How We Recommend Dealing With Low Scrap Prices

Posted: January 3, 2023


(Last Modified: March 28th, 2024, 8:43 am)
Metal/MaterialCurrent Price
$3.55/lb
$3.25/lb
$3.05/lb
Brass (Plumbing, Pipe) $2.17/lb
$1.15/lb
$2.30/lb
Insulated Cable $2.45/lb
$2.62/lb
$0.47/lb
Cast Iron $190/GT

With metal prices constantly changing, it is easy to follow where the scrap prices are on our website…but that brings us to our next point. What happens if the prices fall every time you check the scrap prices for copper, steel, and other metals?

Best Strategy for Falling Scrap Prices

We always tell customers that when they have the materials, it should be time to sell them. If you are passing by Rockaway Recycling, you can drop it off and be in and out of the door in less than 5 minutes almost every time you come here. With copper and other metal prices following a lot of the trading patterns of Wall Street and other commodity prices such as oil, it is tough to guess when the metal prices would go up.

One of the most common questions is: “When do you think that metal prices will go up?” We try to answer that as honestly as we can, and most of the time, we joke by saying, “If we knew that, we would already be on our island.”

There used to be a pattern in the 1980s and 1990s on the ups and downs of metal prices, but since 2000 it has changed. Many old patterns are gone, and you have to keep checking our online prices to get an idea of what is going on.

When copper and brass prices drop quickly, one of the best things to do is to sell, sell, sell!!! Don’t try to hold onto your material too long and wait for a recovery, especially one that may not be coming anytime soon. We think it is always better to have the money in your pocket than the metal in the bucket!

Think of Scrap Like A Bonus Job

While the falling prices of scrap metal mean that you will make less money, we try to encourage our customers by saying that a lot of the scrap that you are fortunate enough to accumulate is almost always a bonus to the work you are already doing. Because of that, you should be fortunate enough to have the extra few dollars from selling it, to begin with.

We tell our customers that if they want to hold the metals in their garage or shops to wait for the prices to go up, that is the same as gambling…but why not come in, get paid for your scrap, and then go bet in Atlantic City! While we are joking, the point is that guessing what will happen to the scrap metal prices, whether they are going up or down, is a tricky thing. Without a crystal ball, we can’t guess, and we deal with it every day…so we try to tell our customers the best and most informed opinion we can.

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