Whats the secret

**matador** · 11-12-2015, 11:02 AM

Right now, the key is in more than scrap value items. Let's do some math at some pre-crash prices out here.

Say that I purchase a 1 ton truck and gooseneck trailer for $7000. That isn't a lot of truck, but you could get a useable workhorse for the price. I can haul (Legally) 10k pounds with this setup. Steel paid $75/Ton at the time, so that's $375 per load. We'll discard the costs of registration and insurance, along with maintenance. We'll say that it takes 50 gallons of fuel to collect that load and haul it in to the yard (We're a rural area). Oh yeah, the truck is gasoline, and gasoline was roughly $2.75 this summer. That's $137.50 in fuel. That leaves me with $237.50 profit potential per load. So, to pay off the truck hauling scrap (My time is worthless in this calculation), you would need to haul about 30 loads of scrap, or more exactly 147.39 tons of steel. That's not going to happen very quickly out here.

What comes into play is using trucks for something else. I have a 1986 Dodge that I use to haul scrap in sometimes. But, I've used it this year to haul firewood and to deliver straw bales. That covers the truck costs, not scrapping steel. If you can find copper or E-Waste, the picture can be different. But, steel won't pay off a large truck (And the hypothetical setup is pretty tame in the grand scheme).

Right now, the crash brought steel prices down to $0/Ton, so a truck will never pay itself off out here. You can't charge- farmers don't care if their old All Crop sits for another 20 years. It's been sitting where it was since Gerald Ford was President anyways....

**mjg1021** · 11-12-2015, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by matador

right now, the key is in more than scrap value items. Let's do some math at some pre-crash prices out here.

Say that i purchase a 1 ton truck and gooseneck trailer for $7000. That isn't a lot of truck, but you could get a useable workhorse for the price. I can haul (legally) 10k pounds with this setup. Steel paid $75/ton at the time, so that's $375 per load. We'll discard the costs of registration and insurance, along with maintenance. We'll say that it takes 50 gallons of fuel to collect that load and haul it in to the yard (we're a rural area). Oh yeah, the truck is gasoline, and gasoline was roughly $2.75 this summer. That's $137.50 in fuel. That leaves me with $237.50 profit potential per load. So, to pay off the truck hauling scrap (my time is worthless in this calculation), you would need to haul about 30 loads of scrap, or more exactly 147.39 tons of steel. That's not going to happen very quickly out here.

What comes into play is using trucks for something else. I have a 1986 dodge that i use to haul scrap in sometimes. But, i've used it this year to haul firewood and to deliver straw bales. That covers the truck costs, not scrapping steel. If you can find copper or e-waste, the picture can be different. But, steel won't pay off a large truck (and the hypothetical setup is pretty tame in the grand scheme).

Right now, the crash brought steel prices down to $0/ton, so a truck will never pay itself off out here. You can't charge- farmers don't care if their old all crop sits for another 20 years. It's been sitting where it was since gerald ford was president anyways....

you had me at math!!!!