If you have never been to our yard before, we can quickly and easily get you setup in our computer system with a valid state ID. We will scan this and create a customer profile for you, which will store all of your information in our computer for future transactions. If you want to setup a profile for your company, we will require the typical contact information, as well as a Federal Tax ID#. You could then send in employees with materials to scrap metals in your company name, and return to your location with a check as payment.
Another aspect of our business that came along with the latest law regarding scrap metal companies, is the checks we issue. For every transaction involving non-ferrous metals over $50, we are required to issue payment through a traceable method of payment. The way we satisfy this need, is by issuing checks for ALL transactions over $50. As an extra service to our customers, we have also setup our company as a check-cashing operation, and if you sign over your check to us along with a driver’s license number, we will cash the check for you on the spot. However, if you are attempting to put your transaction in a business name, we are unable to cash the check for you. It can, however, be taken directly to a bank and cashed same-day.
With the increase of scrap metal thefts, the increased media coverage, and really major increase in scrutiny in our industry due to both of these factors – a fingerprint is required by law for every scrap metal sale. These fingerprints are digitally captured prior to any pay out at our stations, and is tied to your transaction and kept on file. Every customer is required to give a fingerprint scan for every transaction, regardless of how many times they’ve scrapped with us. In addition, we require a digital signature attached to a statement indicating that you are the rightful owner of the material you are scrapping, and also that you have never been convicted of scrap metal theft. This is also a state requirment under the same law.
We are open Monday through Saturday each week. During the week, we are open Monday through Friday from 8:30am to 5pm. We do ask that our customers arrive at our location at least 15-minutes prior to closing in order to get onto the scales. On Saturdays, our Mt. Clemens yard is open from 8:30am to 1pm – however our New Haven facility is closed. It generally takes us anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes to take care of a customer, and so we stop taking new customers onto the scales 15-minutes before closing.
Actually, not at all. As the current state and federal laws are, we are not required to report any income gained through scrap metal recycling to the IRS for tax purposes. It is the sole responsibility of each individual to include their income from scrap metal recycling into their own tax return. We can, however, provide detailed reports at any point for all customers to give you a detailed picture on how much money you have earned through scrap metal sales for any given period of time. Naturally, if legal requirements were to change, Basic Metals would immediately fall into place and adhere to any and all new applicable laws.
Honestly, our employees are never allowed to distribute price lists. It is a common practice for scrappers to try and obtain price lists, and then take them to other various yards in an effort to haggle better pricing. Because pricing can often change daily, there is no guarantee the price list you are being presented with in one of these attempts is current. We do make all of our current pricing readily available to all of our customers by calling into our automated phone system that has a current recording of all our current prices available 24 hours a day. Call us at (586) 465-8000 to hear what our current scrap metal pricing is today!
As all of our scrap steel eventually makes it’s way over to one of the various steel mills in the area, it’s easiest for us to handle all transactions in Gross Tons. It is an industry standard for all bulk steel weights be measured in Gross Tons, including all inbound purchases made by steel mills. Purchasing steel and establishing our pricing by the Net Ton, and then turning around and selling our materials by the Gross Ton would essentially create a clerical nightmare! It is the standard practice in our industry, and while it might take a bit getting used to after learning in school books a ton is 2,000 LB – it is a necessary aspect of our business.
Considering that a Gross Ton is 2,240 LBs to calculate how much our pricing is per pound, divide our current steel prices by 2240. For example, if our current Steel Shred price is $224 / Gross Ton, you would divide that by 2,240 to get .1 – or $0.10/LB. Also, you can take the number of pounds of steel you have, divide that by 2,240 to get how many Gross Tons your material weighs.
Well, yes and no. We weigh and pay our scrap steel based on a Gross Ton, which is 2,240 pounds, and often referred to as a Long Ton. The ton we learn about in school is actually a Net Ton, and is in fact 2,000 pounds. This is also commonly refers to as a Short Ton. Then, there is also a Metric Ton – which is 2,204 pounds.
Believe it or not, scrap metal values are determined globally by market conditions – not much unlike other commodities like gold or silver. The manufacturing sector has demands for raw metal products to supply their operations to make new products. This supply in turn has an effect on the demand for scrap metals to be melted down and used to produce these raw materials. In turn, the demand for scrap metal drives the market value up or down. While we would love to pay everyone a whole bunch of money, unfortunately the market does not always allow us to!
We receive quite a few phone calls from prospective customers wondering if we do small pick-ups. While we love the opportunity to gain a new customer, all of our company trucks are semis, and it is just not cost effective for us to do small quantity pick ups like this. We do, however, have quite a network of trust-worthy individuals who can provide such a service, although they generally exchange the scrap value of the item being picked up for their service.
Our scrap pricing is based entirely on weight, and the state of scrap materials. We will never answer directly what your specific item is worth in scrap, because there are so many variables it is impossible for us to give you an accurate idea on what your item is going to get you in scrap. For starters, we do not know how much your item weighs. We could ball park it, but then we’re not aware of what sorts of attachments or contamination might be present. Giving inaccurate prices over the phone eventually results in unhappy customers once they get to our yard and see what their item is ACTUALLY worth. Bring your item(s) in, and we’re more than happy to figure it out for you on-site before deciding if you want to recycle it or not.
While we do not have the proper license to take vehicles from the general public, we can legally accept scrap vehicles from commercial customers. It is not beyond the realm of possibility to spot remnants of a scrap vehicle in one of our scrap piles, and so it might be somewhat misleading as to why we can’t scrap your vehicle. These scrap cars are from some of our commercial clients, not the general public.
We do accept scrap vehicles at our New Haven facility only. Please keep in mind a proper title completed in the person’s name who is scrapping the vehicle is required. Also, all fluids must be drained from the vehicle prior to weighing in, or a weight deduction may be made at the scale. For any additional questions please give us a call!