It's very rare to find brass house numbers or copper taps on the street-facing side of peoples houses these days. The rise in unemployment caused people to resort to stealing valuable metal from the front of houses so that they could sell the bits and pieces to companies that recycle scrap metal. These days you'll find that most homes use non-metal numbers and plastic taps on the front of their properties.
2 thoughts on “Cash for scrap”
Steve Crane
It’s not just brass and copper, any metal is fair game and I wouldn’t lay the blame solely on unemployment. Certainly in our area most theft, according to police and security company, is by tik (methamphetamine) addicts from a nearby area.
We used to have an unlocked tap in our front yard and had no problem with passers-by getting some water. Then one day someone snapped the standpipe off at ground level and made off with it. We can cope without a tap at the front of the house so I just had a plumber plug the pipe and now passers-by have to remain thirsty.
Another time someone lifted our small front gate off it’s hinge pins and went off with it, complete with attached postbox. My wife was at home and called the security company who found and arrested the guy, handing him over to the police. They confirmed that he was a known tik addict from the above-mentioned area. He still had the receipt from the scrap dealer in his pocket. They had paid him R26 (± $2.50) for the gate. We had someone from a gate company weld nuts on the pins after that so the gates could no longer be lifted off. He told me they would have charged me about R700 (± $70) to make a similar gate. The postbox was never seen or heard of again.
That sucks somewhat Steve. It’s probable then that addicts can’t hold down jobs and hence have to resort to stealing to support their addiction.
Our front tap is still open to the public, and as you previously did, I don’t mind folks taking drinking water. Fortunately, I haven’t yet had my garden hose, or sprayers, stolen. Perhaps ours has been spared because it’s located right next to a window, or perhaps we’ve just been lucky.
Steve Crane
It’s not just brass and copper, any metal is fair game and I wouldn’t lay the blame solely on unemployment. Certainly in our area most theft, according to police and security company, is by tik (methamphetamine) addicts from a nearby area.
We used to have an unlocked tap in our front yard and had no problem with passers-by getting some water. Then one day someone snapped the standpipe off at ground level and made off with it. We can cope without a tap at the front of the house so I just had a plumber plug the pipe and now passers-by have to remain thirsty.
Another time someone lifted our small front gate off it’s hinge pins and went off with it, complete with attached postbox. My wife was at home and called the security company who found and arrested the guy, handing him over to the police. They confirmed that he was a known tik addict from the above-mentioned area. He still had the receipt from the scrap dealer in his pocket. They had paid him R26 (± $2.50) for the gate. We had someone from a gate company weld nuts on the pins after that so the gates could no longer be lifted off. He told me they would have charged me about R700 (± $70) to make a similar gate. The postbox was never seen or heard of again.
Paul Gilowey
Post authorThat sucks somewhat Steve. It’s probable then that addicts can’t hold down jobs and hence have to resort to stealing to support their addiction.
Our front tap is still open to the public, and as you previously did, I don’t mind folks taking drinking water. Fortunately, I haven’t yet had my garden hose, or sprayers, stolen. Perhaps ours has been spared because it’s located right next to a window, or perhaps we’ve just been lucky.
Perhaps our day will come. Perhaps it won’t. :-/