I've just looked at your profile tinbasher - Welder, Metalworker, Engineer 
Is that what I put, can't remember now? Didn't trust my information though eh?
I'm sick of metal sometimes after 21 years of it, but it is very interesting sometimes and you can't join wood together as easy as you can most metals.
Cost of metals these days: Getting frightening. Steel prices used to traditionaly rise every January 1st, by 1 or 2% at most, so little as to be negligible. Year in, year out the cost was about the same, especially on a bundle of each size (say qtr tonne or more). I still nearly keep making costly mistakes by thinking that, for example, a bar (6m length) of 12mm round is about 3 quid plus VAT, a little more if only getting a few, but down to just over 2 quid if getting 250 kilos. I used to buy this size and a few more like it in qtr tonnes and sell a bar for 4 quid, cutting for free. Not so anymore - it's now more like 6 quid or more per bar - plus VAT of course - so the VAT is now more than a quid rather than 10 bob. Stings you both ways. And it all means that to buy a qtr tonne (about 36 bars of 12mm round) one now has to shell out around 250+ quid rather than about 100 quid. Then there's all the other sizes, at least twenty for any general metal shop. Squares, rounds, flats, hollow section, a tube or two, angle iron, etc. It all amounts to a few grand now tied up in stock, rather than a few hundred. So cash flow is dented, which generally means smaller orders these days, which means paying more per bar. It's a vicious circle.
Delivery always used to be (in the 80s, early 90s) free as well, as long as 50 quid or more (ex VAT) was being spent. The steel wagons are out every day and tend to do a circuit in a certain area, so a drop en route wouldn't be a journey out of the way specifically to you, but just a detour on a pre-arranged route. Then suddenly most all firms started charging for delivery - a tenner per drop (plus VAT of course
). Then it went to 15 quid, then 20 quid. This year my regular supplier from Trafford Park, M/cr, put delivery at 27 quid (plus VAT) per drop, which is of course over 30 quid on top of an already inflated cost. So it's no use now buying just a few bars for say 100 quid (that used to be 50 quid or less, year in year out) cos the delivery makes it over 130 quid, so it's even more per bar. So to make it viable, you have to order large bundles to even out the delivery cost per bar. But large bundles now costs £grands instead of £100s, which isn't always possible. Some steel remains on racks or on the floor for months and its harder and harder to afford the cost tied up in stock. An ever more vicious circle. The trade is being killed by the rapidly rising costs. I use a lot of box (hollow) section for making gates and such. 30mm square hollow, a popular size, used to be about 9 quid a bar (7.6m) on 2 or 3 bars or about £7.50 a bar on qtr ton, with free delivery. I was quoted today £22.30 per bar for 3 bars, plus VAT, plus delivery, plus VAT. Insane. Spent 15 mins on the phone and found some for £16 per bar, but have to self collect. And have you seen the price of scrap now, which means you daren't leave anything lying around outside? I remember in the 90s when scrap light iron reached a nadir of just 2 quid per tonne, which meant nobody was collecting it, but that it was safe to leave lying around. This week, new steel cuttings disposed as scrap were fetching £234 per tonne. Where's it going to end?
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August 18, 2016, 15:49