# How much money do scrappers make a year?



## rasanders22 (Feb 21, 2011)

I know there are quite a few scrappers here. I am curious the range in profits from small to large, and from the garage scrapper to the big guys with their own full time business's?


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## Anonymous (Feb 21, 2011)

That is an inappropriate question.That would be no different than asking a member how much money they made in gold,or how much someone makes annually at their job.
If it were a friend,or if I were trying to get a loan,I wouldn't feel so callus about answering it.Not to mention the fact that you are a brand new member here.
I don't intend to offend you with that answer,I just want you to think about how you would feel if someone you don't know,a potential competitor,asked you how much you made annually,doing something that you teach others how to do.And yes "scrapping" is something that most of us on the forum do,and teach others how to look for avenues to be more succesful in doing the same thing,but disclosing how much we make doing it?I hope you understand.


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## jimdoc (Feb 21, 2011)

It depends on how hard you want to work. And how willing you are to have junk around.

Jim


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## Barren Realms 007 (Feb 21, 2011)

I will have to agree with mic on this. You are overstepping your bounds especially as a new member IMO. You will find many refences as to what material that many of us process and to alluded amounts that some of us process but by no means will anyone here tell you the full story of what they process. What one member can achive is no reflection on what others can achive in this field.


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## rasanders22 (Feb 21, 2011)

Sorry.
I did not mean to offend anyone. I was just curious. Mic, when you put it that way, I can understand why people wouldnt want to give out that kind of info. Im more of a mathmatically inclined person and often dont look at the personal aspect of things. Thats the engineering mentality I inherited from my dad.


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## patnor1011 (Feb 22, 2011)

This is mathematical problem or question which cant be solved. It is the same as if you ask how much make people in food industry. From small fish&chips take-away to big casino restaurant. Just curious.
Oh yeah and it doesnt matter if that restaurant is on Wall Street or by the road in Nevada or in La Paz. :mrgreen:


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## Jimmi_p (Mar 3, 2011)

jimdoc said:


> It depends on how hard you want to work. And how willing you are to have junk around.
> 
> Jim




Jimdoc,
I LOVE junk!!!

But Rasanders22, like everyone else has said. You have to kind of figure all of that out for yourself over time. I do it for a living. I buy scrap then i sell the scrap to the next guy up the line. I've been doing it for a while and wouldn't tell my peddlers or anyone else what i get for it. Like many things the more you learn the more you earn. 

I will tell you that Its hard and the hours can be long. I love it though. I find a lot of cool stuff. Also if you don't keep a close eye on the markets and world events you can loose a lot of money or have to wait out the down turns. A colleague of mine once over extended himself on a large amount of copper and nearly lost his butt.

Good luck


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## nickvc (Mar 4, 2011)

There are many members on here who probably don't make anything from their efforts if you take the time factor into consideration and a few who no doubt make a very good living especially with the prices we are seeing at present.
The real answer to your question is down to a lot of variables, the amount of material you have available, your skill in been able to recover and or refine it, knowing the value of what your looking at and whether it's better to trade it or refine it, your customer base is it ongoing or just a one off sale, if your buying e scrap does it have a higher value than it's precious metal contents.
Basically it's all down to knowing your market and the more you know the better the returns and that's why this forum is so valuable, much of the freely available information on here represents many lifetimes of accumulated working knowledge that you can learn from and improve your own returns.


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## Malais (Mar 24, 2011)

I'm going to make $50,000 - $70,000 out of my garage scrapping computers and electrical components this year. 

In my previous job I made $35,000 doing commercial roofing for a huge corporation, with about $20,000 on week end side ventures. 


Now I'm full time scrapping, refuse to go back to work, and life is looking great. I don't miss steady money any more, that's for sure, and making $1,000,000 doesn't seem so impossible.


You have to think positive, and when you have an idea paint it onto the physical plane. Don't leave ideas in your head! Put them on the Earth!


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## ridgerunner (Mar 27, 2011)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> I will have to agree with mic on this. You are overstepping your bounds especially as a new member IMO. You will find many refences as to what material that many of us process and to alluded amounts that some of us process but by no means will anyone here tell you the full story of what they process. What one member can achive is no reflection on what others can achive in this field.




Howwabout the timeliness of your trusted refiner?


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