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Just got the word from a yard owner here in Buffalo, NY saying its going to be two years before prices rise again. ($90/ton here which isnt too bad compared to what I've been reading on this site) Point being guys if you got the room its time to hoard sheet iron. Also a good way to lower supply faster and thus get prices up faster.
tell him I need to borrow the DeLorean when he is done. obviously he has seen the future.
Who is at 90 a ton in Buffalo? Is that net ton or gross ton?Quote:
Originally Posted by andyheim
besides selling tin to get it out the way we are now saving #1prepared we ship out, even our buyer held out for as long as they could but in just 5weeks it went from 13cents to now just 7cents a pound which is still a profit to ship but our buyer is not wanting to in the amounts were sending since its dropped so fast even as big as they are its amazing they held so long. now since I work with people like me who are not saving 50-100ton a month in our backyards it will be ok for a short while to stockpile I have space for about 4-6months worth so it should be interesting as even if I have to ditch it local for a penny its still money and its almost unlimited around here with hardly anyone out doing it.
love the other materials there passing by though this week got almost 80lbs of heavy copper wire just sitting with other things in places all week
I'm hoarding scrap.. but it ain't sheet iron!
;)
I am in a cramped space (my garage) at the moment, so I've dumped some things to make space recently (mostly computer cases) at $.02 / lb. I've got an option to start storing metal at another property I own as long as it's generally out of site. If I an find a cheap trailer or two, I'm thinking of parking them behind the house and loading them up while waiting. There is room for a lot of material (even if no trailer materializes at the right price), just trying to reduce the handling time regardless of what prices do. My focus is acquiring ewaste, but if your neighbor gives you a grill, broken lawn furniture, etc., I'm not a guy who's going to say "no, prices are too low". Yard is less than 3 miles from me. Still .... shred at $.09 or $.10 / lb is a better run than at $.02. 500lbs at $.02 gets me $10. 500lbs at $.10 is $50. Of course, as many of these types of threads have alluded to: WHO KNOWS HOW LONG BEFORE PRICES START BACK UP AND HOW MANY YEARS AWAY IS $.10/lb SHRED? Fortunately, this is a sideline for me, though if I could make a go of it full time, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Something about scrapping: it gets in your blood.
The only thing I'm keeping right now are the good circuit boards. Shred, aluminum, #3 insulated wire and low grade boards are being sold for the going price because I need the room and I'm not hoarding those items. Keep in mind I do this part time and my priorities are with my full time job. I've already sold what #1 I had and I'm cutting transformers to finish paying for a PS 4. I do plan on keeping my #1 and #2 copper after Christmas though.
Hoarding is usually but not always step one towards failure as a business. As an individual it can work but you need to be selective about hoarding. I dont think I would hoard circuit boards...maybe CPUs and ram...but the rest has to go....speaking as an individual that is.
That's an interesting outlook. Where is the cutoff point is a question I was just asking myself yesterday. I think I'll be sending the lower grade CPUs and keeping the ceramics for now. Haven't decided on the RAM yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by armygreywolf
I guess the answer is different for everyone.
Chances are nothing will be leaving until after Christmas. I unexpectedly got busy making things to fill Etsy sales. Then I still have to keep the main employer happy. I can't predict when prices will return. But I know my sanity should on December 25th.
As a full time E=scrapper. NO HOARDING!!! I have payroll and five warehouses. its just not possible to hoard. Yes I lost my close yard for steel (to closure). so I now have to go about 16 mi one way to drop steel. so we store it a week longer, our weight is up so its now worth it. Plastics is my next trouble spot… with us generating more than 4 gaylords a week. My local yard no longer taking it I am having to pay the local landfill (for the time being) .. just for them to burn it. I need a plastics guy.. ???
pascoEscraper: My local R2 would take my plastic and pay me .02/lb for it. They are now in the same boat you are- they are having to pay to rid themselves of plastic also.
sledge thanks…
My yard was taking it for free for more than a year from me. they sold off all they had in the yard in one rail car load. then my very next visit I was told due to the lack of china interest and the cost of cleaning and recycling it .. it was cheaper to make virgin due to the low cost of crude oil.
Well for now I pay to get rid of it to local landfill. As for the rest of commodities due to room constraints and the quickness which it accumulates I need to turn it in bi-weekly. Once we get our new building and some more room maybe I will hold back some. till then I must drop weekly or biweekly for now.
Pasco is in a much different spot than I am. If you're that large, you can't feasibly hoard those volumes. Lower your prices on payout, and weather the storm.
For the smaller people like me, I'm hoarding the RAM. I have a few boxes that are roughly the size of large flat rate boxes. I have room for them to sit on the shelves, and I'm not hurting for that money right now. If I were, it would be a different story.
On my small scale, I'll wait and take the risk. On a larger scale, you have to sell. I'd do the opposite- sell it as quickly as possible to avoid the next price drops.
You can see piles of scrap metal in the edges of fields and backyards, behind garages, etc in plenty of yards around here. Myself, I have all my metals piled up and stacked out of the way for winter. I'll see how things are in the spring and go from there
twin village recycling in Depew, this was about a month ago and they honestly change how they quote so much that i dont ask anymore because I know im not selling, just like to check in from time to time to see what prices are doing.Quote:
Originally Posted by mthomasdev
I don't mean to be crude but as my father would say, that's like peeing in the ocean to try to raise the tide. Most of us on this board are just too small to really make much of a dent. That's just my opinion, of course, so even though I think I'm right, I could be wrong. I usually take in between 300 to 350 pounds in one trip. But it's not really about the money, it's about making space for more. That, and not wanting to deal with too much loading and unloading at one time. Besides, it's nice to have a few ones and a five so I can avoid having to go to the bank to break a twenty dollar bill when I'm en route to making a purchase.Quote:
Originally Posted by andyheim
Like a few of you said, I'm not hoarding anything either. I took Mike's advice, which one I'm not sure, but it was either Mikeinreco or Miked. I think. (Just trying to give credit where credit is due.) He said something about using profits to buy more. If you don't need the money then put it in your retirement account. Believe me, you'll be glad you did. Or sorry you didn't.
I think about 2/3 of this forum is filled with people named Mike! :D
For the lower-end stuff, it makes sense to haul it in in most cases. Steel has to be so massive to amount to the level that you could strong-arm the yard, that you'll never achieve that level.
For RAM and CPUs, I know what I have is a drop in the bucket to the major processors. But, I'd rather sit on it than sell it in a hurry- I can keep it. It kind of is my retirement account of sorts. It can sit and hopefully accumulate some interest by sitting....
Thanks matador… I am. >> but I once was just where you or most of you are at.
We do this daily as a business. my drops of steel are every week of more than half ton or more sometimes as much as two to three times per week. I use to store memory and processors but it just was not worth it. the prices go up and down so quickly. its just better to drop my 10-20 lbs per week of each and keep the payroll running smoothly.
I do understand that most on here are just doing what I did three years ago. scrapping the streets and begging for scrap. I do have one great advocacy … the county is pushing all new laws and rules… they also have increased the fees for dropping all electronics at the dump…. each time they do my phone rings like crazy. the flip side also is I do not have weather issues as most of you do. Florida is beautiful every day. even in the liquid sunshine… sorry guys had to rub it in a little.
It's alright to rub it in! I am entitled to show a photo of Yellowstone, though ;)
http://cdn.c.photoshelter.com/img-ge...621014-040.jpg
I deal in more than scrap. Most of the scrap RAM that I have came in and failed testing. That's not supposed to happen too frequently, so I don't sit on a lot. I've seen the inside of E-Waste places that have warehouses and gaylords full of RAM. If I were one of them today, I'd be getting them out as fast as I could!
I'm just a one man band, though. To sit on 30# of RAM isn't a big deal....
I'm not sure if you meant this as an insult to most of us here. Just because we are smaller than you, does not mean we're all "begging for scrap."Quote:
Originally Posted by pascoEscraper
To stay on topic of the thread, I have limited space and am only hoarding my copper for now. The rest has to get sold to make room and to buy diapers (11 month old).