Metal Theft And Hungarian Anomie

I've written about the rising price of industrial metals causing the epidemic of metal theft around the world. So many posts, I'm thinking of making it a new blog category. I've often felt, unarticulated of course, that this kind of thievery is reminiscent of anarchical societies portrayed in movies. Not necessarily shooting each other over a gallon of gasoline like in Mad Max, but when people are stealing church bells, cemetery grave markers, and electrocuting themselves over copper wire, one has to conclude there is a deeper story than just the speculatory pricing of copper and iron. An opinion writer in Hungary has linked this parasitic behavior to anomie, he calls it anomia from ancient Greek, which is social instability caused by erosion of standards and values. He may be on to something, since this "broken window" concept was the key aspect of Rudy Giuliani's approach to reducing crime in New York City.

The concept, in short, is how a broken window, left unrepaired in a neighborhood, is an advertisement to criminal elements that the residents have given up civic pride and have begun to eschew a mistrust of local law enforcement. The broken window, tagged graffiti, or any petty criminal act is a symptom of civic decline, which only encourages more serious crime. The growing pothole is also a sign of civic decline, of growing mistrust between residents and local government. First on the residents' part, who shrug shoulders and don't report the need for repair. Second, on the government, who won't authorize the repair if one of the civil servants notices, doesn't report it, or won't act unless a complaint form has been filled out.

Is there something more to rising metal theft? Why do the stories only point to the price of copper on world markets, but do not investigate the reasons for this price hike? When a man in Russia can steal a bridge and only gets caught trying to sell it, I think there might be more to metal theft than just the price of metal.

Metal Theft Tied To Asia

The New York Times has finally noticed the massive increase in metal theft around the world, which has usually been linked to the high market prices for industrial metals, so they asked an economist about it. Ted Siegler, a recyclables analyst, said that it's not just metal prices that have gone up, but recycled material in general, which comes from a huge demand from Asian developing countries.

Bundled paper or cardboard, the most commonly stolen of New York’s recyclables, can bring in $90 to $120 a ton, more than double what the city receives under long-term contracts with its own brokers and processors.

That means someone can quickly fill a van in Manhattan, drive to Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx, and sell the loot to one of several brokers. After that, most of the paper and metal ends up in China, Vietnam, India and other developing nations where demand for recyclables has soared.

“There has always been a fair amount of scavenging in the U.S., but the increase in demand from abroad has been dramatic,” said Ted Siegler, an economist and consultant based in Vermont who has analyzed recycling around the world.

He said a piece of scrap metal taken from a Manhattan curb might end up in a steel mill furnace in Asia.

Mr. Siegler said the theft of recyclables had been increasing across the country, with thieves even plucking steel manhole covers from streets.

According to the article, even cardboard is fetching twice the price from overseas than what a large city like New York City pays out for its recycling program. As with most municipalities across the nation, New York is going after the recyclers and brokers, treating them as fences who receive stolen goods. But even with the crackdown on theft, the metal and cardboard has to come from somewhere to keep with Asian development. There has to be a way a smart company, or even smart trade policy, can take advantage of that, without resorting to "plucking manhole covers from the streets."

Keg Deposit To Triple In Michigan: UPDATED

In another chapter of the Heavy Metal Theft Chronicles, Michigan is set to raise the 10 dollar deposit for returning the keg, to 30 dollars. The reason: a steep rise in keg theft to sell the stainless steel for scrap. Here's the amazing thing I found in the article: "Stainless steel was worth about 25 cents a pound late in 2005, but fetched about $1.75 per pound in early May." Holy crap! Two years ago, a thirty pound keg would only return $7.50 at the scrap yard. In 2007, you can get up to $52.50! Hell yeah, I want my 40 dollar profit! It really does make sense to raise the deposit to deter the keg theft. When discussing this story, the bro added his personal anecdotes of seeing abandoned furniture on the streets being stripped of their springs. At almost 2 dollars a pound, that's at least a bottomless cup of coffee at any diner. Is this a heavy metals bubble in the market, or is there going to be a crash soon? I think the business section of our media should start paying attention to this, because when we have Europeans stealing train tracks and telephone lines right off the bridges and poles, and we have people in America breaking into telecom garages to steal spools of cable, there is something going on in the market.

Update: After Michigan's keg deposit raise went into effect, the AP covered the costs distributors are incurring because of keg theft. Ten states so far have even passed legislation requiring ID checks for selling kegs to scrap metal yards. One reason given for the high metal prices is the spike in construction in growing economies. But that cannot even justify the theft of brass plates on a war memorial in Guam. Hopefully, who ever receives the stolen metal will feel some island pride and report the would-be sellers. (h/t to the bro for the Guam story)

Metal Theft Changes Bridge Plans

Metal theft has gotten so bad in Washington, that plans for the safety railing on a bridge repair project were changed to foil any attempted theft.

County officials planned to put up the aluminum barrier earlier in the summer, said Ken Stone, the county's public works director. But it occurred to them the fence would probably disappear, he said.

Some materials had already arrived for the $20,000 safety barrier, Stone said. Officials decided to hold off and order steel fencing, which, Stone said, is more difficult to remove, crush and sell.

It would be "much better to replace it now ... than lose it and have to replace it later," he said.

County Commissioner George Raiter said the county can "probably recover" the money it paid for the unused aluminum fencing.

Policy and spending are now being affected by metal thieves. Societal devolution continues.

Devolution of France Continues

Since the price of raw metals remains high because the communications industry keeps expanding (Oops! Globalization! Not supposed to be good thing!), heavy metal theft has not been rare. Now, France reports that industrial metal theft has increased 144 percent in 2006 from the previous year. We already knew that France was not very friendly to business, but to have to secure power lines from theft? Ridiculous.

Thanks to the bro for the tip.

Metal Theft Goes Political

In yet another story about copper theft, this time from a construction site, a Texas state lawmaker confronted the thieves, wounding one of them in the leg. The story, and Instapundit, stress the irony of the lawmaker voting against a bill that protected his right to defend his property with deadly force. I found it cool that even a Texas democrat has a concealed-carry permit for his handgun. But I wonder if the lawmaker might also become a champion for increasing the scrutiny that scrap metal buyers must give to metal sellers. Ten states have laws on the books for dealing with keg thefts to take advantage of high prices in the industrial metal market, but it may be time to broaden those laws to cover cable and wiring as well.

More Heavy Metal Theft

The bro sent me this story on thieves stealing downed power lines to sell the copper. I had previously written about French thieves doing the same thing back in September, but the French did it overnight in a coordinated theft, stranding several mountain villages without communication. Is the price of copper still so high, that thieves are still motivated to steal cable? If there is a theft of material, that means there has to be a buyer. Also, this stolen material has to trickle down to manufacturers. Police departments worldwide know they have to pay special attention to auto body repair shops and used car dealers because of the high theft rate for cars and their accessories. Who should the cops be looking at in these cases?

Metal Worth More Than The Coin

I've been writing a lot about metal theft being driven by world metal prices. In India, this crime wave has officially jumped the shark. Indian coins are being smuggled across Bangladesh's border to be melted down to make razor blades. A one rupee coin's actual worth is 35 rupees because up to 6 razor blades can be made from the one coin. It's gotten so bad in one border town, that local shops have resorted to using rupees made of cardboard because of the scarcity of coins. The metal in money is now worth more than the money. Amazing.

via GeekPress

Metal Theft Intersects Asian Knockoffs

Thieves hoping to get a whole bunch of copper from a bronze statues will have a hard time after officials from the non-profit organization who bought the statues found out they were cheap Thai knock-offs made of "pot" metal. The Opportunity Village may have a harder time replacing the statues since those 8,000 dollar statues only cost 500 dollars to make. Thankfully, the forgers in Thailand have been shut down.

Metal Thieves Spoil Food Bank

In Indiana, a food bank was hit on Friday night, but not for any cash, or even any food, but for the copper pipes in the refrigerator units. But since the thieves disabled the refrigerators just before the weekend, workers there did not discover the theft until Monday, and all the spoiled food thereafter. For only a few hundred dollars worth of scrap metal, the thieves caused 20,000 dollars in repairs, and almost 500,000 dollars in the loss of the spoiled food.

As more stories like this, like the looting for metal in the evacuated homes near the Tahoe fire, and irrigation pipes for farms, it's no surprise that legislators are beginning to pay attention to this problem, specifically going after the scrap metal dealers.

To Build A Better Cooking Stove

In a story that brings in all the trendy narratives of the day, a physicist who has designed a more efficient wood-burning stove to help the starving in Darfur, we also read references to climate change, micro-loans, foreign aid corruption, and even metal theft. The stoves could be stolen before they even reach the Darfur residents because the steel in the stoves is more profitable as scrap metal than the cooking implement. Of course, talking about the 70 year history of Lawrence National Laboratories at Berkeley, the reporter doesn't mention that one of its first tasks was to refine the radioactive material necessary for atomic bombs. There's a 100 ton magnet up there that newer accelerators have been built around because they can't move it. But I guess mentioning the atom bomb history, especially during the anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, doesn't fit in too well with the touchy-feely international narrative.

Steal Copper or Die Trying

In another chapter of the heavy metal theft chronicles, a man died trying to steal copper from power transmission lines, and authorities found the body strung up in the wires. Perhaps the poor idiots who concocted this scheme should have followed the french dudes by going after telecom cables, or already downed powerlines.

Thanks to the bro.

Industrial Metal Theft

No, I'm not talking about stealing Metallica songs on the internet. I'm talking about this Reuters story where villages in France are having their telecom copper cables stolen. This is the kind of story that gets reported in developing nations, but it's happening in a so-called "civilized" nation. Authorities say that thieves are taking advantage of soaring copper prices, but I wonder if these thefts are also attacks against France's infrastructure: "criminals stole copper cables used for railway signaling, disrupting high-speed train traffic between the southwestern city of Bordeaux and Paris." We know that terrorists have already attacked Madrid's and London's public transportation, so could this be something more along those lines? Probably not, but France should definitely increase the security profile on telecom infrastructure targets.