I'd guess experience plays a big roll in the decision. As well, they may
have seen something that tipped them off that it was a valuable lot
(perhaps some metal that is worth more than mixed metal?)
Estimating weight is an artform. I bet the buyer went thru that room with a
key chain magnet, i would. There may have been a lot of cooper, brass,
silver in the controls. If the stuff was covered with paint or dust you
might
not notice unless you check. Maybe buss bars you didn't notice. Hard to
say since i was not there. It's a slow learning curve and there are no books
on the subject of scrap businesses.
The only thing i can suggest is get your self a book that lists the wieghts
of materials. If your good at estimating sizes that would give you a good
idea of how much a pile of steel beams is worth. There is no scientific
apporach that i know of.
Best Regards
Tom.
Also remember they may not always estimate correctly. And sometimes
they may think it is worthwhile to break even or even lose money just
so a competitor does not win the auction and decide the scrap business
is worthwhile.
=20
Dan
Iggy, you have lots of great answers from a lot of smart people.
However, they are all working at the wrong end of the material stream. I
have scrapped lots of my own equipment in the past 10 years and have
taken it to the scrap dealer in Bend, OR.
I learned many things about the business by asking them questions. If
not really busy, the manager and/or other employees were more than happy
to explain how they sorted metals and priced each type. Cast iron and
steel are clear at the bottom of their price scale. copper of any kind
is at the top. Aluminum casting, extrusion and sheet are all priced
differently.
I strongly recommend you determine the scrap dealer you want to sell to
and make an appointment for a plant tour. Be sure to tell them exactly
what you plan and ask how they would like the metal. Clean ALWAYS brings
a higher price. Ask how they unload it, if they do. I have had them pick
up steel out of a pickup bed with a big magnet. Stainless and other
stuff I got to unload. If the crane with the magnet was busy, I could
either wait of unload it by hand.
I had to bring separate loads of steel, stainless, and other metals.
Mixed loads, other than copper/brass/small quantities of aluminum are
handled by hand and take lots of time.
If you have some mystery metal, take it with you when you visit and ask
them what it is. They will happily show you how to tell. Anything that
makes their business easier is a win for both of you.
Finally, understand you will always be dealing with a Hebrew! If you
suspect they are jerking you around, walk away and find someone else.
Here in the West, we really only deal with the Schnitzer family. There
are many scrap dealers. Two in central Oregon. But it all goes to
Schnitzer. They started with scrap ships during WWII and are still
going. Third generation, I think.
Good luck.
Paul
It's an art. Some people can bid low and rake in the good auctions.
You've done a healthy lot of that yourself, sir. Keep doing that.
It's an additive sense you get for it, whether you get the best
auctions or not, and you can learn from every mistake.
It's all good!
That is truly sad, isn't it?
Absolutely. You need to have time for tinkering, for hobbies, and for
deposit runs to the bank, and some hours of family time.
--
Life is an escalator:
You can move forward or backward;
you can not remain still.
-- Patricia Russell-McCloud
The best way to get educated is to buy a couple of lots. I been in and
out of the scrap business since I was a kid. you just do it a little at
a time until you get familiar with it.
Way back when I would fly out to ca. and bid on 40000 lbs of electronic
scrap at a couple cents a pound. The trick was to see a couple of
expensive items that needed minor repairs and base the bid on what you
could sell them for with the rest being the potential profit. I did
have an edge in that I knew how to repair almost all the test equipment
I would come across and had a place to sell it after it was repaired.
Those big old motors are loaded with copper windings more than any new
motor. Beams are easy to estimate you bid about 10 cents a pound if
the beams are in good shape and sell them for 50 or whatever the market
will bear. There is always someone looking for a beam for a project. I
had a friend that was heavy into the used steel business and I would fly
him around to look at buildings he was bidding on to tear down.
There are no instructions in the scrap business but the whole thing is
to buy low and sell hi.
John
The whole thing in any of these type of business dealings is to know
more than the next person and do your homework, Today it is very easy
to research parts. thirty years ago it was a good set of reference
books and Thomas register. Also a complete copy of mil spec. data
helped too. I make parts for multistage pumps like that. They are not
a hard pump to rebuild. As you can see the price is up there. big
valves are the same.
John
Where you live makes an enormous difference.
Around here, the only scrap dealer waaay underpays.
It can be more profitable to travel a long distance to a larger city
where prices are more competitive.
But I've found it best to stay out of the game completely.
If you can't hold it at arm's length and if it won't fit in a USPS
priority box, don't mess with it.
BUT -- contents of room can be enormously profitable.
If you can simply abandon or give away the grunge.
This is a six stage boiler feed pump that will supply about1400 gal a
minute at a pressure of 1500 lbs. You need to find a facility that
lost its main boiler feed pump and is dead in the water. The trick is
to buy that pump for scrap price and hold it to sell it as a pump or
rebuild it and sell it to an in user as a spare standby system. You
can't really get hurt for much if you buy it at scrap price.
John
Also remember they may not always estimate correctly. And sometimes
they may think it is worthwhile to break even or even lose money just
so a competitor does not win the auction and decide the scrap business
is worthwhile.
Dan
The scappers can be a valuable resource, being friendley with them is a good
idea.
You have to remember that they also aquire things from thier sources other
than
auctions. When i had my business in chicago i had some scrappers that would
bring certian items i told them i buy to my place before the went to the
scale.
Got a lot of good merchandise for much less than auction prices. Also scrap
yards themselves are a good source, i bought a lot of stuff from scrap
yards.
Some of the yards i dealt with would call me when they got a load of
tooling,
machines, and motors. My thinking at that time was to let them do the grunt
work and i would cherry pick for items i could sell quickley. When you deal
with these guys remember cash is king, always pay them in cash and will love
you forever.
Best Regards
Tom.
In illinois you also have to pay "use tax" on equiptment that you buy
for use in your business, it's the same as sales tax most of the time.
Some things are exempt, ask your accountant. Tricky stuff.
Those fork lifts you bought are subject to "use tax", as is any other
equiptment you did not pay sales tax on. The compresser your
installing is subject to use tax if you did not pay sales tax on it
when you bought it.
Best Regards
Tom.
Hear about the grave yard that was stripped of copper and bronze
the old old families had buildings with bronze doors.
The rats also broke out the stained glass in side - hundred years
old - for the lead.
This kind of stuff has to stop. Stripping hospitals that are mothballed
for disasters of the heavy wire. Stripping wire along railroads, phone
lines and the like.
Martin
I had a scrap dealer pull the opposite on me.
He apparently knew I was a knowledgeable bidder based on previous
auctions and lots ( a mistake on my not being invisible enough ).
So he simply outbid me on lots of interest.
He did not have the faintest clue what he was bidding on.
Betting solely on my strictly holding to a msx.
He thus got the item for its value plus a negligible increment.
snip---
Any chance you could explore the idea of *snipping* redundant information?
Sure as hell is aggravating having to scroll through a hundred lines to find
a paragraph or two.
Harold
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.