Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Harry Bloomfield writes:
TMC formulated on Wednesday :
My question is how expensive is fibre optic and the hardware at each end and
is fibre optic wirth stealing?
No, no scrap value that I am aware of - but then copper telephone cable
has none either, it has very little copper content.

Unfortunately copper telephone cable does have scrap value - that's
the problem. Not the 2 pair pinned to your skirting board, but the
200 pair yanked out of the ground ducts by a 4x4 does. The scrap
value is probably minescule compared with replacement cost, but that's
not something the thieves consider.


And is minuscule compared to what the same time spent labouring on a
building site would net them.

When my garden shed got broken into, at most there was 300 quids worth
(retail) of stuff taken: That must have taken them at least three blokes
several hours to plan, and execute, plus petrol (assuming that was in
fact paid for) plus the hassle of finding a fence etc.

I mean compared with - say - dealing drugs, or defrauding investors at a
hedge fund, petty thievery is completely ******** in terms of cost
benefit analysis.

I suspect its simply a way of life for some people.