Retailers conspiracy ?
July 15, 2007 2:57 AM Subscribe
Council clean-up day tomorrow.Tonight woman removes full length of all electrical cords from discarded appliances.Why?
Safety. People pick up discarded appliances (which are discarded because of some fault), take them home and use them, have their house catch fire, and blame the people who put them in the rubbish.
posted by b33j at 3:34 AM on July 15, 2007
posted by b33j at 3:34 AM on July 15, 2007
Because they're reusable.
posted by fire&wings at 3:51 AM on July 15, 2007
posted by fire&wings at 3:51 AM on July 15, 2007
+1 arruns. At work we've had people picking through rubbish bins and skips looking for metal to sell.
posted by flutable at 3:57 AM on July 15, 2007
posted by flutable at 3:57 AM on July 15, 2007
Seconding b33j. Where we live, it's at least mandatory to cut off the pre-molded plug before disposing of faulty appliances.
posted by blue_wardrobe at 6:17 AM on July 15, 2007
posted by blue_wardrobe at 6:17 AM on July 15, 2007
People are stealing copper from many places here in the states. Sometimes with the expected result.
posted by JJ86 at 7:15 AM on July 15, 2007
posted by JJ86 at 7:15 AM on July 15, 2007
nth-ing copper scrappers. My neighbor does the same thing. Made enough with it to buy a motorcycle.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 9:33 AM on July 15, 2007
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 9:33 AM on July 15, 2007
Copper scrapers. Dirty copper is going for 30-40 cents a pound. I'd bet she's clearing $20-30 an hour.
posted by Mitheral at 10:55 AM on July 15, 2007
posted by Mitheral at 10:55 AM on July 15, 2007
I was going to ask this question myself. I'm thinking it may actually be a mix of the safety concious and the recyclers.
It is hard to believe you can find enough power cords on a regular garbage day but they still do it all the time around here. I can certainly see it being worthwhile on a clean-up day though.
Dirty copper is going for 30-40 cents a pound.
That's what I wanted to know.. However, shouldn't magnet wire be worth more than PVC insulated stuff?
posted by Chuckles at 12:37 PM on July 15, 2007
It is hard to believe you can find enough power cords on a regular garbage day but they still do it all the time around here. I can certainly see it being worthwhile on a clean-up day though.
Dirty copper is going for 30-40 cents a pound.
That's what I wanted to know.. However, shouldn't magnet wire be worth more than PVC insulated stuff?
posted by Chuckles at 12:37 PM on July 15, 2007
And for anyone as sad as me who's tempted to wonder if his collection of 1p and 2p coins is worth more in copper than in currency, the answer is no.
2p weighs 7.13g, 1 lb = 453g, so 1lb of copper == £1.27 of coins, way more than 30-40 cents a pound. To add to my woes, I then found out 1p and 2p coins are only copper plated.. oh well, back to work!
posted by wackybrit at 4:06 PM on July 15, 2007
2p weighs 7.13g, 1 lb = 453g, so 1lb of copper == £1.27 of coins, way more than 30-40 cents a pound. To add to my woes, I then found out 1p and 2p coins are only copper plated.. oh well, back to work!
posted by wackybrit at 4:06 PM on July 15, 2007
My parents always used to do this to our appliances when we threw them out; even if they were just going in the ordinary garbage. The reasoning was:
- This appliance isn't working / is dangerous now.
- But if we throw it out, someone is going to come along and think "Oooh, look someone's thrown out a perfectly good toaster", plug it in, and kill themselves.
- Therefore, we will cut off the cord firstly to make it obvious that it doesn't work, and secondly to make it impossible to plug in.
However, I can't really see someone wandering along a street and doing it to everyone's discarded appliances, unless they've got some serious paranoia about electrocution. So, on deeper thought, maybe copper is the reason.
posted by Jimbob at 5:04 PM on July 15, 2007
- This appliance isn't working / is dangerous now.
- But if we throw it out, someone is going to come along and think "Oooh, look someone's thrown out a perfectly good toaster", plug it in, and kill themselves.
- Therefore, we will cut off the cord firstly to make it obvious that it doesn't work, and secondly to make it impossible to plug in.
However, I can't really see someone wandering along a street and doing it to everyone's discarded appliances, unless they've got some serious paranoia about electrocution. So, on deeper thought, maybe copper is the reason.
posted by Jimbob at 5:04 PM on July 15, 2007
« Older My freezer is too cold but can't turn the knob any... | "I am two fools, I know, For loving, and for... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by arruns at 3:08 AM on July 15, 2007