Mike, Dan and Aileen get questions about scrap metal pricing every day, so we gathered our thoughts and wanted to put together a blog of answers to the most common questions regarding scrap metal pricing.
How often do you change your pricing for steel scrap?
Typically scrap steel pricing is set for the month when the Fastmarkets report is released by the 10th of the month. The pricing is based on what mills and foundries are paying us for scrap metal that month, then we calculate our hauling, sorting and processing costs to come up with a rate. Our prices for the public are updated on our website every day.
What could cause a scrap steel price to change during the month?
Customers with industrial scrap upfront pricing formulas will be carried through the month but many factors can cause us to raise or lower our steel scrap pricing throughout the month. An example of this is tensions in the Straight of Hormuz. These shipping tensions increase insurance rates on shipping containers and increase the price of fuel. So, other countries who buy American scrap metal have to pay less because their costs are so much higher. When they pay less the American steel mills can pay less because they don’t need to compete with international buyers. These changes happen every day and when we get our price lowered to us we have to lower our prices for customers coming in to drop off metal.
Are your prices published on your website for everyone?
Sahd Metal Recycling reviews and updates our price sheet every day and that sheet is good for customers bringing in metal to our facility. For industrial companies, commercial accounts and individuals with a large quantity of metal we like to establish upfront formula pricing that moves with the market. This way you will always know the value of your metal, well before you decide to sell it to us.
How often do your aluminum, copper, brass and stainless steel prices change?
We look at the commodity markets every day to see if we need to increase or lower our non-ferrous metal prices. Copper in particular can be very volatile and change multiple times in a day, which impacts brass, copper aluminum radiators and insulated copper wire. Typically stainless steel is an item that changes weekly or is at least reviewed weekly and aluminum is somewhere between both of them. You will find that we are very on top of pricing and always try to create the most value for our customers.
Are your prices published on your website for everyone?
Sahd Metal Recycling reviews and updates our price sheet every day and that sheet is good for customers bringing in metal to our facility. For industrial companies, commercial accounts and individuals with a large quantity of metal we like to establish upfront formula pricing that moves with the market. This way you will always know the value of your metal, well before you decide to sell it to us.
What is considered a “large quantity” of scrap metal?
This answer depends on the differing types of metal. For high end copper like bare brite copper wire or #1 copper tube anything over 500 pounds or so would be considered a quantity we could start to look at higher pricing. For items like insulated wire, copper aluminum radiators, THHN or brass the number would be around 1,000 pounds. Lower grade items in the copper bearing area like sealed units, electric motors, ballast or irony brass would be in the 10,000 pound range. That 10,000 pound range would also be the approximate weight for stainless steel and higher grade steel items including foundry steel and busheling. For aluminum a quantity around 1,000 pounds for extrusion, 5052, SPC 6061 and mixed aluminum would lead to a possible upgrade from the pricing sheet.
What is the value of upfront formula pricing?
The benefit our industrial or commercial customers get from upfront formula pricing is knowing that they their pricing will always float with the value of the market. Whether it is Fastmarkets or the London Metal Exchange, we index each type of metal to the closest category we can find and your metal type will always be priced at a fixed percentage of the number that goes up and down. Aileen sends a monthly communication of formula pricing so you always know what you will have. As an example, brass and copper grades are indexed to the Copper number on the London Metal Exchange, Aluminum to either Fastmarkets (5052 and some aluminum turnings grades) or the London Metal Exchange Aluminum category. Stainless steel is most often tagged to the Fastmarkets category for either 304, 316, 330 or 310 stainless steel. Almost all steel grades are indexed to Fastmarkets.
Does container, dumpster, tub or rolloff service make sense for me?
We offer free dumpster, tub, rolloff or container service for all of our industrial and commercial customers with large quantities of valuable scrap metal that are exchanging their containers at least monthly. For customers with lower quantities, lower valued metal, greater distances or less frequent turns there can be a cost associated with the service. The reason for this is our drivers have to make an empty run to drop the box to you and then come back and swap every time and we attach a fee to that. If you need service or help bringing smaller quantities of materials in Sahd Metal Recycling can connect you with individuals who haul metal for a cost or sometimes just for the money they get for the metal.
How much can a container cost for a short term or low quantity metal job?
Cost of dumpster or rolloff service can vary depending on distance from Sahd Metal Recycling, 1045 Lancaster Avenue, Columbia. Generally the fee will be less than $300 for under 5 miles of distance from our location and costs can go to about $600 per container for longer distances. Our trading area generally includes Lancaster, York, southern Lebanon, Southern and Eastern Dauphin and Eastern Cumberland counties. These metal value in the container would be rebated against the costs of the dumpster service. Sending Sahd Metal Recycling representatives pictures of your material is a great way to start and figure out the best approach.
Is price the only factor I should consider to maximize the value of my scrap metal?
Price is obviously very important, but beyond service responsiveness and trust in your relationship with your scrap metal dealer you also need to consider how your material is graded. Sahd Metal Recycling will define all of the categories of your scrap metal profile during an assessment visit and give you the value of the different grades that can be comingled in a rolloff container. Working with a dealer who understands the new metal grades you are buying in a job shop for your customers helps you gain more total value per rolloff container for your metal. We analyze the mild steel from the hardened steel to get you the highest value for your container. So while someone may per more per type of metal they may not give you the value of that in a comingled container. We work with our customers to ensure that once we are familiar with their scrap flow we can get them the greatest value per container–which is much more important than the highest published price!
How quickly do you provide rolloff service?
Mike and the Sahd Metal Recycling logistics team are obsessed with quick turnaround times for our customers! So far in 2026 we average about 3 hours from a call, text or email until we show up to swap your container for a call that comes in during the day! We know how important prompt service is and we do our best to exceed your expectations.
What can I do to get the most money for my metal?
In one phrase–clean it! Getting your metal to the cleanest possible state will make you the most money for your scrap metal. For copper, cutting the solder joints, brass valves and steel handles dramatically increases the value of your metal. For aluminum extrusions, cleaning steel bolts, die cast corners and any non-extrusion item will definitely be worth your time. The more work you do to clean the metal to its best possible state the more we can get you for your metal.
These are just some of the questions we get asked by customers from industrial and commercial to everyday residents looking to recycle metal. We want to be your trusted partner in recycling and are available at any time to help answer your questions about your metal. We are always available for free assessments of industrial or commercial locations. We like to do a walkthrough, get an analysis of the alloy of metal you are using or comingling and understand your general workflow.
Any customer can connect with us and send a picture and we will do our best to give you a quote for your metal.
We hope this article has been helpful to you. Keep recycling and making money on that metal!
