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

Before we get started, Hat Tips to Tony Poshek, The Cynical Sorcerer.

Oops! And you thought it was sickening when the USDA paid farmers not to farm! Well check out this doozy: “The Agriculture Department sent $1.1 billion in farm payments to more than 170,000 dead people over a seven-year period, congressional investigators say.”

About 12 weeks ago, we discussed The Real American Fat Farm and how the current farm bill supports five, and only five, commodity crops – corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and cotton – and effectively pays farmers not to farm other crops while encouraging unhealthy lunches in American public schools. I didn’t think it could be worse than that … but, apparently, it is. It seems that they’re more interested in farm payments to the dead than to the needy living (Yahoo News). It’s a wonder they haven’t bought a 19 Million Dollar Toilet to flush money down!

I’m rubber, you’re glue! “China Says US Food Has Its Own Problems”

China, the cause of 431 recalls in Canada alone since 2005, and the current poster child for bad quality in the public media, is starting their own smear campaign, citing cases of contaminated local food in the U.S. domestic market and flawed exports of pork and poultry, which had to be banned from distribution. I guess when it comes to pig, they’re just chicken!

Auction – Part III:

A California town that was the first town ever sold via auction on ebay, is

up for sale once again (for the 3rd time). The last buyer… ummmm…

killed himself.

The great thing about a free market is that you can buy anything … even your own town – complete with your very own troubled spirit! What more could you ask for!

I know I don’t mention this enough, but Tony Poshek, the newest member of the Aptium Global team, is available to handle all of your sourcing needs – even your unusual ones! Tony, the inventor of The Puddy Principle to Strategic Sourcing, has single-handedly sourced over 2B in the last decade and saved 15%, on average. With that resume, how can you go wrong?

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The Talent Crunch impacts Supply Quality Down Under!
Durex, hard on it’s luck, had to put out an open advertisement to find qualified product testers for its leading brands of condoms. I kinda thought that was a job every college guy wanted. Guess it’s just the North American college guy’s dream …

Hat Tip: Tony Poshek, aka The Cynical Sorcerer

What? Those Things Need Power?

The One-Laptop-Per-Child (OLPC) program screwed up big-time in its latest gift of 300 laptops to a Nigerian school – one per pupil – when they failed to investigate whether or not the school had any power to run, or even charge, them. And they say China has issues…

Hat Tip: Tony Poshek, aka The Cynical Sorcerer

Canada Loses Out On The Spice Trade Again

The Spice Girls are back and are performing at least 11 shows spread over five continents, but despite three US performances, there is not one performance in Canada – not even Toronto or Vancouver! When the spice trade is involved, we never win. But at least fellow blogger Doug Hudgeon of Vendor Management (renamed Contract Capital Management [WayBackMachine]) will get a chance to see them in Sydney on January 12, 2008. After all, according to Yahoo Music, they aren’t really much different than The Dandy Warhols.