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Wow. My feeling is that metal theft is getting out of control. If the news reporting on it is to be trusted, cases are in fact rising. Thieves have probably al

Wow. My feeling is that metal theft is getting out of control. If the news reporting on it is to be trusted, cases are in fact rising. Thieves have probably always hit junkyards and stolen wire, but now there seems to be more and more infrastructure hit as well. The oddest aspect of this is that scrap steel isn't even worth that much. How many tons could that be? Let's say it's 400 tons, that's maybe $100k. And it seems like extremely high risk, because they're going to be looking for this everywhere now. Why would they not just steal two or three cars, which would never make the news. They must be skilled to pull something like that off in a night. Edit: Another user linked the street view, apparently the article image wasn't the actual tower. So based on that it's much less metal even.

pelorat 3y ago
[flagged]
- bombcar 3y ago
  A nutcase would have dropped the tower and left it down, not removed the tower itself. They'll find the scrapyard that received it and track it down from there. Unless it was done months ago and they just finally noticed.
  - ryandrake 3y ago
    Never underestimate a "nutcase's" willingness to additionally grift and profit when it aligns with their nutcase-ness. Delusional but not stupid.
  - dylan604 3y ago
    Everyone loves a stupid criminal, so it would make sense it would be a local scrapyard. If they were "smart", they would split it up across multiple scrapyards so that it was much less obvious. The fun thing would be to find a new tower that suddenly appeared in another location that happens to look just like this missing one.
    - bombcar 3y ago
      That's what I want - a deep story of pirate radio stations, intrigue, etc. Not just someone dropping a tower for scrap. I'll settle for "inside job to get the FCC to give them a license for whatever".
zdragnar 3y ago
Our local metro area has had a problem with copper thieves for a few years now, cutting open and stealing the wiring from street lights. People are why we can't have nice things, apparently.
- Cthulhu_ 3y ago
  They're targeting rail infrastructure here, but a lot of copper there is being replaced with cheaper materials like aluminium.
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    And signalling with fiber.
- sonicanatidae 3y ago
  Humans will always be the problem, because there is one immutable fact about humans that history has proven too many times to list. There. Is. Always. An. Asshole. Always.
- throwanem 3y ago
  'People' is a remarkable way to misspell 'poverty'.
  - mcphage 3y ago
    In the broad I agree, but in this specific case, I don't think poor people can dismantle a 200' steel radio tower without anyone noticing. I'm guessing that would require some heavy, expensive equipment.
    - throwanem 3y ago
      To do safely, sure.
  - zdragnar 3y ago
    Poverty is not itself a reason to commit crime. Some people steal whether they are poor or rich, others don't, whether they are poor or rich. Around here, it's mostly organized gangs doing the stealing, not random poor people... If that were the case, the city wouldn't have a single light fixture left unscathed.
Xirgil 3y ago
Criminals don't make sense to you because you're trying to explain their behavior with your own thought process. You're likely much smarter than they are, with a better understanding of risk vs reward and lower impulsivity. Also you can't explain criminal behavior with purely financial motivations. Car thieves are not making $33k per car. A lot of them don't even sell them, just steal what's inside and use them for a joy ride (ask me how I know). Lots of petty criminals and drug dealers are not making very much money, especially for the level of risk. But compared to a traditional job it's much less restrictive, fun and exciting, lets you hang out with your friends most of the time, and has a lot more social clout with their peers than traditional employment.
- dreamworld 3y ago
  IMO, they should be playing games or sports instead. Give people more opportunities to do just what you said (instead of working supposedly boring (at least to them) jobs), instead of hurting people/property to achieve that.
- pgrote 3y ago
  How do you know?
  - sillysaurusx 3y ago
    Seconded! Sounds like interesting stories.
yreg 3y ago
Reminds me of sand theft. Apparently, sometimes even an entire beach gets dug up and stolen. Planet Money did an episode on it. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/628890875 https://www.npr.org/transcripts/628890875
dylan604 3y ago
> Why would they not just steal two or three cars, Is this a real question? You're coming at this with the position that car theft is so easy because it's easy to get away with and has a high rate of return. That only works if you have the connections with chop shops or exporters to be able to get money for that car. You also have to have the skills/tools for being able to steal the car in the first place. To flip that, the people that do steal cars would probably have no clue on how to dismantle a steel structure, have the means to load/haul that steel, or know what recycling places will even buy from them without immediately reporting it to police.
me_me_me 3y ago
100k between 4-5 people, is a lot of money for a lot of people. Especially metal stealing ones
- MobiusHorizons 3y ago
  I highly doubt it's worth 100k as scrap. The "6 figures" price tag was to replace it. Maybe they have some way to sell this equipment for its original purpose, but if they are selling it for scrap it'll go for a tiny fraction of what it would be worth in working condition.
  - chasd00 3y ago
    also, if the scrapyard suspected it was stolen they probably wouldn't buy it. I bet it's at the bottom of a river somewhere.
    - jcpham2 3y ago
      Nah Jasper is that kind of place in Alabama where even a stolen 200’ tower can be fenced
vcg3rd 3y ago
~5 years ago when I was driving back and forth to an adjacent state to work on our house to get it on the market, I discover my ground wire had been stolen. It was no more than 2' long and was the only exposed wire outside. The house was on a very rural 2 mile road with only 7-8 other houses. They had to be desperate.
asadotzler 3y ago
The tower can get some stub legs welded on and it'll be good as new, at least $10,000 worth, maybe as much as $15,000. The 200' self supporting tower I've been eying is $11,000 used.
quickthrowman 3y ago
400 tons is 800k pounds or 10 fully laden semi trailers of material, it’s definitely not anywhere near that much. I bet you could fit the whole thing on one flatbed with room to spare.
- snypher 3y ago
  It's definitely not that much, as the yard near me pays $0.60 a pound and that tower is not worth $500k.
ssl-3 3y ago
400 tons? As a reference: A 10-foot section of Rohn 45G weighs about 70 pounds. 200 feet of 45G is thus about 1,400 pounds -- less than a ton. (I do not know if this particular tower was Rohn 45G or something else that may be heavier -- I only know that it was a guyed tower, and that (when guyed) 45G can be stacked beyond 200 feet.)

pelorat 3y ago

[flagged]

bombcar 3y ago
A nutcase would have dropped the tower and left it down, not removed the tower itself. They'll find the scrapyard that received it and track it down from there. Unless it was done months ago and they just finally noticed.
- ryandrake 3y ago
  Never underestimate a "nutcase's" willingness to additionally grift and profit when it aligns with their nutcase-ness. Delusional but not stupid.
- dylan604 3y ago
  Everyone loves a stupid criminal, so it would make sense it would be a local scrapyard. If they were "smart", they would split it up across multiple scrapyards so that it was much less obvious. The fun thing would be to find a new tower that suddenly appeared in another location that happens to look just like this missing one.
  - bombcar 3y ago
    That's what I want - a deep story of pirate radio stations, intrigue, etc. Not just someone dropping a tower for scrap. I'll settle for "inside job to get the FCC to give them a license for whatever".

zdragnar 3y ago

Our local metro area has had a problem with copper thieves for a few years now, cutting open and stealing the wiring from street lights. People are why we can't have nice things, apparently.

Cthulhu_ 3y ago
They're targeting rail infrastructure here, but a lot of copper there is being replaced with cheaper materials like aluminium.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  And signalling with fiber.
sonicanatidae 3y ago
Humans will always be the problem, because there is one immutable fact about humans that history has proven too many times to list. There. Is. Always. An. Asshole. Always.
throwanem 3y ago
'People' is a remarkable way to misspell 'poverty'.
- mcphage 3y ago
  In the broad I agree, but in this specific case, I don't think poor people can dismantle a 200' steel radio tower without anyone noticing. I'm guessing that would require some heavy, expensive equipment.
  - throwanem 3y ago
    To do safely, sure.
- zdragnar 3y ago
  Poverty is not itself a reason to commit crime. Some people steal whether they are poor or rich, others don't, whether they are poor or rich. Around here, it's mostly organized gangs doing the stealing, not random poor people... If that were the case, the city wouldn't have a single light fixture left unscathed.

Xirgil 3y ago

Criminals don't make sense to you because you're trying to explain their behavior with your own thought process. You're likely much smarter than they are, with a better understanding of risk vs reward and lower impulsivity. Also you can't explain criminal behavior with purely financial motivations. Car thieves are not making $33k per car. A lot of them don't even sell them, just steal what's inside and use them for a joy ride (ask me how I know). Lots of petty criminals and drug dealers are not making very much money, especially for the level of risk. But compared to a traditional job it's much less restrictive, fun and exciting, lets you hang out with your friends most of the time, and has a lot more social clout with their peers than traditional employment.

dreamworld 3y ago
IMO, they should be playing games or sports instead. Give people more opportunities to do just what you said (instead of working supposedly boring (at least to them) jobs), instead of hurting people/property to achieve that.
pgrote 3y ago
How do you know?
- sillysaurusx 3y ago
  Seconded! Sounds like interesting stories.

yreg 3y ago

Reminds me of sand theft. Apparently, sometimes even an entire beach gets dug up and stolen. Planet Money did an episode on it. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/628890875 https://www.npr.org/transcripts/628890875

dylan604 3y ago

> Why would they not just steal two or three cars, Is this a real question? You're coming at this with the position that car theft is so easy because it's easy to get away with and has a high rate of return. That only works if you have the connections with chop shops or exporters to be able to get money for that car. You also have to have the skills/tools for being able to steal the car in the first place. To flip that, the people that do steal cars would probably have no clue on how to dismantle a steel structure, have the means to load/haul that steel, or know what recycling places will even buy from them without immediately reporting it to police.

me_me_me 3y ago

100k between 4-5 people, is a lot of money for a lot of people. Especially metal stealing ones

MobiusHorizons 3y ago
I highly doubt it's worth 100k as scrap. The "6 figures" price tag was to replace it. Maybe they have some way to sell this equipment for its original purpose, but if they are selling it for scrap it'll go for a tiny fraction of what it would be worth in working condition.
- chasd00 3y ago
  also, if the scrapyard suspected it was stolen they probably wouldn't buy it. I bet it's at the bottom of a river somewhere.
  - jcpham2 3y ago
    Nah Jasper is that kind of place in Alabama where even a stolen 200’ tower can be fenced

vcg3rd 3y ago

~5 years ago when I was driving back and forth to an adjacent state to work on our house to get it on the market, I discover my ground wire had been stolen. It was no more than 2' long and was the only exposed wire outside. The house was on a very rural 2 mile road with only 7-8 other houses. They had to be desperate.

asadotzler 3y ago

The tower can get some stub legs welded on and it'll be good as new, at least $10,000 worth, maybe as much as $15,000. The 200' self supporting tower I've been eying is $11,000 used.

quickthrowman 3y ago

400 tons is 800k pounds or 10 fully laden semi trailers of material, it’s definitely not anywhere near that much. I bet you could fit the whole thing on one flatbed with room to spare.

snypher 3y ago
It's definitely not that much, as the yard near me pays $0.60 a pound and that tower is not worth $500k.

ssl-3 3y ago

400 tons? As a reference: A 10-foot section of Rohn 45G weighs about 70 pounds. 200 feet of 45G is thus about 1,400 pounds -- less than a ton. (I do not know if this particular tower was Rohn 45G or something else that may be heavier -- I only know that it was a guyed tower, and that (when guyed) 45G can be stacked beyond 200 feet.)