Am I getting ripped off?

Took some metal in to my yard from all these CRTs I've been scrapping. 400 lbs of nice clean metal and 55 lbs of #1 copper just to get it out of my shop. The price they wanted to give me for the metal was .04 lb. They wouldn't give me #1 for my bright wire and downgraded it to #2. They said it doesn't matter if it's bright or not as they base #1 on the gauge of the metal. So apparently I can never get #1 from any of my escrap. Is this common around the country? I didn't sell and brought my stuff back and called around a couple other yards and the metal prices were the same. Can't make any money at .04.

I'm getting $180/ton on shred, or 9 cents a pound. Any copper you're getting from TVs is #2, not #1. It's either too small of a gauge or its coated.

That's kinda what I thought. I figured .08 to .10 on the metal would be fair...but .04?! Doesn't pay to scrap any metal at those prices. The #2 price was 2.20 lb and I was pissed by then so I just brought it all home. I'll hoard till I find better prices.

Originally Posted by lyndonbrad99

That's kinda what I thought. I figured .08 to .10 on the metal would be fair...but .04?! Doesn't pay to scrap any metal at those prices. The #2 price was 2.20 lb and I was pissed by then so I just brought it all home. I'll hoard till I find better prices.

At .04# there would be a lot of steel on the curb. I don't know how you could afford to pick things up and pay for gas. You don't have another yard around????

I get .10 for steel & 2.80 for #2 copper. If its out of CRT or TV its #2 it has a coating on it.

I agree with Parrothead. Why do people say metal when they are talking about steel? Gold,silver,copper,aluminum and lead are all metals. Yes you are getting ripped off on your steel. You should be getting at least .08 cents per pound. I sure wouldn't clean my steel if I was only getting .04# I have never cleaned my steel.

Originally Posted by happyscraper

I agree with Parrothead. Why do people say metal when they are talking about steel? Gold,silver,copper,aluminum and lead are all metals. Yes you are getting ripped off on your steel. You should be getting at least .08 cents per pound. I sure wouldn't clean my steel if I was only getting .04# I have never cleaned my steel.

All of the local scrappers here refer to the steel, tin, and iron categories as "metal".

lyndonbrad99 .. you may want to run through your metal with a magnet and get it separated properly. I get more aluminum usually out of CRTs than I do steel unless it's one of the CRTs with the big steel backing behind the tube.

.. either way not all metal is the same.

at that price i'd leave the tube in and the plastic on and sell it for .04

I don't find any significant amount of steel in CRTs...some aluminum, boards, copper, but thats about it. Shred is 10 cents a pound here, 4 cents is pretty bad, you should definitely shop around if you can.