Where To Start Collecting More Scrap
One of the more common questions we get from scrappers is; “Where can I get more scrap?” There are a lot of right answers but we want to address a couple of different ones that people may not have thought of in the past and might give you a better long-term and more sustainable way to make more money.
More Volume = More Long-Term Work
Sometimes finding people that generate scrap like plumbers and electricians will be one of your easiest ways to immediately find more scrap. After finding these people it’s important to establish a relationship and tell them what you can do for them instead of them just selling material directly at their yard.
Most larger companies will not be interested in any type of partnering because they most likely will doing everything in-house. But some of the smaller contractors that have a handful of employees might be very interested in this process and this option. They may not have the time or resources to make regular trips to the scrap yard and don’t collect enough volume to warrant a pickup from the scrap yard.
How Do You Contact These Contractors?
It’s very hard to find some of these people and very often you cannot just walk up to them and introduce the thought or the idea. Instead, it might be worth sending an email or a social media message to them bringing up the idea. One thing that we have heard other people do is profit sharing in splitting the dollar amount that is sold to the scrap yard.
Let us give you an example of this:
We talked to one scrapper who knows an electrician that accumulates all types of scrap and stores at his shop. The scrapper will go there once every three months and picks up all of the materials and brings it back to their own garage. Now this scrapper has established a relationship with the electrician, so the trust level had already been grown over time which makes it much easier to do these transactions and get further references from the electrician. The scrapper then took this scrap and separated it, sorted it and even stripped some of the material down whether it was Steel BX or Romex or THHN and turned it into a higher value like bare bright.
The scrapper took all of the material to the local scrap yard after calling two or three different companies to get higher prices, as well as using the iScrap App National Price Page to find higher prices. He then cashed in all of the material and brought all the money including the receipt and pictures of the material to the electrician and they shared in a system where the electrician got 70% of the money and the scrapper got 30%.
Now some of you might say to yourself why does the scrapper only get 30%? And you have to figure that the electrician is the one that had all the material and the 70% of the money that they received was probably what all of the scrap was worth inside of their garage as is. But the electrician allowed the scrapper to be able to sort and make more money with it and that’s sharing in the money profits.
MARKETING TIPS FOR SCRAPPING
How Do You Lock Down The Deal?
Now the example above is one that many people would love to have the opportunity to get multiple vendors or contractors like that – but will not happen overnight. We have found by contacting a family friend or someone who knows someone and you are able to use a soft introduction, that will give you the ability to make more money in a quick fashion and establish these relationships, opposed to opening up a general Google search and just calling someone.
It’s all about connections…
Then it’s all about establishing a relationship and building trust. It’s not always the easiest thing in the world, but once you’re able to figure out who to work with, it will give you another source of revenue and after you establish a relationship with them over time they might refer you to some of their friends, as well.
How to Get Higher Prices at your Yard?
Everyone wants to make more money and if you’re sharing the profits it gives you another way to get more money at the scrap yard. Now you can use your relationship with multiple electricians or by being able to add their material with your material and bring more copper or insulated wire to the scrap yard and you’ll be able to make even more money because you can ask them for higher prices because of the higher volumes that you have.
How To Get The Best Scrap Prices
Questions or Comments? Let Us Know!
We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how the above example and examples in your own scrap life could apply to help other people. We also love hearing stories of how you make more money with your scrap and where you’re able to find it from, so let us know where and how you have been able to establish more volume to sell to your scrap yards.
