Excited, then bummed, now stoked again!

So I just returned from my first haul-in, and even though it was a mere $24 haul, I'm stoked all over again!

To go back, after I first posted here, literally the next day I went to grab all the appliances I mentioned and they were ALL gone. Needless to say I wasn't happy... ever since then I kind of thought, "eh, I don't have a truck, I feel like I don't know what I'm doing... may as well forget it."

Which led to today, I was just trying to clean up, bringing the little I had from that first excursion to the yard. I was expecting $8 if I was lucky.

Walked away with $25! And turns out Saturdays at the yard I went to are free ice cream and soda day, so I also walked away not needing lunch!

Needless to say I figure if I can make $25 not even trying (took all of 15 min to acquire what was in that load--old power tools, 5 PC towers, and that's it), I can probably do pretty well using my brain while I'm doing it! (I guess finding 100+ lbs ductwork last night doesn't hurt...)

Not to mention the environment felt good. I've been a grease monkey since I was 4 years old, but the past few years I've been doing nothing but research, writing, teaching, and other academia stuff...just those few minutes felt good.

Now I'm REALLY stoked to build this program that'll (supposedly) turn my iPhone into a metal detector!

And, yes, it's almost a full-fledged Minnesota winter and ice cream is still as good!

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Needless to say I figure if I can make $25 not even trying (took all of 15 min to acquire what was in that load--old power tools, 5 PC towers, and that's it)

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I hope those towers were not still loaded, if so you left another 20.-25. on the table.

Early on as a scrapper I built a trailer and hauled it to town to have it self destruct. Cost to have it towed, spent several days unloading it, and lost my shirt on the trip. But I was hooked and as the journey continues, more profits are finding their way to my lifestyle. Lessons Learned was just updated to show the learning curve continues.

The curb hunt is fine
But dumpsters are key . Developing trust in the towns is very important when dumpster diving
you just have to have this attitude Like I Own It !! I'm here in the dumpster . say hello to people as they walk by .
Ask permission first and if anyone does ask Yes I have permission thats my story and stick to it .
NEVER go into to a metal only dumpster.

I take it you don't have a truck .
The big items you need a truck or trailer
keep in mind 1000 2000 pounds of different metals delvers good money
so you don't need some kick ass trailer or even a big car to pull a ton .

Focus on the metals Like - aluminum - copper - brass - motors - Lead - short steel .
most any car can pull a good days pay with high pay metals .

With some luck $100 per week .
but I'd say the sky's the limit

If you have 100,000 pounds there is a customer out there ,
it's completely up to you how big you want to go .
Prices seem to be going lower on the pay out so you should be seeing
less competition ,
Fuel cost is down so it's all good .

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

I hope those towers were not still loaded, if so you left another 20.-25. on the table.

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Nope, most of the goodies were out. I pulled the remaining drives, boards, etc that were worth my time and made another cool $50 ultimately just from those, and I kept a couple parts for the PC I'm building.

I don't have a truck, but between my roof rack (with DIY cargo carrier) and my hitch, my little Ford Focus is a 32+MPG force to be reckoned with!




I feel like the finds I've gotten are far too lucky, but who knows. A couple weeks ago my apt redid most of the sprinkler systems in their 3, 3-floor buildings, and guess who got all the remains? I had just short of three 5-gal buckets full of #1 copper...it was like an early Christmas. Now they're purging all of the bikes people have abandoned...in I swoop again!