This page is dedicated to all the misconceptions, rumors, stories, and other @#$&*@! that is spread about the scrap and recycling industry. This page is not meant to be taken seriously, but intended to show the diversity of misinformation and how it is spread. It is information that I personally have heard or seen, first or second hand. Some of the information may, or may not be true, take it or leave it for what it’s worth. It is information that drives me crazy every time I hear it and therefore the name, "Grant’s Rants". The following proves my theory that bad information moves at twice the speed of good information. Read, enjoy, and add to it by emailing me. Have Fun!!!

Rant#1 Cold pour: There is no such thing! I heard this one representing a client's material at a refinery. If metal is cold, in most cases it probably won’t pour – of course, this is just a guess on my part. There is what is called a bad melt, but that’s a completely separate issue.

Rant#2 Secret Gold trap: Are you kidding me? This one is fun because I have seen equipment that comes close to doing this, but no cigars. I was told that there is equipment out there that will crush boards and electronic components while extracting only the Gold out of the already crushed material through a special secret trap door. It is called a Gold trap and somehow replaces the exact weight that it deducted in Gold from your material, and replaces it with some unknown non-precious metal material without you knowing about it. Please, get a grip!

Rant#3 Gold glasses: This one is my all time favorite story. There was this guy that not only told one person with a straight face, but several people, that he had special glasses that could see how much Gold there was in the material and ingots that had been melted. This one speaks for itself!

Rant#4 My material always runs the same: This statement is usually followed by, so I know what it’s worth! Scrap material will hardly ever run the same way or value twice. It may run close, but not the same. Please take my word on this, I have witnessed the processing of many different lots for many different companies over the course of a year and it is rare when they run the same value.

Rant#5 My scrap is old, or the variation of this theme which is, my scrap is old military scrap: The idea behind telling someone that there material is old, is that old electronic scrap will run higher in value than new. The incredible part to this is that everyone I talk to only has only old military scrap material, nobody has new parts to process.

Rant#6 My scrap parts are plated 50-100 mils thick with Gold: People think that if they tell you how thick the plating is on two parts, it represents the whole scrap load in value. I’m not impressed! When I hear someone tell me how many mils thick some part is, I want to run as fast as I can in the other direction. Remember this simple rule of thumb. When you here anyone mention microns or mils thickness on a part, be afraid, be very afraid.

Rant#7 I have a rare or exotic metal: This one is always fun because rare or exotic metal tends to be expensive in price per ounce, since it’s rare. The problem is that people will always want the high price not taking into account that these metals are hard to extract and process. You may not be able to find anyone who will pay for them at all. My favorite names for these metals are, rhodium, iridium, jack and jillidium, grantium, hohumium, well you get the picture. The precious metals that are easily extracted and paid for are, Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Palladium.

Rant#8 I know a Refinery/Broker that will charge nothing to process my material. This is usually followed by, and they don’t charge for shipping and assaying either: Read my lips, NO ONE DOES ANYTHING FOR FREE!!! I have one big problem with this business of scrap, and that is people would rather believe the lie than the truth. A lie sounds so much better than the truth when it comes to electronic scrap. If I say your material is worth $10.00 a pound, that sounds so much better than the $1.00 a pound it’s really worth. When you have an unknown value in material it’s very hard to find the truth. Nothing in this business could be more true than the old saying, "If it sounds to good to be true, it is."

Rant#9 I can’t use your services I’m using xyz refinery in fly by night city , NV: Usually there is no xyz in fly by night, but if you have a good name for your company in the scrap business, people will ship to you. If you name it, they will come. I have seen so called refineries, with really good business names get a lot of business. They are usually brokers who ship it on to a real refinery. The moral of this story is, check references, check to make sure they exist, go see if they can do what you need, in short, check everything about them. Even after all that, if you are not quite sure what your looking at, you may still need help with your scrap.

Rant#10 I can get four zillion dollars for my material at xyz: Don’t tell me, go to xyz and get your four zillion dollars! My services can only tell you exactly what your scrap is worth. If you don’t want to know that, then don’t ask. At this point please refer to rant #8.

Rant#11 I paid X amount of dollars for this material, so I need to get X plus to break even: With an opening statement like this, you’re dead in the water before you start. It is a no win situation. This statement is followed by something along these lines. My mother’s house burned down and she needs the money for her heart operation. This is to get sympathy in hopes of getting X plus, plus. It won’t get you more money for your scrap.

This last part falls under the category of truth is stranger than fiction: It doesn’t really fit with my rants category, but it does give you a taste of some of the stories that permeate our business. I won’t go into details, but I will give you a little taste of some of the stories.

A. This story I like to call, the broker, rapist, and murderer, all wrapped up in one: I did not deal directly with this guy, but I have had the pleasure of meeting him. One day a new broker came to the door, gave me the usual story about getting a bad deal elsewhere and asked me to quote him pricing on some scrap. We came to an agreement and he promised to bring more business. He was short, wiry, and had the street-smart toughness typical of many brokers. He said his name was Joe. Joe drove an old, well-maintained pickup with an obviously devoted dog in the front seat. He advised me that as long as I was talking to him the dog would be fine but if I leaned my head in the pickup unannounced I would probably lose my nose. Nice doggie.

Time passed and we became more trusting of each other. Joe said he ran a small teardown operation employing people down on their luck looking for a second chance. He paid them well as long as they worked hard and he gave his customers a fair return. We got into a ritual of flipping a coin every time we couldn't agree on a price. As luck would have it, I always seemed to win. Joe must have cheated on Lady Luck years ago. Cheated on her with her best friend who then told her about the tattoo on his chest. I soon found out that he seemed to have had a very unlucky weekend 20 years before which involved drugs, kidnapping, rape, and murder. He was tried, convicted, and did his time. Despite his restitution to society, it seemed that the Police were actively looking to put him away for life under the three strikes law. He had never mentioned these little personal details to me. Upon learning of his background, I now found out that I was rooting for him to win our coin flips so that I wouldn't be found face down in a river with my pocket change shoved up my ass. About a month later he was arrested for soliciting a minor (he said in the paper that she stopped him for directions) and sent back to the Big House for life. It's tough to hold onto good accounts.

B. The meteorite man and the pickup truck: This one is my favorite! Evidently, according to this guy, you can find out if a meteor has precious metal in it by revving the engine of a pickup truck and dropping the axle or tire on it at a high rate of speed. The part that got me is where did this guy find a meteorite?

C. Sex for material: There are many stories about trading sex for scrap material, or a company's business. I’m always amazed and impressed at what lengths people will go to get scrap material and business. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "sales with a smile."

If you have a story that you would like to tell us about, please email us with the details. You never know it might become one of my all time favorites.