Several hours a day, five days a week, [Francis McConnell] stakes out junkyards. Pretending to read a newspaper, Mr. McConnell sits near the entrances and writes down descriptions of passing pickup trucks and shirtless men pushing shopping carts. His mission is to figure out who is stealing the city’s manhole covers and its storm drain and street grates, increasingly valuable commodities on the scrap market. More than 2,500 covers and grates have disappeared in the past year, up from an annual average of about 100.
Source: With a Surge in Iron and Steel Prices, Thieves Are Stealing Metal Manhole Covers - NYTimes.com
Philadelphia has quite the problem, causing liability issues, as well as the cost of replacing the manholes. To combat this, the City is installing chains to secure the lids…
But so far, only 300 of the city’s more than 70,000 manhole and inlet covers have been locked.
Cities across the country are working with the police, junkyard dealers and industry associations to improve the chances of catching thieves, but while the price of metals keeps increasing - so will the problem. I haven’t noticed a problem around here, anyone got stories?
Sphere: Related ContentIf you enjoyed this post, why not try these ones:
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Duncan Drennan 07.29.08 at 3:00 pm
We’ve had manholes We’ve had manholes disappearing in South Africa for a number of years now, so they have started replacing them with zero resale value alternatives like concrete polymer manhole covers.
Mike 07.29.08 at 9:09 pm
That is a great idea to That is a great idea to offset the risk of manhole loss.
Mike 07.31.08 at 12:59 am
From Monday’s Globe and Mail From Monday’s Globe and Mail - a story of scrap theft on the rise.
reportonbusiness.com: Full metal racket