Fair market value for scrap

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

Our local metal vendors will sell cuts of extrusion and sheet at a pro-rated price, generally by the foot. For example, if I wanted a 1' piece off a 25' extrusion that costs $50, I'd pay 2 bucks and walk out of there.

We get our sheet aluminum for free from an awesome local sponsor (a small machine shop), so have the great burden of having to figure out what we'd have paid for it had we paid for it.

[FrankJ]

Teach me not to go by old rules. This one is kinda unworkable though. But in this case, since the shop would otherwise sale it for scrap by the pound, that is the fair market price.


Example of unexpected applications of this rule: So 3D printers that use expensive cartridges have to cost parts at the price of the cartridge since that is smallest unit price?

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Frank,
That opens a real issue, teams should cost as if they were purchasing the smallest quantity as shown in the copied rules. Your sponsor's scrap may be my sponsor's bread and butter.

[FrankJ]

I see your point Al. I have to admit that since our robot has never come close the budget limit, we have been conservative in costing stock, so I have not thought much about this rule. The trouble about pricing metal is that on an industrial scale the price depends on a lot of factors. So figuring out a true price for the minimum quantity allowed in the rules is always going to be a little arbitrary.

In our case we buy stock in bulk. Much gets used for stuff other than the comp bot. The price/lb is affected by the total buy, but I do have an idea of a minimum sell quantity of a particular shape so I guess that is what we will use.