" "no scavanging" signs. Perfectly good bicycles, computers, you name it being tossed in the landfill. It made me embarrassed to be American. "
As I seem to try to do alot lattely, Besides answering one question I'll include releated thingies that may hopefully help alot of people reading the post with various needs.
Oh yes we must not steal from the land fills, they need it so much and pay such a high price to get that fill material!! I feel like shooting the people responsible for those signs or at least beating them over the head with their own garbage!!
It should be a FEDERAL LAW that anything any one wants to take out of a land fill should be free for the taking! Well maybe not used food or dirty diapers, but hey if you can make methane from it then why not that too if you actually want to haul the nasty stuff. Some day we will be mining those land fills just like any other mines for the copper, silver, gold, aluminum, steel, and other material they buried. What a waste of resources to do that though!
I run into some of those bozos at shops and places too that act like it hurts them to sell trash instead of paying to have it hauled off. I try to politly let them know just how STUPID they actaully are! Be aware you are on thier property and try to be polite while getting the point acrossed. Sometimes it works, sometimes they just go DUUUHH while picking their nose.
One place I will not deal with the guy even if he gave it to me free now has got the point! Next time someone asks he might let them have stuff cheap, but I won't take it now because he pissed me off, but I got him back real good for it too. Maybe I have helped someone be more successful in the future that asks to deal with him??
I wanted junk cooling systems for the scrap parts, he got all funky and said some stupid stuff about the value of them and scrapping them out himself and such and would not sell them to me when I offered to buy them. Too stupid to even ask for his own price and see what I was willing to pay, basically like I was not even worth talking to, he was even rude. ( He certianly lost my heating cooling businesses if I need a shop someday too!!) I basically said go to h*11 and walked out then.
This is the fun part!!
Then later I was at a scrap yard when he and an employee brought in a pickup truck load. I heard the guy I buy from say what he would pay for them, the bozo said ok and took the money. I said put them on my truck and handed the guy I buy from double the money he was paying for them. He said ok and told the bozo to unload his truck to my truck 
Not only did the bozo only get half what I was willing to actaully pay, but he had to load them onto MY truck for me after haulling them 20 miles himself and paying his empoyee probably $6 an hour too. He got the point he should have been nicer and sold them to me at his own shop for more money real quick! I'll always remember his goofey look
Most places are better than that, but you just got to look around and try to avoid the morons. I just go to smaller scrap yards, what we have here. Really large ones may want to sell the stuff, but they won't want you in the way digging through piles and slowing them down, Your little purchase of $50 scrap motors may profit them $20 but cost them $40 in lost production while your digging around, so actually they lose. I have bought from LARGE yards too though, especailly if they know you, like if your hauling things in at times also. I used to haul alot to a big yard when I lived in a big city in my teens, and I was one of the few that they sold to also, most walk ins they turned away.
Look for smaller yards in smaller towns, and if possible let them know your gonna be a regular and will stay out of the way as much as posible while they work and you search.
If you have a large need for certain things, and they don't get to aweful much of it, offer to take it all. I just did that. I was paying 13cents Lb for motors, copper went up he said and he charged me 16 a lb for the last 2, I asked what if I just take them all, pick them up once a week or so, 12 cents a pound now if I take all. Saving 4 cents a pound, I don't have to dig around, I won't miss the good ones because I did not get there in time, I don't have to waste my time running to the yard every couple days, I don't waste the gas so that saves money too. He will now just pile them all in one area for me to pick them up. Aluminum is running 50-60 cents or more per pound, #1 copper about $1.20 lb, iron/steel $75 a ton or so (about 4cents lb).
Think of all those bearings I may get, aluminum cases, good wire, steel shafts for armatures ect... and after stripping them down I get alot more per pound than I pay (except for steel) so I can take them all, strip for parts, next time I drive 150 miles to go shopping haul a load of scrap to the big guys and profit!!
Now many people of course will think if this is such a great deal then why don't they do that. MONEY!! The owner of these scrap yards don't want the parts, so it's only scrap prices to them. They ain't got time to do it themselfs, and employees cost money, taxes, workers comp, unemployement etc.. INSURANCE. It simply is not profitable for the small operation doing a good business with fast turn over to take apart motors and such. Mixed metal as a motor needing seperated is only worth 12 cents LB to them, and they got far more to do than ripp them apart one at a time. Me buying the motors saves them money, I pay what they would get anyway, they don't have to ship them in which saves them money so they make more too at the same price when I pick up myself.
I am actually thinking about running adds in a small paper here to buy certain things like motors and cooling units. I can pay more for them than the scrap yard does because I pay more when I buy from the scrap yard anyway.
If you can talk to people (some are huffy and won't talk) and you can works deals like this you can profit as well and get parts. If you have the time and space. I do have the space, alittle time.
This same deal on the motors from the scrap yard I am thinking about for starters and altenators from the auto wrecker I buy from too. He is great on prices already, bearings 50cents, $1.20lb #1 copper wire, 76cents LB for cast aluminum ingots ect..
Good working 100amp altenators $20
Problem there though is he does have the time to strip stuff down, and he also repairs alot of things instead of scrapping them. This is great really in general, but not for me wanting junk though. I probably will never get a junk 100amp altenator from him for 12cents a LB because he can fix it, unless it is really fried bad, but then as seperated scrap it is still worth more anyway.
For example, he has an EPA aproved furnace to melt scrap aluminum. So for me to buy junk aluminum wheels from him as scrap it costs me the 76cents a pound he would get as an ingot. To buy from the other yard the same wheel would cost me maybe 60Cents LB because as a wheel that's all he will be paid, ingots are worth alot more.
I'll have to pay more for junk motors/altenators from him because he gets ALOT more for them as stripped/seperated scrap metals.
But he is a great guy, easy to talk with, knows alot, willing to help with things etc.. and to me it is worth paying a bit more buying from him. Like he will take the time to show me tricks to get things apart easy, fast and less damage etc.. and great to talk with. I think I learn something from him everytime I go there!!
The other cheaper yard is nice guys, but busy, no help really with anything except loading if needed, and they don't know much as far as messing with things. It's just all scrap to them, no interest in parts or pieces except type of metal and prices.
I am thinking also I may start buying ALL junk heating and cooling units from some places. Just call and offer a price per LB and take them all. Same deal, as mixed metals they won't get nearly as much as seperated. I get all the good motors, caps, etc.. and lots of aluminum copper to scrap out at a higher price!
Motor rewind shops may work the same deals, but don't expect too much since that's there business if they are smart they won't really have much to sell! But how many are actually that smart? A few. And most smarter ones are probably near large cities with larger recyclers.
Call ahead sometimes may help if you can actaully talk to the owner of small shops. Often a manager will just say no themselfs because they don't know and don't want to bother asking the owner. I ran into that with computer shops for scrap parts before.
I asked about 3 times for junk they were throwing away, manager said no the boss would not do that. I hadn't spoke to the boss, he was never there or in back. One day I saw him at a coffee shop and started a conversation and mentioned I wanted scrap stuff for various uses, he said I should have came by his shop, I could have had all I wanted. I said ok and when he went to the shop after lunch I did too, he told the manager give me any trash I wanted
I didn't say much about being sent away in the past, but the manager had a funny look anyway
Just a case of he didn't know and didn't want to bother asking, so he said no.
Sometimes you can get stuff fom smaller parts stores. Small autoparts stores and shops can be good. Tell them you'll pay scrap prices or what ever your willing to pay for the items you want. Maybe a little less to start so you can haggle on the final price. The shops may give it to you free if it's not worth anything, but if they can get back a $5 core charge on it they won't. Autostore might though, or sell less than or same price as the core charges. MANY items have a far higher core charge than they should! When selling new parts alot of people will not bring back the old parts, the stores know this of course and charge the core charge (deposite) till they get back the old part. They keep that money when the parts are not returned of course, so the cores are higher than the store will actaully get when they return the cores. Just more profit for the store if you don't return it. They often hope you don't! Some high demand items may not apply to this general rule though.
Take a CV joint axle shaft for example. Cost me $75 for a rebuilt axle, costs me $70 core charge on top of that!! You know the store is making more than $5 profit on the new part!
Those rebuilders are not buying cores for $70 each either. If you wanted those you might be able to pick them up for a few bucks each. Same with other parts of course, probably not free but cheap. Major chains may be harder to deal with, but some are good, alot depends on the people in the store also. Small parts stores may not even want to mess with sending back a core unless they did have to pay alot themselfs for the core. Now in some cases like maybe the axle shaft, the rebuilder may be playing the same games figuring extra profit off the non-returned cores and be charging it also to the part stores. But if that were the case you would be seeing alot of parts stores buying $35 used axle shafts from the auto wreckers to replace those missing $70 cores, and that does not happen alot.
So if they say a high price as a core, what does a used part go for at the wrecking yard and figure they get a heck of alot less back on those cores, not what they charge! Mention it politely. You may get a junk altenator for $5-$10 even if they do charge $25 for a core charge when they sell them. And that $25 core charge will probably be the first thing they come up with when talking prices!
I pay $20 for a used working 100amp Gm type, the TRUE core value can't be over $10 or so or he would be selling them all as cores right from the wrecking yard!
If you need something and having trouble finding a place willing to let you have a good deal on the junk, think about all the things I mentioned and put some thought into a new aproach to finding your items.
Sometimes you just won't find certain things ever, or you have to figure other angles to get them!
I was told it is Illegal to sell used Catalytic conveters from wrecking yards when I wanted the guts. Well I found a different way to get them
Legally!
I found muffler shops cutting them open for the platinum coated ceramics to recycle at a higher price. I think it goes for near $5 a pound, at least that's what I paid.
Ok, they could not sell me the converter and I did not buy one!!
But I got my parts anyway
