Scrap metal payout calculator
Enter the weight and what your yard pays. You get the payout, worked out to the cent.
Payout calculator
Weight × what your yard pays, worked out to the cent.
An estimate, not a quote. Your yard's scale, grading and deductions decide the real payout.
How the math works
Payout = pounds × your yard's price per pound. If your yard pays a percentage of a market price instead, it's pounds × that market price × the percentage.
Example with made-up numbers: 250 lb × $6.72/lb × 70% = $1,176.00.
Kilograms are converted to pounds first (1 kg = 2.20462 lb), and the pounds you see are the pounds used.
Where to get your yard's price
- Ask. Call and ask for the price per pound of your grade today.
- The board. Many yards post prices at the scale house or on their website.
- Your last receipt. Paid ÷ pounds = the price per pound you got.
- Know your grade. Yards price each grade separately. See how scrap copper is graded.
More calculators and guides
Your yard's real prices, on your iPhone
In Scrap Metal Intel you save each yard's rate once. Every calculation, alert and pile value then uses it.
Get Scrap Metal Intel on the App Store
Free on the App Store for iPhone and iPad. Pro is optional, sold in the app.
Not on an iPhone?
Scrap Metal Intel is an app for iPhone and iPad. A web version is being considered; there's nothing to sign up for yet. The calculators on this site work on any phone or computer.
Questions people ask
What do I enter as my yard's price?
The price per pound your yard pays for that grade today. Call and ask, check the board at the scale, or work it out from your last receipt: what you were paid divided by the pounds you sold.
My yard pays a percentage. What do I enter?
Pick "A % of a market price", then enter the percentage and the market price it's taken from, per pound. Ask your yard which price that is: for copper, US yards usually use COMEX. To find your percentage from a receipt, divide the price per pound you were paid by that day's market price and multiply by 100.
Why does the calculator round the way it does?
It multiplies the numbers it shows you: pounds to two decimals, the price to the cent and a whole percentage, so the answer matches what you'd get on paper. It's the same math as Scrap Metal Intel 2.2.2 and later.