Copper travels. Steel does not. The same forty mile trip is trivially worth making for one and pointless for the other, and this shows where the line falls for every material at today's rates.
| Material | Rate | Minimum load |
|---|
Rates are this site's live board and move daily; ferrous is converted from per ton so every row compares in pounds. Small motors use the mixed rate a general yard pays. Thresholds ignore deductions, minimum weights and whether the yard takes the material at all, so call before you drive.
How the threshold works
Trip cost is fuel plus the value of your own time. Divide that by what a material pays per pound and you have the minimum weight that clears it.
Everything else follows from the enormous spread in value per pound. Bare bright copper is worth roughly thirty times what shred steel is worth by weight, so the load that justifies a trip differs by the same factor.
The practical consequence: accumulate steel, take copper when you have it. A few pounds of clean copper covers a trip on its own. A pile of steel that looks impressive may not.
Batch, but do not mix
The right habit is to accumulate until the load justifies the trip, and take mixed loads rather than single materials. A hundred pounds of small motors is worth about $20 at a general yard, which rarely justifies a dedicated drive. Combined with forty pounds of copper and a set of rims, the same trip pays several times over.
Batching is not the same as mixing. A mixed load is paid at the lowest grade present, so keep the piles separate even when they travel together. The sorting tools guide covers what separates what.
What this calculator ignores
Three things that change the real answer, in the direction of needing more rather than less.
Deductions. Roughly 500 lb comes off a vehicle for tyres and fluids. Wire loads are deducted for insulation and contamination. The rate is only half the payout.
Minimum weights. Some yards impose one, particularly on non-ferrous.
Whether they take it at all. Steel wheel weights, hybrid packs, tyres, appliances with refrigerant and undocumented converters are all commonly refused. A wasted trip costs the full trip, not the marginal one.
Confirm all three on the phone before driving. The hauling guide covers what else to ask, and what you can legally tow once the load is worth taking.
The honest limit of this
Optimising the trip moves a small number.
At forty miles and eighteen miles per gallon, fuel is under eight dollars. Driving more efficiently or finding a slightly closer yard adjusts a figure that was already small.
What actually moves the payout is grade and buyer. A load correctly sorted earns more than the same load hauled efficiently, and for several items a specialist pays a multiple of what a general yard will. The buyer routing tool covers that side.
Logistics settles one question only, and it is the one this page answers: whether to make the trip at all.