[TheForge] Price of Copper

[Robert J Hill]

Several months ago someone used a garden clipper to cut into a 200 amp 
service at the dock I worked at.  The security video, from almost 150 
feet away, showed an amazing flash and falling molten stuff.  There 
were footprints coming in during low tide but nothing indicating they 
left.  Anything for a buck.
Rob
On Apr 23, 2007, at 15:46, xlch58 at swbell.net wrote:

Jerry Smith wrote:
> Folks,
>
> I thought scrap copper was like a buck something a
> pound, today I found out it's like $2.50 a pound.
> We had somebody in the middle of the night drop a span
> of telephone trunk, and actually did it very
> professionally. From this mills people were walking
> out with rolls of copper wire and other stuff.
>
> So why is copper prices going thru the roof? I
> actually make stuff out of copper as part of my work.
>
> Jerry
>
Why -- China.   Around here they are stripping it out of light poles on 
the interstate with a truck and a chain.   They are cutting the 
evaperator lines off of your ac unit, and now even stealing the AC 
compressor as well.  I have an empty rental property with a tractor 
behind it.  They cut the battery cables off the tractor and the power 
lines running to the outbuildings, the lines to the Airconditioner and 
would have had that too if the neighbor hadn't walked up.    We have 
had a few homes in the country stripped of their aluminum siding over a 
weekend.   One church has replaced their AC units three times.   I work 
in the power industry and it is getting  bad there as  well.   Damn 
near impossible to find a utility pole with an intact grounding strap 
in downtown.  They are also stealing the aluminum covers off the 
lighting standards faster than they can be replaced.  At one utility, 
thieves broke into a substation and stole the grounding mat.   About 
once a month we hear in the industry about someone frying themselves on 
a 12kv line or higher trying to steal something.   I just have to pop a 
beer and celebrate every time.   If all that weren't smarmy enough, we 
had a husband and wife team stealing vases and bronze plaques from 
several local cemeteries until a groundsman at one cemetery caught them 
and blocked their exit.   Their car was full of purloined cemetery 
furniture.  Dallas has a law now that you have to leave a thumbprint 
and a license and wait to get your money for scrap copper.  So they 
have to drive an extra thirty minutes to get rid of it around here.   
Eventually they will have to take the same steps they did in the 
thirties to protect railway rail.
Charles
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