Hello from North Carolina

Hello! We have both been browsing the forums quite a bit, and we thought we would finally join the club!

I've been a somewhat active "browser" on these forums and thought it's time to be a more active "participator"

My name is Daniel and my brother is Joseph, been part time scrapping now for honestly no more than a month and we've now changed course to be more "full time" scrappers.

So far, it's just me and my brother doing the work. We've had some success here and there (sadly mostly dumpster dives and scrounging around plazas and other commercial areas) but we know we have a TON of opportunity to expand.



After our first drop off approx ~500lbs of shred metal and ~5lbs in e-waste and another few lbs in #2 ins wire. Made a total of $56.54 with almost $52 in pure shred metal. I don't wanna say we feel "jipped" but we definitely feel that if we put more time into sorting, the pay out would have probably been better (particularly the ~70-80lbs in golf clubs).

They pay $10.50/100 lbs of shred metal.

How do you think we handled the situation?

My biggest question is gonna be "Are we better off continuing with said practices? Dumper dives and strolling up and down neighborhoods/plazas" OR "Walk into the business, and attempt to arrange a deal/contract with the owner or manager so both parties benefit." Or will this method mostly go down in vain?

I've seen honestly lots of luck on the forums with BOTH choices... The area we are in is rather suburban, though only 10-15 minutes from down town and another 10-15 minutes from country side. (We operate mostly in our current town, Garner North Carolina, as we don't want to waste our gas venturing too far out in our early stages of development).

Like I said, our business is in the very early stages of development, and we have nothing but drive, time, and motivation to this baby running! So anyyyyy form of advice is GREATLY appreciated.

After we feel like we have out foot in the door of the business, we will make a serious effort to become licensed with permits (from what I hear sometimes requires insurance??). Or are we better off taking all licensing serious right now and make that our focus...


Thanks in advance for the welcome and/or advice!!!

A pretty rough laptop. Busted screen, no hard drive, optic drive, memory, battery, or cpu... Honestly surprised they took it.

welcome from iowa. you live in a great area from north to south Carolina there are a lot of great scrap yards and ewaste buyers with both offering some of the best prices in the country. so continue to read the forums and learn a lot about the places that offer you the best prices and distance for transportation costs. if you have the space, building large loads will be the best payouts as for steel its really as much work you want to put into it for separation and prices for your time

Welcome from Maryland. There's a lot to learn ,fortunately for you and your brother you have found the best place to learn about scrapping. Search the old threads.continuously, and then search some more. 99.9% of any question you may have has already been asked and answered. Its hard work but those who stick with it enjoy working hard anyway, at least that true in my case and other scrappers I know personally. Seek and ye shall find. If your really serious about this business you've come to the right place. Good luck and above all be safe and honest in all your dealings.

Welcome to the forums from a sandbar off the coast of NC.

Which part of Nc? Quite a few of us here.

Soon we'll outnumber the Floridians!

Sirscrapalot - Keeper of the traveling cooler