Why do salvage yard guy have a junkyard dog attitude

One day we tried to steal a carb after she walked to her house for lunch. After about an hour up in the trees, we came down with some little parts and the carb zipped in the tool bag. She says "$10 for the trim pieces, and $20 for the Stromberg in the bag"... which we had laid on the other side of the driveway. Scared the hell out of us...nothing to do but hand over the money

^^^ Just a guess but this might have something to do with it .

 

If you spent 8 hrs. a day, dealing with people in a junk yard, I think I would have a attitude too.

 

You have to stand on there side of the deal too. Look at how many assholes that go into a junkyard to get a part. Screw up 4 different ones before they figure out how to get it off. The junkyard around here has gone to the computer listing inventory with pictures. If you want a part he looks to see if he has it,calls to the back and you get your part intact in about 20 minutes. If you ever been in one of those pick and pull yards you can see a bunch of non-mechanically inclined idiots that think they can save a doller doing it themselves. Bleeding hands,busted knuckles and still trying to get the part off.The asshole outrageous insurance companies have alot to do with how the junkyards operate today. 20 years ago Junkyard------today Auto recycling center.

 

I think it is twofold. First of all, the typical junkyard employee isn't a graduate of some fancy business school and hasn't taken any Dale Carnegie courses, probably, so their people skills are a little on the rough side. Secondly, as mentioned, they have developed a tough skin to handle the abuse they get sometimes from customers, some who are out to beat them out of something.

I was in a yard one day and the desk guy had to suddenly run out and yell at some guys who were trying to boost some parts over the fence so they could pick them up later.

For years I had a sweet deal with one local yard, I would give him deals on parts for his boat at my shop and he would reciprocate when I needed something from his yard. But they closed up a while back so no more deals.

Don

 

Because core buyers come to the yards every few months and buy the bad parts, that is one of the ways rebuilders get them. Depending on business, some owner's will add good parts to the pile for the core buyer for the quick cash (and they always pay in cash).

 

39 All Ford the one local yard I have gone to for the last 30 years the owner has a tapper on his frig. Nobody has ever seen him take a drink of water. Always been a crab, even when I bought 700 dollar fixer uppers years ago that he maybe paid 40 bucks for. I know dealing with the public sucks at times. I had a job & fixed cars at home for 30 years. I still remember the people who owe me money, mostly my relatives.

 

Funny that you should bring that up. There used to be a small yard around here that I gave all of my stripped out cars to. He didn't even have to come get them; I delivered them to his yard and dropped them off, no charge. One day, I needed a horn for whatever beater I was putting on the road for winter duty, so I unbolted one from a car in his yard--one of the cars that I had given him, coincidentally--and he charged me $3.00 for it. I hope that he got a lot of use out of the three bucks, because that was the end of him getting free scrap from me.

 

Haha, there is a guy I know like that. Over the years I have given him a lot of stuff for free but when I needed something he charged me. His logic was that he was charging me less than he would have sold it to someone else, so in his mind he gave me a super deal. We aren't good friends any more.

Don

 

STURGIS39, The yard you mentioned wouldnt have been Davis (missing finger Jim) by chance? I spent lots of time out there when I lived in 'Vegas.

 

The high price of scrap a while back cleared out most of the yards around here. The roving crushers destroyed many a builder or parts car. There might be a few hidden private yards left, but I haven't found any lately. I went to the Pull-A-Part over in Birmingham last Saturday and was surprised to see a 57, 58,59, and a 61 Lincoln sitting there. Bodies were rust buckets, but there were probably some trim and mechanical parts still there. There was even a stripped out 58 or 59 Stude coupe there, too. Every once in a while they get in something like that, but for the most part, it's worn out econo boxes and clapped out SUV's. But even those give up some good parts-I got a FORD mini starter off of a 80's Explorer V8. May go back in a few weeks and see if the heads are still on it. One thing about them I do like, it's a set price on every part, no matter if it's a 1950 or a 1990 one. No gouging just because a part is old or rare.....

 

They deal with people like us every day!!!!LOL
When I returned from the Army back in the sixties I worked part time in a friend's Dad junk yard in Downey,Ca., man we had a ball and I have some stories from then however we knew who to trust and who to keep your eyes on!

 

^^^ number one reason why

 

When I was a kid my dad kept me out of school one day and took me to a great junk yard in Ohio (this would be late 1970s). He spent all day pulling parts he needed for a 1956 Ford and 1936 Buick, I spent it playing in the cars. (Apparently I fell in love with a 1957 Buick that day - guess I always had good taste!)
Anyway...we get to the office and my dad is buying two or three parts. I innocently say "don't forget about all the ones in your tool box, Dad."
The owners search his tool box, come up with a bunch of trim pieces and such, charge him high bucks for some and refuse to sell him some others and tell him never come back.
My Dad told me this story a couple years ago because HE was mad at ME!! He only took me along because he thought they'd be less suspicious of him if he had a kid with him!
This was when he was fully employed and could afford to pay for the parts.
Pops was a jerk, is what I'm saying, and those guys had to deal with crap like that all day every day.

 

Maybe they do deal with jerks on a regular basis, but I'm not a jerk. I am very polite to everyone and get a little put off by their attitudes. We used to have a really cool junk yard and the owner was great guy. We roamed the place like we owned it and bought lots of parts. too bad he retired and the place was bought up and the cars all crushed and hauled off. I miss that place......

 

Let me see if I understand this... you had a place you could drop off the stripped cars you didn't want to leave in your back yard... then when you want a part off of one of them, you think it should be free... so you felt the yard was simply your place to store your parts cars at no charge?

I don't think so - it may be a junkyard, but it's a business.

 

WRONG. When I dropped the cars off there, they were officially his. Even at scrap price, seeing that I gave him at least a dozen cars that he didn't even have gas money in procuring, I thought that he could be generous enough to give me back a fucking horn off of one of them when I needed it for my winter car. He was crushing pretty much every carcass I gave him, so what did he lose by the horn not being on that one.....two cents? Sort of like, if you gave me a truckload of speed equipment to do with what I chose, I sure as hell wouldn't make you pay for one of the pieces if you came back a few weeks later and said, "Hey, I could really use one of those intakes that I delivered to your house for free on one of my cars". Furthermore, since "it's a business", he should be a smart enough businessman to know that you don't lose hundreds (or, over the years, even thousands) of dollars in potential earnings over a few bucks.

 

Yes. 95% of the people you deal with will be assholes to one degree or another. They'll either have the attitude, they'll try to steal from you, they'll break something, or they'll walk through, buy nothing, and leave a bunch of hoods and doors open to boot. I run a batch of listings on eBay, have for years, and you'd almost be amazed how many brain dead pieces of shit will waste time emailing me up whining about how the stuff is junk (never mind the usable parts) or the price is too high (asking price, make an offer then). Some of those people even have posted on this board and in this thread. So I completely understand why these guys operate the way they do. And I have the same attitude - if you don't like it, shop someplace else, this isn't fucking Wal-mart.

 

amen brother!!!:d

 

Grrrrrrrrr!!

 

There were several that I liked to go to when I was building a couple of projects. But in 1986 a flood in Rio Linda filled all of them up. They all got shut down after the flood. Now all I can find is Pick n Pulls. Met a few guys at these yards and a few dogs that scared the crap out of me, I was in my late teens and early 20's. But also met guys that would ask what I neede and would point me toward were I could find the part. I have also seen those guys that destroy several parts tryingto get one. I saw three windshields get destroyed buy a guy using a screw driver to get one out, I left with my parts before I ever found out how many more he destroyed.

 

I used to go to an old place called Matthews junkyard in Chesapeake, VA back in the late '70s thru mid '90s. Old man Matthews was kind of a grouch but if you showed respect and brought a soda for his horse (yes it drank soda!) he'd help you out. Lots of old cars from the '40s 'thru '80s there. Don't know if it even exists any more.

 

Another example of yard owner weirdness...

Back in my Barracuda days, I stopped at a yard near my hometown (won't use the name because I think this guy is still in business). Sitting right inside the entrance is a gorgeous 1967 fastback 318 car. I found 2 little dings on the whole car! I seriously thought someone had driven it in there and parked while they roamed the yard, but no it was a parts car. A couple of locals who had an old POS 65 fishbowl car were already digging some trim pieces out of the interior. I was looking HARD at this thing and thinking I wanted to buy it whole... Still had the 318 commando air cleaner AND a 150 mph speedo.

One of the fishbowl guys dropped a wrench down in the rocker panel behind the driver's door and told the yard owner about it. I was JUST about to ask him what he wanted for the car when he comes back out with a fire axe and CHOPS A HOLE in the quarter panel so this goof can get his 99 cent wrench back...

I just got in my truck and left. Guess we all have our own set of values...

 

I take it as a privilege to go into the yard and I will not pull a part unless I ask first. He may not want to sell that part but sell what came off of as a unit like the knobs off a radio.

 

"Ya get what ya give..."

SEMA '99 got tiring after 3 full days, so we rented a car and headed out to "Wreckers' Row" which used to be on Hollywood Blvd. beside LVMS. I was lookin' for some trim pieces for the ragger in my avatar. Stopped at a place with a 3-sided tin-shack office. "Got any?" "Yup...2 of 'em, 'way over there..." Over we go, finding a hood piece and wheel opening moulding. "Can I borrow a tool or two?" "Sure...need a hand?" "No, I think we got it." Then we wandered around for 'bout an hour. "What'd ya find?" "This, and this...and this (a lighter)." "Well, I'll need thi$ for that, and thi$ for that (both bargains)...and since most people just STEAL lighters, you can have that!"

Attitude begets attitude...and respect'll get ya the SAME, most times...

 

WOW

now i know why everyone seems to hate me! i'd better crush the yard and join the regular public. ha ha

 

Thats funny my uncle owned a yard. all us kids worked there doing what ever was needed. its a way of life in a yard,after a time its like everyone is trieing to steel parts, not all,, but alot are. we had them come thru the side fence to steel bucket seats (1960-70s) little things like tail lites and plates, its a game in a way. back in 71 or there abouts the local paper ran an a report that someone broke into the local county works yard and stole some wheels, we lived up on Fern hill 30 miles from town
a guy comes in selling some nice steel rims ( we dont get the local paper) my uncle bought them and gets busted for buying stolen property, the state and countys still do shit like that. so the bad look on the stae and Gov is well earned, and we wont even talk about EPA and workers comp costs.

 

Damn, I miss the old Las Vegas wrecking yards! About a mile off Nellis and Craig Blvd. Back in my AF days, we'd go TDY out to Nellis. While the crew was blowing their $$$ on blackjack, booze and strippers, I was spending my hard-earned $$$ on rust-free desert parts for my builds. Ever bring home parts on an AF aircraft? They had to be small (no fenders or seats, obviously!), but I did bring home some great parts! As long as they fit in my bag, no one cared! The aircraft commander DID have a minor fit over a bumper, once!

 

I remember a place in Milwaukee in the late 80s. Advance Auto Salvage. They were real cool about me walking around the yard looking at cars for parts. They'd even call me if a car like mine was brought in to see if I needed a part or two. I kept my AMCs alive because of those guys. Got more than one set of those real nice alloy wheels that AMC had in the 70s. One day, they got the call to empty out a warehouse in the north end of town and collect all the cars. The son of the owner had a towing company and all day long they brought in all manner of 50s and 60s cars. A little rusty and dented, but really reusable. There was some rare pieces in that collection. I guess the owner of the building died and the family cared little about the cars he kept. Caddies, Pontiacs, Mercurys, and even two Kaisers! We were calling up all the car guys we knew and all the clubs we could think of. I say about 75% of the cars found homes.

 

so our nearest wrecking yard is 45 miles away.mean old dude,hates young guys.would sooner call the cops than sell us anything.so i pulled my wallet,counted the cash,and left it with him while i went to wander the yard.
i came back with the few pieces i wanted,he knew my name and where i lived.
charged me a reasonable price and we got along fine from that point on.i guess he never expected me to trust him with my wallet.
ol clarence passed away,i never went back even though the yard is still operating.

 

Get along great with my guy after he figured I wasn't just another punk kid. After awhile he gave me a part time job. He called me the other day with some 50's ford caps. They ended up not fitting but I thanked many times and asked if he needed any thing. Anymore people don't take the time to get to know the person they are buying stuff from and it's thier loss. These oldtimers have a wealth of info and a lifetime of learning that may save you a million miles and couple bucks but also a good person to know no matter how grouchy they are.LB