There are many factors in deciding how to find and work with a metal salvage company near you. Location will always be very important to anyone bringing in scrap metal, but the dominant factors at play are transparency in pricing, ticketing and communication, service, integrity, and overall friendliness It is often hard to determine which companies may fare best in these areas, but there are ways to make the best decision possible based on the information scrap metal recycling companies share with you.
The first factor to consider is transparency. A company that includes as much information as possible for the public and industrial customers to make an educated decision is the company you should look to do business with. At a minimum, there should be a published price sheet on their website. This general price sheet will include prices per pound for various metals, from prepared and unprepared steel, lite iron, copper, brass, aluminum, and stainless steel. The price sheet may not be comprehensive, but it should include various metal grades. If a company puts a partial list on their site, it gives you a starting point by which to evaluate the value of the metal. Sahd Metal Recycling has a current price list always online at https://recycleyourmetal.com/scrap-metal-prices/. This price list is changed every time we change our over-the-scale prices for customers. It is a base price list, and we do negotiate prices and offer more money for larger quantities of materials and for higher quality and more segregated materials. Sending us pictures of your metal with any material specifications always gives us more information to consider and gives you the ability to get a higher price for your metal.
Most scrap metal companies will answer phone calls with pricing information, but some companies will only give you information when you arrive at their yard. By posting information on our website for easy access, we hope our customers will always have the information they need to make an informed decision.
Transparency extends to how industrial customers are treated at Sahd Metal Recycling. Every customer has a pricing formula that is based on an industry benchmark for the type of material they have. Customers who work with us are given options to increase their pricing if they sort on-site and segregate their materials and are given prices for each type of material. We also work with customers who have roll-off containers filled with various materials that we will sort and give value based on the commodities sorted.
Every month Aileen Romich will update our customers with a pricing sheet showing how their formula has moved from the month prior, and she will give a general market condition update to help our purchasing managers understand the factors that the price of scrap may have on the cost of the new materials they purchase. In our effort to provide as much transparency as possible, we hope that the information we share will arm our customers with the tools they need to forecast costs for new metals and the value of the scrap before they even recycle it.
Transparency and integrity go hand in hand when guiding customers through the process once they arrive at a yard and recycle their metal. Whether customers pull up on the truck scale or come to our side small scale, they are given the opportunity to watch us weigh their material and see the scale indicator in the window on the truck scale. We want our customers to feel they are being treated fairly and honestly. We will also look to educate our customers on how to increase the value of their metal. For example, a customer bringing in copper piping from a project may have brass, steel, and #2 copper all in one piece. We will show the customer how to upgrade their material to the individual commodities and, in some cases, help clean the material so they can learn how to get #1 copper out of the mix for their next visit.
Customers are also given a ticket itemizing each item they will be paid for with the pricing per item per pound. They can cash out their ticket immediately from the cash dispenser. If they enter our loyalty program at the bottom of our website, they earn an additional 3% bonus on pricing for the metal they recycle with us and a 3% discount on any metal they buy from us.
Industrial customers receive service from Sahd Metal Recycling within 24 hours of being notified that they have a full container, pickup of skids, or a metal container. This is important so customers can keep their internal dump hoppers and outside storage areas clean and organized. This point has been amplified during the supply chain crisis, where companies may need to store material longer than usual due to a missing piece or part for the conclusion. Fabrication shops and industrial manufacturers have limited space to work with, and aligning with a scrap metal recycler responsive to their service needs is often a big consideration.
When an industrial customer requests service, they already know the value of their metal from the monthly pricing communication. Industrial customer loads are weighed at our certified truck scale, and metal is sorted according to commodity if it comes in a mixed load. Customers are given a weight ticket with metal prices per pound and weights per commodity. These reports are very important for our customers because they need to track the amount of material they recycle for their annual township reporting. They are also very helpful for operations to track how much waste is being created by various processes in the organization, as the price of metal has highlighted the need for efficiency.
Friendliness on the phone before you come, in any interactions by text or email, and your experience on your visit should also be a big factor in picking which salvage yard to choose to recycle your metal. At Sahd Metal Recycling, we are a small third-generation family business that understands the importance of involvement in the community and in the lives of our employees and customers. Our employees understand that it can sometimes be very intimidating to come to any kind of scrap yard so we go out of our way to give a friendly smile and let our customers know how much we appreciate them coming in to see us and recycle their metal.
To help customers understand our process, Cary Frick put together this video on the experience in our yard that you may find helpful before visiting our yard.
One final factor that industrial and residential customers may want to consider when choosing a scrapyard to salvage their metal is membership with the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries or ISRI https://www.isri.org/. ISRI members typically share a common set of principles and commodity specifications that serve as the industry standard. It doesn’t guarantee that you will get the best metal recycling company to serve your individual needs, but it is often a good place to start.
In summary, there are many factors to consider when choosing a metal salvage company. Transparency of the operation, including pricing information, industry knowledge, the weighing and evaluating process, and the willingness of the company to educate you on how to get the most value out of the metal you want to salvage, is very important. Seeing your metal being weighed and the scale indicator is very important to building trust and openness. Being given a ticket with published prices for each item as it is graded out is essential. And being helped with friendly and prompt service will help a metal salvage company be a long-time partner for your company or your residence.
Feel free to email shelbie@recycleyourmetal.com for any questions about our process. We are always happy to help and want your experience to be as pleasant as possible!
