Scrap Metal prices are so high, that thieves are getting a lot bolder!
The scrap metal value of catalytic converters has gotten so profitable that thieves are getting braver. In the Twin Cities area, thieves have been targeting large groups of cars in places such as Car Dealerships, Park & Ride locations, and even the Police Impound lot! According to this article from SunCountry.com, reports of catalytic converter thefts from parking lots, car dealerships and street corners have been steadily coming into police departments. Catalytic converters contain small amounts of platinum, palladium and rhodium as well as stainless steel and iron and a scrap metal dealer may buy one converter for up to $100, depending on make and condition. Not to mention the fact that they are becoming valuable auto parts on the used parts market due to the increasingly high costs of new ones.
It really makes me wonder why we still have scrap yards in North America. If I had a scrap yard, I’d be hiring recent graduates and college kids looking for work year round to rip my cars apart and sell the scrap metal for a huge profit. Sell the more valuable metals locally to electronics shops and custom manufacturers and cart the cheaper steel and iron by the container to China where they’re buying everything they can get their hands on.
Hat Tip: Tony Poshek, The Cynical Sorcerer
Tired of losing all those sales taxes to the government? Then Utah might have the answer for you! Convince 99 of your closest relatives, friends, and employees to join you and you could have your own town – and keep the taxes!
As per this article in the New York Times, featured on The Colbert Report almost as soon as it hit the presses, Mr. Rod Syrett became mayor of Utah’s newest town, Bryce Canyon city, that consists solely of the 2,300 acre resort – which includes two hotels, souvenir-filled gift shops, a rodeo arena, restaurants, gas stations, a grocery store, and camping areas – owned by My. Syrett. My. Syrett, tied of paying for the largest private water and sewer system in the state, as well as plowing in the winter, took advantage of a new state law that stripped counties of discretion in deciding petitions from property owners for township or city status and allowed any property owner with property where there are at least 100 year-round residents to apply for township status. Now the corporation gets to keep about $300,000 worth of sales taxes that are paid annually by the hundreds of thousands of tourists instead of forking it over to the county.
Hat Tip: Stephen Colbert, The Greatest Living American
How to transport a $1.9M dime after purchase.
A man travels from Oakland to New York, with a dime worth $1.9 million dollars in his pocket, to deliver it to the new buyer. Using a red-eye commercial flight and wearing a t-shirt and flip-flops. According to this article from SFGate.com, a rare coin dealer from San Jose delivered a very rare 1894-S dime worth $1.9M dime from a seller’s vault in Oakland to a buyer’s vault in midtown Manhattan. This proves that you don’t need to shell out huge bucks for supply chain security, as long as no one knows you have something worth stealing. Maybe the distribution method of a certain prominent cell phone maker of using unmarked boxes through regular package delivery services for low-cost delivery of small shipments in certain countries makes sense after all!
Hat Tip: Tony Poshek, The Cynical Sorcerer