Do you get the big picture in the business

I want to offer my opinions and business stragiteries that have worked for me and should work for you, now I am not talking about the guy that wants to make a extra fifty to a hundred bucks when you need to I am talking about the guys that what to own and operate there own business that makes you a nice living. I read thru the posts and I have to ask myself why do so many limit them selfs to what they get for free? Now I am not saying that once in a blue moon you will run into a nice score, but we all know that those finds are far and to few, you are in the buy and sell business, if you do not have any thing you can not sell it. My business has many different let's say area,s and it does not matter if you are a junk car guy or a e-waste company, you have to have a steady flow of material/scrap coming in steady to servive. If you are just starting out and have a limited bank roll you might want to offer buying appliances on say Craig's list, there are many that offer Free Scrap Metal Removal Of Appliances but I still offer Five bucks apiece, for appliances, and get calls all the time, when you pay for them you can say all appliances must be unhooked and in the garage our outside ready for pick up we do not go in houses for them. Most appliances are still working and when cleaned up can be resold for good money witch we do, we pay five and sell for a hundred not bad. We pay for auto parts, like rims batteries, starters, from repair shops, I buy commercial and Residencial air conditioning units from air conditioning company's, and now I buy escrap from yards and who else has it to sell, granted some items require manpower and equipment to remove and in some cases we charge the customer, but what I am trying to say is you must pay to get a steady supply of scrap, I do not pay a lot but, I provide a good dependable service and spread around a few bucks, try it. Happy scrapping 1956.

Up until a couple weeks ago I hadn't compensated anyone for the items I was receiving. Most places I pickup from one of the hotels my management company owns, or family/friends, or the few locations our family business operates out of. I tried to offer all of my contacts a few dollars here and there, but all of them originally said they were happy with me just getting the stuff out of their way. Although I have been receiving a large amount of scrap from these locations (large to me) I have also noticed the surprise when they continue to find out more and more items I accept. I decided to force a payment onto a few of my main contacts recently... not a lot.. just $50 each, but to get them to take it I basically had to leave it on the ground and walk away. I told them how much I appreciate them contacting me, and how I appreciate them taking the time to store these items and calling me when I know its easier to just throw things away. I can tell you with 100% confidence that this has made an impact on the amount of calls I am now getting, and also the texts/calls asking "do you want xxx item?"

I second the post from 56'. It's the way I differ from my competition. They all want the free stuff. Me? I'm willing to pay. An pay I do. It keeps me busier then I like at times but hey..I like making money to.

Also..like 56, while I pay, I don't pay a lot. I set my prices an they can take them or leave them. 90% take them, as I'm the only game in town that pays to play.

I firmly believe in the motto..it takes money to make money. An it's true. Yea you can do well on free stuff, but you can do even better paying an free.

You new folks or folks new to this game, take note of these posts by 56. He knows what the heck he's talking about.

56..I'm thinking you need a thread titled..."56's thoughts" or something. Or Admin..maybe this could be an new feature, offer a recurring 'column" if you will for some folks to make these kinds posts. An SMF blog if you will.

I think I'll go post all of that again in the forum suggestion thread.

Sirscrapalot - If you make listening and observation your occupation you will gain much more than you can by talk. - Robert Baden - Powell

Just for that last line, I'm going to be holding hostage any good selling nes/snes games I come across till you admit your really a closet Oakland fan.

Sorry 56, I couldn't ignore the Bawl-some-mor fella.

Metal I'll see you in another thread.

Sirscrapalot - Metalabestos made me do it.

So how many of us pay more most of our material, and how many don't and are you full time scrapers or week end warriors?

I do pay for most of my material. I find that when I pay, the interest level increases greatly. And that leads to more material. I either pay directly to the business that I receive it from, other scrappers that stumble onto ewaste that don't know what to do with it, or I pay non-profit groups to help with collections. All three have been great resources.

Full time? No. I do have a full time job. However, I make pickups almost every day either during lunch or after work. Right now, I have the equivalent of 3 53' trailer load of material waiting to be processed.

I am so small time since I am young right now I cannot offer much in this area but from my little experience with repeat people is they are so happy I am saving them the hassle of dealing with it they don't want compensation for it. Throw them some small gift cards of coffee or donuts here and there. But when I do get older and start doing bigger business I would start buying certain things such as pallets of escrap to dismantle. In the future I think it will become more of a buying and selling game.

As a former scrap metal dealer I always had to buy the scrap to get the volume needed to get dealer pricing. You still would get a lot of free scrap people dropping it off to get rid of small quantities. Now I play with the grandkids full time and scrap as a hobby. I still do buy scrap if it is cost effective.

lack of space & theft is a big problem for me

i cant hold on to anything until i find a buyer.
its therefore best for me to strip & sell to the scrapyard

As 1956 said you have to pay for things to stay in bussiness . If you excpect to get free things all the time and stay in bussiness then you will soon realize you wont last . I pay for stuff and get stuff for free. People hear things and think there metal is worth millions so you have to work at it. I pay for scrap and ebay stuff.

We are a full time recycling company that employs 4 people. We pay for everything! That's why we stay so busy.

Well Russell that was a very informative impressive thread ,and you are right not every ones business plan or specialty is the same, don't get me wrong we charge when the situation is right,
what i was trying to lay out was a business model that has worked for me and i was just trying to show the new bees that there is more to scraping then chasing dumpsters. The bottom line
is that you need material to sell in order to earn a profit. If what you are is a SERVICE PROVIDER than of course you have to charge for your services, this is the scrap metal forum and most of us are
commodities brokers. By the way i like your logo my kid brother is in the trash removal business they remove trash from luxury condo and apartment complexes and there logo is different but similar. Happy Scrapping 1956.