Just from personal experience I will tell you that contrary to what
they might tell you, when push comes to shove, they will pay you less
for scrap with stuff on it. Do your research on scrap buyers, they will
also tell you that a certain material is not a certain material. Two
cases come to mind, First case was a car grille that was very heavy and
non - magnetic, found out it was stainless, but the scrap yard told me
it was aluminum. It went down the road to the next scrap buyer. Second
case was a pickup bed full of copper pipe sized from 1/2" to 2", no
fittings or solder joints, totally clean material, and they tried to
tell me it was Number 2 Dirty that was only paying out about one third
of what Number 1 Clean was. It went down the road too, to get the
Number 1 Clean price. Also if you have never done business with them
before, get a Written sheet with the company letterhead or something
else that they know officially came from their office, detailing what
they take and how they classify it. You would be surprised how quick
policies can change, when they are faced with somebody that brings in a
couple hundred pounds of material. A small plastic bag full of cans,
they hand you your dollar and say "run along", back in there with a 40"
semi trailer loaded and see how quick they try to turn the sign around
to read closed. I haven't been burned so to speak, but I have been very
aggrivated with scrap men. Some have even gone as far as to close when
they would see me pull up.