The job does not end at the calculator
A scrap sale has several decisions hidden inside it: what material you have, how much it weighs, what a yard will call the grade, what that yard is paying, whether the trip is worth making, and whether the final ticket matched the estimate. ScrapValue 4.0 treats those decisions as one connected workflow.
The dashboard opens on the work that matters now. Your current load, unfinished sales, best complete quote, and recent results are visible without digging through unrelated screens. The aim is simple: make the next useful action obvious whether you scrap once a season or run loads every week.
1. Build the load before you move it
Choose a material grade, enter its weight, and add it to the current load. ScrapValue calculates each line separately and totals the mixed load. That matters because 100 pounds of mixed metal is not one price: copper, aluminum, brass, stainless, and steel may all be bought differently.
The free version lets a new user start a real scrap run with up to three material lines and save a small number of loads. Free users can see the workflow and calculate from the reference values provided by the app. Editing a per-pound or per-kilogram rate to match a specific yard quote is a Pro control.
2. Compare the whole offer—not one attractive price
A yard can lead on one grade and still produce the lower total for your actual load. ScrapValue Pro lets you save yard-specific quoted rates and evaluate the same inventory against each yard. Compare complete estimated payouts, then consider fees, travel, accepted grades, preparation rules, and quote age.
This keeps the decision tied to your load. ScrapValue does not claim that an internet commodity number is what a local buyer owes you. The yard's grading, certified scale weight, deductions, and live offer determine the real transaction.
3. Turn the estimate into a sale record
When the load is sold, save the yard, date, expected value, actual payout, ticket details, and notes. Attach load or material photos when visual context will help later. The estimate stays frozen with that sale, so future price changes do not rewrite what you expected on the day.
Receipt scanning adds the scale ticket or purchase receipt to the same record. Text recognition runs on the device, and you decide which extracted details belong in the sale. The original image remains available for review instead of disappearing behind the OCR result.
4. Let completed sales improve the next estimate
One receipt tells you what happened once. Searchable history shows patterns: which yard paid closest to its quote, which grades were downgraded, how much actual weight differed from your estimate, and whether a longer trip produced a better net result.
That history is where ScrapValue becomes more than a calculator. You can search by material, yard, ticket, note, receipt status, or date, then use the evidence to ask better questions before the next load leaves your driveway or jobsite.
5. Read the market without confusing an index with cash
Market Trends follows four official monthly U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Producer Price Index series: No. 1 Copper Scrap, No. 2 Copper Scrap, Aluminum Base Scrap, and Iron and Steel Scrap. Trend, momentum, volatility, and history help explain broad movement.
Those values are index points. They are not dollars, appraisals, forecasts, or local scrapyard offers. Use them to understand direction; use a current local yard quote to build an actionable load estimate.
Private records, familiar controls, and room to grow
ScrapValue does not require a Goodale Studios account and does not include advertising or cross-app tracking. Private loads, receipts, OCR text, photos, yard notes, and payout records stay in device-protected app storage and the private platform backup path you choose.
Version 4.0 opens in the new Professional Workspace theme, while the Classic Metal design remains available. You can also choose a supported language, local currency, pounds or kilograms, and light, dark, or system appearance. Existing lifetime owners keep permanent Pro access, and the 4.0 upgrade preserves compatible saved data rather than starting over.
