Help! Need some advice....

I recieved a call this morning from a woman asking if I picked up scrap metal for FREE? Of course I told her yes, and asked what she had? She told me she worked for a plumbing co. & they had 3 trash cans full of copper & brass. Without any hesitation I told her I was on the way! Right before I arrived to her business, my cell phone rang..... It was the woman on the other end????????? She wanted to know now if I paid for scrap---- I told her I was pulling up front of her business & that I would need to take a look at it first.
The owner happen to be standing next to the 3 trash cans full of treasure! I introduced myself and asked him what kind of money he was expecting. He told me I was the pro and that he wasn't going to bid against himself. ( Just for the record, I have never had to purchase a load of scrap yet)....... I have only been doing this for a year, but I do have a nice steady supply of scrap coming in. I tried to explain to him that I had know idea on a price offer without weighing it or sorting it out first. I then called my yard in front of him, " SPEAKER PHONE ON " to get current prices. The yard said todays copper price $3.00 - $3.10 Brass- .33 dirty - $1.50 clean.
From what I could see, everything looked like it needed to be seperated and cleaned. The owner looked at me and said he would need $1500.00 cash and that at that price I would still be getting in his back pocket. I asked him as nice as I could if he would sell me a sample pile of it for $100.00 because I wanted to take it back to my shop for my partner to see it before I agreed to his terms. He didn't like that! He told me it was $1500.00 final and if I didn't want it he would just take it in himself.
I have been curious all day why he even bothered to call me to buy his metals in the first place? Why wouldn't he just take it in himself? I don't think the stuff was stolen. He had a nice professional building ,vans, equipement with business name and number. So I don't understand ?
How would any of you handeled this situation? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks........

Sorry, Im trying to learn how to post pictures.

In those situations, I would just walk away. Not counting your time of sorting it all and cleaning it, to get maximized profits, how are you to know there is enough there to justify handing this guy $1500 cash or check and then say making $2,000 for a $500 profit. There is no way till you sort it all out, and weigh it. If he can't understand how your business operates, then as you mentioned, he will be in for a rude awakening when he goes in, and his prices are no where near what he was hoping for.

If you have the pic's on Photobucket, the pic you want to insert you take your curser and just rest on the picture for a second and 4 selections will drop down below it. Click on the "direct link" and it will automatically copy the picture location. Then when your posting you click on the little square window looking thing right above where your posting. After the box opens up, just right click and paste the address in there and you will have your pic. in your post. Hope like H*** I didn't confuse you,,,,lol

Originally Posted by Billiard MD

First of all, keep in mind.... you were just fine with these people being naive if it meant they were just going to hand over hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of metal for free... But when their naivete flipped a 180 and caused them to ask you to pay an exorbitant amount for their scrap, then all of the sudden it bothered you. But who do you have to blame when you all but told him what you were going to make off the stuff.

I understand that you've never paid for scrap, but that's not the norm, especially when dealing with commercial entities like plumbing companies. You were only concerned with the scrap in front of you, but think about it... you were talking to the owner of a PLUMBING COMPANY!

Here's how I would have handled it...

"Mr. Business Owner, you may very well be right, that could be a load worth over $1500... A couple of minutes ago you said I was the pro when I asked you to shoot me a price, but of course you know that even pro's don't have x-ray vision. You seem pretty confident that at $1500 I'd be getting in your pocket... Since you now know what the scrap yard pays me, what do you think this load will bring once I've cleaned it up and take it to the yard?"

If he throws out any number, let's say $2k, I would say this... "Wow! I'd go for that. $500 bucks would be a great day for me. But just so you don't feel like I'm getting in your pocket, and so I don't have to get in trouble with the wife when she sees a $1500 ATM withdrawal, how about I do this on a consignment basis? I'll clean, separate, load, transport, and unload your material for let's say 20% of the final take. And hey , just for fun, if the load brings $2k or more, I'll buy you lunch in two weeks when I come back to take care of the next load... and if it brings in less than $1500, I'll let you buy me lunch. Sound like a deal?"

I used to play pool for a living... and I'll tell you this, gambling at pool for a living has little to do with being a champion pool player. Truth be known, I'm an extremely good player, but not a great one. But I know people, and I know how to "play position". An exchange like I outlined above serves a lot of purposes... First of all, it lets him know he's not dealing with an idiot. Second, it lets him know that you don't think HE'S an idiot. Third, you've taken him completely out of his game plan, and put him in yours... business owners are Alpha Males... you can't WRESTLE control of a situation from an Alpha, you have to let them GIVE it to you while making them feel it was their idea all along. Fourth, you've squashed the adversarial nature of the direction that negotiation was headed, and instead, put both of you on the same team. Fifth, you've planted the seed for an ongoing business relationship.

Your advice is very good, and can definitely work in some cases, but as Big Tex mentioned, no matter what you try and do, some people are just stubborn.

I tried something like this with a guy that had close to 10 gaylord boxes full of aluminum. The minimum he would take is roughly $200 for each, but the price at the time, I wouldn't have made any cash at all.

Originally Posted by hobo finds

I like the idea that you called the yard infront of him. Next time ask for the price of dirty copper and dirty brass. Prices will be lower. I am sure thats all he will get when he brings it down all mixed together

That's what I emphasize to people in situations where they say it's got lots of (copper, aluminum, could be fixed up etc) - "I'm buying it for what it is, not what it could be". Otherwise, you can tear it apart and haul it up there.

I personally would have looked it over good then offered him $400. for it all as is. If he balked on the deal, then just walk out the door and tell him to have a good day.