(Warning Graphic Pics) Copper theft - how desparate are these people??

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I've had them go even further they took down a transformer drained the oil and took the copper wiring out of the inside. :confused:
 
You have no idea how many copper linesets these bozos steal from houses. They will even take the 2 feet from the foundation to the condenser. What's that worth five cents?

Any house that is above grade will loose its copper linesets for the a/c that run under it. I cam't imagine crawling under there in the dark with all the black widows and recluse spiders here in Florida. I talk my customers with those above grade house to either put in a package unit or install the condenser high up the wall and run the copper lines in the attic. Replace the copper and come back a week later to do it again.

Lately I've been painting them bright pink and have told all the salvage yards to call me if any shows up.

But to steal live high voltage power lines? You have got to be nuts.

The Florida Turnpike used to use aluminum for their 100' tall light poles until thieves used chain saws to cut them down for scrap. About $400.00 scrap aluminum each. All the gurad ralis were always gone too.

Mikey
 
We have those idiots in Hawaii as well... In one instance, they took out an entire stretch of freeway lighting.

For a while it was getting ridiculous here, but it pretty much stopped once they started cracking down on the metal recyclers, making it more difficult for thieves to sell it.
 
They got 30?k out of one building around here the other day... Just read it on the news... Sickening...
 

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wow you guys just found out about this, its been an epidemic over here in Pierce County. We are meth county of the US....
 
We are meth county of the US....

I believe that title belongs to us!

I heard that Iowa has the most drugs pass through than any other state. Something because of I-35 runs straight through.

I could be wrong, have been before.
 
Grab a cold one, it's a long read...

The associated disdain for recycler's generated by the stupid is pretty high on my list of why I went out of bizness and took a 'job'. Ranks about #3, I'd say. I feel like such a chump working for somebody else, especially a global corp (which I won't go into detail about, breathe easy).

I have a whole crew of friends who're now doing time in other states for exactly this and/or similar crime. They no longer had me to keep them straight or narrow. There are many today who as a result of our post NAFTA(etc...) de-industrialization, have no skillset which allows them an ability to be constructive. Resultantly they've chosen destructive. Realistically these are hard working people that commit these crimes. Most often they're drug addled and motivated but that alone doesn't make them bad or useless. Properly directed, a destructive capability held by some who've never been able to learn a trade with their natural inclination's wouldn't be a bad thing for someone needing recycling workers. But there's not much money for it to pay well enough unless you're the top dog or operating on scale. I was both. Well, to the extent of my own microcosm of operational radius.

The fact of drug abuse and/or desperation leading the pack in reason's for such crime is only part of the really sad part of the situation. We live in a shamefully disgusting throw away society which CAN adequately provide Useful reused or repurposed material's for those not too proud to go after or redistribute them in addition to those recycled for income. Unfortunately most only ever see or consider the criminal side associated with this activity because 'news' feeds the corporate mentality of keeping people away from resources, no matter how they're generated. This results in laws which prohibit or discourage 'recyclers', or "scrappers" to those who're engaged. I swear, even these many years after the fact, a full 25% of what I posess and probably more of what my children enjoy playing with is reused, repurposed, or just secondhand. It absolutely boggles the mind, what people throw away! As an example, I have a whole fleet of $200+ (free) PowerWheel's (bat pwr kiddy cars) that have rarely needed more than a simple repair or battery!

The End Result of laws designed to keep people from being "scrapper's" who provide a service more in depth than the hauling companies is that more materials are needlessly going into landfill's. There is SO MUCH that's salvagable which simply isn't profitable enough for big business to consider. I can see the TV Cherokee of my youth crying! In Many places already, only the corporate, authorized and designated hauler may take anything from the public domain of the curb. I live in a state famous as a dumpsite for many other states, which is completely nonsensical considering our greatest potentially contaminatable natural resource of fresh water! A multifacetted load of Crap!

Anyways, my advice for reader's of this post is to look past the "criminal's" propaganda side of this and demand more be done about eradicating the causational side of this bastardization of an otherwise viable and necessary eco-friendly enterprise. The Drugs! What's anybody doing about THAT????

And then do us ALL a favor. Consider the desperation factor of many in our midst. LOOK at what you throw in the trash every time you approach the can. Can it be reused, repurposed, recycled, or donated? If so, then why are you standing in front of the trashcan??? Isn't there a church, community organization, or people you know who might find that useful with a little more effort than you're willing to expend? Keep it out of the landfill!!!

Think about it............................................

.
 
here in NC about 2 months ago some thieves stole a Duke Power tractor trailer, loaded it up with over 200k lbs of copper. needless to say the trailer broke apart along there get away & they did not get anything.
 
here in NC about 2 months ago some thieves stole a Duke Power tractor trailer, loaded it up with over 200k lbs of copper. needless to say the trailer broke apart along there get away & they did not get anything.

:D:D:p:D:D

I used to take people on route to show them what was and could be done by anybody with a little initiative. Sometimes with a seriously top heavy load swaying the truck one would ask "what will you do if the back of the truck rips off on one of these turns?" My answer was always, 'make sure I still have the license plate!':D:D:D
 
Copper theft has been a problem around here for a long time BUT never heard of anyone stealing LIVE power lines.

Had someone at the nursing home I work at during the day actually steal copper pipe that purifies the air for some of our patients. They are attached to a compressor for a piped in system. They didn't even have tools, just worked the pipe back and forth until it snapped. Luckily the system was not in use at the time. they probably got about 50 cents worth of copper.:rolleyes:

Couple years ago there was a bunch of manhole covers being stolen in the area. Recently someone stole a brass monument from a cemetary. Desparate times I guess.
 
The associated disdain for recycler's generated by the stupid is pretty high on my list of why I went out of bizness and took a 'job'. Ranks about #3, I'd say. I feel like such a chump working for somebody else, especially a global corp (which I won't go into detail about, breathe easy).

I have a whole crew of friends who're now doing time in other states for exactly this and/or similar crime. They no longer had me to keep them straight or narrow. There are many today who as a result of our post NAFTA(etc...) de-industrialization, have no skillset which allows them an ability to be constructive. Resultantly they've chosen destructive. Realistically these are hard working people that commit these crimes. Most often they're drug addled and motivated but that alone doesn't make them bad or useless. Properly directed, a destructive capability held by some who've never been able to learn a trade with their natural inclination's wouldn't be a bad thing for someone needing recycling workers. But there's not much money for it to pay well enough unless you're the top dog or operating on scale. I was both. Well, to the extent of my own microcosm of operational radius.

The fact of drug abuse and/or desperation leading the pack in reason's for such crime is only part of the really sad part of the situation. We live in a shamefully disgusting throw away society which CAN adequately provide Useful reused or repurposed material's for those not too proud to go after or redistribute them in addition to those recycled for income. Unfortunately most only ever see or consider the criminal side associated with this activity because 'news' feeds the corporate mentality of keeping people away from resources, no matter how they're generated. This results in laws which prohibit or discourage 'recyclers', or "scrappers" to those who're engaged. I swear, even these many years after the fact, a full 25% of what I posess and probably more of what my children enjoy playing with is reused, repurposed, or just secondhand. It absolutely boggles the mind, what people throw away! As an example, I have a whole fleet of $200+ (free) PowerWheel's (bat pwr kiddy cars) that have rarely needed more than a simple repair or battery!

The End Result of laws designed to keep people from being "scrapper's" who provide a service more in depth than the hauling companies is that more materials are needlessly going into landfill's. There is SO MUCH that's salvagable which simply isn't profitable enough for big business to consider. I can see the TV Cherokee of my youth crying! In Many places already, only the corporate, authorized and designated hauler may take anything from the public domain of the curb. I live in a state famous as a dumpsite for many other states, which is completely nonsensical considering our greatest potentially contaminatable natural resource of fresh water! A multifacetted load of Crap!

Anyways, my advice for reader's of this post is to look past the "criminal's" propaganda side of this and demand more be done about eradicating the causational side of this bastardization of an otherwise viable and necessary eco-friendly enterprise. The Drugs! What's anybody doing about THAT????

And then do us ALL a favor. Consider the desperation factor of many in our midst. LOOK at what you throw in the trash every time you approach the can. Can it be reused, repurposed, recycled, or donated? If so, then why are you standing in front of the trashcan??? Isn't there a church, community organization, or people you know who might find that useful with a little more effort than you're willing to expend? Keep it out of the landfill!!!

Think about it............................................

.
Theyve been doing this for years in detroit especially when the economy too a chit remember it started here first..People moved and found jobs elsewhere only to find that the same prob happened everywhere else a couple yrs later... Scrap prices tripled and people started scrapping cars and were getting $35 a radiator like $75 for a cat conv,$100 if it came off a truck, $30 a pop for aluminum wheels, and $250 a ton for the rest of the car...
End result people stealing cats using chain cutters off suvs rims being stolen and a bunch of "fred sanfords" running around with tow booms on ragged pickups and ragged stake trucks scouring freeways and neighborhoods i saw 2 dudes one time guy in pickup was pushin a guy steering a junker while dragging two others behind him chained together...They were gonna get minimum $750 for a few hours work..
Cars broken down on the side of the fwy were gettin ripped off you name it...A lot of these people werent drug addicts they were people that lost their jobs and didnt wanna resort to robbin a bank etc etc..My lawn service was almost put out of buisness cause everyone and there brother was running around with a lawnmower in the trunk tryin to make a quick buck..
I refused to drop my prices when we spent $8000 each on 2 riding mowers $180 just on blades etc etc we lost a lot of residential accts and went to commercial properties....The problem is Rivical is that the average person is an idiot and a consumer that knows nothing of taking care of things fixing things and making them last..Prime example most people that lease cars,people that spend $900 on a brake job,they are used to instant gratafication if it appears to be broken toss it out and buy another..and companies that make things play into this by offering more and more cheaply made products....Just like the power went out during the big blackout and people were in gas stations and grocery stores fighting over stuff after like 1 day..Imagine if it were down a week or a month:eek: Crazy world we live in now a days.....
 
There is a vacant (not abandoned, just no one stays there on other than the weekends) house just up the road from me. Somebody snatched the water lines and wiring out from under it. One day it had modern conviences, the next day it needed candles and an out house. :(
 
Not long ago a warehouse in our complex was being renovated, new dock doors, facilities, etc.

Overnight, somebody stripped all of the new heavy copper and even used the contractor's scissor-lift to get the wiring from out of the high ceiling. These guys knew what they were doing for sure.
 
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