Falling Scrap Iron prices

[hosspuller]

I guess you have to know when to jump on or off.

That's one of the issues with Deere's combine telemetry. Deere will know how much grain is being harvested in real time. They can tell which grain by the combine settings, how many times the hopper is full and dumped. Multiply that by all their combines and they have a good idea of the harvest volumes and can project prices.

 

[Old Doug]

I was watching a guy on youtube that scraps he said he heard the price could double next month. I dont want to make this political but the war is the only thing going on. I guess i will watch the market closely and get ready. The rain may keep me from doing much for a while any way.

 

[Delmer]

These are the same prices we had in the mid 90's, less than we had in the 2000's, and now our dollar is half or less the 90's value. I'd say there's a lot of room for scrap to go up. What would cause scrap to go up, besides inflation? War, building, road construction, energy prices/carbon legislation- recycled steel uses less energy/carbon.

But I'm the last guy you should listen to for commodity advice.

 

[John C.]

Prices rise because of scarcity and greed. Scrap prices are governed by the demand for steel and the cost of energy. As the cost of petroleum rises, so does the price for everything else. The real question to ask is why is the cost of petroleum rising now in this country when there is no shortage?

It's because the producers can do it and you can't do anything about it. There are no checks and balances to that industry.

 

[hosspuller]

Prices rise because of scarcity and greed. Scrap prices are governed by the demand for steel and the cost of energy. As the cost of petroleum rises, so does the price for everything else. The real question to ask is why is the cost of petroleum rising now in this country when there is no shortage?

It's because the producers can do it and you can't do anything about it. There are no checks and balances to that industry.

Oil is a global commodity. It's used everywhere as you've inferred. Consequently, when there is a disruption in supply (war, threat of war, politics) then the price rises or falls depending on the perceived future supply. That's the check in the balance of price and supply. Anybody or country that tries to control the price eventually gets caught by the market. Witness OPEC in the 70's, for a while they had control then the high prices brought other players into the market and they lost control. As for the US oil market, the only difference in US prices vs world prices is transportation and tax costs. When gov't reduces local production, world prices apply.

Greed is built-in like our gov't structure regarding power. People want power and money. It's always there but is checked by the market. So greed is not to be blamed. saying greed is a cause is ignoring the truth. Unlike inflation... inflation is always caused by gov't printing money. (In every historical case) In essence, money is a commodity. Too much supply and the value decreases. This applies to everything. Diamonds, gold, water, oil, timber, houses, etc. The inverse is true too. Scarcity increases values.

 

[Birken Vogt]

One thing to keep in mind is that a large number of these "greedy corporations" are held by all of us in our retirement and other broad investment accounts. It's all tied together; I don't know what to think about it, but that's what it is.

 

[hosspuller]

One thing to keep in mind is that a large number of these "greedy corporations" are held by all of us in our retirement and other broad investment accounts. It's all tied together; I don't know what to think about it, but that's what it is.

It's a logical crutch. Blaming greedy "corporations" is easy and hides the truth which is what some politicians and activists want. Remember corporations don't pay taxes. They collect money for the gov't from their customers. That means you and I. Individuals whose money is extracted from our control and generally wasted. There is none more wasteful than someone spending someone else's money.

 

[John C.]

Printing money has nothing to do with inflation and never has. Nobody raises prices because there is more money in the system. More money gets put into the system because so much gets locked up by the billionaires in things that produce nothing except for them. Multiple mansions, multi million dollar yachts, super large acreages in land in other countries, hidden bank accounts in other countries and paying off fat cat politicians. One has to wonder now why the government is going to dump millions of gallons of oil into the economy from the reserves. What is the mechanism for that? Are they going to sell it to the oil companies for resale or are they going to just give it to them? Keep in mind the tax payers already bought it once. But then again there is no shortage. Lived through the gas rationing in 72 and 73 when there was a manufactured shortage and a president saying we were going to run out in a few years. Who created the shortage and also benefited by it. Look at it anyway you want, petroleum is not a free market.

 

[Old Doug]

I had to go to the city so i took a small pickup load. I was hoping to get enough to pay for my truck licence. I made double that i got $740.00 from this load. The bag on top is cans i hate cans but they always bring enough to pay for gas.You can tell i leave on a dirt road.

 

[colson04]

I had to go to the city so i took a small pickup load. I was hoping to get enough to pay for my truck licence. I made double that i got $740.00 from this load. The bag on top is cans i hate cans but they always bring enough to pay for gas.You can tell i leave on a dirt road.View attachment 256742

Must be non-ferrous then?

I haven't checked local prices this year, but I've got a small load piling up around the barn that needs to get cleaned up again.

 

[Old Doug]

Must be non-ferrous then?

I haven't checked local prices this year, but I've got a small load piling up around the barn that needs to get cleaned up again.

Yes stainless,car heater motors,some breakage and a bucket of copper. Alot of the small pickup loads were in front of the shop in they way a win win. I need to get a trailer put near my nonferrous pile and work on a load a little at a time.

 

[John C.]

The news media yesterday reported arrests were made of several people trying to steal copper power lines from those huge towers. Said you could tell they weren't power line people because of the junky looking cars and trucks they were in. They found chain saws, loppers, sawsalls and other cutting tools in the vehicles.

 

[Truck Shop]

Cell phones have gone up in scrap price---$1.19 a lb---that's a great deal on a $1,000 phone. Better buy
enough to get locked in at that price.

 

[Old Doug]

Cell phones have gone up in scrap price---$1.19 a lb---that's a great deal on a $1,000 phone. Better buy
enough to get locked in at that price.

I have a box full its time to cash in.

 

[gwhammy]

220 a ton for shred last week. Wish it was mine I was hauling.

 

[Old Doug]

It dropped $40.00 a ton today. I hauled a load saturday the 9th to find they were closed and left the trailer close by there at my brother. I got his trailer went home and started loading it i thought i would haul it then take it back and haul mine but just got it done now i may unload it. I have to get a bigger trailer some how. I need to haul 10 ton a trip witch i have the truck now.

 

[ianjoub]

Printing money has nothing to do with inflation and never has. Nobody raises prices because there is more money in the system.

I think you have a very profound misunderstanding of how things work. I, and everyone I know, raised prices because there is more money in the system.

When the government (authorizes) printing of currency (currency is not money) they need to get it out in circulation. This is done by loans. When lots of new currency is put out, loans are easier to get. When loans are easier to get more people have cash to buy. When there is more cash to but, there is more competition to purchase what is available. This makes prices go up.

You may be interested in this if you can spare 30 minutes:

 

[John C.]

You raised prices because the supplies that you needed cost more to you. You had to keep up to maintain your style of life. You do have one part right though. The total value in the system doesn't change, only the shares of that value in the form of dollars changes. My residence that I paid less than $90K for 35 years ago is still the same residence with some maintenance and improvements. The value I get from it is that I can live in it. My tax value right now on the place is well over half a million. It's still the same house. Are you saying the value of the house went up because there are more dollars in the monetary system, ie more money printed? How about thinking that there are less dollars per person in the system now than there was when I bought the place. Here is an interesting link to read.

https://money.howstuffworks.com/how-much-money-is-in-the-world.htm

Your cartoon is a pretty comical piece of propaganda. How come there is no attribution for the author, producer or the sources for their information?

 

[ianjoub]

You raised prices because the supplies that you needed cost more to you. You had to keep up to maintain your style of life. You do have one part right though. The total value in the system doesn't change, only the shares of that value in the form of dollars changes. My residence that I paid less than $90K for 35 years ago is still the same residence with some maintenance and improvements. The value I get from it is that I can live in it. My tax value right now on the place is well over half a million. It's still the same house. Are you saying the value of the house went up because there are more dollars in the monetary system, ie more money printed? How about thinking that there are less dollars per person in the system now than there was when I bought the place. Here is an interesting link to read.

https://money.howstuffworks.com/how-much-money-is-in-the-world.htm

Your cartoon is a pretty comical piece of propaganda. How come there is no attribution for the author, producer or the sources for their information?

I did not raise my prices because supplies cost more. I saw the writing on the wall and raised my prices ahead of the curve.

The total value in the system does change. It is 'almost' always going up. People invent and produce things. This adds value to the 'system' as you call it. How much land has heavy equipment improved in the last hundred years? Are you implying that there is no additional value in that?

The value of you house didn't go up. Lets take a look ate real money. In ancient Rome, an ounce of gold would buy you a nice suit. Today, an ounce of gold is valued at +/- $1900. You can buy a nice suit for that. Money doesn't change value. Currency changes value. The more that is printed, the less it buys (is worth). There are now more dollars per person than any time in history! Quite the opposite of what you think or are implying.

My 'comical piece of propaganda' cites all sorts of facts. Would you care to cite any of these and dispute them?

 

[ianjoub]

And I skimmed, not read, your comical piece of propaganda. I will directly argue that.

"All told, anyone looking for all of the U.S. dollars in the world in May 2021 could expect to find approximately $19.9 trillion in existence, using the M2 money supply definition. If you just want to count the value of notes and coins, there are about U.S. $2.1 trillion worth of notes and coins floating around the globe [source: Federal Reserve]."

Unfortunately, that is a lie meant to deceive people. There is 4 QUADRILLION USD in existence. Most of it is digital. It is in stocks, bonds, and derivatives. This is 'currency' that is falsely called money these days.