Hello From The Frozen South

Hello my name is Bob. I am the non-ferrous manager at a family owned scrap yard. I'm looking forward to discussing scrap topics with fellow scrap yard workers and the public customers on this forum.

Welcome. I was born and raised near Chattanooga, currently living between Austin and San Antonio. Folks here will probably want to bounce some questions off someone who works in the business.

Let me start with one. Does the thickness of the wire have any effect on grading it between #1 and #2 copper? I get some real shiny, no varnish Cu wire, but my yard calls it #2 because it is thin.

Thanks for the welcome Moose. Generally Cu wire is considered #1 when the individual strands of wire are 12 AWG or thicker. #2 Cu wire is thinner than 12 AWG or if it has a tin or Al coating on it. I tell my customers it has to be thicker than a #2 pencil lead. My brother lives in Houston, hottest place I've ever been.

Welcome to the forum, Bob.

Question: As the manager, do you interact with the public coming in to sell their scrap?

Absolutely, I'm on the docks with the rest of the crew (7 of us) checking the non-ferrous items we are buying. I answer questions customers may have and make sure they know what items they have. I keep track of inventory, decide when we ship our inventory to a non-ferrous warehouse/broker, set prices for what we buy from the public, in charge of negotiating prices with companies selling scrap, and always looking for new ways to process material more efficiently. A lot of people (scrap yard operators) don't realize at the end of the day your in a customer service industry and being polite and firm can get you a lot further than just buying and selling. You can't be an effective manager at a scrap yard sitting in an office.