• Glitterbomb@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Looks like they’re burying it. The buried stuff does have a small copper locate wire. Or maybe its aluminum? I don’t know. Better check

    • bstix@feddit.dk
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      8 months ago

      Thieves don’t care if it’s a nice neighborhood. It happens on building sites everywhere. They don’t mind driving a long way.

          • WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.orgBanned
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            8 months ago

            What??? You realize very smart people become criminals. The crime world is basically the same as the mainstream. And all of it intertwines anyway, street crime and mainstream unethical things.

            The same drive someone puts into a PhD can be put into being criminal. Fact is successful criminals don’t get caught. Some of them even become presidents, military personnel, cops, and politicians…

            Start with crime, build money and get then ease into legal life. Shitty pop rappers for example. …a sloppy example of people that don’t do it well.

            • anomnom@sh.itjust.works
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              8 months ago

              That’s true, but aren’t financial crimes or organized crimes are where the smarter people are? Stealing raw materials to sell at shady recyclers is low bar moron crime.

              • Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                8 months ago

                Commodities tend to hold value pretty well, especially in poorer areas/nations, and if the operation is decentralized, the risks for the organizers is near zero.

                If something is able to be easily taken with a plausible disguise or with low risk (the ol’ hard hat, safety vest and clipboard “security pass”, or just an unguarded jobsite) there will be opportunists.

                For someone with greater skills, that’s low hanging fruit that’s not worth the risk of getting caught on camera, but the more desperate you are, the more risk you’re willing to accept.

                Of course, taking cable in the first place is a dick move and will negatively impact the local area and utilities as a whole, so it’s a slap in the face for the entire community tbh. Some people don’t care though…

            • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Thievery isn’t the only crime. It’s not even particularly lucrative. It’s mostly done by desperate people who don’t know better or independently wealthy thrill seekers who don’t care about the take.

      • Swedneck
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        8 months ago

        meanwhile here they left a massive spool of obvious copper laying on the ground with nothing protecting it whatsoever, and it remained completely untouched for like a week

    • Sadbutdru@sopuli.xyz
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      8 months ago

      Even when it’s fully installed, people will try to steal the copper cables. In the power industry it’s a real problem with people removing the earthing, not always noticeable right away, but then it’s not safe to work on anymore.

    • chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 months ago

      At one of my prior jobs (Chicos FAS,Ft Myers, FL) a maintenance guy got fired when they caught him stealing cables for copper about 10 years ago.

  • 4am@lemmy.zip
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    8 months ago

    Bull shit! They don’t lay fiber anywhere that rural and meth looking! It’s copper in disguise! Geet ‘um!

      • syreus@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        They lay it in rural areas because it’s cheaper to maintain and requires less permiting compared to city installation where there are more buried utilities.

  • fuzzyspudkiss@midwest.social
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    8 months ago

    Sure this will prevent the meth heads from stealing it, but it will attract a much larger and more dangerous predator - the North American Excavator.

  • unexposedhazard
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    8 months ago

    Actually so lame that they have to do this. Cant have shit in Detroit (or wherever this is)

    • JoshuaFalken@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Copper spools have the sheathing stripped off, wire cut to reasonable lengths, then brought to multiple recyclers in stages.

      To be sure, the odd idiot will show up with a unadulterated spool and try to get paid, but most that go to the effort of abducting these things off the side of the road aren’t entirely stupid.

      Then again, a less scrupulous yard might still buy the spool as it comes and strip it themselves.

    • SektorCOP
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      8 months ago

      That’s exactly what a copper thief would say.

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Copper-nabbers are opportunistic, and won’t take the time to forge an original invoice.

      I dunno, it’s kind of hard to spell “Ea-nāṣir” correctly.

    • Evono@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 months ago

      Yeah , but you won’t find a buyer , the thing with copper and metals is you can easily sell them off in most cases.

    • Ajen@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      No, check ebay if you don’t believe me. It’s not exactly plentiful, but there are enough contractors with several hundred/thousand feet left over from big jobs who are selling it for wholesale or less. It’s not like you can recycle it, and splicing is unreliable without tools that cost as much as a car, so if you’ve got a partial spool you need to get rid of you’ll probably have to sell it at a loss.

    • LogicalDrivel@sopuli.xyz
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      8 months ago

      Putting my geoguessr to the test-
      For sure US, Pine trees, wood fences, trailers, political sign- David Hogan? cant make it out, not St Augustine grass-maybe paspalum?, Barn/stable implies horses or cows maybe.

      Im guessing north-central Florida/south Georgia. Sticking the pin somewhere close to Taylor Florida or right on the border of GA.
      Sorry, im not trying to dox just having some fun. :P