Well, that was a disappointing scrap run.

270lbs of garage cleanup netted me...

$15.65

Almost not worth loading in the car and driving to the yard and back.

Would you rather have 270 lbs of random crap in your garage?

I need to clean the garage out, but the nearest scrap yard rapes people when they come in. I mean, prices are low enough already, then you're going to give me the dirty aluminum rate for 100% cast aluminum with no paint or anything other than aluminum?

Sounds like prices are going up since last time I danced the scrap yard dance.

Keith Tanner wrote: Would you rather have 270 lbs of random crap in your garage?

Nope. That's why I dropped off the old iron engine block.

Yeah, its a bummer, but at least it mostly gets recycled and reused. I hate just throwing it away.

I did recently do a new metal (aluminum) roof on my house though, so while it doesnt weigh much, I do have a bunch of aluminum to bring over, as well as the usual collection of broken car parts.

for that little, it makes sense to just leave it sitting by the curb... if your neighborhood is anything like mine, a big dirty guy in a rusty mid 90's Chevy or Ford pickup will be by shortly to remove it from your yard..

novaderrik wrote: for that little, it makes sense to just leave it sitting by the curb... if your neighborhood is anything like mine, a big dirty guy in a rusty mid 90's Chevy or Ford pickup will be by shortly to remove it from your yard..

This is true. They aren't as prevalent as they were 2 years ago, but they are starting to re-emerge. Usually I will see 2-3 different trucks swing by on the evening before trash day (helps that it is Sunday evening in our neighborhood).

we usually only get something like 7$ for a whole garbage can full of aluminum cans

This was why I was so elated that someone bought the engineless PAU from me for $200 and towed it away themselves. I likely would have barely broken even had I had to pay to tow it to the scrapyard myself, so it was a nice win. Even better was that I had loaded up the trunk with a bunch of the scrap metal (mostly cracked heads) I had sitting around in the garage and the buyer was happy to have and haul that away too.

thats about the same rate my roommate and i got. we had 1700 lbs of scrap and got $86 for it. it is nice for getting any amount of money for stuff that I basically just want to throw away.

I dragged (drug?) several hundred pounds to the curb about a month ago just to get rid of it. It wasn't worth the gas that it would take to get to the scrap yard and back, let alone my time.

Someone picked it up within an hour and a half.

It is getting better. We were getting $177 a gross ton for steel scrap back in November of last year. Now we are at $255. That is up 45%.

But if you only have a few hundred lbs, it really doesn't seem worth the effort.

For me, it's not worth risking the potential tire damage from driving through the scrapyard.

I am due for a curbside pick-up. I tend to save till I have a couple of hundred pounds.

Don't care about the money when I hafta move junk out, it's gotta go. Next time prolly just find a junk man and let them load it.

Ever drive into the scrap yard and leave with something? I dropped off a giant pile of stuff - and threw a 200lb steel drainage grate that was nearby into the truck to make a welding table. I came out $3 ahead. It's still leaning against the wall in my garage from 2yrs ago. Someday I'll make the table or atleast another scrap run to return it.

In reply to fasted58:

If I put anything metal on the curb it's gone before the garbage truck gets to it. The sheeny does a sweep every week like clockwork.

Huckleberry wrote: Ever drive into the scrap yard and leave with something? I dropped off a giant pile of stuff - and threw a 200lb steel drainage grate that was nearby into the truck to make a welding table. I came out $3 ahead. It's still leaning against the wall in my garage from 2yrs ago. Someday I'll make the table or atleast another scrap run to return it.

I stopped by the scrap yard a couple of years ago, to get rid of some aluminum. Left with a 16' flat deck trailer. I gave them $100 in scrap and $100 in cash for the trailer. It's in the back yard now with a car on it.

i'm loading my old van with all the scrap steel and taking it in friday. it should be full to the ceiling when i'm finished, then i can finally start working on my truck that had been a scrap holder all winter.

I filled (17) 30 yard roll off containers recently with scrap metal.

They gave me a penny per lb.

I have three 5 gallon containers full of clean copper wire that I am still sitting on, waiting for the price to go back up

mad_machine wrote: I have three 5 gallon containers full of clean copper wire that I am still sitting on, waiting for the price to go back up

Sounds uncomfortable. Are you at least using a cushion?

SVreX wrote: I filled (17) 30 yard roll off containers recently with scrap metal. They gave me a penny per lb.

We do some basic sorting on ours. Makes a difference.

It was sorted.

382 tons is a lot of metal, no matter how you sort it.

$0.01 per lb is pitiful, no matter how you spend it.