question about steel math

took 15lbs of steel in and it said .97 cents it said 0.065 on price why is it done that way instead of just using .06 then it would be 6 cents a lb.

Isn't .065 a better price than .060?

Isn't .97 better than .90?

You might want to check my math. I'm bout half asleep.

$0.065 X 2000 lbs = $130

$0.06 X 2000 lbs = $120

15# x 0.065= 0.975.... They kept one half a cent. Maybe if you make a fuss, they will cut a penny in half for you.

the real question you should be asking yourself is " why am I ****ing around taking in 15# of steel." Even with a full load of non ferrous I wouldn't even think of taking in 15 # of steel

Originally Posted by in2scrap

the real question you should be asking yourself is " why am I ****ing around taking in 15# of steel." Even with a full load of non ferrous I wouldn't even think of taking in 15 # of steel

With me, it is the other way around. I let the steel build up until I can't take it anymore, and then load the steel and add anything else that has built up enough to take.

Me as well. I just haul large loads or it's not worth my time.

Originally Posted by t00nces2

With me, it is the other way around. I let the steel build up until I can't take it anymore, and then load the steel and add anything else that has built up enough to take.

Originally Posted by in2scrap

the real question you should be asking yourself is " why am I ****ing around taking in 15# of steel." Even with a full load of non ferrous I wouldn't even think of taking in 15 # of steel

Some of us here are limited to what we can haul. I can haul 1000 pounds which is nothing compared to some here. From what I've read, Mike walks and uses a dolly to collect scrap in his neighborhood so he's limited to what his dolly can hold and what he's able to pull. Nothing wrong with that. He enjoys what he does and that's all that matters.

Oops... My apologies. I envisioned driving a truck in with 15# of steel. Seriously, I don't want to gain a rep as that guy. Came home with a case of the ass yesterday and took it out on Mike. Here's to a profitable year for all. Merry Christmas

Originally Posted by jimicrk

Some of us here are limited to what we can haul. I can haul 1000 pounds which is nothing compared to some here. From what I've read, Mike walks and uses a dolly to collect scrap in his neighborhood so he's limited to what his dolly can hold and what he's able to pull. Nothing wrong with that. He enjoys what he does and that's all that matters.

Sometimes the little details like a half a penny can add up to make an important difference.

I've got no idea what a large scrap yard would move in a year. For the sake of argument let's say that they bought and sold ten thousand tons of steel.

A half penny difference in their favor would put an extra hundred grand in their pocket. That's pretty good money gained from chiseling over a seemingly unimportant detail.

Originally Posted by in2scrap

Oops... My apologies. I envisioned driving a truck in with 15# of steel. Seriously, I don't want to gain a rep as that guy. Came home with a case of the ass yesterday and took it out on Mike. Here's to a profitable year for all. Merry Christmas

No worries. A case of the ass is easy to come by these days. I woke up with one yesterday, gained 2 more as the day progressed and went to bed early last night with all three. Thank God all are gone this morning.

Originally Posted by hills

Sometimes the little details like a half a penny can add up to make an important difference.

I've got no idea what a large scrap yard would move in a year. For the sake of argument let's say that they bought and sold ten thousand tons of steel.

A half penny difference in their favor would put an extra hundred grand in their pocket. That's pretty good money gained from chiseling over a seemingly unimportant detail.

Assuming every load was 15 pounds and they kept each half penny, it looks like they would keep $6666.67 money that would be otherwise owed to the scrapper.


10,000 tons x 2,000=20,000,000 pounds

20,000,000/15= 1,333,333 15 pound loads

1,333,333 x 0.005 (the half cent gained for each 15 pound load)= $6,666.67


Not sayin', just sayin'.

Originally Posted by t00nces2

Assuming every load was 15 pounds and they kept each half penny, it looks like they would keep $6666.67 money that would be otherwise owed to the scrapper.


10,000 tons x 2,000=20,000,000 pounds

20,000,000/15= 1,333,333 15 pound loads

1,333,333 x 0.005 (the half cent gained for each 15 pound load)= $6,666.67


Not sayin', just sayin'.

How many man hours goes into writing up tickets and counting out $0.97?

My yard uses full size paper for receipts so 500 sheets in a box at $20 a box come to $.04 x 1,333,333=$53,333

Maybe 2 minuets per transaction so 2,666,666/60=44,444 man hours at 10 bucks an hour is $444,440

444,000+53,333=$497,773

15# x 33=495# so lets say people brought in 495# loads instead of 15# loads.

$497,773/33=$15,084

So I'm no business genius but I bet they would rather buy #495 and give you an extra half penny than buy #15 and keep the half penny.

LOL that was fun haha

I haven't seen too many of our Canadian buds on here for a while. I wonder how things went when their gov did away with pennies so everything got rounded up to the nearest nickel. I'm sure the retailers are still smiling about that...

A few years back my state added an extra half cent to the state sales tax, first time they had done that. So, in my metro, the state gets 4.5 cents per dollar and the local gov gets 3 cents (in two different sales tax). I suspect that any rounding involved and our retailers get it. I'm sure it adds up for them depending on their volume of sales.

Originally Posted by hobo finds

Look when you buy gas you are paying an extra 9/10th on the price. That's how they price it, like how they buy steel

Gas is a little different. It's a retail sales gimmick. If our gas was 3.009/gal. and the guy in the next town over was 2.999/gal our customers would drive the extra 8 miles to save a penny.



The 9/10ths. actually works when i reconcile gas sales in dollars against gallons pumped at the end of the day. As far as i know ... we're not pocketing the extra 1/10 of a cent.

I thought the 9/10ths of a cent thing with gas was one of the old fed taxes (there are many) placed on gasoline...?

I honestly don't know Rog. That might have been where the practice originated from back in the early days ???

Our pumps are old digital ones. They display gallonage three places to the right of the decimal point.

We have two storage tanks. I use a ten foot wooden measuring stick to measure the amount of fuel in the tanks before opening the station in the morning. Our tank charts convert the reading in inches to gallons of fuel in each tank. Those values are usually given three places to the right of the decimal point. ( The nearest 1/1000th. of a gallon.)

Maybe it's just industry standard practice to work three points to the right of the decimal ? ie: 2.999/gal

LOL... it's guesswork as to why things are the way they are sometimes.