Lets start this - How much scrap items weigh. - Page 4

Originally Posted by eesakiwi

3000 watt computer UPS inc batterys = 46kg, about 100lbs.



The batterys weighed 15kg, about 33lbs. That's the same as a 330 CCA car battery. About NZ$10 worth.
I carried it all 20 city blocks in a sack, on my back.

You must be trying to get as big as your Avatar. "its time to play the gammeeee!! muaahhhaaa"

Scraped out a old gateway desk top tower, a 1999 LP Mini TBR2 400. Had the following components:
CDR drive p/n 5502059 WT: 2 Lbs.
Mitsubishi floppy drive, WT: 1 Lb.
Quantum Fireball Hard Drive 3.5 series, WT: 1 Lb. 1 1/2 oz.
Power Supply Newton 200 watts, WT: 2 Lbs. 5 oz.
Mother Board WT: 1 Lb. 9 3/4 oz.
Pentium II slot CPU/Processor WT:1 1/4 oz.
AGP Graphics card WT: 2 1/4 oz.
Toshiba SDRAM Memory WT: 1/2 oz. (a little more than).
Had some wire, brass, steel, and some gold plated contacts too!

Average pc tower 25 lbs.
average laptop 6 lbs.
reference idc survey 2011

While this thread is up.. Cast Iron furnace circa 1960's, 900 lbs. Came apart in 4 sections. 275gal oil tank, 270 lbs.

Parts off a 98 V6 F150
Alternator 12 lbs
Battery 44 lbs
Aluminum intake 19 lbs

I am working on a spread sheet that I can take and input what it is I am brining in and enter the type of commodity they use and exactly how much I receive. it will also give me the date. this way I can build my own what its worth blueprint.

One thing I also have found is your scale guy lots of them think they know exactly how much each bucket weighs and uses his whats in his mind as a tear. You need to watch your scale guys and what they use for tears. Also get to know and ask questions with your scale guy.

Originally Posted by pascoEscraper

I am working on a spread sheet that I can take and input what it is I am brining in and enter the type of commodity they use and exactly how much I receive. it will also give me the date. this way I can build my own what its worth blueprint.

One thing I also have found is your scale guy lots of them think they know exactly how much each bucket weighs and uses his whats in his mind as a tear. You need to watch your scale guys and what they use for tears. Also get to know and ask questions with your scale guy.

I have always said if you think they are screwing you on tare dump the bucket on the scale....

RAM green: about 14-15 grams
RAM from gaming PCs with casing: easily double that.

PascoEscraper - I think your spreadsheet idea is a good one, I have been doing the same almost since day one. It helps keep track more than anything, what different yards pay. Also you can manage what is most profitable to sell to who and when. I set weight "goals" for each type of scrap around a ton for steel, 50 pounds for the red metal, 100 pounds for aluminum (these are minimum weight amounts). I also try to sell three types of scrap each time I go and it's important to sell frequently as possible. Yards like both quantity/frequency and good sorting, this gives you the seller some amount of "preferred customer" status. Very important to establish a good buyer/seller situation with 1 to 3 yards you like to deal with and they like dealing with you (how good business is done).

On your containers, bins and trucks get in the habit of putting your tare weights on them. You need a good scale to do this, IMOP a scale is as important as a scrappers magnet (essential as the rest of my tools). When you empty your container/buckets/bins clean them out and verify your empty tare weights regularly. A good yard will also check your empty tare weights, should be no "guessing", that's OK by me, they check I'm honest and I check they stay honest too!

to bigburtchino-- I have almost if not all buckets marked with the T=_ (what ever the tear is). If you do not have a good scale at home, next time your at your fav scale house ask… can we get a tear on this and mark it. they are glad to help. but also beware that if you are one who plays tricks with weights this method of marking buckets can come back at you.

As for my spread sheet its in excel I now have two exact years of commodity who weight payout and price of commodity. all taken exactly from my scale ticket put into excel. I have sheets that are linked to analytical pages so all is right at my finger tips. like year to date gross income I have averages of commodity pay outs. but best of all I have my tablet and with sync and excel loaded I now have every bit of information with me in the truck. (note: using the tablet in excel is not so easy with big fingers, so I still input at home but sync works great.! about ten seconds and all the information is on the tablet.)
The best part is that I have an exact record of each transaction. I am now working on a couple other actions one is adding pictures to my excel sheets and two is I am setting up quickbooks for input output scanning of items. (yes bar code scanning)
because I deal with so many electronics and there are records that are needed state and county. even the sheriffs office. we are developing a bar code scan which will provide us with the information of where an item was picked up by who what the product is where its stored in the warehouse until deconstruction a picture of the unit and make model and serial number of the unit all on bar code. then when the unit is removed for deconstruction it will be able to provide the date of deconstruction by who what scrap or commodity how much and length of time it should take to do such. plus other input and out put paper trail for the accounting system.

pascoEscraper - Congratulations sounds like you have it "wired" with software and the bottom line. I also agree with you on the notepads are tough inputting when one has large fingers (as I do). For me there's no playing tricks, everything should be as "out in the open" for all to see. "Dirty laundry" always comes out in the wash, as just that dirty. Playing tricks with your own numbers is only go to cheat yourself in the end game. Yes in these modern times you want to put the new technologies to work at least as fast as your competitors. I didn't start using GPS systems, until 2011 and that really hurt my bottom line. Now we track every job with time/location at least three times a day. Bar code scanners are also good way to keep inventory/identification/tracking without a lot of redundant steps and "paperless" filing is better for even Gov. agencies (as that's our tax money too). I think RFID labeling/scanning is going to be the future very soon. Need to get sensor problems figured out, so tags can get into the pennies per tag range, then bar code within a RFID tag going to be a game changer for most everyone. Privacy is going to be almost nonexistent though, not much privacy already!

Again congratulations keep us updated as you grow!

Bigburtchino
sure will. I am just breaking into the scanning part. maybe as I get into this I will start a thread so some can follow. once I get it down maybe think about sharing with all the ways to make things available.
I know lots of folks on here might not want to move into technology but like you say it's coming. I really did not want to go down this road myself. but its true things are changing ..(not all of us like change).

here in FL we have had our challenges with homeless ripping off aluminum from buildings stealing copper wire and a/c all in the name of scrap. this has opened the eyes of the state and this has brought huge restrictions and much of what folks up north are just starting to see (from my readings on here) many of those rules we have had put in place here a couple years ago. some things are thumb prints, amt payout machines, no more walk ups or bicycle ride ups must arrive by a car or truck. these are all showing the times are changing.

as for a sneaky way that was just told to me this week for stuffing…. a fellow told me his yard does not take aluminum foil (cooking foils) .. so he told me that he is now taking the foil and ripping it up and filling his soda cans and then takes and crushes the cans. he told me he has been doing this now for months because he wants to get back at the yard. I was so mad at him .. I asked what yard and thinking about talking to them but I feel they probably bought on after the first couple times.

then I had a cousin tell me that he fills five gallon pails with nut bolts and small misc stuff and will fill the bucket with water for at least a week or two before turning it in. pouring off the water only just before turning the bucket in. thing is he thinks this is purely right. that there is nothing wrong with this. this really burns me …

6 volt golf cart/solar battery after it finally is dead. 68 pounds.
Make sure to fill them took the brim with water because it's actually accepted in batteries. You dont get to do this kind of thing often and be in the clear.