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How free trade affects thievery, part II
Yes commodity prices are high:
A thief sneaked under the sport utility vehicle with a battery-powered saw, slicing from the Toyota’s underbelly what may be one of the most expensive small parts of the auto world: the catalytic converter, an essential emissions-control device made with small amounts of metals more precious than gold. Who knew?
...Theft of scrap metals like copper and aluminum has been common here and across the country for years, fueled by rising construction costs and the building boom in China. But now thieves have found an easy payday from the upper echelon of the periodic table. It seems there may not be an easier place to score some platinum than under the hood of a car...
The catalytic converter is made with trace amounts of platinum, palladium and rhodium, which speed chemical reactions and help clean emissions at very high temperatures. Selling stolen converters to scrap yards or recyclers, a thief can net a couple of hundred dollars apiece.
Here is the story. Here is part I in the series. Here is a man who died trying to extract gold from his computer.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on April 7, 2008 at 05:44 AM in Law | Permalink
Comments
Who knew?
Well, people in the scrap metals trade....
PGM (ie, platimum group metals) are of the order of 1 gramme per kilo of the material in the converter.
Posted by: Tim Worstall at Apr 7, 2008 7:55:08 AM
The Spanish rail system is electrified. The copper cables are reasonably heavyweight. Recently, hold-ups in the train service due to stolen cables have become commonplace.
Posted by: David Heigham at Apr 7, 2008 8:57:37 AM
A reputable welding and fabrication company in Toledo, OH. has a new patented theft deterrent designed just for catalytic converters . It makes too much work for the thieves in a hurry. The CatClamp is the only theft deterrent on the market designed exclusively to fight catalytic converter theft. It was in Newsweek online in January 09, 2008. Go to Catclamp.com the CatClamp is much cheaper than repairing a vehicle after catalytic converter theft.
Posted by: Jen at Apr 7, 2008 10:47:13 AM
This reminds me of the times after the Argentinean crisis (which was as much social as economic). Some of the poor people that would normally collect aluminum cans and cardboard (called *cartoneros*) to get money from the paper and metal recycling company, suddenly realized that there were other sources of metals readily available in an urban environment. Metal plates started disappearing from doors, small statues, handrails. Anything in a public area made of metal was potentially material to be recycled. Copper, iron, aluminum.
Posted by: londenio at Apr 7, 2008 11:22:21 AM
This is not free trade. As a matter of fact, this is illegal.
Posted by: bob at Apr 7, 2008 12:30:47 PM
Business Model:
1) Steal people's stuff
2) Sell for pennies on the dollar.
3) Profits!
I think that 1 and 2 might be a problem. Did you say this was in China? (Whoops -- Chicago). So the problem is that scrap yards are buying stolen goods and then mechanics are welding these stolen catalytics onto cars that are suddenly without catalytics. Reminds me of the guys who will sell you CDs back to you for $1 on the street-corner.
Posted by: David Zetland at Apr 7, 2008 12:36:35 PM
This has been going on for almost a year and it's been all over the local news and internet. The problem is that there are easy ways to sell these converters. All it would take to put a stop to this is for police to set up a simple sting operation to catch the guys unloading dozens of converters that have clearly been Sawzall-ed off of SUVs and trucks.
Posted by: Brian at Apr 7, 2008 4:13:22 PM
This is an interesting article on copper theft in the US.
http://www.csoonline.com/article/221225/Red_Gold_Rush_The_Copper_Theft_Epidemic/1
Posted by: Tangurena at Apr 7, 2008 6:39:51 PM
Adding to Tim Worstall's comment, here is a site with bid/ask spreads on used catalytic converters: http://www.grn.com/a/0413.html
Bid prices range from $6 to $125, but mostly center in the $30 to $60 range. Certainly not $200 as claimed in the post. This has to be a slow way to make money!
Posted by: Bob Knaus at Apr 7, 2008 9:20:25 PM
There's been so many thefts of the copper wiring from the streetlights on Oahu, that I think you now have to prove your source when you turn metal into a scrapyard.
Posted by: Kolohe at Apr 9, 2008 2:16:13 AM
And fighting global warming to boot!
Those nasty catalytic converters change cooling sulfates into inert byproducts and non-warmy CO into the ever destructive CO2.
They're modern-day Robinhoods!
Posted by: aaron at Apr 9, 2008 3:40:23 PM
Fight crime by driving a diesel!
Catalytic converters are not essential pollution control devices. The CC
was one solution developed by GM to combat pollution in the early 70's. The
genius of the CC is that GM convinced Congress to mandate the use of CCs on
all gasoline cars in the US. This mandate became law before Ford had
any product to compete. Nice to be able to burn your opponent with
legislation instead of competition.
Today's better tuned engines, hotter running engines and cleaner gasline
nearly eliminate the need for a CC. However, by law we are stuck with the
damn things. Another example of Congress mandating the solution instead of
setting goals. Car companys don't work on new pollution abatement systems
because we are stuck with the CC until the end of time thanks to the idiots
in Congress.
Posted by: NASCAR Wife at Apr 9, 2008 6:23:55 PM
Check out the CATCUFF. It's a quality, American made product that locks up a catalytic converter to the frame of the vehicle so that it simply cannot be removed. It's a one-size fits all product that is easy to install with household tools. The CATCUFF is tougher than nails and is only one-eighth the cost of other catalytic converter anti-theft products, but with even more metal-thief thwarting deterrence and no annoying rattling or vibration. You can learn more at http://www.catcuff.com
Posted by: hutchtechusa at Jun 9, 2008 1:28:11 PM
Check out the CATCUFF. It's a quality, American made product that locks up a catalytic converter to the frame of the vehicle so that it simply cannot be removed. It's a one-size fits all product that is easy to install with household tools. The CATCUFF is tougher than nails and is only one-eighth the cost of other catalytic converter anti-theft products, but with even more metal-thief thwarting deterrence and no annoying rattling or vibration. You can learn more at http://www.catcuff.com
Posted by: hutchtechusa at Jun 9, 2008 1:28:24 PM
Check out the CATCUFF. It's a quality, American made product that locks up a catalytic converter to the frame of the vehicle so that it simply cannot be removed. It's a one-size fits all product that is easy to install with household tools. The CATCUFF is tougher than nails and is only one-eighth the cost of other catalytic converter anti-theft products, but with even more metal-thief thwarting deterrence and no annoying rattling or vibration. You can learn more at http://www.catcuff.com
Posted by: hutchtechusa at Jun 9, 2008 1:28:31 PM
Check out the CATCUFF. It's a quality, American made product that locks up a catalytic converter to the frame of the vehicle so that it simply cannot be removed. It's a one-size fits all product that is easy to install with household tools. The CATCUFF is tougher than nails and is only one-eighth the cost of other catalytic converter anti-theft products, but with even more metal-thief thwarting deterrence and no annoying rattling or vibration. You can learn more at http://www.catcuff.com
Posted by: hutchtechusa at Jun 9, 2008 1:28:37 PM
Check out the CATCUFF. It's a quality, American made product that locks up a catalytic converter to the frame of the vehicle so that it simply cannot be removed. It's a one-size fits all product that is easy to install with household tools. The CATCUFF is tougher than nails and is only one-eighth the cost of other catalytic converter anti-theft products, but with even more metal-thief thwarting deterrence and no annoying rattling or vibration. You can learn more at http://www.catcuff.com
Posted by: hutchtechusa at Jun 9, 2008 1:29:08 PM
