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Moved to MT. from another state beginning of the year. Been saving up scrap but everyone here says the local place doesn't pay well and you have to drive your scrap to Spokane to get a fair price. Anyone familiar or live in western MT. and have to do this or have tips??
Sounds like you should open a yard, an save people lots of travel time, an put those other idiots in their place. I'm not fond of yards that do that, but if people settle for relish when they could have caviar I guess it'll continue to happen. Yards can low ball if people allow them to, stop using said yard, an watch the prices rise, even if just a little. If they are paying so low, then you need to look into buying other peoples scrap, an transporting it yourself to a bigger buyer. I know I would if I was in market that was being held hostage like yours.
That's just me tho, I've been known to do odd things now an then, an buck the system. Having to drive from Western MT, to Spokane, WA would certainly make me seriously consider the option of doing what I said above. ;)
Good luck, an hope you can figure something out.
Sirscrapalot - It has always seemed strange to me... the things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second. - John Steinbeck
hek of a word there SSA, where did you find that at? hahaQuote:
Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot
Bet you have a plethora of those eh?
Hello and welcome to the forum to the OP. :)
Whoa hold on there I gotta get a little more established before I can venture into something like that. I had thought of it though! Nobody here collects cans either. It's pretty weird I used to live in CA. so we call collected them there, and scrap. Now everything is thrown away. I currently am renting so I can't have a bunch of junk around. I have a side area that's gravel and fenced in and I planned on using some old oil barrels to store different grades of metal. I'm a mechanic so I usually have cast alum. both clean and dirty/alum. radiators/brass coolers inside radiators/wire (that's what I usually save) I get plenty of rotors here too but I've never saved them before....Opinions on this? Anyway I planned on processing all my stuff as much as possible then store it all up and take it to wherever on my trailer. I have a decent sized double axle trailer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot
Blame Steinbeck Bear. ;) I just quote'm not write'm. lol.
Sirscrapalot - Was like..Where did I use that word!
An Bear stop giving me links like that or we'll end up with Sirscrapalot word of the day thread to go with the quotes!
An OP I hear ya on it being a big step, but something to aim for! ;)
Sirscrapalot - The word for today is...agrarian. Thank Bear for this bit of insanity. ;)
hahahaha...agrarian... garlic man, nothin but garlic! oops, sorry to the op, didn't mean to put your thread in with the garlic ; )
Here's what the prices are as of yesterday here locally. Seems extremely low to me....opinions??
http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/4793/1kk4.jpg
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wow don't look too good in MT either. I have the same prob here so I drive 120mi round trip to Dothan Al.
The following statements are based on limited research and please correct me if I am wrong. Prices in the middle of the country are lower than the coasts for a few reasons. The cost of transporting scrap for refining, a lack of an overseas market without getting it to the coasts, fewer residents and therefore less scrap, less scrap means less investors willing to set up refining facilities, etc. Therefore the closer you get to the coasts or metropolitan areas the higher the price for metal. When the coasts run short of their quota of metal and start looking to the interior for metal, our prices go up. The problem is our prices never get as high as on the coasts. With that being said, your prices are lower than one would expect.
I am familiar with Montana and use to deal with a scrap yard in Billings. Because of oil and natural gas that have a good transportation system with the railroad for moving products to and from the coasts. Therefore they had better prices than the northwestern part. Based on the information you provided it is assumed you are in northwestern Montana, somewhere around Flathead Lake. It does not have access to the transportation system. If you are far enough south you might try Missoula. Unfortunately you cannot do much unless you follow SSA's advice. Then you could truck it to a railroad hub and shop for the best buyer, eliminating many middle men.
Sorry that it is not much help, but I am in the same situation. You cannot compare the prices in Montana with those in CA.
As far as your space/rental problem, you might think about getting a rental storage unit to keep your extra goodies in till your ready to transport.
I have a small area probably big enough to store a trailer full of material if I store it tactfully. I plan on just separating everything and organizing it all and covering it so it's not an eyesore. Hopefully that's good enough. A storage unit would cut out all the profit for me. They are pretty expensive IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mechanic688