# Scrapping to fund preps?



## NZKiwi (Nov 11, 2014)

Hey guys!
I'm not too sure about scrapping but apparently it's not a bad thing to do? Getting a few extra cash shouldn't hurt right?


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Right right. Half my home furnishings came out of the K-mart dumpster. I like the way you think. Do you work midnights by any chance?


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

I have a couple buddies that do that for a living. They just put ads out wanting to clean up junk in your yard or farm. Usually they get some cash up front and what they make in scrap.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

I'm retired & on a fixed income. Though gas is low, making as few trips as possible saves gas plus wear & tear on the vehicle. When going shopping Dollar General is usually my first stop which is normally Saturday morning. Saturday its normally spend $25 & get $5 off at the register. Most of my pantry items come from there. Whatever I have used from my pantry I buy two of next time at the store. That means slow & sure improving of emergency stores. All the newly purchased stuff goes to the emergency preps & stuff from there goes to the house pantry ensuring rotating stock.


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## rjd25 (Nov 27, 2014)

I've been harvesting RAM chips out of old computers to harvest the gold from them. Almost no overhead and it is fun.


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

I scrapped out my old and no longer reloadable brass casings and picked up around 80 bucks from the deal. I'm a bit of a packrat, which can make hauling stuff off to the scrapyard a of a challenge.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

I have known a few that made a living doing it. Hard work but they got by. Problem has been now scrap prices were way up and that meant a lot of scrap piles were wiped out so find cheap scrape to resell got a lot harder. We use to get scrapers that would stop by the farm look at your pile and make a cash offer and clean it out.
Good for everyone. Father in law always kept some "never know when you might need a peace."
Now when someone suggest I sell off our scrap pile I repeat "never know when you might need a peace."


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## NZKiwi (Nov 11, 2014)

rjd25 said:


> I've been harvesting RAM chips out of old computers to harvest the gold from them. Almost no overhead and it is fun.


Do you use chemicals? Because that makes it even more fun!


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

I have an old propane furnace I have to get around to seeing about. Don't know what if anything its worth for metal. Also have an electric motor with a lot of copper coiled wire.

Got two Cisco routers free. I was only supposed to take one. I had two and then they closed the door with all of the crazy blinking lights.


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## rjd25 (Nov 27, 2014)

NZKiwi said:


> Do you use chemicals? Because that makes it even more fun!


yup acids and some other chems. Then a torch to smelt it.


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## sparkyprep (Jul 5, 2013)

As an electrician, I happen to know a LOT about scrapping. I'm always the "big money guy" at the scrap yard, because I deal in COPPER wire. Copper is where the money is at. It can give you a big head to see the guy unloading a truckload of cans, and getting his $50, while counting my $2000 for a truckload of wire.

A word of caution, don't get any cute ideas about where you collect your scrap from. The police are really cracking down on metal theft across the country. It has become big business. I have to show my electrician's license and drivers license to prove who I am, and why I have so much copper wire.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

sparkyprep said:


> As an electrician, I happen to know a LOT about scrapping. I'm always the "big money guy" at the scrap yard, because I deal in COPPER wire. Copper is where the money is at. It can give you a big head to see the guy unloading a truckload of cans, and getting his $50, while counting my $2000 for a truckload of wire.
> 
> A word of caution, don't get any cute ideas about where you collect your scrap from. The police are really cracking down on metal theft across the country. It has become big business. I have to show my electrician's license and drivers license to prove who I am, and why I have so much copper wire.


Sparky is right. We got a new ac unit last year and I cut up the old one and hauled it to the scrapyard. They requested my ID and a receipt for the new unit. Apparently there are lots of thieves trying to cash in on high copper prices.


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## sparkyprep (Jul 5, 2013)

I bought an AR15 with scrap money, and had some left over.


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## thepeartree (Aug 25, 2014)

HuntingHawk said:


> I'm retired & on a fixed income. Though gas is low, making as few trips as possible saves gas plus wear & tear on the vehicle. When going shopping Dollar General is usually my first stop which is normally Saturday morning. Saturday its normally spend $25 & get $5 off at the register. Most of my pantry items come from there. Whatever I have used from my pantry I buy two of next time at the store. That means slow & sure improving of emergency stores. All the newly purchased stuff goes to the emergency preps & stuff from there goes to the house pantry ensuring rotating stock.


Have you been paying attention to expiration dates on stuff? I don't know that they're short, I just wonder, sometimes, how certain prices are so far below similar items in chain stores.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Figure out your budget for each month & then figure ways to save. Lower gas prices at the moment should be giving everyone some extra coin. A trip to the store to get one item is piss poor planning. Stuff like bread & milk you can freeze. Just turning extra lights off isn't going to help a lot on the electric bill. But lowering the temperature on the hot water heater or house thermostat will.


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## HuntingHawk (Dec 16, 2012)

Expiration date is more of a best used before date.

Frozen bread dough I use has a best used before date of 3 months. I've had some in the freezer to test for 4 months & was perfectly fine.


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## NZKiwi (Nov 11, 2014)

sparkyprep said:


> As an electrician, I happen to know a LOT about scrapping. I'm always the "big money guy" at the scrap yard, because I deal in COPPER wire. Copper is where the money is at. It can give you a big head to see the guy unloading a truckload of cans, and getting his $50, while counting my $2000 for a truckload of wire.
> 
> A word of caution, don't get any cute ideas about where you collect your scrap from. The police are really cracking down on metal theft across the country. It has become big business. I have to show my electrician's license and drivers license to prove who I am, and why I have so much copper wire.


Wow nice! I do believe copper is where the big dollars are at but since my job doesn't evolve anything near electricity components it might be handful to get a nice stash of copper wiring. Any tips?


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## sparkyprep (Jul 5, 2013)

NZKiwi said:


> Wow nice! I do believe copper is where the big dollars are at but since my job doesn't evolve anything near electricity components it might be handful to get a nice stash of copper wiring. Any tips?


Collect EVERYTHING! Even little 2" pieces. It adds up over time, and the scrap yards aren't picky. I just made another $2000 haul today!


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## NZKiwi (Nov 11, 2014)

sparkyprep said:


> Collect EVERYTHING! Even little 2" pieces. It adds up over time, and the scrap yards aren't picky. I just made another $2000 haul today!


 How long does it take to fill up your haul? I might contact some old mates who are builders and electricians and see what they got. You hooking up with another AR?:armata_PDT_12:


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## Sasquatch (Dec 12, 2014)

I live in CA. and here the scrappers are the illegal aliens. They drive trucks around and pick up any metal they can find. They pile it up to dangerous heights and take it for under the table cash. They have become so bold they now take kids scooters and bikes off of front yards.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Arklatex said:


> Sparky is right. We got a new ac unit last year and I cut up the old one and hauled it to the scrapyard. They requested my ID and a receipt for the new unit. Apparently there are lots of thieves trying to cash in on high copper prices.


In Northeast Florida / Southeast Georgia thievery got so bad they were stealing AC units from churches. One weekend thieves got up on the roof of the warehouse where I work and gutted the big unit that cooled the offices.
Now, laws have been put into place - I was scrapping some junk from my workshop: an engine block, dead lawn mower, etc. At the scrap yard they (1) took a picture of my drivers license, (2) took a picture of me standing at the rear of the truck next to the license plate, (3) took a picture of the actual scrap, and (4) I had to put my thumb print on their copy of the receipt.
This has cut a lot of theft-for-scrap action.
So, the thieves around where I work now steal tires and rims from semi trucks and trailers.
Meanwhile, the little bit of cash I would get from junk around the farm just ain't worth the hassle. I take it to work and throw it in the dumpster instead.


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## James m (Mar 11, 2014)

Every week around here there are news stories about foreclosed homes being hit for copper.

I'm also seeing a lot of thieves taking loads of employment applications, and recycling them! Shameful!


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## SeasonalEclipse (Dec 29, 2014)

Me and a buddy scrapped a couple times a couple years ago. I had the truck, he had a trailer.. His grandfather used to own a washer and dryer store thats no longer around BUT theres a hill side of burried washers and dryers from him dumping trade ins.. Even driving 120 miles to the scrap yard we still make 100 dollars each for 5 or 6 hours of work. Not too bad.


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## NZKiwi (Nov 11, 2014)

Sasquatch said:


> I live in CA. and here the scrappers are the illegal aliens. They drive trucks around and pick up any metal they can find. They pile it up to dangerous heights and take it for under the table cash. They have become so bold they now take kids scooters and bikes off of front yards.


Wow, now thats out of hand....


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## NZKiwi (Nov 11, 2014)

rice paddy daddy said:


> In Northeast Florida / Southeast Georgia thievery got so bad they were stealing AC units from churches. One weekend thieves got up on the roof of the warehouse where I work and gutted the big unit that cooled the offices.
> Now, laws have been put into place - I was scrapping some junk from my workshop: an engine block, dead lawn mower, etc. At the scrap yard they (1) took a picture of my drivers license, (2) took a picture of me standing at the rear of the truck next to the license plate, (3) took a picture of the actual scrap, and (4) I had to put my thumb print on their copy of the receipt.
> This has cut a lot of theft-for-scrap action.
> So, the thieves around where I work now steal tires and rims from semi trucks and trailers.
> Meanwhile, the little bit of cash I would get from junk around the farm just ain't worth the hassle. I take it to work and throw it in the dumpster instead.


Thats insane I never knew scrapping was so huge it became a hassle.


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## NZKiwi (Nov 11, 2014)

SeasonalEclipse said:


> Me and a buddy scrapped a couple times a couple years ago. I had the truck, he had a trailer.. His grandfather used to own a washer and dryer store thats no longer around BUT theres a hill side of burried washers and dryers from him dumping trade ins.. Even driving 120 miles to the scrap yard we still make 100 dollars each for 5 or 6 hours of work. Not too bad.


Not too bad but sucks how you have to drive so far


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## SeasonalEclipse (Dec 29, 2014)

Yeah.. The truck ate about 50 dollars in gas pulling the load and drive back, We knocked that off the top of the money of course.. Still it was alright to do here and there, I dont think I could do it full time especially with how some people have to scratch bottom to find stuff. Living in rural missouri ( When I say rural.. I mean.. the nearest walmart is 60 miles away in ANY direction.. )is hard to find a supply of scrap. By the time we hauled our last load we were having to jerk things up the side of the hill ( and out of the side of the hill ) with my truck and a tow rope.. I didnt want to break my truck so after that I was done.


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## NZKiwi (Nov 11, 2014)

SeasonalEclipse said:


> Yeah.. The truck ate about 50 dollars in gas pulling the load and drive back, We knocked that off the top of the money of course.. Still it was alright to do here and there, I dont think I could do it full time especially with how some people have to scratch bottom to find stuff. Living in rural missouri ( When I say rural.. I mean.. the nearest walmart is 60 miles away in ANY direction.. )is hard to find a supply of scrap. By the time we hauled our last load we were having to jerk things up the side of the hill ( and out of the side of the hill ) with my truck and a tow rope.. I didnt want to break my truck so after that I was done.


Sounds like your truck needs an upgrade! But yeah scrapping full time is only for a handful of people. But heck having a few mates that are builders and electricians will help pile your scrap load.


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