Lead scavenging competitor

[chris in va]

Last year when I started all this mess, I had no problems finding lead WW at the local tire stores.

Now it seems some 'ghost' is coming around at least once a week and snapping up everything before I can get to it. The clerks just shrug and say "that's all we have" and kinda look away from me like they're hiding something.

As a last resort I went to the local recycler and picked through their massive bin of WW. The guy informed me some guy is melting down wheelweights, making ingots out of them and turning them in for $$$.[smilie=b:

Guess I'm gonna have to go further out for my source as this $%&# is keeping me from casting.

[MakeMineA10mm]

Why didn't you ask the scrapper his name and number and give him a call? He could sell to you as well as to someone else. The scrapper would know what the guy is getting for that alloy (as that's what the scrapper is paying...), so you should know to only pay what you must. Might be a great thing - he could do your smelting for you...

[lwknight]

You will have to find the ghost guy and offer him more than thescrap yards are.

[462]

Chris,
You need to present the stores with a business proposal that will induce them to deal only with you.

[TCLouis]

Don't kow about your area, but around her when the scrap yards were selling wheel weights for 25-35 cents a pound, they were paying 5-7 cents a pound. Ratio is likely to be about the same if you wanted to try to short circuit the loop.

[BSkerj]

I had somewhat the same problem. I used to pick them up on Monday mid morning but someone was beating me to them. I just started to go in on Saturday before they closed and after a few weeks I was the only one getting the WW again.

[home in oz]

I got to get moving on this myself.

[turbo1889]

Removed via. Mutual Withdrawal

[Bret4207]

One of the secrets to successfully maintaining that relationship with the garage for their WW involves big boxes of nice, fresh doughnuts, eclairs, pie, cake...even beer. Sending business their way and using them yourself helps too. Cash for the WW is fine, but nothing breeds a good relationship like a nice hot apple pie or other goodies a few days after you picked up a couple buckets.

[MT Gianni]

Add Pizza to Brets list.

[Gee_Wizz01]

Add a case of beer occasionally and you become an exclusive customer. When I lived in Va, I used to get WW's at the recycler for 15 Cent a lb. He always acted like it was a pain to deal with me. After a couple of visits I noticed there were always a bunch of Bud cans in his waste basket. So I bought him a case of Bud on the next visit. WW's dropped to 8 cents and he had one of his guys load them in my car for me. The next visit I went on Friday about quitting time and brought him a case of Bud and a large pizza. He asked for my phone number and would call me evertime he had a couple of buckets and the price dropped to 5 cents a pound. Just when everything was going good, I got moved to FL.

G

G

[docmagnum357]

I know what you guys mean a bout competition. Killing me here , too. I teach ccw classes, and so I recover.22 bullets from my own backstop, but not nearly enough fo the shooting i want to do. .22 bullets are, however , usually a good alloy.

[Greg5278]

Turbo, that's a tough position to be in. Did you already buy the Ring? A partner that will undercut you in not a good thing. Can't you figure out a solution so you can both get enough alloy?
Greg
AKA 12 Bore

[turbo1889]

Removed via. Mutual Withdrawal

[MakeMineA10mm]

Dude! She's not a member here, is she? I mean, you just compared her to a truck, rather than the sports car...

I'm thinking a big chunk of the problem may be at your end! :bigsmyl2:

[nonferrous]

Going back to the scrapper melting WW's into ingots to sell.
As long as you are sure that he is careful about zinc, remember that by the time you figure gas, gifts, time and begging, most of us would figure that raw WW's are reasonable at .25 a pound. We seem to think that we are getting them for free, but tend to forget some of the hidden costs involved with "free".
It would seem a good idea to ask his price, try to adjust it downward for quantity and be his exclusive customer.
Don't forget that if you are paying for your propane, I have it figured at about .15 per pound, not to mention the time and mess.
The good news is that if you keep searching and asking, as bad as it is getting, once in a while you hit pay dirt, just not as often.

[HangFireW8]

Guess I'm gonna have to go further out for my source as this $%&# is keeping me from casting.

Not to feed your paranoia... but this $%&# might be on this board.









OK, I said that just to feed your paranoia. :bigsmyl2:
-HF

[uncle joe]

around here the scrap places don't even want ww, they are 'contaminated' with other stuff like antimony, they have no market around here. I used to get buckets free, guess i need to check again, seems like no tire shops are letting them go very cheap anymore.

[Ole]

Lots of people sell ingots on ebaY. Maybe your ghost is buying the WW's, making them into ingots and selling them on ebaY?

How much did the scrapyard used to charge? Around here they'd rather ask $1/lb and let them sit than make you a good deal on small batches..

[Jack Stanley]

I remember the tire store that I had bought my tires from for years . I was building my range and I needed old tires , so I was cleaning out their storage room and was on the third truckload when I found a half bucket of weights . So being the right thing to do , I asked the manager if I could have it . He said " Oh no , we get money for that !"

It was one of those things where I just looked at him blinked my eyes a couple times in disbelief and began calculating in my head . Two and a half truck loads of tires , their cost for disposal ( to someone else) one dollar each . Buying tires and service from the company for fifteen years ... I dunno but you get the idea .

One half bucket of lead and losing a customer that does you a favor by disposing of your hazardous waste . [smilie=1:

I told the man right then I had all I needed thanks and left never to return :coffeecom

Yep , HE was the smart one !! :roll:

Jack

[mold maker]

I explained to my ex #1 tire guy that my Family, (11 vehicles) buy our tires where I get WWs. He offered to sell me weights, but I turned him down. When he saw I already had over 600lbs of range lead on the truck, he gave me the 4 gal that he had on hand.
I bought a coke and left smiling on the way to my new tire guy, to get 2 all weather tires for my son.
Now I take each one a large pizza about once a month and get all their WWs. Guess I'll have to give ex #1, a chance to sell us tires again.
Don't try to be slick with us old folks. We've already seen and done it a long time ago.

[looseprojectile]

Nephew called the other day to tell me he had some lead sheathing for me.
Turns out it is about a hundred pounds. Free, "get it outa here".
While I was at his place he was showing me his stuff and I commented on what a nice BMW he had. I told him it is a shame that he had a BMW that was not washed and waxed. He said it is yours for three hundred. I need more room in the barn. It is a 1981 four door with 120,000 miles that my niece quit driving when she bought her new PT Cruiser. Comes with extra snow tires on factory mags. These things are cult cars. Old hippies really love em.
My point is that after a day or two of fluffing and buffing I can turn that car into some real money that I can buy a great gun with. I can still buy wheel weights at the Mexican used tire place for thirty dollars a five gallon bucket but I still take it where I find it.
You never know where lead will lead you. [little play on words there].

Life is good

[tommygirlMT]

We agreed to both remove our post

[luvtn]

Wow, the entertainment value of this forum has gone up considerably.
lt

[chris in va]

Definitely thread drift. Heck, someone took the offramp.

[Bill*]

WOW....Reading that post I sorta felt like I picked up the phone while somebody else was using it. [smilie=1:

[redneckdan]

Wow, the entertainment value of this forum has gone up considerably.
lt

Oh gawd....I think we are witnessing the spawning of the first cast boolits soap opera.....this could get good.....:popcorn:......this may even beat the GPAL thread.....[smilie=w:

[waksupi]

What on earth?

[plus1hdcp]

WOW - didn't expect that exchange

[lwknight]

Holy Smokes !! Steve,
You get a tiger by the tail.
YEEHAW!!

[HORNET]

Alas, poor turbo, he just thought he was paying too much before. Wait until he finds out what it's going to cost him to get out of this mess. I mean, he knows that tommygirl's a member and reads these posts and still wrote what he did?[smilie=b: Open mouth, insert foot, insert other foot, chew well...[smilie=s:

[markshere2]

best reading all WEEK!

can we get this made into a reality show?

Sumbody call ABC quick!

[waksupi]

Well, not knowing exactly how to approach this situation, I will ask for any domestic disputes to be handled off the board. We know how messy they can be. As much as the peanut gallery would like to sit on the sidelines and watch, I feel if any other posts of a personal nature are posted, I will move them to the staff area, out of the line of fire.

[No_1]

Heck, I want to know if she wants a new boyfriend. I like a woman that can take care of business on her own and not be afraid to stand up to me. If she is ruthless to me imagine how she will act to anyone that is against me. :-P