Anyone here scrap metals?

[53' Stude]

There is an older gentleman at my American Legion that collects scrap metals. But, he’s not really working that hard at it. My friend that works at Standard Horse Nail down road from ke does quite a bit. He tells me copper is going up too.

I haven’t ever really scrapped mine CJ to be honest.

 

[GSCJR]

I did it for the first time last week, and probably won't again. They only paid me about $50 for the old rotors, 500 lbs. of them.

 

[walterjay]

Having been in the plumbing business I have scrapped a lot of old copper and brass. It was very lucrative.

I remember taking in a few barrels one time. Made enough to take the family on a very nice one week vacation to the Outer Banks of NC.

 

[Owen Lucas]

Having been in the plumbing business I have scrapped a lot of old copper and brass. It was very lucrative.

I remember taking in a few barrels one time. Made enough to take the family on a very nice one week vacation to the Outer Banks of NC.

When I was in HVAC there was a story of a guy that would save all the copper he could get his hands on.

He even used company oxyacetylene to clean off all the joints to have the highest quality copper possible and taught his wife how to use the torch to help him out lol.

Supposedly he bought a new car with everything he scrapped but this was years ago.

 

[Pew]

An ex-friend of mine did. They did HVAC so they got whatever copper from their work. He would go in once a month on the weekend, strip it all bare, and get a few thousand $$$ a month.

 

[Dinoburner]

Watching prices now as I have a ton of ferrous and maybe 100 lbs of various non ferrous.

 

[53' Stude]

Other week American Legion commander and I took my truck with full load of cans to scrap yard. Got like $60

legion wants to save money so they did away entirely with glass bottles. What a joke

 

[RoadDukie]

I take about two loads of steel and scraps of aluminum, copper, etc about twice a year. Break rotors, pads, suspension parts. I only make a few bucks over the cost for fuel to drive there, but I hate to see that stuff go into the landfill.

 

[JunkdrawerDog]

I've taken various metals in from cleaning out my parent's shed and garage. Also hauled in some of my stuff when downsizing from the old house to my current home. There wasn't much money to pocket from the experience, just the satisfaction that the stuff didn't end up in the landfill.

 

[CharBaby]

When my wife's father past away in 2020 at 92, we drove down to FL(2X/total 3 months) to clean out his house and basically threw a lot of stuff away. We sold what we could including the house. However in one trip, I had ~500 lbs of scrap metals and only got $35.
Every now & again, I see an old beat up pickup truck loaded to the hilt with scrap metals. The folks doing this are serious and do this daily.

About 15+ years ago, I talked to one husband & wife team who came to my house to pick up some junk that I advertised(FREE). They claimed that they made ~$60K/year doing this(winter/summer). Not bad but, IDK their expenses. They buy trucks cheap(IDK how they get'em state inspected?) and travel anywhere to get scrap metals. And must fill their gas tanks often, maybe do some OCI's?, replace tires(probably cheap/used), repair only what is broken on the truck, etc. And that's just the expense for the truck!

 

[Snagglefoot]

I take about two loads of steel and scraps of aluminum, copper, etc about twice a year. Break rotors, pads, suspension parts. I only make a few bucks over the cost for fuel to drive there, but I hate to see that stuff go into the landfill.

This. The rest is hobby stuff.

 

[Number_35]

After taking in a couple of loads I realized I was barely breaking even on the cost of driving there.

Now I collect scrap metal in a cardboard box in the garage. When it's reasonably full, I put it out in the back. It always disappears.

The scrap salvagers come down the back lane regularly, typically looking for old washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, and furnaces. They grab my boxes of scrap at the same time.

The last box had brake rotors, a wheel bearing, and some used aluminum pie plates and so on.

Steel cans go in the recycling bin.

 

[E150GT]

I love scrap. During the pandemic I collected as much copper as I could. Took me a few years but I ended up with 300lbs or so and got $1600. Now I just get the bus bars and little connectors out of panels we scrap at work that are copper. Ive got a little stash at home. Maybe 25 lbs. Not much. But I don't want all the stuff in my garage like I had before so I much pickier on what I take. Before I'd take anything that might have copper in it and extract it and pile up all the steel and take it when I had a truck bed of steel to get rid of. Had lots of scrap steel hanging around and it was too much. It's difficult for me to toss anything metal now though. I want to take it to the scrap yard

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I don't know how people make money doing it. I've been to a scrapyard twice and left with a flat tire each time. Not worth it for me.

I put stuff out on the side of the road and occasionally it gets picked up. Been trying to clean up as much as I can.

 

[Chris142]

Scrap does not pay well here. Plus you have to wait 3 days to go back and get paid so that's $15 in gas right there .

 

[ATex7239]

If you know what you’re doing and have the right connections to get a hold of good scrap then you can make good money. If you don’t then it’s a waste of time unless it’s just doing something to keep you busy.

 

[Rand]

I scrap a few times a year, brass and yellow pays well. Stainless ok, Steel is nearly worthless.
took in a full trailer of high grade tool steels some fairly exotic.... 2500lb and got maybe $130.

 

[AdditiveOCD]

Lots of copper laying around in the electrician world, some of the kids I work with break their back getting every inch of wire.

I personally don’t waste time with it got too much to do.

 

[Sumboodie]

Lucky if you can find places that don't charge to take it.

 

[Hall]

I think it's only worthwhile if you can collect more "precious" metals. The guys collecting steel or even "dirty" metal (I think that's the term - it's good metal like copper, brass, etc but it's mixed, still has insulation on it, and so on) etc, based on the vehicles they drive, they aren't taking in lucrative money. I used to save up copper from plumbing, scrap wire, and so on and even a small box of it would get me $20. Another time, we replaced a dishwasher and I disassembled it, down to some copper fittings as well as the "stainless steel" tub. I got $6.... Since then, any scrap metal goes to the curb on the day before trash pick-up. I do separate it for the scrappers who come around every Sunday afternoon/evening (Monday is track pick-up).

I used to work at a large chemical pump company and our pumps were made out of many different types of stainless steel, hastelloy, even titanium and when the shop guys in our R&D group took bins to the scrap yard, the workers would almost fight over getting our scrap to sort. Made me think those guys got commission based on what they sorted. Another time, one of the workers in the foundry stole a 5-gallon bucket of nickel slugs. He took them to a nearby scrap yard and his mistake was, he took it to the same scrap yard that "bought" our manufacturing scrap. Wanting to stay on good terms with us, they collected the guy's info (name, driver's license #, etc) and stalled him. They called their contact at the foundry, told them what was going on and who it was, and were told "We're on the way. Call the police to have us meet them there too."