the 41 mile difference

first off i am not bashing any scrap yards as i am glad to have them in my town. however they are not all created equal like pawn shops lol the price difference is amazing.
in my towns scrap yard they are giving $2.10-1.90 for #1#2 copper and $120ton for prepared steel but just 41 miles away sounds further than it is but the scrap yard there is $2.85-2.75 #1#2 copper and $180ton prepared now for small quick cash loads its not a big deal say under $50 but for anything else its huge huge difference of $130
on a 100lb/1ton medium load minus $20 gas at most there and back is $110 extra every trip or more of course for larger loads.
so always make sure to call around for pricing as in this business maximizing your proffits is the name of the game

Its amazing how different prices can be even within the same town

This is why I deal with 3 different yards.

You know what they say "Think education is expensive , try ignorance" it does always pay to do your homework.

Hmmm? Let's see. You live in Ames and you are going 41 miles to get better money. I would assume that you are going over to Marshalltown.

Here in Waterloo, IA there can be a huge difference between yards that are less than 2 miles apart so I know what you mean.

I did explain the difference to one of the yard bosses here and he offered to price match with the other one, so now all of my local stuff goes to him.

Marshalltown, if that is where you are talking about, is only 55 miles from me. I have thought about checking them out, but now I seen to have a pretty good relationship with my yard here.

You guys are fortunate to have choices. I have one yard 30+ miles away. Last I checked they were paying $110/ton for shred, .46/lb for ext alum and $2.75 for #1 copper. Next closest yard is 110 miles away.

close ya webster city

Stop by your close yard and speak to the owner tell them the prices of the other yard. At worst is you just keep driving down the road....

I can do somewhat better monetarily by driving an extra 20 miles, more than enough to cover the extra gas even on smaller loads, but I figure the added strain/wear and tear on the truck makes it barely, to hardly, worthwhile, so I mostly just keep to the simple country roads slow drive to the nearby yard, hardly even call anymore to ask the prices

a buddy of mine started a yard a few years ago, ground up-- i started going to them ehh 2 months after they got there first lot, haul 3 times a week, or more, i could care less if a company down the street is paying more, why because my buyer is honest with me, if i need him to cut his margin down, cuz i can get - for example 1500 lbs or more of something or even 10000 lbs , hes fine with that, why because i helped him build his company, 5 cents a pound of something is better than 10 cents a lb of nothing

Guess I'm spoiled in Detroit. Walk down the street and you trip over a scrap yard.

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Originally Posted by BurlyGuys

Guess I'm spoiled in Detroit. Walk down the street and you trip over a scrap yard.

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That's not all your going to trip over in Detroit,,, lol

The first time I went thru Detroit was in the middle of the day and on the other side of the interstate was a car(?) on the shoulder that someone had knocked the windows out and set on fire. Sure makes you to not want to stop and look around.