Really? REALLY?

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Drew,

Some people were stealing copper from roadway lights along I-95 here in FL..... its that bad.



Now that you mention it, they're doing that here as well. Sickening.

 

[PandaBear]

I think we need to invent something that is not worth scraping as pipe material and last as long as if not better than copper.

It'll be nice if plastic can last as long one day.

 

[addyguy]

I see lots of people all over our city scavenging for Al cans.

There are even guys who drive around in an old truck, and go through raodside garbage piles looking for anything metal.

 

[Kestas]

One beautiful, semi-historic building in Detroit - I believe it was some athletic club - was broken into and had all the plumbing removed. The building could barely keep up with its operations and maintenance as it was. That theft was the last straw for the building and it is now slated to be demolished.

 

[Tempest]

Quote:
Consider this: In just the last six months, copper wiring has been stripped from 12 street lights and seven trail lights in Henderson. While the city is quick to repair the lights -- most of the time they are repaired in less than three days -- the crime is costly. In six months, the city has forked out $20,000 to return light to its streets.

http://www.lvrj.com/news/copper-thieves-keep-people-drivers-in-dark-147484155.html

Same thing happening around hear quite a bit.

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Dave, sorry to hear about this. The house next door to mine is owned by some people in California; they're planning to retire here. Anyway, they had all the copper stripped out as well. Makes me mad because I try and be the best neighbor I can be but the thieves came in the night and cleaned it out. I actually suspect it was friends of some contractors doing work in the house.

Copper theft is rampant.


Thanks! The neighbors feel bad..this is the only empty house on this half of the block. Several of these houses have houses have families with young children. Scary! Now everyone is keeping an eye on the house. You can bet your bottom dollar I'm starting that neighbor watch...

Still waiting to hear back from HUD...

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Drew,

Some people were stealing copper from roadway lights along I-95 here in FL..... its that bad.



Off the roadway? Wow!

 

[Shannow]

Copper thieves have been stealing railway signal wire lately, stripping houses under construction of their cabling etc.

Utes and trailers being stolen to haul the stuff away in.

 

[yonyon]

Originally Posted By: mpvue
Originally Posted By: yonyon
A house' worth of copper pipe has got to be worth at least $20 as scrap. Someone probably made a good $7/hour tax free stealing from you and didn't even have to do any honest work. He doesn't care what it cost you any more than you care what a steak costs the cow it came from. Less if you're one of those vegetarian types. It's a way of life for some of these people.

you obviously haven't checked copper prices lately... you could rip $20 worth of aluminum siding off a house.
scrap metal prices


I just assumed they were working the way the scrappers do around here, transporting the metal in some rusted out full size pickup truck with a flat tire a puking out black smoke because the carb is leaking and only three cylinders are making fire. Fuel at 2MPG plus a 'new' leaking bald used tire that doesn't fit every trip cuts into the profits.

 

[Shannow]

Our local scrappy, drives around in some pretty good vehicles.

50c/lb for cans, inlet manifolds etc., we can make some pocket money for the children while showing them that used doesn't mean trash.

Funny 'though he pays scrap rates, but when you go to buy a bit of 2" pipe, straight up to retail rates.

 

[doitmyself]

Sorry to hear that your home buying experience was dampened.

Rural America is getting hit also, with thieves stealing irrigation parts from farm fields.

 

[Shannow]

One of the ones that I find absolutely appalling as an engineer is theft and trashing of historic stuff.

A mate is setting up a tourist railway, and all of the rolling stock that they can find has been stripped of copper/brass.