a Realtor in Northern Virginia. I've been taking stuff to scrap yards for about four years now.

I live and work in Fairfax County, Virginia which has a large population. There are more people in this one county than there are in all of Wyoming, Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota, Delaware, or Montana. Its pretty packed here.

With all the people in my county, there are only three scrap yards. Yep, that's it. People don't really scrap here. This is one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, so people don't care about scrapping. They just throw stuff out or put it out with their recycling. You should see the stuff people just leave out. The best is the pile of metal that accumulates at the dump. There are 2 dumps run by the county and you have to pay to drop off everything except for motor oil. People literally pay to get rid of their metal, and stand in line to do so.

I've been scrapping Jeep suspension parts/axles as well as wire and stuff like radiators for a few years now. I found the outside piece of a house air conditioner on the curb in my dad's neighborhood about 2 years ago and took it apart. With it all apart, I got $52 for it. It was VERY heavy, but well worth the money. I used that money to take my girlfriend and her parents out to a cheap dinner.

I use my scrap money for either gasoline or food. Its never much, but it helps. Free money is always good.

Cool deal Flow, welcome to SMF!

Thanks.
When I used to scrap at this place in Fredericksburg, VA, I'd always take my girlfriend there on a hot date. We'd go to the scrap yard to sell my stuff, then drive about 2 miles further down the road to a big gas station chain that sells food called Sheetz. 2 hot dogs for 99 cents if you have your customer card. I'd say the majority of money I've ever made from selling scrap metal has been spent at Sheetz on either food or gasoline.