Help a LFS out....

[mfp4073]

I dont know if this is out of line, some odd things are considered inappropriate for the boards.

Recently I found out that Sea In The City was robbed of their air conditioning units. The thieves stole a bunch from the warehouses around the little industrial park that they are in. They lost some corals, but not much. The bad part is that their insurance is not wanting to pay for it (I dont claim to understand why), and between the ac units and the cage they are going to have to build to protect them for next time they are out a lot of money.

So stop by and buy a few things. I went by and picked up a bunch of snails to boost up my tanks. I also think they are having a sale this weekend of some type. We have the "support your local lfs" thread going and I cannot see a better time to do so. petsmart or petco doesnt pay a thing for stuff like this, but that kind of money can hit a local business hard. And just think of all the cool stuff you can get!

 

[Me No Nemo]

Chad, we're still battling getting the insurance to cover. Not sure how it will turn out...seems that once you attach the units to the building they are considered part of the structure and therefore not covered under the rental insurance. Thanks to my excellent landlord who vouched for the fact that we can take the units with us if we ever leave, we're keeping our fingers crossed that at least part of the loss, minus the deductable, will be covered. One unit was about 1.5 years old and the other about 7 months. The icing on the cake was that when the thieves stole the units, they yanked the wires out of the building as well, and two of the wires inside apparently touched together and shorted out the inside Mitsubishi unit as well. Thanks to everyone who stopped by for their patience and help. Thanks also to Chris H. who pretty much worked round the clock to get us up and running again. Three customers said that their units were taken within the past month from Seminole County as well. I highly suggest, since OPD said this is becoming a very large scale problem across Florida (the copper they take from inside the units is now going for about $3.50 per pound), that anyone with A/C units consider having cages built around them to help deter thefts. Thanks for the warm thoughts. Marcye

 

[dugg]

Sorry to hear about the theft. Sad to say, but if someone wants your A/C enough to take it from the roof, a cage isn't gonna deter much. The best money you can spend for that is video cameras. I used to own a record store, and the insurance guy next door climbed up one night and helped himself to my compressor. If not for the cameras, he would have gotten away with it. Still cost me some money, but he got caught. He was even my insurance agent lol.

 

[slipondajimmy]

WOW when did this happen? I use to work in pinecastle and some scum ripped the copper out of 8 units in the back of a small plaza. Pretty sad really.

 

[Me No Nemo]

Yep, very sad Happened Sunday night. The units weren't on the roof, they were behind the building. The cages are very well constructed with razor wire and the cages are welded to the building. It will take an awful lot of effort for anyone to get into them at this point.

 

[slipondajimmy]

Unreal . Its amazing what people will do for a few bucks in copper.

 

[Fuzzy]

Sorry to hear about the theft.

I'm out of 2 part and could use a couple more snails -
And that pig Fat Albert can always use some more purple sea veggies :lol:

So I'll be stopping by to pick up some supplies

 

[SSpiro]

Cage + cameras.

I happen to know an installer.

Sorry to hear about the theft. I actually wanted to swing by on Saturday while in town, but ran out of time.

 

[dugg]

You don't even have to spend the money for real cameras if you want to just deter. They make comercial grade dummy cameras that look completely real with little blinkung LED lights. You could set up a few mounted on the outside top of the buildings where they will easily be seen. Most criminals are idiots anyway, but if they see the cameras, they will find a new victim. If some idiot steals the camera, all they get is a $50 plastic blinking light lol.

 

[AJ69]

Marcye,
sorry to hear this kind of news, hopefully the insurance will step up,I'll be swinging by the end of the week 2 get some "supplies"
good luck

 

[SSpiro]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12944057#post12944057 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dugg
You don't even have to spend the money for real cameras if you want to just deter. They make comercial grade dummy cameras that look completely real with little blinkung LED lights. You could set up a few mounted on the outside top of the buildings where they will easily be seen. Most criminals are idiots anyway, but if they see the cameras, they will find a new victim. If some idiot steals the camera, all they get is a $50 plastic blinking light lol.

I haven't sold a camera in YEARS that had anything blinking on it.. (legit, real camera).. Put up one of those dummy cams, and you might be called out on it by an educated thief..

 

[orlandobrian]

Now thanks to you I know the blinking light means nothing AH Hahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaahhaahhahahahahahah...........(my evil laugh). Seriously, My pennies are now worth almost $3.50 a pound?

 

[chrisstie]

Sadly I looked up a little bit of copper crime (UCF apartments 15-20 mins away from where I live were just hit so I bet theres a ring of people involved) and an article from 2006 or 2007 said blackmarket copper was 3.75$ per pound so I'm guessing its even more now not to mention the desparation of these people with the current state of the economy and such.

These are trying times indeed but I wonder if there wouldn't be a way for the scrap yards to register who sells them copper (or do they do this already?) to at least track their sales so when flareups of theft occur they could be investigated more thoroughly?

 

[mfp4073]

chrisstie,

Its not a specific ring of criminals running around, but a national problem right now. I remember about a year ago someone stole 2 miles of copper wiring out of the streetlights along I4. And I have seen several deaths reported too.....serves them right....

 

[orlandobrian]

Wow, I must have been living in a cave for the last few years, I never knew this was such a huge problem. Why copper? why is it worth so much now? I had a home re-plumbed and they only used PVC.

 

[chrisstie]

Copper is inside of your house in the wires not just in plumbing but anything electrical.

With big countries like China developing at an astonishing quick rate they are using up 3x more than anyone else and its driven prices up with the demand. Its not just china but other developing countries as well.

I'm sure its common all over mfp, but I wouldn't wonder within 2 weeks time if its not the same thieves in the local area this time.

 

[mfp4073]

2 different sides of town. Its happening all over orlando. heck the empty house 2 doors down from me has had the wiring stolen out of it 2 times in the last year.

 

[SSpiro]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12981925#post12981925 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chrisstie
Sadly I looked up a little bit of copper crime (UCF apartments 15-20 mins away from where I live were just hit so I bet theres a ring of people involved) and an article from 2006 or 2007 said blackmarket copper was 3.75$ per pound so I'm guessing its even more now not to mention the desparation of these people with the current state of the economy and such.

These are trying times indeed but I wonder if there wouldn't be a way for the scrap yards to register who sells them copper (or do they do this already?) to at least track their sales so when flareups of theft occur they could be investigated more thoroughly?

Most of the legit scrap yards do document. Photo ID is required as well.

 

[Me No Nemo]

Here's a story about the copper thefts in Orlando.

Copper theft

 

[DgenR8]

It's not just happening in Fla. A lot of old churches here have (had) copper rain gutters. The ones that still have that copper are hiring guards to prevent it's theft.
My understanding is that (in NY, anyway) scrap copper is $3 + per pound. To someone that makes their "living" collecting soda cans for the $.05 deposit, that's huge.
Legally, the scrap yard, just like a pawn shop has to get identification from anyone they buy from. If they know they are buying illegal scrap, they can "forget" to get your ID. They also "forget" to pay the going rate. It's criminals helping criminals, leaving everyone else holding the bag.
chrisstie is right, most of the high scrap prices are caused by China and India, and their new needs as they reach a point in development that we passed a long time ago.
It's not going to change any time soon, either.