Just returned from what I’d expect to be the last remaining vestige of low tech to find it’s happening there too.
Who’d have thought of all places that the scrap yard would become a self check out location but it is now.
With the scrap boom in the last 2 yrs. they had earlier incorporated id scanning and keeping your drivers license on file for theft prevention. Went in today, pulled through the scale, unloaded, returned to scale and now they handed me the equivalent of an ATM receipt.
This new addition I was told was now mandated by the state for whatever bad reason they thought would be an improvement and require legislation. I’m sure at a heavy cost to the scrap dealers to have to comply with and now install these systems.
At any rate they direct me to an “ATM” kiosk inside where you insert your id, place receipt bar code to scan and out spits your cash.
Just sharing as it struck me odd going to the old school traditional dirty scrap yard to find an ATM machine, and not on the mound of collections.
Side note: Was just getting rid of shredder steel taking up space not for it’s expected profit, yet despite current economy steel hadn’t fallen as far as I’d expected. 2 summers ago running some large scale commercial demo projects we where getting $80 a gross ton.
Today it was still actually $60.
Replies
the reason for the ATM might have more to do with safety and security than anything.. scrap metal processers were required to have large amounts of cash on hand and they delt with unsavory people who might pose a threat to the clerks..
Not sure, at this place their all ready in a bullet proof booth and unlike gas stations and such their only open 7-4 with lots of people around.
Next time somebody strips all the copper out of your building just to scrap it, you may find that the increased recordkeeping requirements, and the associated tech, kind of grow on ya. ;-)
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Everything fits, until you put glue on it.
I certainly understand and sympathize with that aspect.How ever what's with legislating, the I'm sure expensive ATM part of the deal. Where I go they would all ready scan your id and save it to record and have cameras on the scales. I can't see how the ATM dispensing component can better link any stolen scrap in the mountainous piles to a perp that brought it in any better.Scrap yards aren't much different than pawn shops and the way they work hasn't changed.Besides no measure is going to stop someone that melts their haul down first, and doesn't bring the whole heist in all at once right away but over time. To be dumb enough to be a thief usually lacks the above planing and won't require atm machines to catch them. Simpler yet set up and survey an inviting location for a theft. Bring the criminals to you and make/enforce the penalties for such enough that it becomes un-worth trying to steal.
Could it be that the "ATM" is the unit that actually checks the info against the database, refusing to dispense $$$ if problems show up? That's how I would do it, from a tech perspective, if I was designing the package. Takes the human component out of the equation. That way, the thief can't try to buffalo, sweet talk, or blame the lowly scrapyard employee.
Where I'm from, the junkies wouldn't have the wherewithall to melt down their haul before taking it to the yard. And they sure wouldn't take it a little at a time. They want, no NEED, their $$$ right now. Also, my understanding is that the databases are designed to look for suspicious patterns and generate warning signals. The authorities can then "flag" suspicious sellers. The idea behind this is to make it a lot harder for thieves to sell their booty. If they can't sell it, they ain't gonna steal it -- them junkies don't do all that much copper plumbing or standing seam work nowadays. (They've all switched to PEX and EPDM.) ;-)
Setting up an "inviting" theft site would be far more expensive. It would involve, say, installing (expensive) copper gutters on a high-end house, followed up with (expensive) 24-hr surveillance. Then, this would all have to be moved every week or so when the word was out that it was a trap. I don't feel too bad for the scrap dealers either. It's their lax attitudes, taking copper from any junkie or meth head that hauls it in, no questions asked, that made this a problem in the first place. If they hadn't, as a group, been so lax as to be part of the problem, they wouldn't be in this position now.Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PAEverything fits, until you put glue on it.
Not only lax, but greedy, and not above 'faking' the records. "On the fly", right there at the counter, or after the fact.Maybe the atm is partly meant to deter some of that, as well....Max: Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Chief ?Chief: I don't know, were you thinking, "holy sh#t, holy sh#t, a swordfish almost went through my head" ?..You are always welcome at Quittintime
Those 'point of sale' setups for vehicle scales are getting more common all the time. They're also used for sewage transfer stations, grain trucks, filling water trucks, most anything you can think of.
Besides providing a printed receipt for you, the system is also tied into a computerized accounting system in their office. It's a lot easier, simpler and more accurate for them than having to manually enter all the information from a bunch of hand written tickets.
wonder if the IRS knows about this?
bobl Volo, non valeo
Baloney detecter WFR
"But when you're a kibbutzer and have no responsibility to decide the facts and apply the law, you can reach any conclusion you want because it doesn't matter." SHG
Ya that's another crappy point about their potential use. Scrap has always been a cash bizz. But would you have to pay taxes on it anyway?
After all any individual can sell to any party their stuff just like a garage sale without tax issues. I just have a lot of old washers and lawn mowers to sell.