http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...-conditioners/

How many AC units are using copper instead of aluminum these days?

And now people are putting cages around them?

Yeah, it's amazing the amount of hard work some people will put into
theft that amounts to less than minimum wage...

On 7/6/2011 8:29 PM, Home Guy wrote:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...-conditioners/

How many AC units are using copper instead of aluminum these days?

And now people are putting cages around them?

Some really brazen critters came over the fence at my friend's place
where he stored some used units we removed from service and he caught
them on their last expedition onto his property. He isn't sure if his
gunfire got one of them in the backside as they went over the fence
but they haven't been back. ^_^

TDD

On Jul 6, 9:29*pm, Home Guy wrote:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...am-targeting-a...

How many AC units are using copper instead of aluminum these days?

And now people are putting cages around them?

I don't see how. I save scrap that I generate and I kept my old
carrier unit and inside coil. It didn't amount to much when I took it
to the scrap yard. The inside coil counted as mixed copper because of
the steel frame so the price per pound was far less. The aluminum
outside parts was only worth a couple bucks. They would not take the
actual compressor in my pile of scrap iron/steel. I think I got like
$12 dollars total that day and I mostly made the run because I had a
cracked bare chevy 350 block I really needed to get rid of. I mostly
save scrap as a way to be more environmentatlly responsible than for
the money anyway.

On Jul 7, 9:11*am, jamesgangnc wrote:
On Jul 6, 9:29*pm, Home Guy wrote:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...am-targeting-a...

How many AC units are using copper instead of aluminum these days?

And now people are putting cages around them?

I don't see how. *I save scrap that I generate and I kept my old
carrier unit and inside coil. *It didn't amount to much when I took it
to the scrap yard. *The inside coil counted as mixed copper because of
the steel frame so the price per pound was far less. *The aluminum
outside parts was only worth a couple bucks. *They would not take the
actual compressor in my pile of scrap iron/steel. *I think I got like
$12 dollars total that day and I mostly made the run because I had a
cracked bare chevy 350 block I really needed to get rid of. *I mostly
save scrap as a way to be more environmentatlly responsible than for
the money anyway.

I was wondering what these thieves do with the units they
steal too. There was a foreclosure house here in a nearby
town that a friend was looking at buying. When we saw it
the house was still occupied and in perfect condition. Stopped
maybe 5 months later and it's a wreck. Inside, the flooring is
gone, all the kitchen cabinets, countertops, etc. Outside
both AC units were gone. The owner was a doctor.

I was puzzled as to who did the stripping. Like would a Dr.
sit there and pull up flooring? And if so, what could he
do with it? Even if you sold it on Craigslist, would not seem
to be worth the effort. And for street thieves, it's hard to
imagine they would want to be in a house long enough to
rip all that stuff out.....

And then with the ACs, I wondered if they could sell them
on CL? Who would buy unknown eqpt that could be
contaminated, burnt up, etc and if they did how much
would they pay for it? And scrap price isn't that much
is it? Doesn't make a lot sense to me.

On 7/7/2011 8:24 AM, wrote:
On Jul 7, 9:11 am, wrote:
On Jul 6, 9:29 pm, Home wrote:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...am-targeting-a...

How many AC units are using copper instead of aluminum these days?

And now people are putting cages around them?

I don't see how. I save scrap that I generate and I kept my old
carrier unit and inside coil. It didn't amount to much when I took it
to the scrap yard. The inside coil counted as mixed copper because of
the steel frame so the price per pound was far less. The aluminum
outside parts was only worth a couple bucks. They would not take the
actual compressor in my pile of scrap iron/steel. I think I got like
$12 dollars total that day and I mostly made the run because I had a
cracked bare chevy 350 block I really needed to get rid of. I mostly
save scrap as a way to be more environmentatlly responsible than for
the money anyway.

I was wondering what these thieves do with the units they
steal too. There was a foreclosure house here in a nearby
town that a friend was looking at buying. When we saw it
the house was still occupied and in perfect condition. Stopped
maybe 5 months later and it's a wreck. Inside, the flooring is
gone, all the kitchen cabinets, countertops, etc. Outside
both AC units were gone. The owner was a doctor.

I was puzzled as to who did the stripping. Like would a Dr.
sit there and pull up flooring? And if so, what could he
do with it? Even if you sold it on Craigslist, would not seem
to be worth the effort. And for street thieves, it's hard to
imagine they would want to be in a house long enough to
rip all that stuff out.....

And then with the ACs, I wondered if they could sell them
on CL? Who would buy unknown eqpt that could be
contaminated, burnt up, etc and if they did how much
would they pay for it? And scrap price isn't that much
is it? Doesn't make a lot sense to me.

We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to
steal and scrap for metal is...cars. A couple ran out of gas on the
freeway and had to abandon the car. When they went back to retrieve it
a few hours later, it was gone. The following day they learned that a
tow truck driver picked it up and sold it to a scrap yard for $500
bucks and it was already destroyed. Turns out car thieves have been
selling stolen vehicles to the same scrap yard without titles. The
yard pays them, crushes the car, and the lawful owners are SOL.

On Jul 7, 9:24*am, "
wrote:
On Jul 7, 9:11*am, jamesgangnc wrote:





On Jul 6, 9:29*pm, Home Guy wrote:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...am-targeting-a....

How many AC units are using copper instead of aluminum these days?

And now people are putting cages around them?

I don't see how. *I save scrap that I generate and I kept my old
carrier unit and inside coil. *It didn't amount to much when I took it
to the scrap yard. *The inside coil counted as mixed copper because of
the steel frame so the price per pound was far less. *The aluminum
outside parts was only worth a couple bucks. *They would not take the
actual compressor in my pile of scrap iron/steel. *I think I got like
$12 dollars total that day and I mostly made the run because I had a
cracked bare chevy 350 block I really needed to get rid of. *I mostly
save scrap as a way to be more environmentatlly responsible than for
the money anyway.

I was wondering what these thieves do with the units they
steal too. * There was a foreclosure house here in a nearby
town that a friend was looking at buying. * When we saw it
the house was still occupied and in perfect condition. *Stopped
maybe 5 months later and it's a wreck. *Inside, the flooring is
gone, all the kitchen cabinets, countertops, etc. *Outside
both AC units were gone. *The owner was a doctor.

I was puzzled as to who did the stripping. *Like would a Dr.
sit there and pull up flooring? *And if so, what could he
do with it? *Even if you sold it on Craigslist, would not seem
to be worth the effort. * And for street thieves, it's hard to
imagine they would want to be in a house long enough to
rip all that stuff out.....

And then with the ACs, I wondered if they could sell them
on CL? * Who would buy unknown eqpt that could be
contaminated, burnt up, etc and if they did how much
would they pay for it? * * And scrap price isn't that much
is it? * Doesn't make a lot sense to me.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

You do see a lotof stuff on craig's listthat could come from a
stripped house.

Maybe noi surprisingly most neighbors will ignore a van or truck
parked at a house in the middle of changing hands or in forclosure.
They just assume it's some service guys. Pleny of time to strip and
remove the kitchen cabinets. Two guys could remove a complete set of
kitchen cabinets in about 30 minutes. I could pull an outside
compresor in 15 minues tops. And that's pumping it down. 5 minutes
if you don't care about the charge or the power is off.

I can't remember for sure, but I put an hour or so of labor
in dissembling a outdoor unit I replaced. Took it to the
scrap yard, and it paid out $25 or so.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Larry Fishel" wrote in message
...
Yeah, it's amazing the amount of hard work some people will
put into
theft that amounts to less than minimum wage...

Hell Toupee wrote:
We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to
steal and scrap for metal is...cars. A couple ran out of gas on the
freeway and had to abandon the car. When they went back to retrieve it
a few hours later, it was gone. The following day they learned that a
tow truck driver picked it up and sold it to a scrap yard for $500
bucks and it was already destroyed. Turns out car thieves have been
selling stolen vehicles to the same scrap yard without titles. The
yard pays them, crushes the car, and the lawful owners are SOL.

When I sold a scrap car to a yard, I had to provide them with the title.

On 7/7/2011 9:42 AM, Bob F wrote:
Hell Toupee wrote:
We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to
steal and scrap for metal is...cars. A couple ran out of gas on the
freeway and had to abandon the car. When they went back to retrieve it
a few hours later, it was gone. The following day they learned that a
tow truck driver picked it up and sold it to a scrap yard for $500
bucks and it was already destroyed. Turns out car thieves have been
selling stolen vehicles to the same scrap yard without titles. The
yard pays them, crushes the car, and the lawful owners are SOL.

When I sold a scrap car to a yard, I had to provide them with the title.

This yard doesn't concern itself with that. It says that requiring
them to collect proof of ownership from the sellers is
over-regulation, and bad for business. Yeah, when you're shady, I can
see how that would be bad for your business.

"Bob F" wrote in :

Hell Toupee wrote:
We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to
steal and scrap for metal is...cars. A couple ran out of gas on the
freeway and had to abandon the car. When they went back to retrieve it
a few hours later, it was gone. The following day they learned that a
tow truck driver picked it up and sold it to a scrap yard for $500
bucks and it was already destroyed. Turns out car thieves have been
selling stolen vehicles to the same scrap yard without titles. The
yard pays them, crushes the car, and the lawful owners are SOL.

When I sold a scrap car to a yard, I had to provide them with the title.




Kinda to keep people from taking an asshole neighbors car, or your own car
that has an upside down loan balance, to the scrapyard.

Home Guy writes:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...-conditioners/

How many AC units are using copper instead of aluminum these days?

And now people are putting cages around them?

Read the article, the thieves get $25.

Must take 2 or 3 guys to carry and at least an hour
per unit.

Doesn't make much sense.


--
Dan Espen

Hell Toupee wrote:
On 7/7/2011 9:42 AM, Bob F wrote:
Hell Toupee wrote:
We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to
steal and scrap for metal is...cars. A couple ran out of gas on the
freeway and had to abandon the car. When they went back to retrieve
it a few hours later, it was gone. The following day they learned
that a tow truck driver picked it up and sold it to a scrap yard
for $500 bucks and it was already destroyed. Turns out car thieves
have been selling stolen vehicles to the same scrap yard without
titles. The yard pays them, crushes the car, and the lawful owners
are SOL.

When I sold a scrap car to a yard, I had to provide them with the
title.

This yard doesn't concern itself with that. It says that requiring
them to collect proof of ownership from the sellers is
over-regulation, and bad for business. Yeah, when you're shady, I can
see how that would be bad for your business.

Talk to your local government about requireing it. That, and other requirements
for documentation for other recycleing has cut down on valuable metal theft
here.

In article ,
Hell Toupee wrote:

On 7/7/2011 9:42 AM, Bob F wrote:
Hell Toupee wrote:
We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to
steal and scrap for metal is...cars. A couple ran out of gas on the
freeway and had to abandon the car. When they went back to retrieve it
a few hours later, it was gone. The following day they learned that a
tow truck driver picked it up and sold it to a scrap yard for $500
bucks and it was already destroyed. Turns out car thieves have been
selling stolen vehicles to the same scrap yard without titles. The
yard pays them, crushes the car, and the lawful owners are SOL.

When I sold a scrap car to a yard, I had to provide them with the title.

This yard doesn't concern itself with that. It says that requiring
them to collect proof of ownership from the sellers is
over-regulation, and bad for business. Yeah, when you're shady, I can
see how that would be bad for your business.

What is the state law? In Indiana they have to have valid title of
some sort to crush a car legally. Also, I would think their rather lax
standards would lead them open to charges of receiving stolen property
and one heck of a class action suit for damages.

--
People thought cybersex was a safe alternative,
until patients started presenting with sexually
acquired carpal tunnel syndrome.-Howard Berkowitz

On 7/7/2011 8:49 AM, Hell Toupee wrote:
On 7/7/2011 8:24 AM, wrote:
On Jul 7, 9:11 am, wrote:
On Jul 6, 9:29 pm, Home wrote:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...am-targeting-a...


How many AC units are using copper instead of aluminum these days?

And now people are putting cages around them?

I don't see how. I save scrap that I generate and I kept my old
carrier unit and inside coil. It didn't amount to much when I took it
to the scrap yard. The inside coil counted as mixed copper because of
the steel frame so the price per pound was far less. The aluminum
outside parts was only worth a couple bucks. They would not take the
actual compressor in my pile of scrap iron/steel. I think I got like
$12 dollars total that day and I mostly made the run because I had a
cracked bare chevy 350 block I really needed to get rid of. I mostly
save scrap as a way to be more environmentatlly responsible than for
the money anyway.

I was wondering what these thieves do with the units they
steal too. There was a foreclosure house here in a nearby
town that a friend was looking at buying. When we saw it
the house was still occupied and in perfect condition. Stopped
maybe 5 months later and it's a wreck. Inside, the flooring is
gone, all the kitchen cabinets, countertops, etc. Outside
both AC units were gone. The owner was a doctor.

I was puzzled as to who did the stripping. Like would a Dr.
sit there and pull up flooring? And if so, what could he
do with it? Even if you sold it on Craigslist, would not seem
to be worth the effort. And for street thieves, it's hard to
imagine they would want to be in a house long enough to
rip all that stuff out.....

And then with the ACs, I wondered if they could sell them
on CL? Who would buy unknown eqpt that could be
contaminated, burnt up, etc and if they did how much
would they pay for it? And scrap price isn't that much
is it? Doesn't make a lot sense to me.

We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to steal
and scrap for metal is...cars. A couple ran out of gas on the freeway
and had to abandon the car. When they went back to retrieve it a few
hours later, it was gone. The following day they learned that a tow
truck driver picked it up and sold it to a scrap yard for $500 bucks and
it was already destroyed. Turns out car thieves have been selling stolen
vehicles to the same scrap yard without titles. The yard pays them,
crushes the car, and the lawful owners are SOL.

Here in SE Iowa cars WITH TITLE are selling for approximately
$205.00/ton at the scrap yards. They will not take them without a title.

Don

On Jul 7, 12:37*pm, IGot2P wrote:
Here in SE Iowa cars WITH TITLE are selling for approximately
$205.00/ton at the scrap yards. They will not take them without a title.

....and doing FAR more damage to the "good used car supply" than cash
for clunkers ever did...

wrote:
On Jul 7, 12:37 pm, IGot2P wrote:
Here in SE Iowa cars WITH TITLE are selling for approximately
$205.00/ton at the scrap yards. They will not take them without a
title.

...and doing FAR more damage to the "good used car supply" than cash
for clunkers ever did...

Only in the 2-300 dolar market.

wrote:

Here in SE Iowa cars WITH TITLE are selling for approximately
$205.00/ton at the scrap yards. They will not take them without
a title.

Kudos for not being a bone-head full-quoter like IGot2P was.

...and doing FAR more damage to the "good used car supply" than
cash for clunkers ever did...

I would think that a "good used car" is worth more than $205 a ton.

On 7/7/2011 12:34 PM, Kurt Ullman wrote:
In ,
Hell wrote:

On 7/7/2011 9:42 AM, Bob F wrote:
Hell Toupee wrote:
We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to
steal and scrap for metal is...cars. A couple ran out of gas on the
freeway and had to abandon the car. When they went back to retrieve it
a few hours later, it was gone. The following day they learned that a
tow truck driver picked it up and sold it to a scrap yard for $500
bucks and it was already destroyed. Turns out car thieves have been
selling stolen vehicles to the same scrap yard without titles. The
yard pays them, crushes the car, and the lawful owners are SOL.

When I sold a scrap car to a yard, I had to provide them with the title.

This yard doesn't concern itself with that. It says that requiring
them to collect proof of ownership from the sellers is
over-regulation, and bad for business. Yeah, when you're shady, I can
see how that would be bad for your business.

What is the state law? In Indiana they have to have valid title of
some sort to crush a car legally. Also, I would think their rather lax
standards would lead them open to charges of receiving stolen property
and one heck of a class action suit for damages.


Not sure if it is in effect yet, but in MI, they were trying to make
scrap yards operate basically like pawnshops- no purchases from walk-ins
without ID and a logbook, and a description of the material. Not to
mention a 'who are you kidding, dumbass?' educational program for yard
workers and potential sellers, showing examples of the most common kinds
of stolen scrap that anyone with common sense would know are probably
hot. (manhole covers, new cable on reels, unused plumbing parts, etc.)
The local yards have been put on notice by cops and DA- if they buy
obvious stuff without doing due diligence, they will be prosecuted as
well, just to make an example of them.

--
aem sends...

On Thu, 07 Jul 2011 09:27:34 -0700, Oren wrote:

Theft had gotten so bad around here the ...

Where is around here?

Don. www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).

On Thu, 07 Jul 2011 19:29:24 -0400, aemeijers wrote:

Not to
mention a 'who are you kidding, dumbass?' educational program for yard
workers and potential sellers, showing examples of the most common kinds
of stolen scrap that anyone with common sense would know are probably
hot. (manhole covers, new cable on reels, unused plumbing parts, etc.)

In Brooklyn someone recently stole a bunch of antique wrought iron gates on
a couple blocks:

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories..._10_29_bk.html

Don. www.donwiss.com (e-mail link at home page bottom).

On Jul 8, 11:05*am, GFretwell wrote:
On Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:21:21 -0500, Matt





wrote:
On 07/07/2011 10:26 AM, wrote:
Home Guy writes:

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...am-targeting-a....

How many AC units are using copper instead of aluminum these days?

And now people are putting cages around them?

Read the article, the thieves get $25.

Must take 2 or 3 guys to carry and at least an hour
per unit.

Doesn't make much sense.

They must be selling them as used A/C compressors, not as scrap,
regardless of what the article says.

They sell the copper at 75 cents a pound and a couple guys can steal a
condenser in about 2 minutes. They just cut the lines and roll it away
on a hand truck.
It takes more like 4-5 minutes to strip the copper using battery
tools.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I don't see how you could strip the copper from an AC
unit in 4-5 minutes. The copper tubing is burined inside
the condensor coils which are covered with aluminum
fins and inside the whole thing. Not exactly accessible.
Whick is why they take the whole thing. But even so,
how much copper do you wind up with? Even if it's
25lbs, that's a whopping $20

On Thu, 07 Jul 2011 09:27:34 -0700, Oren wrote:



We've had a long section of freeway in the dark, because the thieves
stole the wire out of the high mast light poles -- power still on.


We had a power failure here a few years ago. A tree fell across the
lines. It lasted for a good 4 hours because by the time the power
company arrived to fix it, which was within half an hour, a quarter
mile of wire had "walked away". They didnt have enough wire on the
truck to replace that which had gone missing so they had to send for
more from a far away depot.

It just amazed me that thieves could strip wire from the poles so
fast.

On 7/8/2011 10:21 AM, wrote:
On Jul 8, 11:05 am, wrote:
On Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:21:21 -0500, Matt

....


They sell the copper at 75 cents a pound ...

....

how much copper do you wind up with? Even if it's
25lbs, that's a whopping $20

They don't do just one and clean Cu tubing is over $2.50/lb even in
under 50 lb walkin and it's been much higher than that.

The "pros" take the units somewhere and strip them then sell;
sophisticated bunches they've busted around here have crushers/sorters,
the whole shootin' match just like the big chop shops have everything
they need for dismantling cars/trucks for the black market parts market
or to disguise/retitle/etc. the vehicle on the "steal on commission" basis.

It's a major problem; having rural electric co-op that traverses much
open country that is very sparsely populated, we've lost miles of the
ground wires from poles and as others have noted even some places they
have actually tied on and pulled the lines themselves.

There's been a bunch in Wichita that have targetted a couple of the park
ballfields during offseason--they've done 10X the damage to light
standards, switching gear, etc., that the cost of the materials has
been. The real ****er is a couple of them were all-volunteer
contributed neighborhood fields.

New more restrictive laws on the recyclers on what they have to have for
ID and materials they can take have helped a little; enforcement on the
crooked ones of them is a problem in lack of resources altho it's fairly
easy to tell which are the most problematical there's still the effort
to actually make sufficient of a case to prosecute at a serious enough
level to do real damage instead of just nuisance level...

--

On Jul 7, 12:34*pm, Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article ,
*Hell Toupee wrote:





On 7/7/2011 9:42 AM, Bob F wrote:
Hell Toupee wrote:
We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to
steal and scrap for metal is...cars. *A couple ran out of gas on the
freeway and had to abandon the car. When they went back to retrieve it
a few hours later, it was gone. The following day they learned that a
tow truck driver picked it up and sold it to a scrap yard for $500
bucks and it was already destroyed. Turns out car thieves have been
selling stolen vehicles to the same scrap yard without titles. The
yard pays them, crushes the car, and the lawful owners are SOL.

When I sold a scrap car to a yard, I had to provide them with the title.

This yard doesn't concern itself with that. It says that requiring
them to collect proof of ownership from the sellers is
over-regulation, and bad for business. Yeah, when you're shady, I can
see how that would be bad for your business.

* *What is the state law? In Indiana they have to have valid title of
some sort to crush a car legally. Also, I would think their rather lax
standards would lead them open to charges of receiving stolen property
and one heck of a class action suit for damages.

--
People thought cybersex was a safe alternative,
until patients started presenting with sexually
acquired carpal tunnel syndrome.-Howard Berkowitz- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

"one heck of a class action suit for damages."

How would that happen?

To have a class action suit, you need a class.

From lawyers.com:

•Numbers. There have to be so many possible plaintiffs and lawsuits
against a defendant that it's not practical for them to file their own
suits. Often, possible plaintiffs number in the hundreds or thousands.

In order for a Class Action suit to be filed against the scrap yard,
there would have to be at least hundreds of rightful owners of the
cars that knew that their cars had been taken to this scrap yard after
being stolen.

If the cars were being crushed soon after receipt, then will have
essentially "disappeared", never to be found and the owner would never
know who to sue.

Then there is the question of who is the rightful owner. If there was
a lien against the car (a car loan) who would be the plaintiff?

If the insurance company paid the individual owner after the car was
stolen, then the insurance company would own the car should it ever be
found. Assuming many of the stolen cars were insured (and now owned)
by the limited number of insurance companies in the market, the pool
of plantiffs just got much smaller.

Any of the above factors makes the possibility of a class action suit
pretty small.

Home Guy wrote in :

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/07/...-targeting-air
-conditioners/

How many AC units are using copper instead of aluminum these days?

And now people are putting cages around them?

Phoenix/Mesa ups Chicago. Two 5T AC's stolen from a church.

http://www.myfoxla.com/dpps/news/off...08-to_14040863

Any Canucks know if stealing AC units is happening on any sort of scale
in Canada? (specifically, Ontario, SW-Ontario)?

I'm wondering if it's time to put a cage around the AC unit at my
office, and maybe home as well.

On 7/9/2011 2:05 PM, Home Guy wrote:
Any Canucks know if stealing AC units is happening on any sort of scale
in Canada? (specifically, Ontario, SW-Ontario)?
....

Specifically, no but I can't imagine it isn't--commodity prices aren't
any different. Only way can see it wouldn't be is if there's something
that effectively bans the recycling as the outlet for the material.

--

"Home Guy" wrote in message ...

Any Canucks know if stealing AC units is happening on any sort of scale
in Canada? (specifically, Ontario, SW-Ontario)?

I'm wondering if it's time to put a cage around the AC unit at my
office, and maybe home as well.

-------------


I live in Halton and never heard of it because it's just easier to break
into unlocked cars or garages.

Instead of wasting money on a cage I'd just make a fake alarm sensor from a
plastic bottle cap with wires running out of it into the home to somewhere
on the unit. For double assurance I'd post a beware of dog sign on my gate.
Thieves look for easy mark so why go overboard with the security. Just put
up enuf stuff to make them think twice and look elsewhere.

dpb wrote:

Any Canucks know if stealing AC units is happening on any sort
of scale in Canada? (specifically, Ontario, SW-Ontario)?

Specifically, no but I can't imagine it isn't--

If it is, then for some reason it's not being reported in the media the
way it is in the US. That's why I'm asking.

homer wrote:
On Thu, 07 Jul 2011 09:27:34 -0700, Oren wrote:



We've had a long section of freeway in the dark, because the thieves
stole the wire out of the high mast light poles -- power still on.


We had a power failure here a few years ago. A tree fell across the
lines. It lasted for a good 4 hours because by the time the power
company arrived to fix it, which was within half an hour, a quarter
mile of wire had "walked away". They didnt have enough wire on the
truck to replace that which had gone missing so they had to send for
more from a far away depot.

It just amazed me that thieves could strip wire from the poles so
fast.

Well, they did drop the tree on the lines.

aemeijers wrote:
On 7/7/2011 12:34 PM, Kurt Ullman wrote:
In ,
Hell wrote:

On 7/7/2011 9:42 AM, Bob F wrote:
Hell Toupee wrote:
We had an article in the local paper that said the latest thing to
steal and scrap for metal is...cars. A couple ran out of gas on
the freeway and had to abandon the car. When they went back to
retrieve it a few hours later, it was gone. The following day
they learned that a tow truck driver picked it up and sold it to
a scrap yard for $500 bucks and it was already destroyed. Turns
out car thieves have been selling stolen vehicles to the same
scrap yard without titles. The yard pays them, crushes the car,
and the lawful owners are SOL.

When I sold a scrap car to a yard, I had to provide them with the
title.

This yard doesn't concern itself with that. It says that requiring
them to collect proof of ownership from the sellers is
over-regulation, and bad for business. Yeah, when you're shady, I
can see how that would be bad for your business.

What is the state law? In Indiana they have to have valid title
of some sort to crush a car legally. Also, I would think their
rather lax standards would lead them open to charges of receiving
stolen property and one heck of a class action suit for damages.


Not sure if it is in effect yet, but in MI, they were trying to make
scrap yards operate basically like pawnshops- no purchases from
walk-ins without ID and a logbook, and a description of the material.
Not to mention a 'who are you kidding, dumbass?' educational program
for yard workers and potential sellers, showing examples of the most
common kinds of stolen scrap that anyone with common sense would know
are probably hot. (manhole covers, new cable on reels, unused
plumbing parts, etc.) The local yards have been put on notice by cops
and DA- if they buy obvious stuff without doing due diligence, they
will be prosecuted as well, just to make an example of them.

Seattle has the same requirements, plus no cash payments over $10, IIRC.