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A friend was a property manager in Sacramento. His biggest headache was replacing the electrical equipment thieves would demolish to get to the copper, that cur

A friend was a property manager in Sacramento. His biggest headache was replacing the electrical equipment thieves would demolish to get to the copper, that currently pays ~$5/lb. If people are really working this hard for steel at $0.04/lb, then transformers and air conditioners will have to be installed in vaults.

kogasa240p 2mo ago
> ~$5/lb Copper sells over $6 per pound these days: https://www.kitco.com/price/base-metals/copper https://www.kitco.com/price/base-metals/copper
- Computer0 2mo ago
  I’d say $6 is == ~$5
- Aurornis 2mo ago
  The scrap price is what you get for bringing scrap copper to a recycler. Not an expert, but I assume $5/lb is the peak value for dropping off nearly perfect condition copper. Not sure how much they’re actually getting for stripped copper wire.
  - tomjakubowski 2mo ago
    I would also think that unscrupulous scrap buyers would offer a lower price for copper which has obviously been stolen or stripped from public works, since they are taking on more risk by buying it.
TacticalCoder 2mo ago
> His biggest headache was replacing the electrical equipment thieves would demolish to get to the copper It's one of the reason trains get stuck in Europe: thieves stealing copper cables. They've been found to steal, too, heavy road grate if they were of any value: which created actual serious accidents (where a car's tire falls into the hole). Regarding the electrical cables for trains, one solution is, slowly , replace them with cables with basically the same properties but 1/10th the copper. Other funky solutions have been implemented: chemical sprays with a composition that is watermark and that cannot easily be removed. So when caught the thieves cannot deny because for x weeks the watermark stays, invisible and harmless, on their skin. One question of course is: what does society think we should do with thieves who create road accidents and who render trains inoperable?
- deleted 2mo ago
  [deleted]
- mschuster91 2mo ago
  > It's one of the reason trains get stuck in Europe: thieves stealing copper cables. Even worse. Sometimes, the dumb fucks think something has copper in it, but actually it's fiber... once two copper thieves simultaneously took out the primary and secondary fiber for the GSM-R network, leading to a complete standstill in Northern Germany [1]. (Personally: given the timing, I think it was Russian throwaway agents, and I do not believe that "copper thieves" cover story for a single second) [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM-R-Ausfall_bei_der_Deutschen_Bahn_am_8._Oktober_2022 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM-R-Ausfall_bei_der_Deutsche...
- downrightmike 2mo ago
  trains arent really useful in the US on purpose
  - gumby 2mo ago
    Trains in the US are super useful…for freight. Pretty much worthless for passengers in most cases. Canada and Australia are similar. Europe puts people in trains and freight in semi-trailers. China and Japan are more like this. India dedicates its rail network 100% to passengers and also 100% to freight. Somehow it works.
- gumby 2mo ago
  > One question of course is: what does society think we should do with thieves who create road accidents and who render trains inoperable? They should be liable for consequential damages.
  - NoImmatureAdHom 2mo ago
    Death. Make me late to the airport will ya?
- singpolyma3 2mo ago
mrisoli 2mo ago
My GF works with energy infrastructure in Colombia and they have lots of issues with people stealing copper, I didn't verify her claim but she said despite not having natural sources of copper Colombia had significant export volume of copper, pretty much all stolen. Her company has launched multiple investigations and unveiled gangs and networks repeatedly.

kogasa240p 2mo ago

> ~$5/lb Copper sells over $6 per pound these days: https://www.kitco.com/price/base-metals/copper https://www.kitco.com/price/base-metals/copper

Computer0 2mo ago
I’d say $6 is == ~$5
Aurornis 2mo ago
The scrap price is what you get for bringing scrap copper to a recycler. Not an expert, but I assume $5/lb is the peak value for dropping off nearly perfect condition copper. Not sure how much they’re actually getting for stripped copper wire.
- tomjakubowski 2mo ago
  I would also think that unscrupulous scrap buyers would offer a lower price for copper which has obviously been stolen or stripped from public works, since they are taking on more risk by buying it.

TacticalCoder 2mo ago

> His biggest headache was replacing the electrical equipment thieves would demolish to get to the copper It's one of the reason trains get stuck in Europe: thieves stealing copper cables. They've been found to steal, too, heavy road grate if they were of any value: which created actual serious accidents (where a car's tire falls into the hole). Regarding the electrical cables for trains, one solution is, slowly , replace them with cables with basically the same properties but 1/10th the copper. Other funky solutions have been implemented: chemical sprays with a composition that is watermark and that cannot easily be removed. So when caught the thieves cannot deny because for x weeks the watermark stays, invisible and harmless, on their skin. One question of course is: what does society think we should do with thieves who create road accidents and who render trains inoperable?

deleted 2mo ago
[deleted]
mschuster91 2mo ago
> It's one of the reason trains get stuck in Europe: thieves stealing copper cables. Even worse. Sometimes, the dumb fucks think something has copper in it, but actually it's fiber... once two copper thieves simultaneously took out the primary and secondary fiber for the GSM-R network, leading to a complete standstill in Northern Germany [1]. (Personally: given the timing, I think it was Russian throwaway agents, and I do not believe that "copper thieves" cover story for a single second) [1] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM-R-Ausfall_bei_der_Deutschen_Bahn_am_8._Oktober_2022 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM-R-Ausfall_bei_der_Deutsche...
downrightmike 2mo ago
trains arent really useful in the US on purpose
- gumby 2mo ago
  Trains in the US are super useful…for freight. Pretty much worthless for passengers in most cases. Canada and Australia are similar. Europe puts people in trains and freight in semi-trailers. China and Japan are more like this. India dedicates its rail network 100% to passengers and also 100% to freight. Somehow it works.
gumby 2mo ago
> One question of course is: what does society think we should do with thieves who create road accidents and who render trains inoperable? They should be liable for consequential damages.
- NoImmatureAdHom 2mo ago
  Death. Make me late to the airport will ya?
singpolyma3 2mo ago

mrisoli 2mo ago

My GF works with energy infrastructure in Colombia and they have lots of issues with people stealing copper, I didn't verify her claim but she said despite not having natural sources of copper Colombia had significant export volume of copper, pretty much all stolen. Her company has launched multiple investigations and unveiled gangs and networks repeatedly.