Copper wire thefts

[Robert A Whit]

I am wondering how widespread this problem is.

Have posters been told on their news of copper wire thefts?

It has been going on since the Obama team took over and is all over the SF Bay Area. Here in my city this Sunday, thieves stole 5,600 pound spool of copper wire from PGE, the public electric utility by stealing both a truck to haul the wire on and a forklift that they used to crash the fense and is is assumed load the copper onto the flatbed truck. Video shows an orange dodge ram pickup picking up the thieves and taking the stripped wire leaving the insulation on the flat bed truck.

This has to be a sign of the times. When I was a kid, it was hobos. Today we hear of thieves. We also have learned of metal statues ripped off from various places.

[PostmodernProphet]

a lot of foreclosed homes are stripped of wire and copper pipe plumbing.......

[jimnyc]

Copper wire thefts, or copper in general, and manhole covers and all kinds of other metals - this has been going on for ages. I remember a story a couple of years ago, forget which city, but when daylight broke they found like 20 manhole covers missing around the city. Construction sites around the country are always robbed of their copper, and now they make extra efforts to lock it up.

[Robert A Whit]

Copper wire thefts, or copper in general, and manhole covers and all kinds of other metals - this has been going on for ages. I remember a story a couple of years ago, forget which city, but when daylight broke they found like 20 manhole covers missing around the city. Construction sites around the country are always robbed of their copper, and now they make extra efforts to lock it up.

The big difference is now the theft of copper wire by thiefs makes the news all the time. It was not routine to steal so much copper till the economy took the dive. It has got so bad that some company now makes GPS tracking wire and the cops have been able to finally solve the crimes where that wire is used. I think some company by putting in GPS hit the jackpot.

[jimnyc]

The big difference is now the theft of copper wire by thiefs makes the news all the time. It was not routine to steal so much copper till the economy took the dive. It has got so bad that some company now makes GPS tracking wire and the cops have been able to finally solve the crimes where that wire is used. I think some company by putting in GPS hit the jackpot.

Maybe it's gotten worse, I don't track it, but it was already a MAJOR problem in the 80's and 90's. It's as simple as getting as much as you can and dropping it at a junkyard. I know people who did it. Had another friend who went around every night collecting metals for profit, from garbage. Another problem is catalytic converters, which have platinum in them and can fetch a tidy sum. I assure you, this stuff was a major problem long before the economy went into the shitter.

[Robert A Whit]

Maybe it's gotten worse, I don't track it, but it was already a MAJOR problem in the 80's and 90's. It's as simple as getting as much as you can and dropping it at a junkyard. I know people who did it. Had another friend who went around every night collecting metals for profit, from garbage. Another problem is catalytic converters, which have platinum in them and can fetch a tidy sum. I assure you, this stuff was a major problem long before the economy went into the shitter.

What-ever. All I am saying is it makes the news here all the time NOW when it did not used to. Maybe there the place has more thieves. I dunno.

[jimnyc]

What-ever. All I am saying is it makes the news here all the time NOW when it did not used to. Maybe there the place has more thieves. I dunno.

Copper is easily sold and is like $3 per pound, but fluctuates. Any junkyard will take it as scrap without ever questioning the source. They need to close that loophole somehow. And it's always been this way. Junkyards have been taking scrap cars and metals for cash, since the beginning of time. Then when the economy goes down, the thefts increase. I worked for an air company, which provided smoke eaters for bars and offices (when you could still smoke). The metal devices that were changed when "full" weighed about 4-5 lbs apiece. We were only able to fix the dings and clean them so many times. Those as well, I used to bring van fulls of the broken filters to the yard and come back with cash for the boss.

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

The big difference is now the theft of copper wire by thiefs makes the news all the time. It was not routine to steal so much copper till the economy took the dive. It has got so bad that some company now makes GPS tracking wire and the cops have been able to finally solve the crimes where that wire is used. I think some company by putting in GPS hit the jackpot.

Copper prices moving up and the economy rushing down(thank dipshit boywonder) has led to an increase in the thefts here. A friend of mine is a police officer here and yes he states that it's increased a lot here in the last few years . -Tyr

[Robert A Whit]

Copper prices moving up and the economy rushing down(thank dipshit boywonder) has led to an increase in the thefts here. A friend of mine is a police officer here and yes he states that it's increased a lot here in the last few years . -Tyr

I know metal is taken no matter what but I figured it might be a sign of the times. I still suspect it is because a company recently came out with wire that can be tracked using GPS that is imbedded in the insulation. I was told that cities all over are checking about the special wire.

One poster says stuff like this is taken from foreclosed homes. I sell homes. My experience is that the guy that lost the house takes a lot of things to sell to support him or his family.

The funniest story I know of homes like that is a broker I used to know bought houses that were foreclosed. He borrowed a lot against his own home to use to buy such homes and then fix them up. He took dumps and turned them into outstanding properties and they normally sold pretty fast.

This was in the 1980s to date it.

Anyway, he buys and sells and fixed up, buys and sells and so forth and one day I spot a foreclosure sign on a home in a nice area and go down to San Jose to pick up the house key to show it to a client.

I show the home and everything one could take is gone. The client turned it down as needing too much to be done to it to make it a home again. The pool was loaded with mosquitoes and you can imagine what it looked like. The kitchen was gutted as were the bathrooms. No carpet at all. If it had a screw in it, it was ripped out of the house or if it was nailed it was gone.

Turns out the broker fixing up the foreclosures dug such a deep hole for himself his own house got foreclosed on. When I turned in the key the guy told me who had lost the home. I had once been in the same company he worked for.

If any of you buy forclosed homes and you have not first examined them totally, you are going to lose a lot of money. People losing homes have quit taking care of them and often trash them out of spite. Once in a while one can find a decent home that somebody lost. I get a kick out of those guys on Discovery TV buying homes lost in Phoenix and being on TV. They do not act professional in my opinion.

[PostmodernProphet]

I know metal is taken no matter what but I figured it might be a sign of the times. I still suspect it is because a company recently came out with wire that can be tracked using GPS that is imbedded in the insulation. I was told that cities all over are checking about the special wire.

One poster says stuff like this is taken from foreclosed homes. I sell homes. My experience is that the guy that lost the house takes a lot of things to sell to support him or his family.

The funniest story I know of homes like that is a broker I used to know bought houses that were foreclosed. He borrowed a lot against his own home to use to buy such homes and then fix them up. He took dumps and turned them into outstanding properties and they normally sold pretty fast.

This was in the 1980s to date it.

Anyway, he buys and sells and fixed up, buys and sells and so forth and one day I spot a foreclosure sign on a home in a nice area and go down to San Jose to pick up the house key to show it to a client.

I show the home and everything one could take is gone. The client turned it down as needing too much to be done to it to make it a home again. The pool was loaded with mosquitoes and you can imagine what it looked like. The kitchen was gutted as were the bathrooms. No carpet at all. If it had a screw in it, it was ripped out of the house or if it was nailed it was gone.

Turns out the broker fixing up the foreclosures dug such a deep hole for himself his own house got foreclosed on. When I turned in the key the guy told me who had lost the home. I had once been in the same company he worked for.

If any of you buy forclosed homes and you have not first examined them totally, you are going to lose a lot of money. People losing homes have quit taking care of them and often trash them out of spite. Once in a while one can find a decent home that somebody lost. I get a kick out of those guys on Discovery TV buying homes lost in Phoenix and being on TV. They do not act professional in my opinion.

there are good deals, though....my son got a foreclosed home for $53k....four bedroom, two fireplace, two stall garage.....with electricity and plumbing....

[jimnyc]

there are good deals, though....my son got a foreclosed home for $53k....four bedroom, two fireplace, two stall garage.....with electricity and plumbing....

Unless it was in the ghetto, and the plumbing was copper, in which case you now have no plumbing! :)

[Robert A Whit]

there are good deals, though....my son got a foreclosed home for $53k....four bedroom, two fireplace, two stall garage.....with electricity and plumbing....

Normally that means the home is worth just that amount. If not, bidders would have paid more.

That is cheap and can't be found in my area. What city and state is that in?

[fj1200]

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chtt=Copper+price+chart&chts=000000,12&chs=700x420&chf=bg,s,ffffff|c,s,ffffff&chxt=x,y&chxl=0:||1960|1963|1966|1969|1972|1975|1978|1981|1 984|1987|1990|1993|1996|1999|2002|2005|2008|2011|2 012|1:||1:|633.1|2666.7|4700.3|6733.9|8767.5&cht=lc&chd=t:8,7,7,7,11,15,17,13,14,17,16,12,12,20,23,14, 16,15,16,23,25,20,17,18,16,16,16,20,30,32,30,27,26 ,22,26,33,26,26,19,18,21,18,18,20,33,42,77,81,79,5 9,86,100,92&chdl=($/mt)&chco=000099&chls=3,1,0

[PostmodernProphet]

Normally that means the home is worth just that amount. If not, bidders would have paid more.

That is cheap and can't be found in my area. What city and state is that in?

Grand Rapids, MI.....there were cheaper......he bid 20k on one house and got beat out by someone who bid $20,100.....I think he's glad he didn't get it though....when we inspected it he said it reminded him of the house in Amityville Horror.......

[Robert A Whit]

Grand Rapids, MI.....there were cheaper......he bid 20k on one house and got beat out by someone who bid $20,100.....I think he's glad he didn't get it though....when we inspected it he said it reminded him of the house in Amityville Horror.......

I am glad he lost out on el dumpo. I listed a home once many years ago that was so bad I put an ad in the paper saying in headlines, EL DUMPO.

The home was filthy. I tried to get the owners to allow it be cleaned up telling them they would come out with a tidy cash sum. They were divorcing and both refused to allow anything to help the sale. They had quit garbage service and had stored the garbage all over the 2 car garage. It was a nice property were it in good shape. The pool was like a swamp and had all sorts of stuff tossed into the pool. It ended up I sold it to an investor and they got nothing. The home was in foreclosure anyway.

I can't imagine buying a home for $53,000. I can't find any to sell for less than maybe $300,000 and it would be a mess.

[PostmodernProphet]

/grins....around here $300k is going to get you four or more bedrooms, two or more baths, three stall garage and a lot on a private lake.....

http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/reo/3660021052.html

[Robert A Whit]

/grins....around here $300k is going to get you four or more bedrooms, two or more baths, three stall garage and a lot on a private lake.....

http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/reo/3660021052.html

Our prices are so much higher for something of that scale so I suppose people pay our super high prices for other compelling reasons. What do you suppose they pay such high prices for then?