Metal thieves

[farmkid]

What is it with people? Over the last few years, I've been hearing more and more stories of thieves stealing metal for recycling. Here's the story that made me start this topic:

A therapy horse was killed after metal thieves tore down a pasture fence, allowing some of the animals to wander near a busy highway, authorities said.

An unknown number of suspects cut down a gate at the Daley Training and Learning Center, an organization that helps special needs children, allowing six horses to wander free.

I've heard other stories of thieves stealing storm drain grates and manhole covers, copper wiring from houses, bronze from graveyards, and even cutting down sections of live power lines. And of course they've been stealing catalytic converters from cars for years.

Scrap metal prices are very high right now, but some people just have no shame. Something must be done; maybe authorize scrap metal dealers to shoot anyone who brings in metal for recycling that might be stolen and can't verify it's theirs?

 

[RoJoHen]

Half of my workplace is currently under construction, and a couple months ago a bunch of people broke in over the weekend and stole a ton of copper wire.

We also had to put a protective cover over one of our recycling bins because people were stealing the scrap metal from our weld shop.

The whole thing is weird.

 

[SmoothieX]

I'm a civil engineer so I am fairly in tune with the construction industry. Copper wire and steel prices have gone wayyyy up in recent years. Asphalt prices too, but it's tough to steal a road.

If it ain't locked down and is worth something, someone is bound to steal it.

 

[Stephen!]

It's probably like the recent UK riots. For some people, common sense just goes out the window.

 

[Robert D. Robot]

We are doing some renovations on our house and I was pretty surprised (pleasantly) when several feet of old copper pipe (around $3 a pound) and a roll of about 20' of the chain link part (no posts) of an old chain link fence got us about $60! We had to fill out a form with a lot of our information to get the check (so they could make sure that we were homeowners and not thieves,
I guess!).

A friend from Canada was saying how they were having problems in Vancouver because people were stealing man-hole covers and turning them for cash as scrap metal (someone must have been asleep at the switch to not have caught the "City of Vancouver" stamped on the covers, though!)....

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

We've had a couple of power cuts locally due to people thieving live copper cable. I don't know if any of the buggers got fried but it has been known to happen.

 

[Mr Silver]

In some areas, construction metal can be more valuable than gold. The price of gold has dropped and its now become more common for people in times of financial need to strip away the metallic components of their old cars and sell them rather than pawn jewellery.

Trouble is, I suppose that some people can't get a hold of any redundant metal so they resort to stealing it from others. Copper cable seems to be a popular item of theft.

 

[marillion]

We had a huge wildfire south of Albuquerque along the Rio Grade because some moron decided to use a grinder to cut and steal metal parts off a bulldozer. There was evidence that several little fires had started due to his actions. he was able to put them out, but finally one occurred that he couldn't.

The good news is that we nailed the bastard!

 

[RJDiogenes]

My Uncle Jim owns a tire shop and he has had a big problem with people stealing some nice hubcaps for scrap.

 

[Canadave]

We also had to put a protective cover over one of our recycling bins because people were stealing the scrap metal from our weld shop.

Out of curiosity, why do you care if they're taking it out of stuff that was going to be recycled anyway?

 

[Deranged Nasat]

We also had to put a protective cover over one of our recycling bins because people were stealing the scrap metal from our weld shop.

Out of curiosity, why do you care if they're taking it out of stuff that was going to be recycled anyway?

I assume he means it was going to be recycled within the weld shop.

 

[Amaris]

When we were looking at a house to rent, we found the electrician camping out in it while wiring the house, because he said there had been houses being ransacked for copper.

 

[Mr Silver]

When we were looking at a house to rent, we found the electrician camping out in it while wiring the house, because he said there had been houses being ransacked for copper.

What a nice guy for doing that. Over here in the UK, I honestly cannot think of any tradesmen who would do anything along these lines.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I live in a nickel and copper mining town, so I can confirm the scarcity. They've been saying it for awhile now. It of course doesn't help that one of our mining companies got bought by a Brazilian company and then had a year long strike, a period where nothing was produced.

 

[Marc]

maybe the police should be paying some more visit to the local scrap merchants. It should be obvious to anyone with half a brain that the stuff has been stolen.

there was a lot of theft when the building I live in was under renovation of stuff like copper and there's some belief that it was an inside job.

 

[RoJoHen]

We also had to put a protective cover over one of our recycling bins because people were stealing the scrap metal from our weld shop.

Out of curiosity, why do you care if they're taking it out of stuff that was going to be recycled anyway?

I personally don't care. I don't even know what they do with the scrap metal. I work in the admissions office.

I just know that people were stealing it and that other people more important than me didn't want it to be stolen.

 

[farmkid]

I live in a nickel and copper mining town, so I can confirm the scarcity. They've been saying it for awhile now. It of course doesn't help that one of our mining companies got bought by a Brazilian company and then had a year long strike, a period where nothing was produced.

I'm quite aware that metal prices have been going up for some time, indicating some sort of scarcity. Why would that be the case? Is the world running out of metal, or it it just not being mined for some reason? If this is the start of a long-term trend, what does that indicate for the future?

 

[Owain Taggart]

I live in a nickel and copper mining town, so I can confirm the scarcity. They've been saying it for awhile now. It of course doesn't help that one of our mining companies got bought by a Brazilian company and then had a year long strike, a period where nothing was produced.

I'm quite aware that metal prices have been going up for some time, indicating some sort of scarcity. Why would that be the case? Is the world running out of metal, or it it just not being mined for some reason? If this is the start of a long-term trend, what does that indicate for the future?

I'm personally not aware of any reason why, but it's likely got to do with many factors, one which is demand, with the mines not being able to keep up with it. It's been said that the demand is higher as of late, hence the price hike. And because it's more valuable, it makes metals a more lucrative target to steal.

 

[Amaris]

When we were looking at a house to rent, we found the electrician camping out in it while wiring the house, because he said there had been houses being ransacked for copper.

What a nice guy for doing that. Over here in the UK, I honestly cannot think of any tradesmen who would do anything along these lines.

Oh, it wasn't by choice. He said if any copper went missing, he would be responsible for it, so he was sleeping on a blanket, on a concrete floor at night, and working on the house by day.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

There has been a huge problem in Atlanta with air conditioning units being ransacked for their metal - I think it's copper they are after.

Since the economy went south in such a huge way, this has become a serious problem in this town. You go to work in the morning, come back home, and your air conditioner out back has been taken apart and hauled off for parts.

Unbelievable.