We get that question a lot. Folks will comment on our Facebook posts or send us messages asking, “How much are you paying for copper?” or “What can I get for a washing machine?”
Many point out that things would be much easier if we just published the rates here on our website.
These things are all valid, but giving people a good deal for their scrap metal is complicated. Prices fluctuate all the time, and they move on a monthly, weekly, and sometimes daily basis. This chart, for example, shows the current value of copper:
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There are a ton of variables that drive these changes in value. The location of our facility, for example. We’re close to the Port of Richmond and some major manufacturing, so we might be able to provide a better price that a facility that’s in an agricultural area in the Midwest.
There’s also the age-old “supply & demand” equation. Our nation is in the midst of a boom in data center construction, and between the raw materials to build the centers and the materials for the technological hardware involved, there’s a high demand for things like structural steel, copper, and aluminum. Here’s the chart for scrap steel:
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Another major factor is international in flavor. The international markets have been buffeted by tariffs and trade disputes. Those costs (and future uncertainties) have driven up the costs to import and export the metals we trade in.
We’ve also seen a sudden increase in fuel costs – gas in many places has risen by over a dollar a gallon, and even more for diesel. You need fuel to transport the materials to make new metals, to power the factories that make the metal, and transport the metal to a market. The same holds true when you’re talking about scrap. You have to bring it to us, we have to prepare it for shipment, and our partners have to process it into new materials. That all takes a lot of fuel, and if it’s expensive for us, it impacts the value for you.
We keep a close eye on these markets, and pay close attention to the quality of the scrap you bring in. We update our systems almost daily to make certain that what we pay you when you bring in your scrap is what the current market reflects. Some of those variables, however, are out of our control and hard to predict.
If you have a load you believe is valuable, give us a call. We’ll want to inspect your scrap to make certain it’s brass and not alloy, or bright copper and not used plumbing, but we can let you know what the market indicates.
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