I could go into a lengthy explanation of how demographics fits in with the target market . . . But yes, the home enthusiast is often paying well over the odds for raw materials, depending on the source.

IME, the stockists that deal with the trade often have a trade counter at the depot, try to visit one at an off peak time & you'll usually find them very helpful & very accommodating.

Very cheap. You would be lucky to get that price buying in 3m lengths from a stockholder.

Neil

At £12 that's £3000/tonne. That's about the right price. £50 would either be daylight robbery or minimum quantity charges.

Edited By Mark Rand on 19/10/2017 21:02:15

You say it's from an extrusion place, so your 1 metre length is probably scrap, so they may sell at scrap plus p&p, better going to you than the scrappy.

Ian S C

Aluminium in bulk is about £1500 per ton at the moment. If only! We pay retail prices. Every time the aluminium moves, the price goes up. Markets, import/export, transport, wholesalers, and retailers all have costs, pay taxes, and need to make a profit. Cutting to size at point of sale costs money and the retailer has to cover wastage and off-cuts.

Quite a few legitimate reasons why stuff is sometimes sold cheaply. End of run, expensive storage space needed for something else, bankrupt stock, downsizing, urgent need to raise money, loss leading to break into a market etc. etc. If a bargain's to be had, grab it!

Dave

I wish. The LME is currently at $ 2128 which is £1936 including VAT, so I think the OP's price of £3000 was pretty good by the time the extrusion premium and stockholder's costs are included. I wouldn't be surprised to pay a stockholder at least twice that, they have to fund a warehouse full of frequently slow moving profiles – aluminium isn't just stocked in rounds, flats, tubes and boxes like steel. When I was buying aluminium, I used to pay at least twice as much to stockholders as I would direct to the mill, but it kept the line going so I wasn't bothered

Brian

I did that on a costing once Dave – ouch!

It doesn't seem so long ago that the pound was sufficiently healthy that the extruded price (without tax) in pounds was almost exactly the same number as the LME in dollars. Those were the days.

Brian