I am in the market for some 1/8" plate copper that I need in 5/8" strips to used as spacers for a copper coil. I know that pretty much all commodities are way down in the last year or so, including copper. I just checked locally, and #1 bright copper is at $1.70 or so a lb. Knowing that, I went to my local metal supplier (Discount Steel) and saw that they had what I was looking for available. They couldn't cut it that narrow, but I can make strips out of it, so they'd sell me 2" wide by 48" long. It is 3/16", so slightly thicker than I need, but they had it in stock. I was looking for 2, the quote lists them as about 11lbs. And the price for 2? $154, or $77 each! So, that works out to be a low low price of $14/lb! or over 7 TIMES the price of the highest quality scrap! I went to an online metal dealer, and it worked out to be a little better, but still was about $13/lb. What the heck is going on with this? There seems to be a crazy disconnect. I might expect 2 or even 3 times the cleanest scrap price, but 6-7 times? Am I off base here? It seems egregious, especially since the price of most metal has dropped so drastically recently. Or, am I just looking in the wrong place for it?