Recyclable thieves like leather-faced Juana Rivas are getting out-bummed by organized crime.
See the article on stealing recyclables for profit: http://bumhate.blogspot.com/2008/07/la-times-author-believes-you-should.html
The article tells of how organized crime jerk-faces in trucks will drive around at night and steal all the recyclables in neighborhoods before the legitimate waste companies arrive.
"They're like an army out there," said Johnson. "They're in trucks. They're on cell phones. It's a business."
A truck piled high with mixed recyclables can fetch upward of $1,000; newspapers alone can grab about $600.
Damn, that's a lot. I guess one positive aspect to take from this is that those high prices indicate that now a days you can really salvage a high percentage of recyclable items for converting them into new things. Even with the nicest shopping cart from Vons, a bum can't carry nearly as much as a large truck.
In San Francisco, poachers can be fined up to $500 and get six months jail time. In New York, thieves are subject to arrest, vehicle impoundment and fines of up to $5,000.
This is good, but I highly doubt that these punishments are enforced on anyone but the organized crime thieves. After all, trying to get money from a bum is like trying to squeeze water from a stone. Plus, jail might be a step up for some of these homeless....Sleeping in a cot is better than sleeping outdoors in a pile of soiled rags, and both an imprisoned homeless guy and a free homeless guy have a similar likelihood of getting shanked. Instead of fines and imprisonment, we should take a page out of China's law book and sentence these people to death, or at least use middle-eastern style punishment for stealing and cut off their hands. Let's see you panHANDle then! Haha!
Homeless advocates worry that a crackdown on recycling could hurt the very poor, who rely on the meager earnings drummed up by turning over bottles and cans for refund values of between 5 cents and 10 cents per container.
Oh boo hoo. The homeless should get real jobs instead of being professional thieves. Why do homeless have to steal for a living? If you are capable of rounding up recyclables, then you are capable of getting a somewhat legitimate job that isn't a detriment to society.
In a survey conducted in 2000 by the nonprofit advocacy group Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger and Homelessness, 75 percent of homeless people in Los Angeles said they depended on income from recycling.
75% of homeless steal from the city and thus increase taxes. Nearly 100% of homeless need to get real fucking jobs.
After all, a single homeless person with a shopping cart and plastic bag cannot compete with multiple people in trucks bent on collecting every bottle, can and newspaper, said executive director Bob Erlenbusch.
The homeless thought they owned the recyclables theft racket, but now organized crime is pushing them out. This just goes to show that homeless aren't very good at anything.
A positive example of a homeless man trying to work a legitimate profession.
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