Been a while guys. Want your opinion on something.

Been a while! Hope everyone is still doing well.

I've been selling cars at a new car dealership for about a year now. I haven't scrapped anything for probably 2 years or so. Last week my buddy called me and told me he had a stove that needed to be swapped at a rental of his. We swapped it out and went right to the scrap yard. $11.78 for a 180lb range.

Oh man.... What a reminder of how much I LOVE scrap yards. The fire has been burning ever since.

Of course the dealership has a decent amount of scrap. I have no desire to worry about shred. All fenders and light iron get thrown into a cage and it's emptied out every other week or by a pair of guys in a regular cab truck. They can have that.

What throws me off is the rotors. We have a guy who comes and cherry picks our tires. He takes the good one for a price. He also gets our rotors. I've asked before, and it's said that he pays $1.00 per rotor, regardless of size, regardless of condition. It's really confusing me. I can't figure out if he's selling them to a shop that's cutting them or if they're all scrap. If they're scrap.... ****.. He's just barely breaking even (probably losing money) and puts food on the table with used tire sales.

I've asked about cast aluminum and most goes back as cores. Couple techs take what they can. All wiring harnesses are saved, they won't tell me where they go.


My question to you is this.... Would you try to infiltrate the system that's in place? I want those rotors (they're small, easy, and pay), but I can't pay $1 per like the current guy is. I work 55-65 hours a week in the showroom. I've doubled my income in the past year. I don't *need* to scrap to eat. But I have a shiny f250 with an 8' box that's begging to squat. I took 1800lbs of trash to the dump today and it felt good. Woulda felt better if it was them paying me $70 for scrap than me paying the dump $70 for a truckload.

May loads be heavy and your woes light guys.

He isn't loosing money. Rotors will bring around $1.25 to $2+ average each at least for me. I will buy them all day for $1 each.

****Buying rotors $1 each western Pennsylvania****~me

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Originally Posted by APA

He isn't loosing money. Rotors will bring around $1.25 to $2+ average each at least for me. I will buy them all day for $1 each.

****Buying rotors $1 each western Pennsylvania****~me

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Scale price in western PA is 238 GT. dealer price would be roughly 255 to 260. Over 11.5 cents per pound. You could afford to pay $1.

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Originally Posted by APA

He isn't loosing money. Rotors will bring around $1.25 to $2+ average each at least for me. I will buy them all day for $1 each.

****Buying rotors $1 each western Pennsylvania****~me

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Should have mentioned.... I'm back home in Pittsburgh.

Hello from Western PA :)

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Originally Posted by mthomasdev

Scale price in western PA is 238 GT. dealer price would be roughly 255 to 260. Over 11.5 cents per pound. You could afford to pay $1.

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Iinnnntttteerrrreeessstttiiinnnggggg

I'm gonna talk to my service manager.

Really don't want the current guy to shoot me though... He's a bit on the wild side.

Remember... you work there. Try not to step on any ones toes. Try to bring it up in casual conversation that you are familiar with scrap metal and would like a chance to offer your services. At that point, let them come to you. I wouldn't ask directly.

This worked well for me at my work. We scrap high grade extruded aluminum but its off limits to me. Iv told them i scrap heavy machinery and do e-waste. Ive never asked for anything specifically. They would always offered machines or e-scrap for me to take after that. Oh, and always be thankful and gracious.

good luck, looks like you might be back in the game :winner:

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Originally Posted by Faceball

Remember... you work there. Try not to step on any ones toes. Try to bring it up in casual conversation that you are familiar with scrap metal and would like a chance to offer your services. At that point, let them come to you. I wouldn't ask directly.

This worked well for me at my work. We scrap high grade extruded aluminum but its off limits to me. Iv told them i scrap heavy machinery and do e-waste. Ive never asked for anything specifically. They would always offered machines or e-scrap for me to take after that. Oh, and always be thankful and gracious.

good luck, looks like you might be back in the game :winner:

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I'll pull the good ol' "hey Mr service manager.... There's **** everywhere all over the shop. It looks terrible. Dangerous even. If you want me to clean it up a bit I'd be glad to. Let me know. *hands him my old CTS Solutions cards which say SCRAP METAL on them*"

LOL

Are you working a dealership in Pittsburgh?

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Originally Posted by CTSSolutions

Should have mentioned.... I'm back home in Pittsburgh.

Hello from Western PA :)

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Originally Posted by APA

Are you working a dealership in Pittsburgh?

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Outside the city, but yes.

My opinion... You are working 55-65 hrs a week and making good money. Let the rotor guy be. He probably does OK but it would hurt him to lose the account. I'v lost accounts before and it's a horrible felling. Instead of taking it away from him, sell him a new (different) vehicle.

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Originally Posted by pjost

My opinion... You are working 55-65 hrs a week and making good money. Let the rotor guy be. He probably does OK but it would hurt him to lose the account. I'v lost accounts before and it's a horrible felling. Instead of taking it away from him, sell him a new (different) vehicle.

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You're not wrong. But nah I can't sell him a new truck. He has an old ram stake bed that I'm in absolute love with. I'd hate to be the guy who made it so I can't see that truck a couple times a week.

I know... I know... It's not scrap.

But seeing my truck with 1860 pounds of junk on it today made my heart melt. I'm itchin' BAD guys. Real bad.

http://i.imgur.com/gEziMNfl.jpg

*note the headache rack*

Any day you don't lose your rear window is a good day.

My feelings from all the way over here is scrap somewhere else rather than at your work. You know who you work with I don't but being a scraper may diminish your standing at work and that can have an effect on your work.

I was a salesman many years ago keep refining your efforts in sales. Seek out more and better training than what your sales manager offers. At one time I provided services for the used vehicles at many car lots.

Unless I am mistaken there is a lot more money selling off the used car lot than the new lot but I would guess the financing is tougher.

I would seriously consider satisfying your need to scrap somewhere else. 73, and its great to see you back on the forum, Mike

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Originally Posted by miked

My feelings from all the way over here is scrap somewhere else rather than at your work. You know who you work with I don't but being a scraper may diminish your standing at work and that can have an effect on your work.

I was a salesman many years ago keep refining your efforts in sales. Seek out more and better training than what your sales manager offers. At one time I provided services for the used vehicles at many car lots.

Unless I am mistaken there is a lot more money selling off the used car lot than the new lot but I would guess the financing is tougher.

I would seriously consider satisfying your need to scrap somewhere else. 73, and its great to see you back on the forum, Mike

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Been giving this a lot of thought.

There's just so many pushes and so many pulls.

In one hand, I simply don't have time to scrap elsewhere. I have a girl of 6 years that's always whining she never sees me. I work 12 hour days on the floor. I work every saturday. No exceptions. Scrapping at work is the only thing that makes sense. I'm already in very good standing with all my techs. I've sold 6 or 7 cars to techs/techs family in the past year. They love me. I could easily get them to throw them in my truck, or at least stack them all together and make picking up be a 5 minute every day before I leave work. Service trusts me, I have great rapport with all my service writers and manager. Parts loves me too. Everything is on camera. It would be no problem at all to simply keep a tally and give them a check every week for however many rotors I took m-f. I could go on.

On the other hand: I don't need the money. I don't need the stress. I don't need more on my plate. I don't need to piss off the current scrap guy. I don't want to pay for scrap. I don't need the wear and tear on my truck. I don't want to store rotors in my garage until there's enough to haul to the yard. I don't have space for a trailer. Again... This is just the start of the list.

The list on both sides is endless.

As it stands, right now, you're right. I should be able to make more money by using my free time studying the art of the sale instead of getting in over my head playing with rusty rotors.

But my truck.... My truck wants 3k# in the bed at all times. I didn't even feel that 1860# back there today. She wasnt even squatting and doing 80 on the highway was like nothing. Friggin love that thing. Seems like such a waste not to put her to work.

I gotta sleep on it. I just wanna haul scrap LOL

EDIT: to comment about you saying scrapping might change the way people look at me..... They know who I am. I'm the guy with a 96 Subaru with 256,000 miles. The one that has 4 used tires and peeling paint. And the 97 powerstroke I bought. It has 380,000 miles. It's loud... Silly loud. Diesel. It stinks. I plugged it in all winter long. It looks ridiculous, it's a flat deck with some pseudo stake sides. It's a comical truck. And now my new truck. It came in on trade and I bought it for $500 over what trade value was. I stole that truck. My payments (first car note ever) are also laughable. I've been there long enough for them to know that I'm only wearing a collared shirt when I'm at work. They know I came from the factory as my previous job. Believe me... I don't think anything would change if I started collection rotors.

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Originally Posted by CTSSolutions

My payments (first car note ever) are also laughable.

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Your going to need them to be when the emissions crap on that 6.7 fails out of warranty.

Sorry to pee in your corn flakes. :)

Jimmy Patterson of Vancouver BC started life as a used car salesman and now has a net worth of 9.5 billion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Pattison
Early life and education

Pattison's parents resided in the rural town of Luseland,^[4] Saskatchewan when he was born at the hospital in nearby Saskatoon. Growing up in East Vancouver, his first summer job was playing trumpet at a children's church camp ^[4] and later picking fruit (raspberries, cherries, and peaches) during the summer while in high school.^[4] Pattison had many jobs while in high school, including selling doughnuts in the school parking lot, selling seeds door-to-door, delivering newspapers, and working as a page boy at the Georgia Hotel.^[5] He graduated from John Oliver Secondary School in 1947.^[6]
After high school, he worked in a cannery, a packing house, as a labourer building bridges in the mountains, and then for the Canadian Pacific Railway as a dining car attendant^[4] before accepting a job washing cars at a gas station with a small attached used-car lot.^[4] By chance, while the regular salesman was away, Pattison sold one of the cars on the lot and found his profession.^[4] He parlayed that success into a job selling used cars during the summer at one of the largest used-car lots in Vancouver, using his earnings to pay for his studies at the University of British Columbia^[4] (although he did not complete his studies^[7] being three classes short of a business degree).^[4]
Career

After leaving school, he linked up with a local General Motors dealer and in 1961, using his sales skills to persuade a Royal Bank manager to lend him eight times the branch's limit, he opened a Pontiac dealership^[8] on Main street near his elementary school, and, a quarter century later, was selling more cars than anyone else in Western Canada.^[9]
His company, the largest privately held one in Canada^[10] owns numerous car dealerships, Peterbilt truck dealerships, Overwaitea Foods and Save-On-Foods, Ripley's Believe It or Not!, Guinness World Records and radio & TV stations in British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba. He also owned the Vancouver Blazers of the World Hockey Association.
Pattison led the organization of Expo 86 in Vancouver as the CEO and president of the Expo 86 Corporation. When he was appointed to the Order of B.C., the award noted, "Although others may have had the initial vision for Expo ’86, it was Jimmy Pattison who was the expediter – the one more than anyone else who made it happen. He demanded much of his team but no more than he himself was prepared to give. This he did, almost full-time over a five-year period, without compensation..."^[11]
He was involved with the committee for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
On February 15, 2008, Jim Pattison Group announced the purchase of the GWR organization, the company known for its Guinness World Records franchise. Its annual book, published in more than 100 countries in 37 languages, is the world's best-selling copyrighted book.
Among other honors, Pattison is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of British Columbia. He was also listed as No. 177 on the 2015 Forbes list of the world's richest people.^[12] He is also listed as the richest Canadian.^[10]
Pattison, who owns approximately 30% of the shares of Canfor, was recently in a dispute over governance with money manager Stephen A. Jarislowsky, whose firm owned 18%. Pattison won and ousted CEO Jim Shepherd over Canfor's poor performance and declining share price, replacing him for the interim with Jim Shepard.^[13]
Since September 2013, Mr. Pattison has been amassing shares of Just Energy Group, a natural gas and electricity reseller with a customer-base in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, to which he is now an insider and dealing at non-arms length under the Canadian Income Tax Act, owning more than 11% of the shares outstanding^[14]
Philanthropy

Imagine Canada rated the Jim Pattison Foundation in 2008 as the 8th largest giver of charitable grants by a private foundation in Canada. ^[15]
On April 16, 2009 Jim Pattison announced that Save-On Foods had donated $100,000 to CBC Television in order to rent high definition trucks for away games during the Vancouver Canucks' 2009 1st round NHL playoff series versus the St. Louis Blues. Prior to this donation, CBC stated that it would not broadcast HD away games in St. Louis due to the cost of renting high definition equipment during the current tough economic times and major cuts to funding for the CBC by the federal government.^[16]
Pattison is a well known philanthropist and an article in the Globe and Mail noted, "He has always given away 10% of his income."^[4] In July 2013, he donated up to $5 million to Victoria Hospitals Foundation (Victoria, BC), to support its "Building Care Together" campaign to purchase new equipment for the new patient care tower at the Royal Jubilee Hospital. In recognition, the hospital named the ground floor lobby of the patient care tower “The Jim Pattison Atrium and Concourse.”^[17] In 2011, Pattison contributed $5 million to add his name and to match public donations for a $10 million 100-day fundraising campaign in Surrey, BC for the new Jim Pattison Outpatient Care and Surgery Centre run by Fraser Health.^[18]
On March 28, 2017, Pattison donated $75 million to the construction of the new St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, a Canadian record for a private donation to a health care provider.^[19]
On May 30, 2017, Pattison and the Jim Pattison Foundation announced they were donating $50 Million, the largest private donation in Saskatchewan history, to the new Children's Hospital of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan which is expected to open in 2019. It was also announced that day the new hospital would be named in his honour.^[20]
Personal life

He married his childhood sweetheart, Mary Hudson.^[21] They have three children.^[22][23]

"I have a girl of 6 years that's always whining she never sees me"

There will always be rotors to scrap.

I don't mean to sound like an a$$, it's just that I have 3 children and they grow up so fast. One day they're 6 and the next thing you know they're 16.

There's no turning back time.

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Originally Posted by jimicrk

"I have a girl of 6 years that's always whining she never sees me"

There will always be rotors to scrap.

I don't mean to sound like an a$$, it's just that I have 3 children and they grow up so fast. One day they're 6 and the next thing you know they're 16.

There's no turning back time.

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No kids no rings but I fully understand what you're saying.

Really didn't think I'd get so much resistance here on this.... I thought I'd hear "secure the contract at work. Buy all the rotors. Buy a trailer. Go up the street and get all the other dealers in town. Quit your job, you're gonna be the rotor king!"


After sleeping on it and reading the comments here - I'm gonna let it go. I don't need the money, the stress and I don't need it on my conscience that Im taking food off the current scrappers table just for thrills.

Thanks for bring me back down to reality guys.

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Originally Posted by EDC76

Your going to need them to be when the emissions crap on that 6.7 fails out of warranty.

Sorry to pee in your corn flakes. :)

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Oof

Crossing my fingers and saving up for a delete.

It already has 130k with 750+ idle hours. I need to get that stuff off there asap

According to a quick Google search, resurfaced rotors can go for $10 to $80 each ( depending on type ) .

Even with a high rejection rate, $1 each is a great price !

6.7 Ford Diesel dpf systems are big money. When my Pittsburgh brother is ready to sell his set, I will surely take care of him.

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Originally Posted by CTSSolutions

Oof

Crossing my fingers and saving up for a delete.

It already has 130k with 750+ idle hours. I need to get that stuff off there asap

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Originally Posted by CTSSolutions

No kids no rings but I fully understand what you're saying.

Really didn't think I'd get so much resistance here on this.... I thought I'd hear "secure the contract at work. Buy all the rotors. Buy a trailer. Go up the street and get all the other dealers in town. Quit your job, you're gonna be the rotor king!"


After sleeping on it and reading the comments here - I'm gonna let it go. I don't need the money, the stress and I don't need it on my conscience that Im taking food off the current scrappers table just for thrills.

Thanks for bring me back down to reality guys.

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I guess I misunderstood when you said you had a girl of 6 years. I read it as you having a daughter that was 6 years old.
My Bad.

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Originally Posted by APA

6.7 Ford Diesel dpf systems are big money. When my Pittsburgh brother is ready to sell his set, I will surely take care of him.

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Probably going to keep my old equipment. I've heard some viscous rumors that PA laws are about to change and diesels emissions will be required. Takings of huge fines for people who are caught with tuners overriding the testing equipment.

Time shall tell on that stuff.

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Originally Posted by CTSSolutions

No kids no rings but I fully understand what you're saying.

Really didn't think I'd get so much resistance here on this.... I thought I'd hear "secure the contract at work. Buy all the rotors. Buy a trailer. Go up the street and get all the other dealers in town. Quit your job, you're gonna be the rotor king!"


After sleeping on it and reading the comments here - I'm gonna let it go. I don't need the money, the stress and I don't need it on my conscience that Im taking food off the current scrappers table just for thrills.

Thanks for bring me back down to reality guys.

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It might be better to let the current situation on the rotors stand, but still keep your eyes open on any other possible opportunities that are not spoken for. You might can start out with something small, then expand as any other opportunities open. Let them know if the current setup with the rotors goes south, you would be interested in taking it over. Then just let it go and keep your eyes open.

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Originally Posted by CTSSolutions

Probably going to keep my old equipment. I've heard some viscous rumors that PA laws are about to change and diesels emissions will be required. Takings of huge fines for people who are caught with tuners overriding the testing equipment.

Time shall tell on that stuff.

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Highly doubtful. If they make diesels have to take emissions they have to do ALL of them, including Fire Trucks, Ambulances, and PennDot's entire fleet which contains thousands of vehicles.

It's the reason emissions testing showed up here so late. We were supposed to get it back in the late 90's (sniffer test), but none of the State Police vehicles they tested then would pass.

Not one.

So they postponed it until they could come up with something that was easier to pass and would still keep the EPA happy. That's how we got the system we have now.

Pre 1974 vehicles, all diesels, and vehicles over 8500 GVW: Exempt

1974-1995: visual inspection + gas cap check. For the visual inspection the emissions components only had to be there, they didn't have to actually work.

1996 on (OBD2) : Plug in inspection + gas cap check

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Originally Posted by jimicrk

I guess I misunderstood when you said you had a girl of 6 years. I read it as you having a daughter that was 6 years old.
My Bad.

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No worries. Principle still applies. She wants to see more of me, not more of me taking on work I don't *need* to survive.

Before taking some other guys contract away from him just so you can have a hobby ask yourself is this something you could see yourself doing for the next 10+ years. If you know you can handle it and will actually follow through on your end of the deal every day then go for it. If your already unsure that you'll have enough time to handle it then its probably best you take your hobby elsewhere. Maybe take the kids/wife around on garbage night and let that guy keep doing what he does since he probably depends on those rotors to feed him and his family.

If your goal is just to make your truck squat using it for truck things and money is not an issue i would personally just go buy/find a boat or rv or maybe some dirtbikes or quads and take the family out every so often in it. Ive scrapped the whole time I was in the army and believe me its challenging at times working 12+ hour days and then still finding the time/motivation to scrap. I also didn't have any storage for things besides what fit in my trucks. If you do the rotor thing without storage one of your trucks will pretty much neeed to be a dedicated scrap hauler that goes with you to work almost every day. And if loaded by someone other than yourself given enough time your truck will not only squat but also develop bed sag.

Here is a book that helped me with my selling. The author has written more than one book. Cheap book, cheaper if bought used.

How to Sell Anything to Anybody

73, Mike

Just my 2cents. I scrap a lot of ewaste part time. My real job is heavy equiptment operator. I drive exactly 35 miles to work one way. And every morn I take interstate 10 to work and keep my eyes peeled for any metal on side the road. On my way home I take hwy90 and check the sides of the road there. Every day I have a lil something in the back of the truck. When I get home I throw it in my trailer next to where I park my truck, ussually takes less than 5 mins. When the trailers full I take it to the scrap yard. Extra money for my drive home. Lots of auto rims and bumpers for some reason, but I like to pick up the smaller things, lil pieces of rebar and chains and chain binders, the smaller the items the more weight when the trailers full. Just something to think about

Jobs that deliver consistent income are always to be treasured but let's face it they also have stress
like who do you have to make happy. Plenty of jobs might require a dozen human's to make happy till payday.
Scrapping is kinda simple . Over all it's all over the place - find it - sell it
Except for the lifting , over all relaxing work not a bad way to spend a day .
Scrapping as a sole means to earn is a different beast .

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Originally Posted by manjelle

Just my 2cents. I scrap a lot of ewaste part time. My real job is heavy equiptment operator. I drive exactly 35 miles to work one way. And every morn I take interstate 10 to work and keep my eyes peeled for any metal on side the road. On my way home I take hwy90 and check the sides of the road there. Every day I have a lil something in the back of the truck. When I get home I throw it in my trailer next to where I park my truck, ussually takes less than 5 mins. When the trailers full I take it to the scrap yard. Extra money for my drive home. Lots of auto rims and bumpers for some reason, but I like to pick up the smaller things, lil pieces of rebar and chains and chain binders, the smaller the items the more weight when the trailers full. Just something to think about

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Thats always a good way to make money. When I worked for PennDOT we would occasionally walk the highways for various reasons, they're pretty much covered in car and truck parts from accidents and breakdowns. Sometimes people even change out parts on the shoulder and just leave the old broken stuff there. But even in the best conditions that type of scrapping is extremely dangerous.