Happy New Year

Happy New Year

Ok, it is a little early (1 month roughly), until New Years. The day we celebrate a year gone by, and look forward to the year to come. Generally a time resolutions are made that are kept about 30 – 45 days and left in a huge pile of wishes and dreams from the previous year..then we are back at our old ways. Usually it is our weight, our finances or just our overall demeanor to others we decide to change or be resolute about. With that, it might be time to be resolute as to how we are going about our scrapping from last year to this year. For many of us, financially it has been a decent year economically, especially if scrapping has been an extra form of income versus your primary source. If so, maybe you haven’t spent much time forming a great plan to make more money , or at least the same with less effort than last year..so first things first..plan your attack, attack your plan. So before we wish Happy New Year! Let’s review what to do first.

First and foremost, it would be best to sit down and look backward on what you achieved last year in your scrapping. Did you create a sustainable income, did you carve out relationships that you feel you can rely on in the new year. If not, make a list of how you can change that as soon as possible, scrapping is for the faint of heart and margins can be thin. It is best to make sure that all of your connections are solid and will be there for you.

Next, are there other places or stashes you can pick through in the new year that you may profit from without burning more gas, or more time stripping, or more manpower for lifting. Generally, after going over expenses, you will find sinkholes you can fill.

Our best advice is for you to go back over all of our post, and see what and where you can help fulfill your resolute for the New Year!

Holiday Shopping

Holiday Shopping

With Halloween here, we all start thinking of the Holidays. Or should we say Holiday, sure Thanksgiving counts and is definitely a holiday, but lets face it, the Christmas season will dominate from the minute we get up from the table on Thanksgiving day, until we fall asleep on New Years Eve. While most of us will wait until the last minute to shop, some will shop ’till they drop up until Christmas Eve, and God bless them, each and every one of them. For the rest of us, this might be a good time, to clean out the garage and or attic/basement when we start breaking out the yuletide decor, because Holiday Shopping doesn’t always have to be at a department store, and can sometimes pay you.

Holiday Shopping

Every year someone, usually dad or junior are sent to grab the thousands (it seems) of boxes of lights, ornaments and for some of us tree that was stored from last year. If your the average American family, you’ll actually replace a little more than 25% of that Christmas stash by the first week of December. So first things first. Use the Saturday or Sunday that you deemed worthy of Christmas extraction worthy to also extract old lamps, boxes or broken metal items you have had laying in wait for the graveyard of your choice. Next, once you start unraveling (literally, not figurative) lights for set up, set aside those lights that don’t work, there’s plenty of copper to be had if stripped properly. Next, check for any outdoor decor that just might have seen its last white Christmas, and can be broken down for even more scrap. Lastly, and not necessarily least, there’s that fake aluminum tree you’ve had for some time. If the wire bristles are looking a little jagged or frayed, and it’s time for a 10 footer, make sure to put that in the recycle stack.

Ultimately, depending on how much you clean out, you might get just enough at the scrap yard for that little something extra for Mrs. Clause.

Craigslist Scrap

craigslist scrap

If you have read our blog with any regularity, you would know we try to help our customers by listing the wheres and where not’s of scrapping. Let’s be realistic about this. It is very important, in metals scrapping, not to waste any of your valuable time if you don’t have to. Especially when seeking out scrap, which can be hit or miss. I think everyone here would agree by now, that the easiest, most time efficient, fuel efficient way of finding your next big haul is Craigslist scrap. Firs, if you have never heard of craigslist, well this article will be a game changer. If you are a regular on craigslist, we hope this add some value to your scrapping experience.

Craigslist Scrap

Craigslist is a free platform that let consumers search for items that are either for sale or for free. It can include anything from auto’s to clothing to broken dishwashers that need hauling off. Now we have your attention. Over the years, Craigslist has become the beacon for those looking for used (and more recently new) items for sale. Just think online garage sale or thrift store. So the big question is how do you use it to help scrap. Everyday, it most major cities, people are unloading items online. So go to Craigslist.com, and choose the for sale group and look for items you generally believe you would like to scrap, like washers and dryers, dishwashers and even cars. Once you find a few, contact the buyer and ask their lowest price or if they would like the item hauled off for free. Now generally, you want only free, it really won’t profit you very much to drive and pick up and tear apart a washer and dryer. Look for items that have been available for a long time and people may be willing to let go for free. Especially washers and dryers and dishwashers, because those items probably have been replaced and are just sitting wasting someones garage space.

Our Scrap Prices are Insane

Ok our prices are inline where they’re supposed to be. Maybe we’re just insane…why? We hear stories from all around the state and all over the nation and yes there are people making the Crazy Eddie claims that “Our scrap prices are insane !” The reality is, scrap metal sales are like everything else, there’s a standard in pricing, don’t be hooked by over hyped schemes and billboards. If you want to consistently bring in as much as you can for your scrap, here is our advice we have been giving for years.

Work Local

It is rarely profitable to drive too far to grab a few pennies more for your scrap. There are plenty of ambiguous ads on billboards or online that make you believe that no matter what, you will be mad rich if you bring your old fridge to them. STOP, and think about it..all recycles and scrap yards make money by bulking out metals to larger companies that actually do all the leg work. So if that company in New Mexico claims that seem unbelievable, well it probably is.

Work With Yards That Respect Their Customers

We can not understand why anyone, would do all the work it takes to find scrap, break it down, separate it, pay for the gas and everything else that goes with scrapping, would work with a company that just didn’t seem to care whether you used them or not. If your not working with a yard that assist you when you need it, or possibly even changes their story after you call them (within reason)..it might be time to drive away..more importantly it might be time to call Amcep Metals or call us first just to see if we’re someone you would want to work with. Please call us at 520-748-1900 or visit us at 4484 E Tennessee St, Tucson, AZ 85714.

Scrapping Do’s and Don’ts

scrapping do's and don'ts

Rules, rules, rules…everybody in the scrap metal industry has rules and people who sell scrap as a hobby or profession know what they are. What about the weekend warrior, who scraps once in a while or even just accumulates enough scrap to make that yearly trip down to our yard. Here are a few Scrapping Do’s and Don’t’s, that if you stick to them, in general, you’ll be fine.

Do Separate Your Metals
It is the most common pre yard activity any veteran scrapper knows about. If time is money, then the yard personal that has to take the time to separate your metals might not want to do business with you again, and certainly doesn’t want to give you top dollar on what he/she has decided is junk.

Do Separate Your Metals
So now after reading above, your probably getting it. Go through your metals and choose what stays and what go’s and if possible, what is or is not sellable based on cleanliness, residue or safety.

Don’t Try To Pull One Over
This one might seem a little tricky, but the bottom line is, don’t try to mix in cheaper metals with your high end load in hopes of tipping the scale in your favor, that just doesn’t ever work out for either side and can get you shut out all over town.

Do Work With Yards That are Trustworthy
Just walk away…that’s good advice if you ever find for any reason the yard you are using lies, cheats or steals their way to profitability. Winners never cheat, cheaters never win. What may be a victory for them today, will lead to fewer customers tomorrow.

Do Attempt to Get to Know Personell
It’s always good in a buyer/seller relationship to try to get to know who you are working with. Prices change drastically, sometimes overnight. Maybe that one haul can wait and maybe you have been waiting to unload that 1 item that’s been lying around. It’s good to know, that when contacted theirs someone your familiar with on the other side.

Places Not To Find Scrap

Look,we here at Amcep Metals are all about the free open spirit to go out and find your own honey hole for scrapping metal. We have also been around long enough to know that if it is too good to be true, then someone might be in trouble. So we thought we would mention a few places NOT to find scrap metal…as a cautionary tale and of course to keep all of us out of harms, and the laws way.

New Home Construction

First of all, new homes are pretty much wood , brick and mortar..or stucco in Tucson’s case. The truth is, home build sites keep their own roll off dumpsters on site and have become pretty resourceful at filling those dumpsters with their own scrap materials over time. The pieces most scrappers might be interested in would be most the copper tubing and or piping and of course the copper wiring going through the house. The average new home built today has about 439 pounds of copper in it..I know you are calculating it, so here it is, that is worth about $1,100.00 today. Here is the breakdown:
195 pounds – building wire
151 pounds – plumbing tube, fittings, valves
24 pounds – plumbers’ brass goods
47 pounds – built-in appliances
12 pounds – builders hardware
10 pounds – other wire and tube
Guess who else knows it…the builder. In any new economy ever ounce is accounted for and closely held. There was a time when home builders couldn’t find anyone to come clean up sites as they built them and get rid of most of the excess materials, so they do it themselves. Now many builders have contracts with large corporate recycling companies or raw material vendors to purchase or haul off these excesses. So we’re not saying a home builders lot or area will be void of scrap metal to sell, we’re saying it is not yours to take from the site, even though it does look discarded and trashed. Your best possible move is to contact the builder themselves and to see what their current situation has to offer. If they balk and say their good…move on.

Different Places to Find Scrap

Different Places to Find Scrap

Different Places to Find ScrapThere have been lots and lots of articles written on places and or legal ways to find scrap metal to resale for a nice profit. As scrapping has become more popular and it’s a dog eat dog or feast or famine way of life in this scrappers economy, I thought I would do some research and find the newest ways to dig up some scrap “literally” and how to find them. A word of caution, this will take work and communication, the days of driving your truck around the neighborhood could be long gone, especially if your neighbors are right behind you doing the same thing. Here are some different places to find scrap:

Different Places to Find Scrap

Your local auto mechanic- not the national chain type (Pep Boys) more like your local down home shop where the owner uses his own name on the door. It is possible that he is paying someone to haul off old rotors drums and other engine parts, that you can haul and sell at no charge to them. This might take some footwork or phone work at first, but the hauls could be huge. We suggest driving up and scouting, just to see if they keep a stock pile or how they are storing old parts first.

Pawn Shops- Always check first, but most pawn shops are regularly tossing old cords and junk they no longer sell or can sell due to the product being out of date (we liken it to spoilage in the food industry). Normally a pawn shop deals in high margins/high no loan pays, that is why they loan so little versus true value. So for smaller items they cannot wholesale, they may just junk it. it never hurts to check and ask.

Fair Grounds- Now this is either a couple times of year, or if you live near an active grounds where they have trade shows every week (knife and gun or RV) and carnivals, there is always something they need hauled and they will probably let you comb the grounds with a metal detector after an event.

These are just a few newer ideas we have seen lately and hopefully will have more to share in the future.

Scrapping a Modular Home

scrapping a modular home

Scrapping a modular or mobile home is a bit easier to do then say a standard brick and mortar home, but has far less payout. The reason though this article is coming into existence is, all modular or mobile homes, generally wear and deteriorate to the point of replacing, much quicker than standard homes. To make things worse, there are very few forums available online to give you instruction and advice. So scrapping a modular home is really just about separating the good from the bad, which is what scrapping for metals has always been about.

First of all, when it comes to the “why” of scrapping a modular or mobile homes, it is very simple, it always breaks down to finances. The cost to move a home alone can range from roughly $2,000 and up! The fact of the matter is, if the home is in disrepair enough where a move may be the end anyhow, then it just makes since to either out right sell it or attempt to scrap it.

The reality is that mobile homes are not terribly expensive to begin with. You can buy a decent single-wide for under $50,000 and a double-wide for under $80,000. Also, mobile homes depreciate yearly by around 3-3.5%. This means that after 20 years, 70% of your mobile home’s value is already gone just from depreciation.

The main issue with the modular or mobile home is that most, or at least older models were poorly constructed and may be fiberglass based. The good news is, much of the exterior and trim and of course plumbing and electric is scrap worthy, it will just take work and plenty of time. So the reality is, is it worth your time to get in their and tear the place a part for a few hundred dollars worth of scrap, or is it best to look at options for selling or refurbishing to rent or sell.

Recycling Rules

recycling rules

Whenever you recycle, most people think of plastic containers, newspapers, and glass containers. Besides the recycling of plastics, we should be thinking about recycle scrap metal, for example titanium, copper, aluminum, iron and others.Recycling metals (also known as scrapping) may not be the first type of recycling we think of, there are recycling rules to live by.

Many pieces of scrap metal are way too disposed of improperly. Recycling metal reduces the quantity of ore drilling around the world. Reducing pollutants in addition to lowering our carbon footprint. Scrap metals, for one example – titanium, is a high dollar alloy. Scrap yards collect many of their metals from the trade industry but welcome home owners to recycle their scrap metal too.

Before you take metal to any Tucson scrap yard for recycling, you have to separate the metal by type. To be able to collect probably the most value for the recyclable scrap , you should to be acquainted with the kinds of scrap metal and just how much they are worth.

Finally it’s wise to use a local scrap yard. Once you have your scrap metals separated and inventoried you should make sure they take the kind of metal you want to recycle. Not every yard will accept all kinds of metal, plus some metals, like titanium, can be difficult to sell off and may take time to find a dealer. So prior to going be sure that the yard you want to visit will accept the metals you want to scrap.

So before you decide to trash that old garden furniture or outdoor grill consider selling the scrap metal to the recycling yard rather than throwing it away. While recycling metal isn’t a get rich quick plan, the doing your part in the effort for an eco-friendly earth is reward by itself.

Scrapping for the Environment

scrapping for the environment

More and more every year the is a general consciousness about the environment and how it is time to make a change. The reality is the only changes seem to be about the changes to the environment for the sake of the ozone and the possibility of a global warming catastrophe. We are not saying these things are not important, but it is time to look at other areas such as metals, and the need for us to take our old metals and start scrapping for the environment as much as we tend to scrap for cash.

Every single day, as a species, we create about 4.6 pounds a day of trash…much of it recyclable. As a matter of fact, about a third of all daily trash is recyclable. We currently recycle about 1.4 pounds per day, unfortunately, only about 33% of Americans recycle properly on a regular basis. According to the EPA recycling and composting prevented 87.2 million tons of material from being disposed in 2013, up from 15 million tons in 1980. Diverting these materials from landfills prevented the release of approximately 186 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent into the air in 2013 — equivalent to taking over 39 million cars off the road for a year. That’s a solid number and something that if more people new about, would probably get behind.

Even though, we recycle scrap metals, the full mindset of recycling should be on the forefront of our minds on a regular basis, more like Germany, England and other European countries that America lags behind in it’s efforts to recycle.

Is it possible, that if we were paid to recycle more, more Americans would get involved? It is possible, greed has always been a mantra for getting something moving. The reality is though, if it’s not enough to simply clean the environment, like we clean our homes, cars and yards..there is no point.