By Kim Breyley, editor SEGQ
Paul Miller needed to get rid of some scrap metal. He had replaced some windows and was left with many aluminum window frames. “I called a guy who advertised he’d buy it,” recalls Miller. “And then, I was amazed at what I got for it … I was young, recently married and our payments were big,” he continued. “And I was always looking for extra money, so this guy and I cleaned up a couple of dumps together, people’s woods and other stuff.”
Miller’s part-time partner was a full-time painter. “And I worked a full-time job,” recalls Paul. “We just collected scrap in the evenings and on Saturdays. So, he suggested that I offer a scrap drop-off here.” So, Paul opened the business just west of SR 608 on Burton Windsor Road just north of Middlefield.
The two worked together for six months. Miller’s partner opened a drop-off at his home for a while, but zoning laws prohibited its continuance. “I had enough of a customer base in six months that I kept the business going here,” said Miller, who was now working the business on his own. At that time, he called the company Honest Scales Metal Company. Today the name is “Honest Scales.”
Miller continued this work part-time from 1996 to 2005. “In April of 2005, I quit my full-time job at Sheoga Hardwoods as lumber inspector and took on the scrap metal collection business full-time.”
“My parents told me I was crazy … my mom cried,” he recalls with a smile. But Paul’s wife was supportive. “She never really complained about it but was glad when we moved the huge scrap piles away from behind the house to the east side of the property. She always said, ‘Whatever makes me happy makes her happy.’”
“When we first got married times were tough and I had rough time making ends meet. When I got into the scrap business, things just started clicking.” The Millers have nine children, four are now married and five are still in the home. “I have two sons and two daughters involved in this business. My two older daughters helped until they got married. One son ventured off to carpentry.”
“My oldest son, Marty, is going to be a partner before long. I plan to give him part of the business, and my youngest son works here also.”
There have been challenges along the way. In 2012, the Ohio government came out with new regulations. “State regulations required that we had to submit copies of each customer’s ID and take photos of everyone that comes in the gate and cannot present a photo ID., purpose being to catch the thieves.”
“So, it’s no different for the Amish,” says Miller. “If the Amish have photo IDs, those will work. Most don’t. Every transaction must be reported to the state daily, digitally.”
In the Amish culture, beliefs are such that photos of people are not sanctioned nor using computers with access to the internet.
“When these policies first came out, I had meetings with State Senator John Eklund,” says Miller. “Also with the Geauga County Sheriff, Homeland Security (HLS) reps and our Amish ministers.”
The Sheriff at the time was the late Dan McClelland and he said, “If everybody ran a business like Paul did, we would not have theft issues, … so they were fine with the way I was running this system. The first couple years, they let me copy the ID on the back of the receipts. But as the Homeland Security (HLS) reps were replaced with younger less tolerant staff policies tightened.”
In 2017, Miller received a visit from a young HLS guy. “From the minute he walked in the door here, I knew I was in trouble. He told me they were shutting me down.” Paul remembers, “At that time, I had way too much money invested to give up; the leaders in the Amish church rescued me and allowed me to put a computer system in. I only am allowed to do what I have to do to satisfy the state of Ohio and that is good with me.”
Today, things run smoothly, the Miller family had to learn the computer at a rapid pace and now have a pretty good handle on it.
Honest Scales accepts aluminum, copper, brass, radiators, and batteries. They cannot accept propane tanks or any appliances containing freon.
Recently, they opened a retail shop on the premises chock-full of treasures that have been found amongst the scrap. “I am truly grateful to God,” says Miller. “He has greatly blessed our family and this business.”
Honest Scales is located at 15535 Burton-Windsor Rd, Middlefield, OH 44062
Hours are Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturdays 7 a.m. through noon.
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