Dang scrappers!

[Baltimore]

I was at work today and one of the guys who I work with scraps in his spare time. I happened to glance in his truck and I noticed two old blind stitch industrial sewing machines in the bed of his truck. One had to have been from the turn of the century, it was all black iron and mounted on a beautifully darkened with age wood table, the other was a sea foam green one from the 50s, both in excellent shape. I talked to the guy and he said some woman paid him to remove them from her house, they had belonged to her grandmother. I asked if I could buy them from him, he said no, I offered $50 each and he said no! It bums me out, both of those machines are going to be melted down when they are probably a good $600 worth of sewing equipment, maybe more to the right buyers. It makes me want to sit in front of the scrap yard with a pocket full of 20s and just rescue all the treasures that would otherwise be destroyed by scrappers with no knowledge other than metal=money. Sigh.

Has this ever happened to any of you guys? seen anything slip through your fingers only to get shipped of to china to be made into patio furniture?

 

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[DirtyHowi]

sorry bud, but ya cant fix stupid.

I scrap, but if someone asked me for something out of my truck (van actually) that someone else already paid me to haul away, that man and their money would soon be parted. hey i aint gotta take it apart, i aint gotta find buyers for the bits and then haul the rest in for less than you offered? i'm all over that.

but again i live in a farming community, darned near everything (cept maybe the wife and dog, and not sure on the wife somedays) is for sale.

 

[Rodbuster209]

He could not have been getting much for scrap prices, did you ask him how much he might want for them or is the guy just an idiot?

 

[diggummup]

He could not have been getting much for scrap prices, did you ask him how much he might want for them or is the guy just an idiot?

Yeah right, and you work with this fool?

 

[Baltimore]

I work for the Maintenance Dept at my college, he's one of the technicians. I wouldn't call him an idiot, but I've pulled many things out of dumpsters and sold them for good money that he has put in, I think he just gets blinded by the fact that he can get cash for scrap metal so he completely ignores everything else, and ignores the potential of metal things beyond scrap. I've seen him scrap perfectly good bicyles, industrial shelving units, all kinds of useful and expensive stuff. First I offered him 20 each, and he refused, then I offered 50 each and he said he didn't know if they worked and they were probably broken so I probably didn't really want them. I know for a fact the older one was a beast and probably still worked just fine, but for whatever reason he wouldn't sell. I honestly think part of it was he just didn't want to have to get out of his truck and help me get them out of the bed (they were pretty heavy). Some people, I guess.

 

[frankendime]

What an ultra maroon! What a nimrod! ~Bugs Bunny~

 

[AceShot]

I hate how some people just destroy pieces of history, its not just pieces of history it's our past

 

[gino22]

If people were paying me to remove stuff like that from their homes, I'd play dumb too...