Tinned Steel Computer Cases?

Golddigger Greg · Jun 26, 2012

My one and only local scrap yard got a great deal on steel today. I visited them a couple of days ago to get pricing on the various metals I'll be recovering from scrapping PCs and network gear and was told at the time that computer case steel was .08/lb, but after weighing in and dropping my load in the yard I got a whopping $2.80 after weighing out. I was a little confused as to how they arrived at that figure; thinking that there was a lot less there than I had thought, I pocketed the money and went home.
I had a nagging feeling and back-figured it to there being only 35 pounds of steel?!? I knew that wasn't right because two of the network cases were over 19 pounds apiece, never mind the other 8 network cases, a desktop case, and two boxes of misc. parts! Thinking that she screwed up the weight calculations when interupted by a co-worker I drove back to the yard to let them know while all the days' paperwork was still on her desk. The guy I got my quote from earlier was at her desk. I told her that I thought she'd made a mistake on the weight because she only gave $2.80 for all the steel. She said no, I paid out on 280 pounds. Yeah, 280 pounds at .08/lb doesn't come out to $2.80. The guy that quoted me pipes up 280 pounds at .01/lb for tinned steel, that's right, $2.80. That's the way it's always been.
Thing is, neither of them actually saw the material before I unloaded, the only one that did was their yard guy who helped me unload it.
I guess I should have insisted that they inspect the material before unloading it and have them commit to considering it steel as opposed to "tinned steel". You'd think that he would have told me when I got prices from him, because he knew what I was bringing; computer cases. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth, either way. He is the only buyer in town, and I'll have lot of material to sell, but would rather not deal with transporting it over 90 miles to another city.

publius · Jun 26, 2012

Golddigger Greg said:
My one and only local scrap yard got a great deal on steel today. I visited them a couple of days ago to get pricing on the various metals I'll be recovering from scrapping PCs and network gear and was told at the time that computer case steel was .08/lb, but after weighing in and dropping my load in the yard I got a whopping $2.80 after weighing out. I was a little confused as to how they arrived at that figure; thinking that there was a lot less there than I had thought, I pocketed the money and went home.
I had a nagging feeling and back-figured it to there being only 35 pounds of steel?!? I knew that wasn't right because two of the network cases were over 19 pounds apiece, never mind the other 8 network cases, a desktop case, and two boxes of misc. parts! Thinking that she screwed up the weight calculations when interupted by a co-worker I drove back to the yard to let them know while all the days' paperwork was still on her desk. The guy I got my quote from earlier was at her desk. I told her that I thought she'd made a mistake on the weight because she only gave $2.80 for all the steel. She said no, I paid out on 280 pounds. Yeah, 280 pounds at .08/lb doesn't come out to $2.80. The guy that quoted me pipes up 280 pounds at .01/lb for tinned steel, that's right, $2.80. That's the way it's always been.
Thing is, neither of them actually saw the material before I unloaded, the only one that did was their yard guy who helped me unload it.
I guess I should have insisted that they inspect the material before unloading it and have them commit to considering it steel as opposed to "tinned steel". You'd think that he would have told me when I got prices from him, because he knew what I was bringing; computer cases. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth, either way. He is the only buyer in town, and I'll have lot of material to sell, but would rather not deal with transporting it over 90 miles to another city.

Sheet steel (as apposed to heavy or structural iron) has always been paid less unless it was compacted and bailed. The issue is three fold, surface area where corrosion causes loss, density/volume, and handling with in the yard.

Golddigger Greg · Jun 26, 2012

So it is more a case of this particular buyer not being keen on getting these and adjusting his buy price accordingly? I was going by what others on the board have gotten out of their cases (.08/lb and up) as a guide for what to expect out of my local guy, and when he quoted me .08/lb I felt that is what I'd get, but being paid only .01/lb leaves me with a slightly-less-than-fully-gruntled feeling. Onward and upward..., thanks!

jimdoc · Jun 26, 2012

I think the problem is your local scrap yard has no competition, and he knows it. The yards I have dealt with have never hassled me about any steel. I have a decent yard I deal with now, but I have some others I will never go back to.

Jim

Smack · Jun 26, 2012

They are ripping you off so next time don't let them. Know what you are taking in and know what they are paying for it. You should be able to get the prices they are paying from the website. Computer cases are sheet iron or sheet steel or some places call it tin but there is no Tin (SN) there, it's just a name. Check out some of the prices here: http://www.877ironmike.com/metal-prices This is just to give you an idea of where they should be with the pricing, do keep in mind the prices from iron mikes is high but the overall prices of metals is controlled by the markets and a scrap yard should be paying a percentage of that. Bottom line they will keep screwing you as long as you let them. I would report them to the B.B.B. You need to read up on the I.S.R.I Code.

Golddigger Greg · Jun 27, 2012

Smack said:
They are ripping you off so next time don't let them. Know what you are taking in and know what they are paying for it. You should be able to get the prices they are paying from the website.

I thought I knew both, and that he knew what he was quoting on.
They have no web site, nor do they post their price anywhere in the building that I saw in my 3 visits, just a verbal quote depending on who you are, I guess. They have no idea how much business they are going to lose out on if we can't get this worked out. I don't begrudge a guy a profit, but come on, hosing me for at least 7/8 of my effort is unreasonable.
I spoke tonight with a prospecting friend from town that put me onto a local car wrecker that may buy my steel, so I'll check him out tomorrow.
Jeez, I thought the base metal end of scrapping computers was going to be the easy part...

aurum999 · Jun 27, 2012

You got ripped off for sure. I take computer cases to my local scrap yard regularly, never any problem. I just took a load last week 640 lbs @ 0.09/lb = $57.60. They don't care what it is all sheet steel (they call it "tin") is the same to them. They don't care if painted, plated, galvanized or whatever. I even leave some of the plastic on the cases, they don't care about that either unless there is a lot of plastic.

Smack · Jun 27, 2012

Also, know what Ton they deal in: M/T (Metric Ton), G/T (Gross Ton), or N/T (Net Ton), there are a couple more but they should be paying based on one of those, find out then you can do the math. Non ferrous should be in lbs. or kg.

Golddigger Greg · Jun 27, 2012

"$160.00/ton or .08/lb" is what he told me, so he was using the short ton for his quote. He beat me out of $20.00(ish) this time. It won't happen again either way he chooses to go from here on out. Spilt milk, and lesson learned. He can deal fairly or he won't be dealing with me, that simple. He's the one losing out if he doesn't.