How big of a pile do you accumulate before making a run?

Some guys fill up the truck and go to the yard.

Other guys have some space and let things accumulate before going to the yard.

Here's my current pile, built up over the course of about a month.

http://i.imgur.com/kMnmB.jpg

The pic was taken from a second floor window, about 15 feet above the top of the pile. It's roughly 11 feet by 17 feet overall, the deepest part of the pile is maybe 3 feet high.

Not sure how to estimate how much weight is here, but I'd put it around 1000 lbs, roughly. Inside the garage is where the higher-value items are kept; probably another 50lbs of motors and transformers, 10 lbs of insulated wire, and 3-4lbs of bare bright copper wire. The garbage can next to the fence by the lawn chair is all aluminum; got two more cans full of steel.

Is this more or less than what you guys take per load? This will take me and my partner a couple of hours to just get onto the trailer, and we might have to make a second trip.

We go when truck/trailer is full. Learn how to load correctly (search for info on the forum), took me time to learn that; how to stack and also how NOT to break rear truck window (did that 2 x's!)

I take in my shred about once a week or when I get the stink eye from the wife. Shred pays for gas and replacing broken tools, sawsall blades, cut off wheels etc. I break down and separate as much non-ferrous as possible. I try to keep an eye on metal markets and check the yard prices before bringing in non-ferrous. Brass,aluminum and ss don't move too much price wise so I tend to get my totes full before turning in. #2 insulated wire I turn in when its at $1.00 or more per# or when my 55 gallon barrel is stuffed. As far as ewaste I tend to hold and try to turn in when prices are on the up swing. I am p/t so I can hold onto stuff longer than if it's a full time job for someone else.

I make a run when the shred pile starts getting too big, since I dont have a lot of space in my garage that's atleast once a week, sometimes two.

When I take in my shred I usually take in whatever else I have on hand as well. I'm not good at hording or saving up the more valuable materials. I get impatient and can't help but cashing it in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BRASSCATCHER

I take in my shred about once a week or when I get the stink eye from the wife.

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Ahaha, me too.

Shred covers my costs (gas, blades, etc.), and the other stuff is my profit. I usually turn in the non-ferrous about once a month, depending on how fast it piles up. Copper is slow, but I seem to get a lot of brass, lately. Aluminum, too.

My smaller van would do that in one trip loaded proper , Yes I have that in my life, to the annoyance of all who are near me.I am working on it. that inventory is the easy type load and go . When your inventory is building and it's the type that has to be cleaned up for a good - AL run - Or copper run - that is actually the on going pile hard to get rid of as there is always another item to dismantle & put in the area .
I saw a scrapper who was tossing it all - some AL ( clean ) 2 computers (win 2000) Short steel and some mix this older then me man, could care less , And by the way i have been told in the past by the head management " Do not Educate - Explain - to any customer about what is what - CU AL SS Short and so on "

I go to the yard when I have a full load (actually loaded and in my way) or, when I'm running low on funds. Otherwise, I let it pile up until the prices increase just a bit.

500lb minimum to get paid for shred at sims metals and i drive a 1/4ton ranger so i cant go too high either. so once i got bout #750lb, i load my truck up and go.
last time i estimated bout 650# and ended up dropping off over #1100 while the time before that my guess was only 3lbs off :p

I usually try to get about 1000lb of shred, thats about all i'd be willing to put on my trailer,if i take the time to pack it properly it rides well. then i always want a decent mix which could be any or all of alum,copper,brass,coils,compressors,lead,stainless steel,batteries.The shred pays for the gas,tools,blades,etc,etc. my money is in the other stuff,so i gotta get a good variety to make it pay off, have to drive 30 miles to the scrap yard.

I take in a trailer load of shred every day and once a week I take in a load of non-ferrous. I have a great yard I deal with so it doesn't pay for me to sit on stuff hoping the market goes up.

My car trailer don't head for the yard with less that 5000#, 6000# on the pickup box trailer, and I stockpile copper, boards etc til I have at least a $1000 worth. Do this to save on gas and time, why make 2 runs for $500 when you can make one run for $1000 ?

Depending if the price is high or low depends on how much i store. If price is over 200 a ton I will store it for a week or two and if its low at like 170 a ton i will wait till its back up. I try to keep the pile stacked so its not a tangeled mess, easyer to move, or falls over when windy. usually pull in around 1300 to 1500 in the C10 and only have a 800lb payload in the tacoma, so thats the non-ferrous truck

I wait until my trailer is full. Depending on what I'm hauling it's 4000-12,000

Never bothered to find out what the bed of my truck can hold, but my trailer can hold up to 3,500 lbs of stuff.

I mainly just wait until my trailer is 100% filled. I have plywood side on it, so it helps, instead of having to use straps all the time.

I am about to put up plywood sides on my truck too.

When I hit capacity on my truck+ 200lbs it's time to go! Shred stacked high and "good stuff" underneath.

When the amount of ali cans I have will pay for the petrol etc used in the trip (I pay others for the use of their vehicle & time/petrol/no muck arounds).

When the stacks of towers are all higher than I can reach it's time to haul them in. Probably should crush them but they stack better un-crushed.

my place is walking distance so I can go any time. many take in just a shopping bag of cans or a couple pounds of copper ect.
steel is basically rubbish so mine is gone as soon as I have a hatchback full, usually 500lbs which isn't much at all but still, it's rubbish.

I guess it depends on your spending habit, if your not good at holding small amounts of cash then save your precious metals until you can get a big payout, like $2000 or something, that way you can do something good with it, me, if I take in 20lb of copper, which would of been a bit of work to get, $60 goes like nothing so it would feel a waste, so in copper, millberry copper, i'm going for big daddy.. 1 tonne, may take a while but that's what I wanna take in.

We will see today or tommorow. Typically steel is 3,000 to 4,000 at a time, on a 16' trailer. Ferrous is built up till I have at least 100 pounds of each type.

Nicely organized I see eh. :) lb