24 Hours In My Life:

Starts out yesterday ,
actually 36 hours ago. I got up Sunday morning (Sundays are crazy for scrapping):
Ran out door to get to my thrift-store early before the wierdos who always show up (only on sunday since they Know the store is closed all day).

All new regects there (from the shelter/rehab or wherever they come from) so No steel stuff left for me. Opened the one dumpster and there was over 15 lb.s "55% copper" cords sitting there, and bunch of x-mas lights (.25/lb) .:)

Dug more, noticed about five TV's which I've learned to smash the back open with my Klein hammer, knock the copper coil off and much glass as possible, then yank the copper cable out of and then rip the transformer(?) whatever the heck it is I sell with motors...Working fast, searching for toys for my girls and two boy nephews...quick before the sunday santa looking guy rolls up and as usual asks, "been here long? found much???" (One day I'd like to beat him with one of the eight or so aluminum bats I've gotten from there ...Yes seriously...:mad:), left all my finds in my truck...

24 Hour part:
Decided one of the other five+ scrappers nearby might get on to my spots IF I didn't pick-up, Went by one of my demo jobs (where the superintendant loves me to go) , Nothing. went by latino club and got bunch of red-bull cans they mix with drinks...(cans suck!) ...decided to pick up two steel displays that were sitting there for over month...stress. Picked up two more not sure If I should have.
Got home. Guy in a Lotus pulls up ("OH, sh*T !!!" boss???) Nope he says ,"are you THE SCRAP GUY???" ...Why yes I am...Good Follow me my buddy has a bed frame for you...(weird older guy like he just did a big "bump" of coke or something).

Wrestled with wife ALL night till she finally gave in and gave me s*x at 5am ...TMI.
Ran to sell the 430lb.s steel and X-mas lights by 7am. (EDIT:$19 )
Circled my monday morning route (low-income apartments mostly with high move-in/out rate , and a rich area on the way).
Picked up few things (D*MN trash truck beats me every week there)...found two car batteries in route, stainless sink, some brass lights, coax cables, stripped aluminum off three sliding glass doors, cut more 55% copper (power cords off vacuums etc.).

Phew got home logged in here to check about obtaining copper from a huge new microwave I pulled from dumpster at thrift-store yesterday...no luck.
Drank a 40 oz. beer, disassembled stuff.
Scrapped that stuff (and rest from sunday) for $72.
(Drove just 12 miles total).
Visited with 2 year old daughter ,ate a left-over cheeseburger, explained I had to work...ran again.

Went by one of my auto repair places ...Nice Iranian owner had his four latino guys move the cars out so I could back in and load the entire front (minus motor) of a large SUV into my Ford Ranger.:eek:
Strapped it in , Noticed HUGE cables and several aluminum pipes as well as solid aluminum...D*MN @#$%, %^&**^&^ S$%%%^^!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!! Somebody stole my cable cutters!!!
Cut as much as possible, then drove to scrap and dumped the rest cursing the ENTIRE time!
(EDIT: 550lb. steel and 7lb. "dirty #55 , = $26 urghh!)

I don't know , I generally consider myself a Christian and the luck I have is like EVERYTHING comes from the Lord ...I just CAN'T waste stuff like that.
Trying to still feel blessed about the other good stuff, still ticked.
Feeling like I've been hit by a truck right now.
Got some beer for the muscles...hard work is excellnet exercise.
I'll probably scrap past my seventies I guess , and will be cursed to own atleast one pick-up truck FOREVER!

Well that sums up my day (hard to explain it ALL and this is getting too long).
Got a bunch of left-over stuff to disassemble/ scrap for tommorrow, and some nice light fixtures for my electrician brother.
Thanks for reading and God Bless!:D
:cool:

When any scraper wants the money thats about what a day we have . Run here there, fill the truck. Usually when your done, still got a bunch of items to take apart.
Those TV transformers (plastic) have copper so some yards take them as motors
Microwaves have a nice heavy steel transformer with copper and a fan motor and glass spinner motor Also you will see a device ( magnetron) with 2 magnets AL and a copper strand, once taken apart can't have to many magnets !!

I think that is a pretty typical day for many of us here. : )

Where are you at that the prices are so low?

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Originally Posted by Copper Head

When any scraper wants the money thats about what a day we have . Run here there, fill the truck. Usually when your done, still got a bunch of items to take apart.
Those TV transformers (plastic) have copper so some yards take them as motors
Microwaves have a nice heavy steel transformer with copper and a fan motor and glass spinner motor Also you will see a device ( magnetron) with 2 magnets AL and a copper strand, once taken apart can't have to many magnets !!

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Also add air to tires or fix a flat!

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Originally Posted by freonjoe

Where are you at that the prices are so low?

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I work scrap In Northern VA.
I also worked in MD (mostly PG county) when I was learning.
(paid more but I had a "partner" to split 50/50 including gas,but not "wear and tear" etc. with)
I actually called around today during my morning break I took.

Problem is that my truck is old (could break-down), don't have a trailer.
The place I go is "rinky-dink" really, they ship stuff out to other places (not much sorting there).
BUT it's only about 2 miles from me, so with the truck I have, think it makes sence.(?)

There's another place, not too far,that pays MUCH more, but I worked that area in summer busted my @ss to fill my truck one day, got there and they told me they had a new rule that hard-hats were required to unload.
I said that there "was no sign or previous warning", but said I'd have to buy a hard-hat from them...I started cursing and asked if they wanted scrap OR to sell hard-hats...got kicked out. (I have 5+ hard-hats at home).Almost got in a fight really. ...

Glad because they need to learn how to treat people RATHER than acting like "oscar the grouches"Garbage-men really...
Most of the mexicans/illegal central americans who go there (to Davis Industries) put up with it.
But for me I refuse to be "self-employed" and deal with that type of treatment in business.

So I go to a decent "rinky-dink" place nearby, and work alone, building my route for now.

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Wrestled with wife ALL night till she finally gave in and gave me s*x at 5am ...TMI.

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I'm sorry, but THAT made me about pee my wranglers. Awesome.

Wearing a hard hat at the scrap yard is not a bad idea...I wear one at some of the yards and the workers there will fly stuff over your head all the time and it ticks me off everytime as well...but hard hats are cheap and not to hard to slip onto your head when popping out of your truck when unloading..just my two cents.

Easy I think the problem wasn't about wearing a hard hat but the fact they wanted to sell him one.

Dumb D I wonder if you may have been able to ask to borrow one from the guy, but you had already soured the deal by arguing the point of there "was no sign or previous warning". Maybe if it went something like this,
" No sir I was unaware of this new policy . If you would be kind enough to loan me one as I drove a long way to come to your yard and have a couple hard hats back at my shop."
That encounter cost you profit by losing your cool. Being in business you take even more crap from people then if you worked for someone. If you work for a boss you only have him to answer to. Being the boss you must answer to everyone in a professional manor.

The yard you are dealing with must be some very nice folks! They are paying about $0.047 a pound for your steel, that is less then half then the current going rate! I bet they would loan you a hard hat!

Well welcome to the board. Hope this will help.

As per post #6 , I find all yard people seem grouchy to most of the clients & even if there in a nice mood they are ready be nasty I think it might come with the territory of working with metal. Even I used to be this guy nice to all people & now i seem more like them I kinda like it. But DumbD I say this as the truth regardless of personalities The yards are your - BANK ACCOUNT - WHERE YOUR MONEY IS AT - YOUR BREAD AND BUTTER - YOUR MONEY TREE - OK enough said , NEVER fight with a yard guy they are your ultimate boss - treat them as such . they are never wrong. Even if they get you on a few pounds the next day you will get them .It's really just a big game, of selling items we find and with luck find some more .When you get a chance I would apologizes and say man i was in a bad mood this happened that happened i will keep my cool in the future . The grouchy yard people tend to forgive very well - thats the good news .
I wonder if the yard you use takes your license as some yards that pay less seem to be the ones that absorb that requirement.

O.K. let me stick up for small yards (that is me)! We can offer convenience,honesty,and education...we can not match the shred price of a larger yard,,,period! I only get $20/ton for handling shred...but I pay a bit more for appliances and complete cars. I make a point to educate my customers on how to sort their product so they get paid better. I also honestly tell them what materials they have. Now on the topic of grumpy yard workers..2 factors 1-scamming tweekers it is a plague on the industry and dealing with them will burn you out 2-It is really hard work all day long. From a yard owner perspective, the stress of not getting burned by market shifts is high and you sweat some ginourmous load coming in that wipes out your account. I do my best to be friendly to all customers, and I hope they forgive me for being snappy! Scrap on..

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Originally Posted by Area67

O.K. let me stick up for small yards (that is me)! We can offer convenience,honesty,and education...we can not match the shred price of a larger yard,,,period! I only get $20/ton for handling shred...but I pay a bit more for appliances and complete cars. I make a point to educate my customers on how to sort their product so they get paid better. I also honestly tell them what materials they have. Now on the topic of grumpy yard workers..2 factors 1-scamming tweekers it is a plague on the industry and dealing with them will burn you out 2-It is really hard work all day long. From a yard owner perspective, the stress of not getting burned by market shifts is high and you sweat some ginourmous load coming in that wipes out your account. I do my best to be friendly to all customers, and I hope they forgive me for being snappy! Scrap on..

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I fully understand what you say , I wish a yard like you was about also . I really don't care if workers are grouchy I am there to make money. A smile or 2 is fine. By me it is a game, one yard for instance I'll bring AL or copper in a 4# bucket I know weighs 4 LBs . I see the total weight of my product as per there scale but I also see them take off 6 lbs on my bucket, this has happened plenty. I wont start a fight of 2 or 3 lb . But next time they are getting Tweaked. I have had a bucket of clean brass 36# with one of the pieces a little bit of steel, I get to the window and it all was listed as dirty brass. Well you just can't start a fight since there are people lined up 10 deep/ One or two good fights & they will tell you "your done " . There are other yards who are honest but they also might not want the tire on wheel ever so often.
SO i feel it all evens out I try for 95% metal but a bunch of office chairs lowers that a bit . The yard guys watch so I know what goes . I have talked to others and heard stories of what they have pulled but I will never take that kinda chance. But if i have predominantly a nice load over 95% true, i feel no guilt in a few pieces lower in % as they got the shredder & a few # on me.

it's the 4 G's
get your product
get it to the yard
get you money
get more product

It is definitely a game (like trying to get some "action" at 5 am). It is no better selling to larger fish. I just brought 1500 lbs of copper to Denver and somehow about 5 lbs of #2 was buried in my bare bright, I must have missed a barrel toss. Man, they looked at me long and hard, I felt like s.... The rest of the load was o.k...then I watch them dump it all in the same bin!! The Chinese like to buy percentage loads and their army of unpaid ex-farmers super cleans it for like $1.20 a day. Talk about a long 24 hrs..I prepared the copper from 10 am to 9pm Sunday, then up at 5am drove 120 miles, sold material, drove back, opened the yard till 5 pm. Fell asleep with dinner in my lap. My shoulder hurts so bad it is freaking me out a bit. Tomorrow back at it, buying,sorting,preping...

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Originally Posted by Area67

.....From a yard owner perspective, the stress of not getting burned by market shifts is high and you sweat some ginourmous load coming in that wipes out your account. I do my best to be friendly to all customers, and I hope they forgive me for being snappy! Scrap on..

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This is one of my biggest stress levels that never seems to go away unless the market is on the up and up....hardly ever....we all know there is that HUGE drop thats going to slap us RIGHT after we get that large pickup....But thats the risks the yards take...and some you all may or may not know that all of us yard owners know all to well.

The 3rd largest yard north of me just got stomped on a copper buy and the recent price drop, I know the owner well. He dropped what he is paying for copper big time. He did not look well when I talked about the market with him. Hate to think what a 24 hrs would be like after that realization. I just try to keep it moving as fast as I can.

I am small fry and i might feel bad when i see some metals are lower now then a year ago but for me I find it for free. Any items i would purchase i do want out the next day.
So the yards it must be hard for them some times. Thats why i really do appreciate the yard they are my life . I'll never over tweak. Goes with out saying when you ( I ) know how to take thing apart and such - sure i could be a darn dishonest scraper ,but i would only be hurting my self.

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Originally Posted by Copper Head

I am small fry and i might feel bad when i see some metals are lower now then a year ago but for me I find it for free. Any items i would purchase i do want out the next day.
So the yards it must be hard for them some times. Thats why i really do appreciate the yard they are my life . I'll never over tweak. Goes with out saying when you ( I ) know how to take thing apart and such - sure i could be a darn dishonest scraper ,but i would only be hurting my self.

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There were several times one of the yards I use could have taken advantage of my ignorance and ripped me off but they didn't. They even unload the suv for me - probably because they don't want me tying up one of their scales for too long. But it's nice anyway. The other yard I use doesn't even watch when I unload shred, I could be dropping timber and they wouldn't know it for awhile.