Zogger, thanks for the suggestions. Boy that sounds like a rough area you are in. Lets hope people in your area know not to mess with your stuff so you never have to pull any triggers.
It's all over, just same areas are slower getting it bad than others. I wouldn't be so paranoid if the other side of the farm hadn't gotten nailed a few times. They take all sorts of stuff, sneak in through the woods. Stole real expensive big electric motors, yanked an outside AC unit right off the concrete pad it was bolted too, etc. This is a real big farm, plus an old closed down airport, tons of "scrap metal" around here.
I used to never think twice about the scrappers, then started reading to what ,engths they will go to to get stuff they sell for a penny on the dollar and just destroy. Go in houses rip the plumbing and wiring out. Climb under cars and battery sawzall the cat converters off, sell them as 'scrap". Yank gutters and drainpipes down. Yank wires and cables out from big underground conduits. Heist wheelbarrows/mowers/ladders and sell them as "scrap metal". Snag guys wheels right off their ride, pull the tires, sell them, sell the wheels as scrap.
Go to any scrap yard and LOOK, tons of that stuff isn't "scrap" it's still good styuff, getting shredded and shipped to the chicoms.
I've said it before here, If I was joe prez for a day, one of the things I would do is slap an emergency dictate, no more exporting scrap metal! I don't care if it collapsed the industry. It's a domestic security issue, and it is helping to fuel the loss of jobs, funding for cheap the expansion of the chinese juggernaut (they are gonna test the US some day..and we'll back down, just watch), causing crime waves all over the US. You can read up on it in the news, do a google search, some amazing weird things they do just to get "scrap" metal..
Just a bad idea.
I'm sitting on legitimate scrap right now...ain't gonna take it in. I'll let the stuff rust away or sink into the ground first. And I'm poor, I can always use some extra FRNs around here.
Now I did, right up until last year, took in a load of tornado damaged sheetmetal roofing, some old lawn mower engines, and clapped out batteries. Looked around "hey, what's all this good stuff doing here"??? Just drove it home for me how much of this "scrap" is stolen. No one "scraps" big non broken aluminum extension ladders. No one "scraps" riding lawnmowers that look one or two summers old. No one "scraps" expensive BBQ units, complete with the tank. Stuff like that.
We had a saying in the 60s, still true today. "You are part of the problem, or part of the solution".
With that said, that idea up above with the steel pipe in the ground and the ball, pipe filled with concrete, locked down..I like that a lot. That could very well beat bolt cutters and a sawzall. Now maybe they could still yank it outta the ground, but anything to slow them down.
HOPEFULLY, you'll never have a problem, I'm serious! I just get a touch of the rants when it comes to security and the freeking thieves. My work is hard enough, same as everyone, to have to stop and worry about thieves. I left metro atlanta primarily from the thieves. My neighborhood went from decent to you could see five years down the road it was gonna be crackhead methhead ghetto. that and a busted back relapse..meh, cashed out and moved, Dang crime now is out in the country. I run outta places to move to really, got to stick to someplace.
