Buying and selling metals — scrap, raw stock, finished forms — to industrial customers, recyclers, fabricators, sometimes the public. The work mixes commodity-price exposure with the logistics of moving heavy material, and your margin depends on knowing your spreads better than the seller does.
Metal Dealer pay typically runs $49K–$98K at this level, and jobs in this field are projected to hold roughly steady through 2034.
You make your money on the spread between what you pay and what you sell for. Commodity price knowledge — LME spot prices, scrap grades, regional market differentials, seasonal patterns — is the baseline. Whether you're buying scrap from a demolition crew or selling cut steel to a fabricator, you need to know today's price and where it's likely to go before you commit. Pricing a deal wrong by a few cents per pound on a large lot is a visible loss, and they accumulate.
The physical side of the business is real. Heavy material logistics — trucks, scales, forklifts, yard space — define the operational backbone. You're coordinating pickups, managing the yard inventory, ensuring grade segregation so mixed scrap doesn't contaminate a higher-value load. Whether you buy retail from walk-in scrap customers or wholesale from industrial generators, the grading and sorting function is where margin either gets captured or lost.
The deal flow varies with peak industrial activity — construction cycles, manufacturing output drive volumes. When markets are rising, buyers are aggressive; when they're falling, you're managing inventory you bought too high. The best metal dealers have a read on the cycle and adjust their buying accordingly. Relationship management with industrial accounts — fabricators, machine shops, demolition contractors — is the sustainable book of business; walk-in trade fills gaps but rarely defines the operation.
An honest look at who tends to thrive in this role — and who might find it challenging.
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Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
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when you grow up?
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Buying and selling metals — scrap, raw stock, finished forms — to industrial customers, recyclers, fabricators, sometimes the public. The work mixes commodity-price exposure with the logistics of moving heavy material, and your margin depends on knowing your spreads better than the seller does.
Median pay for a Metal Dealer is about $67K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $38K to $134K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Active Listening, Speaking, Negotiation, Persuasion, and Social Perceptiveness.
Most people in this role hold a high school diploma.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 0.3% through 2034, with roughly 1.3 million people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Junior Metal Dealer, Malt Liquors Sales Representative, and Tractor Distributor.
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