Had a talk with an old electrician about copper theft

He said he spent 3 hours one night chasing a lead on a stolen spool from a jobsite in Phoenix, only to find out the guy sold it for $40 at a scrapyard. Crazy how something that costs thousands gets treated like pocket change, right? How do you guys secure your leftover wire?

4 comments

4 Comments

spencer_sanchez671mo ago

We started painting our spools bright orange. The scrappers can still cut them up but it makes them way easier to spot if someone tries to sell one.

victor_adams951mo ago

That paint trick probably works best if your local yards actually check for it. I'm curious @spencer_sanchez67 - have you had any yards in your area actually call you about a bright orange spool showing up, or is it more of a deterrent? My buddy runs a construction site near Detroit and he said the scrappers out there started grinding off serial numbers before even cutting into the spool itself. The initials scratched into metal seems like a better long-term play if someone's determined to strip the paint. Also, what about the smaller contract scrappers - do they ever try to play dumb and say it's just repurposed material or something?

nathan_barnes1mo ago

That orange paint trick works but only if the yards actually cooperate. We had a similar issue a few years back and found that the smaller independent yards will sometimes look the other way if the price is right. What really helped us was stamping our company initials into the metal spool rim with a heavy duty die set. Paint can be stripped in minutes but grinding off stamped metal takes time and leaves marks that are hard to explain. The scrappers around here have gotten smart too, they'll cut spools into smaller pieces and mix them in with legitimate scrap to avoid raising suspicion.

mark7311mo ago

Does anyone else remember reading that article about the guy in Tucson who tried to scrap a whole spool of copper still wrapped in police tape? That's always stuck with me. @spencer_sanchez67's bright orange paint trick is smart but I've also heard from a few old timers who scratch their initials into the metal spool itself with a grinder. That way even if the paint gets stripped they can still ID it at the yard. Biggest thing I've picked up is never leave cutoffs in the back of an open truck overnight. Thieves will spot it from the street.