# 10 Strange Things People Steal



## Capt Worley PE (Apr 16, 2013)

> These are tough times indeed. Food stamps through the roof, unemployment at 7.6 percent; 13.9 percent by another measure (look it up -- impress your policy wonk friends!), and less food costing more and more money. Uh-oh! Not the best backdrop, if you're someone with stuff to protect! Sure, even in the best of times, people steal. But in a pancaked economy, the pilfering goes onward and upward, and sometimes it moves sideways and gets a little ... weird.




http://news.discovery.com/human/life/10-strange-things-people-steal-130411.htm


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## YMZ PE (Apr 16, 2013)

They mentioned detergent but not baby formula, which the Mexican gangs around here use to cut their cocaine. LA cokeheads get more DHA in them than the national average, I guess.


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## Wolverine (Apr 16, 2013)

I'm assuming it's thieves, but every drainage grate on the side of the road on my local highway ride home is missing. Actually it's pretty dangerous.

Two years ago, I had the catalytic converter cut out from under my car midday. Apparently, my model has the "California" emissions converter which has (er, "had"...) about $20 of platinum in it or something.

Unscrupuilous scrap dealers are part of the problem.


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## wilheldp_PE (Apr 16, 2013)

Most of the items on that list should have been rolled into one. Copper, cast-iron manhole covers, brass urns from cemeteries, and brass caps from fire hydrants are all stolen for the same reason...scrap value.


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## Dexman PE PMP (Apr 16, 2013)

Copper theft has set our projects back several hundred thousand dollars, as had other miscellaneous scrap metal thefts. Most recycling and scrap centers have been put on notice to look for specific markings on our things and will contact the authorities if something shows up.

Scrap metal is only worth what someone will pay for it, so if we tell the scrap yards that our stuff comes with heavy fines for processing our stolen stuff, they tend to not want to deal with it at all...


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## FLBuff PE (Apr 16, 2013)

^Thanks for the heads up. I'll just move it across the state line.


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## Capt Worley PE (Apr 16, 2013)

In SC you actually have to have a permit to transport scrap copper. Supposedly, it cut copper thefts 60%.


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## snickerd3 (Apr 16, 2013)

IL just started new scrap rules the first of the year...the local scrapper is still closed thanks to the requirements in the new rules


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## Supe (Apr 16, 2013)

Local scrapyards around here require a photo ID for all transactions that are kept on file, with weights and descriptions. That in itself is a pretty hefty deterrant.


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## Master slacker (Apr 16, 2013)

Hell, someone at my last employer made off with $2M (two million) worth of gas turbine blades... an entire row... :blink:  All scrapyards from Houston to New Orleans "never saw them".

Not that it bothers me now, but at the time, it really sucked.


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## mudpuppy (Apr 16, 2013)

Are you sure it didn't blow?

(turbine blades. . . blow. . . get it? ha.)


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## Road Guy (Apr 16, 2013)

2 years ago someone stole every manhole cover from our neighborhood...


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## sycamore PE (Apr 16, 2013)

When we were in college, someone broke into my husband's cheapo rental house between terms and cut out the copper piping. The landlord fixed everything up with PEX. Next term, someone else broke a window and ripped out the drywall looking for pipes. . . Fortunately they left the PEX alone and went away. Ahhhh Flint . . .


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## mudpuppy (Apr 17, 2013)

^That sound about right for Flint. You went to Kettering?


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## roadwreck (Apr 17, 2013)

I am amused that Capt is the one that posted this story and after the slideshow the next story is "Personal Manifestos: Never A Good Sign"


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## Capt Worley PE (Apr 17, 2013)

roadwreck said:


> I am amused that Capt is the one that posted this story and after the slideshow the next story is "Personal Manifestos: Never A Good Sign"




Mine will be a game changer!


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## snickerd3 (Apr 17, 2013)

mudpuppy said:


> ^That sound about right for Flint. You went to Kettering?


I almost went there. That was the other college I got accepted to...but I would have had to pick adifferent major


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## sycamore PE (Apr 17, 2013)

mudpuppy said:


> ^That sound about right for Flint. You went to Kettering?


Yep, I went to Kettering.


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## Capt Worley PE (Apr 17, 2013)

snickerd3 said:


> mudpuppy said:
> 
> 
> > ^That sound about right for Flint. You went to Kettering?
> ...




I was accepted back when it was still GMI. Decided I didn't want the cold winters. Probaby a good decison as the time I graduated wasn't the best of times for GM (1988).


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## snickerd3 (Apr 17, 2013)

Capt Worley PE said:


> snickerd3 said:
> 
> 
> > mudpuppy said:
> ...


It was still GMI when I applied too....It changed names shortly thereafter though


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## mudpuppy (Apr 17, 2013)

I know lots of people that went to school there, as my company hires a lot of the students as co-ops. It's a very good school. I was accepted there, but even with a scholarship it would have cost twice as much as Michigan Tech.

Captain, I wouldn't say the down side was the cold winters. . . more so the location. Considering you're afraid to drive through Atlanta, Flint is probably about 5 times worse.


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## Capt Worley PE (Apr 17, 2013)

mudpuppy said:


> Captain, I wouldn't say the down side was the cold winters. . . more so the location. Considering you're afraid to drive through Atlanta, Flint is probably about 5 times worse.




At the time, the decision was based on the cold winters. I was younger, bolder, and more ignorant back then. Plus, before the internet, it was a lot harder to check out the claims made by the chamber of commerce......


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## sycamore PE (Apr 17, 2013)

Capt Worley PE said:


> mudpuppy said:
> 
> 
> > Captain, I wouldn't say the down side was the cold winters. . . more so the location. Considering you're afraid to drive through Atlanta, Flint is probably about 5 times worse.
> ...


When I first visited the school, they were careful to bus us through the nice parts of town only. I was a country girl from the middle of nowhere in Eastern Washington state, so I had no clue where I was headed. Just that I got a ton of scholarships to go there, the school was good, and it was far away from home. All in all, my 4 years in Flint were a great adventure and I never got mugged.


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## pbrme (Apr 23, 2013)

^From my neck of the woods I see. I went to EWU.


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