Simple question. I know that just about everyone seems to be getting into it today, but I may want a little slice of that pie... Are there any laws/regulations? To me (at least from what I have seen locally here in PA), it seems to be a bunch of guys with trucks who happen to know people who have metal laying around. Do any of you guys do this on the side? (I'm a little distracted while typing this, so let me apologize in advance for how disjointed it may sound when reread )


And by "scrapper," I mean "metal scrap hauler."

 

It's not too hard, I've been doing it on the side for a while now but usually I'll go and buy a parts truck instead of buying some part I need. I'll take what I want, sell what I can, and then scrap the remains. It's starting to be slim pickings now, though, with a high scrap price and poor economy.

 

truck?
you don't need a stinkin truck!
a few weeks back when I was getting diesel a mid sized sedan pulled into the station, the trunk was full of scrap, 2 appliances tied on the top of the trunk, the back seat was full and the long pipe was sticking out the right rear window. of course I didn't have a camera!

 

First thing to keep in mind is that there's several different ways to approach the scrap metal idea.

I mostly do what Jared mentioned. I buy cheap automobiles for parts all the time, I use what I need, sell what I can, and cut up the rest. For the most part my 86 F150 is used as a scrap metal container, I keep it parked next to the garage and toss scrap iron and steel in the back until its full, then I take a run down to the scrap metal recyclers.

Aluminum, brass, gold, silver, and other metals of that variety are worth a lot more then plain jane scrap steel. The above mentioned metal are worth more when they're "clean", for example if you have a aluminum cylinder head its worth more with the steel valves/springs and what not removed, the more pure you can get the metal the more it'll be worth.

 

Many people steal the scrap they're selling. Others come by it honestly.

I've got a sweet deal going where I get all the nails that come out of our tub grinder. We grind pallets so there's a lot of them. I fill a big container with water and shovel all the nails into the container then skim the stray wood pieces that made their way into the metal off the top. Dump the water filled container into a dump truck. Water runs out nails stay in haul em to the scrap yard and get paid.

Example of honest scrapping. A lot of dishonest scrapping that goes on...

Guys over the hill from us found some guys cutting the aluminum radiators out of working trucks one day. The guys ran away so fast they tripped in the weeds and hit their heads on some rocks. Then they were placed under citizens arrest and were brought to jail once the cops showed up.

 

One of the guys that works at the shop I drive for brought in a trailer and got the boss to let him put it in the impound yard. Now the scrap that was being given away to anyone who picked it up is being saved and will be sold and the proceeds used to fund on site lunches or other such perks.
My only complaint is that I lost room in the yard that I need for storage and will most likely be on the road when the pizza arrives.

 

The high scrap prices have been kinda pissing me off.

First off, at my parent's old house (where my brother is now living) a guy went up there and stole a bunch of stuff from our house while nobody was there, including a set of aluminum wheels of mine and some other things. We had to install a gate on our driveway, something we NEVER had to do in the 26 years I was living there.

This same guy pestered my grandma about scrap until she finally gave him some things to get him to go away. One of the things she gave him was a radiator of mine that I still wanted. I feel like I can't leave anything outside now.

And that's the other thing that pisses me off- everyone goes around begging for scrap, asking if you have anything they can take. Annoying.

I know a lot of stuff was getting stolen here, people were stealing power lines and all kinds of stuff.

 

I do my own thing with junk removal and demolition. If I get some appliances or an old furnace to throw out, I'll bring them to the scrap and get some money. But I'm making my money off the junk removal. The guys who drive around on garbage day looking for metal I don't know how they make money, most of them look like they're on welfare and just need an excuse to drive around.


To give you an idea of what I get, last week I took out an old bar fridge for a restaurant. That thing was heavy, we had to use moving straps to haul it out of there. I dropped it off at the scrap yard and they said it was 340 pounds, and paid me $25. That works out to around $150 a ton. I think the going rate is higher, but if you want to get more money you have to take it all apart and separate the different metals. This thing was full of glass and had a wood counter, I was just glad I didn't have to pay to throw it out, that's the only reason I go to the scrap, I'd rather get some money than have to pay the dump.

A few years ago it was more. I used to work for a paving company and when we re-surfaced a road, my buddy and I would go back and gather all the old manholes and take them to the scrap. But when you've got a big pile of old manhole lids all in one spot it's easy. If I had to drive around and look through people's trash it would take all day to fill up the truck. You have to figure the price of gas too and the wear on your truck driving around with a bunch of old refrigerators in your truck all day.



YouTube - Trailer Park Boys Season 7 Episode 1 (2/3)!

 

Number 1 prepared steel was around $.11/lb last I knew but they were expecting about a half cent per pound drop so probably around $.105/lb or around 220$ a ton.

 

step 1 Smoke meth
step 2 steal scrap

 

i do HVAC/R in New Orleans, the worst damage done to ac systems is caused by local crack heads. its at the point now that you need more ID to scrap a condenser than you do to cash a check