I called the scrapyard where I take my stuff to get pricing on catalytic converters. The guy said they're not buying any right now because the prices have been dropping like a rock. He said that all the scrap metals prices have fallen tremendously in the past month. Just my luck, I have a big pile of aluminum, copper, and brass, and a couple of converters. :( I guess I'll hang on to it until the stock and scrap prices go back up again.:clonk:
I guess the crooks will have to find another source of income now besides cutting exhausts off of cars and stealing wire and copper pipe from buildings.:mad:
BillL

I guess the crooks will have to find another source of income now besides cutting exhausts off of cars and stealing wire and copper pipe from buildings.:mad:

..they can always go work for AIG or Frannie/Freddie

Same around here....Scrap cars usually bring $9-10 a hundred, but it's down to about $3. Scrap is where I get part of my money for my car fund. Not lately though....

I guess I'll hang on to it until the stock and scrap prices go back up again.:clonk:
BillL

your car ain't that bad ;)

Bill please if you decide to move any of it around Don't put it in the yard tractor's trailer ;)

Look at the positive side. maybe we won't see as many "they are crushing everything!" threads :)

Look at the positive side. maybe we won't see as many "they are crushing everything!" threads :)

Jeff, your kidding me right? This was a question about scrap prices and you deleted my response to that????

Nope not kidding. Leave the politics out of this forum.

Nope not kidding. Leave the politics out of this forum.

Point taken, I just thought that's why scrap prices were falling, it was just my .02 on it.

it's the bursting commodity bubble. Gold will stay up, though :)

Shredder steel dropped from $285.00 per ton about a year ago to $70.00 per ton today.

Checked on #2 copper price this AM and it was 1.90/LB
By the time I got there with it this afternoon it was down to $1.45/LB :(

You guys do realize, now is a good time to buy some of these commodity items? The markets in a free fall right now, and somehow commodities have gotten tied into it. Keep in mind that China has been a developing country, and consuming almost all of the commodities they can ... little reason to believe they won't pick up again.

Neal

I hear what yer' sayin' Neal, but I can make my bills. I count myself lucky to be self-employed and still be able to do that for now. I have zero dollars to invest. I'm sure I'm not the only one in this situation.

Car bodies are down to $2/100 right now around here. #2 is $1/100. My neighbor has litteraly a mountain sized pile of scrap he rufes to get rid of until the prices come back up. So lucky me, I get to look at it until then. :sad:

:
I guess the crooks will have to find another source of income now besides cutting exhausts off of cars and stealing wire and copper pipe from buildings.:mad:
BillL[/QUOTE]

Bill, So this is how you are doing it, how do you elude the officials. LOL I couldn't resist.

I heard this week that the Chinese will not honor existing purchase contracts because the steel has fallen so low... there are ships waiting to be unloaded and they refuse to unload... they want to re-negotiate the price. At $1 mil a day floating in the ocean, they will get what they want. HOWEVER< west coast dealers are now demanding C.O.D. from the Chinese before shipping. Good move in my opinion.

We purchase steel scrap at about $70/net ton ... sell at about $115 picked up at our yard. Copper is in the toilet - no end in sight for further drops.....

The Chinese are SHREWD, aren't they!

And when I was a kid, scrap cars were worth a penny a pound! And I've walked several ditches looking for copper and aluminum w/ my tool kit w/ me to make spending money back then.

pdq67

Copper is in the toilet - no end in sight for further drops.....

All that time I've spent unwinding alternator stators, starter armatures, and A/C compressor coils--:( my time is worth about 18 cents an hour.:p
BillL

I heard this week that the Chinese will not honor existing purchase contracts because the steel has fallen so low... there are ships waiting to be unloaded and they refuse to unload... they want to re-negotiate the price. At $1 mil a day floating in the ocean, they will get what they want. HOWEVER< west coast dealers are now demanding C.O.D. from the Chinese before shipping. Good move in my opinion.

We purchase steel scrap at about $70/net ton ... sell at about $115 picked up at our yard. Copper is in the toilet - no end in sight for further drops.....


A lot of the produce suppliers in the Northeast used to use this same tactic years ago when I used to haul produce.

I'd come off the West Coast with a load consigned to a Hunt's Point, NY receiver. By the time Id get there a couple days later, the price may be moving down. They'd refuse to unload me, and try to get the shipper to lower the price. If that didn't work, they'd call for an Ag inspection, or whatever else they could think of, to try to get out of the freight charges. Many of the produce company owners had buddies or relatives working as State Ag inspectors.

Of course, they never wanted to pay me for sitting around while they pulled all these tactics.:mad:

Most of the produce houses were just as scummy as the Chinese about honoring contracts. That's why I quit hauling produce.

Let it rot in the field for all I care.

My rant.:D


Randy

I guess the crooks will have to find another source of income now besides cutting exhausts off of cars and stealing wire and copper pipe from buildings.:mad:
BillL

That didn't stop them from hitting my office Thursday night/Friday morning and doing about $30,000 worth of damage to 2 outside compressor units...all to take about $50 worth of copper tubing. They even passed right by 2 HUGE spools of 1 5/8" copper cored coax cable.

That stinks.....

Sorry to hear that. We dropped prices again this week.... just about to the, "If you want to get rid of it, you can drop it off..... no charge" response.

Travis - any state laws about the scrap buyers getting pictures, I.D. and such?

When I saw the 'Scrap prices...' heading here, just had to throw in a story, that topic is daily conversation here in the shop.
I just took a load of varous items in prior to heading up to Carlisle so I could have some spending money. The fellow quoted me a price over the phone for things, after I got there double-checked with him about the copper, after it was all taken off & weighed, started giving me an issue about the copper. Paid me the original quote, but was apparently not happy about it. But since I called & also checked again prior to unloading, 'NOT MY PROBLEM!!!' I'm the one who's out about $150 since I could not get it ready the week before to take, but I'm not going to gripe about it, I needed the money for my trip.
But my ace-in-the-hole has yet to be played. I have a lot of old gold-scrap from electronics that's been sitting around for 15 yrs. & now have the oppurtunity to cash in. Saw some woman being interviewed on FOX News finance channel that works in the investment community spouting off about how gold will hit 3K in the long term! Since I'm not into jewelry, I hope she's right. I just sold a few pounds of gold-plated electronic boards at $25 lb. based on today's pricing.

I wish I would have cashed in last year then. I have a car sitting around rusting away that I was planning to make a little money off if in scrap metal. Still has a good condition cat on it and I have a few cats in my garage that I planned to cash in on. Guess I should probably reconsider that now.

2 weeks ago stripped #1 copper wire was $3.85 lb., so I strip all my scrap over a couple of days and turn it in on the weekend. Down to $2.45 when I sold it. This morning it was $2.05.

Stainless - historically a low return metal (except for 316 alloy) is now at .35. It had been as high as $1.40+. Aluminum sheet down to .35 lb but as noted.... the big ticket item of copper has collapsed. $2.05 is also the price around here - at the higher level. We are a dealer so we pay a bit less. Hard to explain to people who are used to the big numbers that existed for so long.

Scrap iron in the $125 net ton range.

So with the prices of all these things falling how do you guys think it will effect the prices of our beloved performance parts (and other day to day items) that use a lot of these metals.IE aluminum heads, brake rotors, engine blocks and so on ?

So with the prices of all these things falling how do you guys think it will effect the prices of our beloved performance parts (and other day to day items) that use a lot of these metals.IE aluminum heads, brake rotors, engine blocks and so on ?
It won't change them much if at all! They will probably go up.:(

i called today to get rid of a car, they said i was lucky to get anything for it. i was puzzled, but saw the scrap metal per ton is low. just my luck, only time i have to scrap something!!!! lol

I took a car last week, it wasn't complete or anything. Only got 4 per 100lbs, for a complete car, it was 6 per 100lbs. The place used to be open on Saturdays but they stopped doing that because the prices were down.

Shredder steel dropped from $285.00 per ton about a year ago to $70.00 per ton today.

Checked on #2 copper price this AM and it was 1.90/LB
By the time I got there with it this afternoon it was down to $1.45/LB :(

Tuesday we called about #1 scrap copper here in Columbia. Told us $1.50 a pound.

Good thing I sold everything back in Aug.

i sold 2000 lbs. in 04 for $1.00 a lb. and thought i was doing good. sold a bunch back in the 80's and 90's for under 50 cents.

How long does it take to gather up 2000 lbs of scrap? Seems liek a nice payoff if the labor isn't too extensive.

How long does it take to gather up 2000 lbs of scrap? Seems liek a nice payoff if the labor isn't too extensive.

Make friends with the local brake shops and go by once a week and pick up all the brake rotors they throw away. It wouldn't take too long. :) You'll need an old car or truck to haul the stuff in, I wouldn't recommend using the minivan or the Buick. :p

BillL

Nah, the scrap business is pretty cutthroat here, you ahve to get up early in the morning to beat the scrappers to the punch. If I put something out by the curb it doesn't last 30 minutes

Ok, just got updated on prices:

Copper down to $1.75 (at the dealer) aluminum down to .35, radiators .80.

Keep in mind this is a dealer price so a local yard will pay less before shipping to the dealer.

Ugly out there.

You wont be able to hit up the local repair shops for nothing anymore. At least around here, the shops are onto the racket these scrap guys are in and are actually selling thier scrap to the scrappers. None of the shops around here are offering thier throw away scrap for free anymore. Cant say I blame them to be honest.

yep shops here in cleveland have contracts with the scrap yards them selves most have cut out the self employed scrappers altogether.

I'll have to wait for tonights paper, but there has not been one copper theft reported all week. There had been three to four a week up till now!:)

I just saw a story on the TV news about a $500,000. copper theft here in Kansas City.

"The thieves ripped out thousands of feet of underground backup street lighting feed lines.
They had to have had heavy equipment to dig them up and probably looked like a normal working crew.
The Poco is self insured and will pass the loss onto the customers" :mad:

I hauled a 1 ton GMC van, less engine to the shredder yesterday that weighed 6,660lbs (filled with junk inside) and got $333.00. :(

I just saw a story on the TV news about a $500,000. copper theft here in Kansas City.

"The thieves ripped out thousands of feet of underground backup street lighting feed lines.
They had to have had heavy equipment to dig them up and probably looked like a normal working crew.
The Poco is self insured and will pass the loss onto the customers" :mad:

I hauled a 1 ton GMC van, less engine to the shredder yesterday that weighed 6,660lbs (filled with junk inside) and got $333.00. :(

holy Toledo.

I guess the thieves are going to have to think big with prices dropping.

The thing I don't understand is how some of those scrap yards get away with buying stolen stuff.
I mean, seems to me they have to know some of that stuff is NOT scrap.
I'm still waiting for a big scrap yard sting.:yes:

Around here they have started requiring scrap yards to wait a certain period of time before processing, so if it is a theft, the evidence doesn't get destroyed right away. Apparently there were a few instances of people grabbing cars out of driveways and taking them to the crusher.

That has happened near my house in NC. 2 restored cars were stolen. By the time the police found where they went and got to the scrap yard they were crushed. What I understand is that if the car is over 10 years old the scrap yard doesn't need to have a title. You would think the yard could tell a junk car from a good car? As Andy69 said.. here too junk cars or as we call them parts cars would disappear from backyards and end up at the crusher. People also have stripped chicken houses of their wiring to sell for scrap.

They are supposed to get a title on all cars here now BUT if you go there every day and they know you very well, they will let one slide through once in a while.