Scrappers Beware!

Apologies for the alarming title but I wanted to share my experience from today. I had the displeasure of 3 gentleman, full-time honest Scrappers, come to my yard to with unusually light loads tell me they had material stolen directly off their trucks or out of storage on their property. These fellas don't live near each other at all so I don't believe the robberies are connected. This is however a stark reminder of how we need to be careful with our inventory. As the summer rush winds down I find this time of the year and leading into and through the winter, more Scrappers experience petty theft of their goods. It's a shame to see a weeks worth of hard work go into someone else's pocket who didn't deserve it. New Scrappers who have been bit by the bug but aren't creative enough to continue to find their own sources and more experienced but desperate Scrappers I think are the culprits. Lest we not forget how liquid of an asset scrap metal is and nearly impossible to recover once stolen. Please take care and guard your material. Avoid letting others know how much value is in your scrap as well as where you keep it. Don't let this happen to you! You've worked far too hard for it.

all in the game. when it happens to me I just shake it off. Whatever I send down homie I make back.

Originally Posted by mikeinreco

Black Steel is that YOU???....Sure did miss you MAN!!!

i'm goin' in....i'm goin' in....

Last week the mini storage yard where I keep my trailer was robbed.

Thieves cut the wires to my breakaway battery on my bobcat trailer and stole the battery and plastic case it was in plust cut the wires on 8 rv trailers and stole the batteries off them.

This yard is code panel entry only, is fully fenced with barbed wire, alarmed fences and night vision security cameras.

Plus a manager lives onsite and does security patrols.

We all have to pay for the damage to our trailers to boot.

I just paid $200.00 to get my trailer re wired 3 weeks ago.

I had two loads of aluminum stolen from me. I had always left my scrap on the side of my house and never had a problem. It was probably $200 or so, and I sucked it up and decided to keep cleaned aluminum inside from here on out. It was about 8 months later and I had a bunch of windows on the side of the house waiting to be broken down. Someone stole the windows. I found out from my neighbor across the street he had seen the side neighbor back his truck up to my house and take the windows. This is a person I allowed to plug into my generator during a multi day power outage. I had given the family TV's and electronics for their kids. I thought he was a friend and he lied to my face when he sympathized with me.

There is more to this story, but this is all that would be suitable for this public forum.

Sadly people do steal, I have no horrible experiences but someone stole my garage heater, luckily that's all they took. I also know someone who was working on a roof about 50 ft from their truck and a group of scums in a van jumped out, grabbed$500 worth of tools from the back of his truck and drove off in under 1 min. A word of advice don't pursue thieves, it's not worth your or someone else's lives

Originally Posted by olddude

sry but, I strongly disagree. Taking a thief lightly is not in my game plan and never will be. Thieves in this business is part of what gives it a bad name.

yeah but a slick guerilla thief could target you and get you for whatever you are good for in an unexpected moment of weakness and opportunity. then they vanish off into the night never to be seen or heard from again. it's happened to me before and it will happen to me again, I just shake it off.

maybe there is some trace Pt in bananas (???) How many would it take to refine down a few grams

Something that you guys can do is contact the crap yards in your area, Like two loads of alum rims. Is very noticeable and helps protect everyone involved. At my yard we get calls from companies that where hit over night.

Just tonight I was at a thrift dumpster. Found probably ten pounds of assorted cables, still with ends, which is very rare there. Girl came up before that and was digging with me. I finish, with a pile of other stuff much bigger than I anticipated, so I tell her that I will be right back (I live about four houses down) that I am getting some tubs. The b**** drives off with my cables as I walk back out my door to go back up the alley to the store. I've met dozens of folks doing this and none who have done such a thing. Needless to say I will remember her face and vehicle and if I see her again...

I have had two 50lb buckets of copper/iron mix, small transformers and motors stolen off my front porch, one last month and the other the month before.
The first time was just after I thought ' I better stift those soon...' so I figured that maybe I have shifted the first one.
Till the second one went missing. No theorys who stole it. 50 lbs is a lot to lift for just $20....... twice?!..

Now I am making up a mix of highlighter pen ink and water and pouring it over my metal as I save it up.
I also dust my metal with floresent builders string line chaulk.
Both, under a UV light in the dark show up like, well, floresent dayglo under a UV light.
Pretty impossible to 'prove not' once its found. There's only a few scrapdealers in my town.
One speck of that builders chaulk stands out. A trace of the chaulk dust on a carpet will stay there after vacuuming.

But other wise, my stuffs inside and too heavy to pickup.