Scrapping Kinda Sucks

For shits and grins I axed Grok...

"
Is money from scrapyards taxed?


Yes, money from selling scrap to a scrapyard is generally considered taxable income by the IRS. You have to report it on your tax return, even if you don't get a 1099 form.How you report it depends on whether it's a hobby or a business:
  • Hobby — Add it as miscellaneous income; you pay regular income tax but can't deduct expenses.
  • Business or side hustle — Report on Schedule C. You can deduct related costs like mileage, tools, or supplies, then pay self-employment tax on the net profit — about 15.3% for Social Security and Medicare.
Scrapyards aren't required to issue a 1099-NEC for buying goods like scrap metal, so you often won't get one, but the income is still taxable. Keep good records of what you earn and any expenses. Rules can vary by state, so check with a tax pro or the IRS site for your situation.



Imagine my surprise.... :rolleyes:
 
Knew i had a lot of washers/dryers and figured close to 20 but it was exactly that. Just got done tearing down, the last one. My 4th day doing just them. Still plenty to do with all the pieces/parts/trash but i could only fit 6 of those smooth cubes in my bed at a time maybe. Apart I can fill up and then have some extras :)

Still if it didn't take me $16 in fuel for a trip to the yard, I'd prob haul em in whole.

Pretty sure my neighbor thinks I'm making bank cause he sees my truck piled up, from cruising for scrap. But it's not organized and just tossed in as i find it, no time to or can't make the noise. My ave trip in the nicer weather, is like $100ish in scrap but 20-30ish in fuel. That took 5-9 hours to collect and needs several hours of processing(remove junk or nonferrous and make smaller).

I'm busting ass, to make less than min wage if you calculate it hourly. Only reason i do it atm is cause i can make my own schedule and i do like it for a few reasons. But I don't think it's gonna cover my bills year round, unless i get to the point i can be at it 10-12 hrs 6 days a week. Just don't have the plethora of Marketplace scrap like some.

Wish i started sooner not for the money really but oh well. My stamina has gotten much better but still far from an ave person. But it's been well over a decade, since i could work more than a few hours. So i don't expect to be working consecutive 8hr days soon. Most people work 8 n then come home to do stuff a few more hours. 8hrs and I'm dead, next day I'm still feeling it and slowed down.
 
BOOT said:
Been meaning to look into it but figured it'd count as "self employment"

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Saved in bookmarks. thanks.

This week has been shit. Can't score to save my life.
Made a deal with a guy - he sold from under me. 🤬
I contacted several ads on MP. 2 responses.. (one of them is the jerk off above).
I'll never understand why people put ads up and never respond.

I took a break from MP and joined Next Door and Offer Up. Neither one panned out.
 
AutomaticWeapon said:
Saved in bookmarks. thanks.

This week has been shit. Can't score to save my life.
Made a deal with a guy - he sold from under me. 🤬
I contacted several ads on MP. 2 responses.. (one of them is the jerk off above).
I'll never understand why people put ads up and never respond.

I took a break from MP and joined Next Door and Offer Up. Neither one panned out.
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Craigslist is still used by some.

The days can't be all winners when scrapping, tell myself that often it seems(a lot during winter). Always seems to balance/average out for me. If i find something good, then rest of what i get is lacking. I'll take a day, like one of those Youtube finds with piles of copper pipe or wire tho LOL

Some of my best runs are when I'm not even trying. Earlier this week wanted to pick up something from the store. That i forgot from my prior two trips LOL Lucky for me it was a trash night and on my trip found plenty of good steel scrap(the main item a rolled up pool and supports). I'm not trying to scrap much until i get my hoard in control. Spring was so busy, i never got into the more time needed to process stuff. And i wanna get my driveway back to work on my vehicles.

Use to hate going into the store in my scrapping cloths(old n worn), looking like a bum. But fuel prices, gotta swallow my pride n get it done to be efficient.
 
I started looking at Mp seen a ton that would pay 15$ a rim was surprised how many but a few cheap deals to far from me with tires on them .
 
Mixed up said:
I started looking at Mp seen a ton that would pay 15$ a rim was surprised how many but a few cheap deals to far from me with tires on them .
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Type in scrap or scrap metal. My local MP is mostly ads of people who pick up or buy scrap LOL got tired of blocking them all as more n more pop up.
 
I’ve been scraping the last few days, this was a 6.0 Powerstroke truck that lived on a dirt road. What a mess it makes and it’s a tough job to do by myself.
It’s a nasty POS but it’s full of good parts.


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I'll take a day of finding fistfuls of Gold and Silver, like some other YT scrapper!

Worth a shot LOL worked last time.

Went out for a short run and to grab eggs n other. Never made it to the store.

Got 2 alum chairs, then some alum fake shutters(thought steel) and crossed an intersection but saw a treadmill, maybe by a moving van. Almost didn't turn around but it was early and thought meh might as well, stuff will be hard to find atm. As most trash wasn't out.

Not a moving van, it was a clean out service and the boss said, I could have all the scrap i wanted. This dude was into electronics BIG TIME! Boxes and totes of misc wire, transformers, just all kinds of random bits of metal and electronic junk. IDK how much i got but gotta be close to $200 or more.

Tho i worked my as off for it, as it was in the basement and i couldn't park close. Made one trip back to unload before it got late, not full full but needed water as well. Still only used 1.5 gal of fuel.

Couple cool finds they let me keep like a small old vise, I'll use for my inside setup(wanted one) and another small car jack(prob gift it away).

Box of romex wire from a shed(maybe 10lbs, plus random bits here n there of more), bit of this n that copper or alum. Even some Gold chips for e-scrap. Gonna take me days to sort it all.

They tossed out over half of the shelves before i got there and the dumpster was full of other household stuff. This was a mega hoarder and electronic dude. I never bothered with digging thru it and was like oh well i get what i get. I did hit the workshop area and focused on priority good stuff, as i knew they would not wait on me. One dude told me early, i missed out on some good stuff.

At the end, the one worker told me that the boss had called a scrap guy(dude he said called in) but he saw it n said HELL NO and left LOL

Weirdest part is it was a childhood friends old home. I had slept in that basement many times. Not a relative of his FYI
 
I'll prob end up just scrapping lots of it as dirty type and pick out the best stuff to hoard. Just several small shoebox totes of capacitors or other alum/brass/coper type switches. Two mostly bedload's, not overflowing but to the top. Some steel but not much.

All types of electronics, i passed up several things and tried to grab what i knew would be good for e-scrap or copper. Shelves of cigar boxes of sorted this and that. DIY testers or other official electronic things. Just bits of this n that crammed everywhere!

The boss guy was like, i may have underestimated this job, Yah 100% dude!
 
BOOT said:
Even some Gold chips for e-scrap.
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I read the other day that tpms sensors have gold in them.
I can't imagine it being enough to deal with, but maybe it is?
I been throwing them all in the garbage.
 
AutomaticWeapon said:
I read the other day that tpms sensors have gold in them.
I can't imagine it being enough to deal with, but maybe it is?
I been throwing them all in the garbage.
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IDK but i know you can scrap O2 sensors and others, even the high end spark plugs ;)

Still some of the scrap you need A lot!

Like e-scrap gold stuff is by the pound and it don't weight much. Still a pound of Gold chips was over $400 last i looked(now $375). The ones i got from this clean-up are tiny and may be only able to clip the legs n sell as gold pins $5 a lb but I would say i didn't even get an ounce if that is the case.

Could of been a box of precious metal this or that, palladium wire, silver contacts(20-30% silver) or who knows(we didn't). Only that guy would of know where the real valuable stuff was. I tried to keep an eye out for anything like that and got a bit of e-scrap(5 disk drives, their boards are $8.75 a lb atm, so like $2 maybe) but nothing grand. If they cleaned out my place and tossed a small box of shiny metal disc. They'd never know it was several sets of new Titanium retainers.

I might find something good or unknowingly toss $$$ into the trash or my shred steel.
 
Mixed up said:
2 days of tearing down a few boat out drives for cast 148 lb 60 cents and 2 aluminum rims 90 cent got beer money 80 $ its better than draining the saving
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Exactly, even if i don't cover my months full bills, any or most of it is money saved! I should of started sooner ;)

[edit[ Or as i tell peeps. Why pay for a gym membership, scrap is plenty of exercise :)
 
Sorted the electric guy clean out haul and my estimate based on moving it around is

-100lbs of transformers(many I'll try and turn into steel & #2 copper)
-25lbs of electric motors(same, gonna try)
-40lbs of mostly 60% but some 40% wire
-20lbs of stripable wire
-20lbs of #2 bare copper
-1 or 2 lbs of #1 copper
-15lbs of alum
-10lbs of copper inner & outer coax
-15lbs of telecom wire
-5lbs of cat wire
-20lbs of misc low grade wire
$10-20 in e-scrap(hard to say)
-140lbs of shred steel
Free 3" nice 15lb old vise
Free small 2 ton jack(prob give it away or sell cheap)
Several boxes & small totes of stuff to microscrap $=??? Some stuff i may try to sell(2 of the totes are new capacitors)

Still 1.5 gal of fuel, 5 hours loading up, 5 hours to unload and sort, unknow hours to process for max profit/upgrades.

My one neighbor agrees prob $200ish in scrap, then a nice used vise :)
 
This week has turned around some as far as picking goes.
I'll have enough to justify a yard run Monday.

I did score a set of interesting wheels today.
Honda Odyssey minivan run flat PAXs for $75.
I remember the tire guys changing these heavy SOBs at work.
Even with the right equipment they were a time consuming PITA. 🤬
The equipment I have (grinder/sawzall) will be much quicker. :)
Google says the bare wheels are 38 lbs. each. Crazy.
 
AutomaticWeapon said:
This week has turned around some as far as picking goes.
I'll have enough to justify a yard run Monday.
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Had enough shred steel for 1-1/2 to maybe 2 loads and planned to make a yard run Friday. Then i wore myself out going up n down those steps and all the way out to my truck 100 times. Oh well I'm still cutting back on cruising for scrap but wanted more steel filler, then ended up with mostly copper(not that I'm complaining :) ).

When fuel was cheaper and i was waiting on some other money, i just did w/e i felt like to just get all the shred gone so it wouldn't pile up. But a lot of less than ideal weight loads. Now that fuel is up, some of the clutter is gone, cutting back on finding scrap and I got a $ buffer. Might as well max my loads.

I'll tear some more stuff down this weekend and take in a couple good loads first thing next week.
 
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