Estimation Skills - Question 2

What is the average value of a pickup truck load of mixed sheet metal - from a scrap metal yard mgr

  • 0 - $10

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • $10 - $30

    Votes: 6 24.0%
  • $30 - $100

    Votes: 8 32.0%
  • $100 - $300

    Votes: 10 40.0%
  • $300 - $1000

    Votes: 1 4.0%

  • Total voters
    25
  • Poll closed .

Thread Starter

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
Again, estimation is lost art. What is your best guess based on gut feel.

NOTE: no big items like transformers, motors, anvils, ...
Just sheet metal from appliances, screen doors, auto parts, patio furniture - crushed/folded as best as a person can without power equipment.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
The last time I did this with a minivan the result was less than $100 but that's not your "average" truck.
So I thought about a pick-up truck. @ $12/hundred weight you could get over $100 in a half ton truck with no roof on top, so I choose $100 to $300.

I'm not that good with light years.:D
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
I haul scrap metals all the time so this is a no-brainer for me. B.

Scrap sheeting is 'fluffy' so it has a low weight to volume ratio plus scrap yards love to classify it as tin being it has a high paint/nonrecyclable material content to metal weight ratio thus they cheat you down on the value per ton from that.

It's not worth nothing but they try to get as close to it as they can get away with.

So given that say good #2 prepared scrap iron/steel is at $100 - $120 a ton a full-size pickup box full of sheeting from appliances and home scrap would be maybe 500 - 800 #'s, if you are really good at packing it in, and it's typically considered the lowest grade of scrap iron/steel which tend to run about half to two-thirds the price of good #2 prepared so from that you are looking at 'B - $10 -$30' being the typical expectable range you will get for it.

Now if you really want to get kicked in the nuts on scrap metal try bringing in old welder power supplies that are built with all copper clad aluminum windings and connections. Heavy as heck but worth absolutely zero due to the work it take to separate everything into any degree of individual recyclable metals.

Seriously they would pay you more for a load of field stone than those things. $0 - $10 per ton value.
 
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tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Depending on where you are in relation to the smelter or international scrap metals shipping dock has a huge amount do with the pricing as well which puts a somewhat undefinable curve on the whole estimation question.

Right now around here good clean #2 prepared might get you $40 a ton. Two summers ago it was $120 - $180 a ton.:(
 

cmartinez

Joined Jan 17, 2007
8,220
I voted in the range of $100 to $300 dlls... good thing about scrap metal, is that its price is quite uniform in most countries.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,978
The last time I checked (a couple months ago) the recyclers around here would take your iron/tin/steel scrap off your hands but wouldn't pay anything for it. If they paid five cents a pound and I got a ton of it in the truck that would be $100. So I went with the $10 to $30 range.
 

Hypatia's Protege

Joined Mar 1, 2015
3,228
The last time I checked (a couple months ago) the recyclers around here would take your iron/tin/steel scrap off your hands but wouldn't pay anything for it. If they paid five cents a pound and I got a ton of it in the truck that would be $100. So I went with the $10 to $30 range.
Now I'm confused!?!?:confused: -- Around here non-magnetic sheet 'steel' 'fetches' $820/Ton --- (I know because that's the reason I can dispose of it free of charge -- including disassembly, loading, and hauling!:cool:) --- So... Apparently there is major price variation across 'grades'?

Best regards
HP:)
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,978
Now I'm confused!?!?:confused: -- Around here non-magnetic sheet 'steel' 'fetches' $820/Ton --- (I know because that's the reason I can dispose of it free of charge -- including disassembly, loading, and hauling!:cool:) --- So... Apparently there is major price variation across 'grades'?

Best regards
HP:)
Non-magnetic sheet steel (such as 316 stainless steel) is very different than scap iron/tin/steel.

There are lots of different categories and hugely varying prices. Drive up with a ton of shiny copper wire and they will have to call Brinks to bring your payment.

Here's the current list for Golden Recycling. Look at the very bottom.

http://selectlaundry.biz:81/CommodityPrices/Pricelist.aspx?BID=2

That shiny copper wire is over $3500/ton. They don't break out stainless, but I know from past experience that, around here, it is usually noticeably higher. We don't have any smelters and such around here that I know of, so our scrap prices are probably lower than much of the country.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Around here non-magnetic sheet 'steel' 'fetches' $820/Ton --- (I know because that's the reason I can dispose of it free of charge -- including disassembly, loading, and hauling!:cool:)
I wish you were close enough to hire me for that job. That's a week of my income per load.:eek:
 
I wish you were close enough to hire me for that job. That's a week of my income per load.:eek:
Jeeez! That's a lot of work for the money!:eek: 24 trips (Plus cutting and loading) for a scant $20K gross?!?! --- I don't know why folks are willing to come that low -- 'tho I'm glad they do!:) ---- Manual labor just ain't my 'cup of tea' --- If that makes me lazy then I plead 'guilty as charged'!:rolleyes::D

Best regards
HP:)
 
I would haul 2 loads a day for $400 a load and come back tomorrow!

Should I bring show shoes?:eek:
It must be pure bliss to be so easily pleased! --- Seriously, I can't imagine it!!!:eek::eek::eek: --- Still, from a practical standpoint, I suppose it compares favorably to "bobbing for iffy tubes"!:(:eek::D

Best regards
HP:)
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Jeeez! That's a lot of work for the money!:eek: 24 trips (Plus cutting and loading) for a scant $20Kgross?!?! --- I don't know why folks are willing to come that low -- 'tho I'm glad they do!:) ---- Manual labor just ain't my 'cup of tea' --- If that makes me lazy then I plead 'guilty as charged'!:rolleyes::D
Cripes seriously? What kind of work do you do where $20K ain't worth some manual labor? o_O
$20K will pay close to 3 years of my base living expenses.

Just tell me where the scrap is and I will be there with semi and I will fly #12 in from Florida myself.
 

atferrari

Joined Jan 6, 2004
4,764
Cast my vote already.

Not to derail the guessing game here but my close experience as Ch. Officer with (iron) scrap was loading our vessel full of (finely shredded, they said) iron scrap in the Mississippi river, near Fina Anchorage, from barges which prior coming alongside had to pass under a shower to wet their cargo (otherwise the resulting dust could cover the vessel rather quickly).

The scrap is loaded with kind of a "grab" formed by five or six "fingers". To release the load, the grab is opened quite close to the hold's bottom, precisely to avoid dust.

Prior sailing, shippers recommended to avoid going into holds with covers closed because of the intense oxidation process that could reduce the oxygen tenor inside.

Freight paid is very low, so usually, vessels in that trade are not in their best shape. No surprise that when we were about to complete the loading, one of the guys told me: "Chief, when you discharge your cargo in Brazil, put also your vessel in the pile". Yes, she was very old and looked like scrap but my family and me lived from my job there for maybe 2 years.
 
Cripes seriously? What kind of work do you do where $20K ain't worth some manual labor? o_O
$20K will pay close to 3 years of my base living expenses.

Just tell me where the scrap is and I will be there with semi and I will fly #12 in from Florida myself.
The scrap collectors 'invested' ten days hard labor equipped with acetylene torches, 'porta-powers' a 'Serco loader', miscellaneous 'manual implements' and a single F-450 -- all for a paltry $1K apiece per day (prior to expenses/taxes, etc...) --- That anyone could regard such an outlay of blood, sweat and expletives --for so derisory a sum-- as 'equitable' is hopelessly beyond all comprehension!:confused::confused::confused: --- How truly "one person's trash is another's treasure" -- A good thing too - considering such is the basis of an economy!:cool:

What kind of work do you do
Tennis, rock climbing, xc and dh skiing, sailing and, occasionally, diving constitute my 'nodding acquaintance' with 'manual labor' -- Of course, as is the nature of recreation, said activities are uncompensated -- 'Tho I've high hopes that'll change Re: the latter:):):):D

Actually, I don't consider myself 'lazy' -- I'm merely one of those 'old fashioned types' who feels time is more important than money:)

Very best regards
HP:)
 
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Thread Starter

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
The scrap collectors 'invested' ten days hard labor equipped with acetylene torches, 'porta-powers' a 'Serco loader', miscellaneous 'manual implements' and a single F-450 -- all for a paltry $1K apiece per day (prior to expenses/taxes, etc...) --- That anyone could regard such an outlay of blood, sweat and expletives --for so derisory a sum-- as 'equitable' is hopelessly beyond all comprehension!:confused::confused::confused: --- How truly "one person's trash is another's treasure" -- A good thing too - considering such is the basis of an economy!:cool:


Tennis, rock climbing, xc and dh skiing, sailing and, occasionally, diving constitute my 'nodding acquaintance' with manual labor -- Of course, as is the nature of recreation, said activities are uncompensated -- 'Tho I've high hopes that'll change Re: the latter:):):):D

Actually, I don't consider myself 'lazy' -- I'm merely one of those 'old fashioned types' who feels time is more important than money:)

Very best regards
HP:)
Paultry $1k/day? It is not likely that that money was split equally. The skilled manual laborors (took in $12 to $20/hour) and the unskilled likely 7.25 to $10. If the average you calculated was $1000/day (125/hour) the owner/manager of a squad four was pulling in a healthy sum by the end of the fortnight, he has an interesting business and his employees have a bit of food on their plates but rent will have to be paid with income from their second job.
 
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