The Monster Strikes Again

In my little intro post I mentioned that I took my nephew (the monster I created) in with a load of scrap and he was pleased as heck to get 110.00 for it. Well, he had another load today that he wanted to get rid of because he wanted the money for his black Friday shopping (sadly it doesn't sound like he will be shopping for me) anyway this time he gets 125.00 for the load. Its all stuff his dad has cleaned out of his fathers garage. The kid has made 235.00 in two load and has probably put about 2 hours, if that, worth of work into it. He could have made more today but he didn't seem too interested when I told him if he spent a little time separating the stuff better he might get more money for it. Apparently less is better than more if he doesn't have to work for it.

I don't really mind but I know next time I'm just going to load everything up as it sits and not bother putting any more time into it. If he doesn't care I'm not going to either.

I don't even know what to say to this - other than it will make the yard happy. I'm not trying to be critical, but this could be a very good time to teach the example of hard work paying off.

Maybe he doesn't care that he is wasting money right now, but he will soon learn that more money in his pocket is so much better than more money in someone else's pocket.

If you can maybe nudge him and get him doin a little more work on sorting, maybe when he sees how much more he could make he'll start doin a little more!

I was like that though when i was young. It'll come with time.

You could always tell him if he doesn't want to separate it like it is supposed to be he can load it himself. If I am helping it gets done right or it doesn't get done (at least by me). Its hard to give away a good work ethic.. JMHO

if that does not work, maybe you can pay him for the stuff and process it yourself - as long as the profit margin is there.

I saw a sink yesterday at my local yard.
Stainless Sink
Brass Faucet
Even had Copper Lines still on it.

I talked to the guy at the yard and said "Gosh man.. whoever turned that in missed out- BIG TIME" he said "Yeah I know.. but most people don't care" I said "You paid them SS price for it correct (Bulk of the metal and lowest priced at .30 lb") He said "I had too" The person who scrapped it could have easily netted around an extra $5 in brass and copper for about 3 minutes of work. Now the yard got the sink, will separate the brass and copper and they paid .30 cents a lb for it instead of the $1.20/lb in brass and $2.00/lb for the copper.

I've said it once and I will again. We all profit off of others ignorance. In my story- it was the yard that profited nicely.. and the people gave it up willingly! Nothing underhanded on their part!

Yup, one of the facts of life, many people are inherently lazy, normally we profit because of this.. I consider it somewhat of an honor to be in the company of the minority, my hats off to you fine people.

Don't give up on the young fellow that easy. Is he old enough to understand the price difference he is giving up by not sorting? Is his mom and dad pushing the idea of putting a few of the dollars in the bank rather than blowing the whole thing on a shopping spree? There's a ton of learning here and patience is needed, especially with family.

My boys are in their 20's now and were both raised with the idea of watching their money closely. The older one practically still has his first dime but the younger one is just now realizing the value of a dollar. So the learning rate can vary rather wildly!!

Jon.

Thanks for all the replies guys (or gals?) The problem is his parents really don't seem to care about it at all. Its just something they indulge him on and as soon as the grandpas garage is cleaned out I'm afraid his scrapping days will be all but over. His dad is a painter and does some minor remodeling so I'm sure now that aluminum windows (which up until these last few months have gone in the garbage dumpster) and some other items will get stacked in the back of the shop until he has a load and that's about it. They may take the time to cut cords off appliances and stuff now ( I know they will never take a motor out of a vacuum cleaner) and they may save their aluminum cans but I'm not even sure on that. It's almost like a little joke to them, as if scrapping is beneath them. Besides, his dad can't have anything laying around. If he doesn't need it right now it goes in the trash. He has a big shop in a secluded are and he could easily build some inexpensive bins and racks in back to make separating easy but right now the smaller pieces go into a large garbage can all mixed up and the bigger pieces just go on the ground, the leaf covered frozen ground as it was today. We just threw everything on to get out of the cold and then I pulled inside to sort it a bit better because I didn't want to have to spend as much time outside at the yard.

For example, he had 6 aluminum screen door frames, they had the screen mostly cut out but there were still remnants of it hanging around as well as the rubber spline and the wheels and the plastic handles and all. I would have taken all this stuff off but he didn't care. Who knows maybe I would have still only gotten unprepared price for it, that is what I am still learning as well. Part of it for me though is turning in good stuff. I know some people have the idea that leaving the extra crap on it just increases the weight and puts more money in their pocket but even if I still gut the unprepared price I'd rather be known by the scrap yard guys as the guy who brings in clean stuff.

I did tell him that he may have been able to make even more if he had taken the time to clean it a bit better and I explained the idea of is it worth your time but I just don't think, at this point, it is worth his time. He is 10 (soon to be 11) and any time spent away from the TV or game console is wasted time even if it could result in more money.

Like I said, its more of a lark for his parents and he wants some sort of computer tablet and they said if he could raise his own money he could get one. AFAIK they don't make the kids save any of their money but I know they have savings accounts.

He is not going to grow up[ to be a scrapper, of that I am sure. Right now it is appealing to him because he sees it as an easy way to make a buck by letting everyone else do the work. I could say I won't help him haul it and make his dad but if I don't help I know it would end. The sad part is his dad knows a lot of people who are fairly well off and he could gets a lot of stuff that some of the wealthier people don't want to mess with stuff like this. They just want the stuff gone. I think his dad would rather give him the money than let people know he is "picking through garbage"

The thing is, it's not even about the money. Sure if it were my stuff I'd clean it up and get more for it but if he is happy with what he gets why should I worry about it. It saves me time actually but it is the loss of a teaching moment like some of you said that bothers me the most. I guess I'll just deal with it and hope that he starts to come around.

Sorry for the long post and I do appreciate your comments. A lot of good ideas were suggested and the encouragement helps.

Oh, on a side note, when we unloaded the ferrous metal someone had dropped off two huge refrigerator or freezer type units (like those in a convenience store or something) and all the cords and wires and everything were still attached. Another guy was unloading a stove with the cord and everything still on. yeah, some people just don't care. Or maybe they don't know.

Yeah, a lot people think it is beneath them, some people don't care. BUT you know what, if they all cared as much as we do, we would be out of a job ! lol In the end it all works out for the best.

You should have your brother hook you up with the guys he knows that want all their "junk" hauled off.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SnowBeast

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.

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... even if you help the horse by slamming its head in the water.. over.. and over.. and over again!

I like Ironhunter's suggestion, being firm in teaching him a good work ethic. Do it right and it will pay off. Then Spider suggested that you buy it from him and break it down yourself. I like that one too, just with one more step. When you break it down yourself, show him on paper (and in cash) what that work paid off for you. You need to be careful to pay him exactly what the yard would have paid. If they are friendly to you, they might let you weigh everything there and figure the price, then take it back and break it down. My local yard would rather I did that than bring it in dirty anyway. If you can do that, you can give him the sheet with totals on it so he can keep it and study it later. Since he's just getting into scrap, it looks like a quick way to make a few bucks to buy a game; but if he sees that he could have bought TWO games with a little work, he may come around. Be sure to include a copy of the yard's buying prices with explanations of what is clean and what isn't. Telling someone it pays off to work on the scrap a little more just doesn't get the same effect as showing them and having it on paper as a good reminder. Oh and one last thing, no matter what, don't give him the extra cash you made on the break down. Good luck and keep us posted. (next lesson may be spending profits on tools for the future.....)

teaching a child to recycle is one of the most important things you can do for our planets future Thank You.
two trips for $200 he will remember that lesson for sure.

it's hard to get tv kids to do anything but keep trying. If there is no tv, games, computers cellphones at your house how long will they sit inside doing nothing???? for sure less than a minute

I don't mean to be critical, but I think that you can't just assume people turn stuff in like that cuz they're lazy. For me, I will separate as much as I can for what it's worth. I start separating TVs on the curbside over the winter, but typically with washers and dryers, I don't see it worthwhile to pull the motors at .19/lb or the brass off of sinks at .70/lb I will separate what I can at the scrap yard. To me, I make more money giving those things up to the yard and lose a few extra bucks, by using the time I would be spending breaking things down, to drive around more and pick more material up. And a lot of times when I started out, the motors or whatever I was trying to break down, the amount of time spent was not worth the extra money. I used to own a landscape company, and I knew that you have to charge a certain amount to profit, and cover costs. All my landscape jobs were billed at $60/hr all my snowplowing was at $120/hr. I will not go out and scrap if I am not making at least $10/hr after fuel costs. I rarely pay for scrap, and I typically stay busy everyday. Bottom line, to each their own, everybody has a different situation.