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Poll: Should Scrap Metal Dealers Be Required To Mail Checks Rather Than Pay Cash?

ABOVE: Cash's Scrap Metal on N. Broadway couldn't pay customers in cash is a new bill becomes law

The poll this week relates to a bill at the Board of Aldermen:

The ordinance would force scrap yards to stop dealing in cash and to computerize records of what they buy and from whom. They could only accept air-conditioner coils from certified technicians and could lose their business license if they violate the ordinance.

It is the first item — requiring scrap dealers to pay their customers by a mailed check — that is causing the most consternation. But that’s the one element police say is a must if the city wants to curb scrap metal thefts that are costing property owners thousands in repairs and driving rehabbers out of St. Louis.

Since 2010, the city has seen more than $6 million in scrap metal thefts, $1.5 million of that since March. Police say drug addicts who steal scrap and sell it to support their daily habits would lose interest without the immediate payout of cash. (STLtoday.com)

Board Bill #86 sponsored by  16th ward Ald Donna Baringer on June 3, 2011. Co-sponsors listed are Troupe, Arnowitz, Wessels, Boyd, and Cohn:

An ordinance pertaining to the purchase or resale of scrap metal; repealing Ordinance 67424, presently codified as Section 15.159 of the Revised Code of the City of St. Louis, pertaining to electronic database requirements, purchasing HVAC scrap metal, establishing licensing requirements and rules and regulations for persons doing business in the City of St. Louis as scrap metal merchants; containing definitions; a penalty clause, a severability clause and an emergency clause.

I’ve read opposition on Facebook, saying this bill, if passed, will hurt legit guys who collect metal for a living. The argument is they depend on cash to buy food and pay rent.

I don’t have a strong opinion, but I’d like to see how readers feel about this issue so this is the poll topic this week. As always, the poll is in the upper right corner of the blog.

– Steve Patterson

 

 

Currently there are "8 comments" on this Article:

  1. Erica T says:

    I think the opinions will be stronger based on the personal experience that comes with it. If this were five years ago, I wouldn’t care either way. However, the moped group I’m in have gotten COUNTLESS mopeds stolen. Like, the theft is so rampant it’s almost funny. It doesnt matter what kind of locks we use, if there are bikes in plain site of anyone, they will be stolen. Period. And the scrapyards insist they don’t take moped, scooters and the like, but we’ve all seen them at scrapyards, so that’s bs. Furthermore, cash based ANYTHING is becoming more and more obscure and seems like it’s a hassle more than it’s worth. As someone who used to wait tables for cash, I can empathize with the “need it now” mentality, but in the end, if the guy is still getting paid, that’s all that matters. I’m stuck having to wait two weeks to get paid for the work that I do, as do most of us, but we deal with it.

     
  2. Erica T says:

    I think the opinions will be stronger based on the personal experience that comes with it. If this were five years ago, I wouldn’t care either way. However, the moped group I’m in have gotten COUNTLESS mopeds stolen. Like, the theft is so rampant it’s almost funny. It doesnt matter what kind of locks we use, if there are bikes in plain site of anyone, they will be stolen. Period. And the scrapyards insist they don’t take moped, scooters and the like, but we’ve all seen them at scrapyards, so that’s bs. Furthermore, cash based ANYTHING is becoming more and more obscure and seems like it’s a hassle more than it’s worth. As someone who used to wait tables for cash, I can empathize with the “need it now” mentality, but in the end, if the guy is still getting paid, that’s all that matters. I’m stuck having to wait two weeks to get paid for the work that I do, as do most of us, but we deal with it.

     
  3. Pass It says:

    This is a no brainer. Which means it probably won’t pass. Those who are legit scrappers and need cash to pay the rent, can wait 2-3 days to get a check. It won’t kill them. 

     
  4. Pass It says:

    This is a no brainer. Which means it probably won’t pass. Those who are legit scrappers and need cash to pay the rent, can wait 2-3 days to get a check. It won’t kill them. 

     
  5. Douglas Duckworth says:

    Obviously, like drug dealing, the informal economy occurs with the absence of jobs. I feel bad for these people. Yet this industry destroys what little value remains in St. Louis City and it must be destroyed. We cannot let our identity be dismantled and sent to the south, China, or the county. Do not let these greasy scrapper ‘lobbyists’ undermine this needed legislation.

     
  6. Douglas Duckworth says:

    Obviously, like drug dealing, the informal economy occurs with the absence of jobs. I feel bad for these people. Yet this industry destroys what little value remains in St. Louis City and it must be destroyed. We cannot let our identity be dismantled and sent to the south, China, or the county. Do not let these greasy scrapper ‘lobbyists’ undermine this needed legislation.

     
  7. Once my copper plumbing got stolen *twice* in the span of a year. I think this is a great law!

    The legitimate scrappers will benefit too, by having less competition for the real scrap.

     
  8. dylanized says:

    Once my copper plumbing got stolen *twice* in the span of a year. I think this is a great law!

    The legitimate scrappers will benefit too, by having less competition for the real scrap.

     

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