How does bulk prices work?

I have noticed that certain people get paid more for their scrap than others because they sell more of a certain metal in a year... Can somebody give me a detailed explanation of how that works? like for example, how many tonnes does it take to get paid more and how much more do you get paid etc

Originally Posted by miyamuto

I have noticed that certain people get paid more for their scrap than others because they sell more of a certain metal in a year... Can somebody give me a detailed explanation of how that works? like for example, how many tonnes does it take to get paid more and how much more do you get paid etc

To negotiate these terms you have to go further up the ladder from the scale man, the small mom and pop yards probably won't budge on price.

Here;s an example of what I arranged between several of us scrap car haulers, we formed a cooperative with three members agreeing to haul under one name.

Each owner operator kept track of his weekly weigh slips then each friday afternoon the check would be picked up from the yard, cashed then dispersed accordingly. You could find us at the local I-Hop.

For tax purposes each owner operator was a contractor of the cooperative.

Your small mom and pop yards probably sell under a brokerage agreement with several small yards combined to obtain the tonnage required to sell directly to the mill or smelter.

Then in most cities where there are more than one scrap yard displaying different shingles behind the lines you may find that each yard is connected via blood or marriage.

Do your homework as to how the Jewish people became so involved in the rag and bone industry and how it evolved into scrap metals. There's some interesting history behind it all.

Some of the yards I deal with are now third and fourth generation, such as the Davis Trading empire. I've personally dealt with old Charlie, Melvin and the youngest now at the helm Gabe

Here's a bit of history from their website,

Davis Trading has been an integral part of the Northwest Scrap Metal Industry offering competitive rates at a convenient location in the heart of Vancouver. This is the short version of our history:

Early Years: Founded in 1909 by David Davis, Davis Trading has had a couple variations of the current name. Among the retired names, the most recognizable, at least from looking at history, is Davis Junk Co. It has also been located at a couple different locations, although the 1100 Grant Street spot is still the longest tenured site.

In these early years not everything salvaged was metal – conversely, lots was not. Bones were once traded – never on location in Vancouver – as well as bottles, inner tubes from tires, cotton from old mattresses, and rags. Davis Junk Co., as it was known then, dealt in horse hair for mats and sand bags for flooding as, at the time, there was no dyke system to prevent the Fraser River from overflowing into the city’s lower levels.

Adolescence: Davis Trading grew up slowly, like most companies; and did not find it’s niche right away. After nearly 50 years in the industry, most of the non-metal trades had went by the wayside. Synthetics had swept into the rags/cotton industries, dykes had been built or were being planned for, and bottles and bones were just no longer profitable.

Growing up has it’s aches and pains, but for Davis Trading it was fairly straight-forward as the family always understood that “non-ferrous was the profit center”, to quote the third generation head of the company, Mel. The location has changed a couple times, and those can be liken to the pains of growing up for a business.
Once, during the early years of having transitioned to trading ferrous and non-ferrous metals, Davis Trading did business with the movie The Sand Pebbles starring Steve McQueen, filmed by 20th Century Fox. We sold the engine that was ultimately used for the ship – the movie is about a captain and his love for his ship’s engine. Definitely one of the highlights of those years.

All Grown Up: Since honing the focus of the business and trading metal exclusively, Davis Trading has branched out and become a leader in the Pacific Northwest and West Coast recycling regions. The company now boasts a brokerage arm, a family of companies with sites in BC, AB, and California. Gabe, the 4th generation head of the company, is continually looking to expand the business into new markets and new frontiers, all while maintaining “100% family owned” as it was when David started it all…