Basically the title why is it valuable enough for ppl to steal meters of copper from train rails but the copper wire you get in the store is dirt cheap. I just don’t understand the difference I guess
Edit: damn apparently it’s much more complex than I thought, thanks for all the comments!
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Train rails? They aren’t copper.
It can easily be recycled and reworked, which is important as we use it for electrical cables, refrigerant lines (eg air conditioners), certain plumbing applications, and motors for EV – all going to become more necessary in the future.
Also, covid lockdowns had affected the ability to mine and process new stuff, so supply of copper was affected which rose the price about 2 years ago significantly, but now has returned to normal levels.
It’s not the most valuable metal to sell as scrap, but for scavengers it’s easy to obtain large amounts relatively easily. They’ll break into unoccupied buildings or those under construction and rip out and steal what they can as quick as they can. They’ll even risk their lives stealing from active power lines, and may be disappointed to learn they are less valuable aluminum. They may even steal telephone lines which may be what you are referring to. They might just cut whatever loose parts they can or break the plasterboard on walls to rip it out.
It’s also easy to extract the copper from insulation to get the bare metal which will grant higher prices, as compared to something like steel which may be a structural component (harder to steal, pardon the pun) or otherwise be coated in paints that make it harder to process. It has a higher melting point and is overall more abundant to mine and produce.
You’ve got to remember that for me to buy a 100m drum of cable where I live, with discounts, will cost me about $200. About a month ago, the prices a scrap dealer quoted me would net me about $40-50 if I were to immediately scrap it. If I were to spend hours stripping it, or buy a machine to do it for me, I might get up to about $100.
It’s only valuable to tradesmen who use enough to generate off cuts, or thieves who have no purchase cost.
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