What Could I Have Done Better?

[Andy Griffin]

Feel free to give me as harsh a criticism as you wish because I need to learn. Here is what happened:

My neighbor had an old microwave on his patio. I asked him if he was planning to keep it. He said I could have it.

That day, I took it apart and this morning I took the parts and the casing to a local scrap yard. I had the magnetizer and transformer in one bag, the other "guts" plus the screws and power cord in another bag, and the casing separate.

Here is the breakdown of what they paid me:

ins copper wire qty 1 @ 0.70 .70
misc steel #2 qty22@ 0.09 1.98
transformers qty11@ 0.17 1.87

total 4.55

I don't really mind the low payment since I didn't lose any money (I got the microwave for free and I had other business less than a mile from the scrapyard so I didn't really have a fuel cost) but I can't help but think I've left a bunch of money on the table here.

Please tell me what I could have done better on this deal. Again, be as harsh as you wish. Thanks in advance.

[F.I.LetsGoFishing]

You did almost all you could with the only exception being to check the trasformer to see if both coils were copper in which case you coud have broken it down in a matter of minues to seperate .75# # 1(maybe) and .3 # #2 copper wire. also 2 small motors. I get paid almost 2x what you did on transformers and motors BUT only because of 2 reasons.
1. I save up until I have at least 200# or more of motors and transformers
2. What my Local yard pays more.

The key to scrap is volume and if you are like me and limited as to storeing for volume you just save what make since for that space.Beyond copper, brass , SS, Motors/transformers and cast I only keep what is flat or dence such as the bottoms of MW or the side plates from computers along with rebar cranks, grears, Transformer plates and such, things that can fit in the drawers of a file cabnet that will make it weigh over 500# when full. That means I has to pretty dense. I can fit 2 cabnets + some pipe and rebar in my truck at a time for a trip to the shredd yard.
My storage area for metals is only 8 x 10
File cabnets come and go but atmost I will only have 2 4 drawer
I have a lrge landscape bucket for motors when it is stacked over the top it is aleast 200#
a 6 gallon bucket for trmsformers that holds around 100#
a 25 Gallon Trash can for insulated wire 30#
5 gallon for brass 50#
I think you get the picture.
I deal with 2 and sometimes 3 yards as I need the money or some of my cans runeth over checking there rates and deciding what fits my needs.
Any copper I strip gets held seperatly for special occations or April when prices seem to spike most frequently.

[Andy Griffin]

Thank you very much for your reply. I hadn't considered further breaking down the transformer (before I got on this forum I had only a vague idea of what a transformer is...my background is mostly customer service, etc).

I'm just going to have to maximize my storage space and "save up" scraps for bigger loads.

[F.I.LetsGoFishing]

Something that worked out well for me was to put some steel that I did not have room to store (computer frames) out to the curb and wait for someone to stop and pick it up. I talked with a few and found one that did not want to deal with computors and selling online, so we struck a deal in that I will hold such items and pick-up a few other steel items that I realy do not want exclusively for him to pick up on a set day each week. In exchange he drops off whole computers when he finds them. We have a designated spot on the side of my house were I store my trash cans where i put the steel and he leaves the units should i not be home. But beware, not all are trust worthy. I worked with this guy on a time or call first basis at first until we learned that we could trust each other before I worked out the deal we have. There were a few at first that did not work out, either they did not live up to their end of the deal or I got a bad vibe.
I am not judgmental by appearance or background or habbits, only by actions.

[Andy Griffin]

That's a pretty good idea, the networking thing you're doing. I don't yet know anyone else in this business having just started myself, but I'm sure I'll get to seeing the same faces as I move forward, and maybe I can work some deals.