The fog around the copper wire machine is gone, it was our old buddy Lance up to another of his investments. He still can’t spot a Ponzi scheme without my help, but this one is something different. They already have a small machine in place. It requires an operator to feed it one wire at a time, and doesn’t work on the very small, like the 28 gauge used by the phone company. Blog rules say this totally new topic gets covered.
Shown is a picture of baled copper wire, my guess is a thousand pounds each. If so, this is a month of output for the type of machine they are seeking. This is how I learn things, by watching others get into such deals. They may produce copper beads but also requires some type of container. And a forklift. With a driver. Yet a market niche must exist even to see such machines for sale. I take it finding the raw materials is a challenge so the big boys leave it to small operators.I get there to find the usual. They have a tiny machine in operation that produces a small daily profit. Therefore a bigger machine means more profit, at least on paper. They know nothing of recycling laws, industrial permits, copper remelt prices, nor the size of plant needed to house a $20,000 commercial machine. My advice was to buy five more of the small machines, which costs a fraction of the amount, and run those until the capacity for supply, storage, disposal, sale, and transportation factors play out and more investment is justified.
These machines all work on large wire, drawing the insulation past a cutting blade. But the thin wires work on a different principle which I have not yet ascertained, but it must use some kind of abrasion. The wires have to be shredded before being fed into the hopper. Anyway, these folks are determined to go ahead without any market research, so I set up the limited liability for them. And wished them luck.
The automated machines are huge, needing a substantial building to house the operation, particularly the ones fed from the top. They produce pellets of copper and plastic, both they claim are sellable. It is impossible to get a solid price out of Alibaba unless you practically guarantee you will purchase when they finally say it. Even if you offer cash, they insist on massive details about your background and more.
You can examine the basics of this machine noting once again the marketing of Chinese products is monopolized by the Alibaba Group, who I [naturally] mistook for a Saudi company because our first contact (remember the doggie wigs) was an Egyptian trader. It is really mainland Chinese, and you cannot get around them. They bill themselves as a business-to-business trading platform and will not sell to individuals, only registered companies. Probably a wise move.
I would normally give such a venture no nevermind, but they do have a small hand-cranked unit in operation. I calculated at $3.82 per pound for clean used wire, which is 95% recyclable, they need to process 1,000 pounds per day. I’m allowing for $1.55 per pound expenses and $0.41 per pound in government fees. I have no idea what type of storage is needed for a supply of this wire, but I’d keep at least two weeks on hand, or 14,000 pounds not including the insulation.
They have not considered costs of any breakdown or the skill requirement to run the machine. Nor any stats on replacement parts, shipping time, not even an estimate of electricity usage. I advises them to buy two machines for when one breaks down. And do the job by hand until they can expand out of profits. It is foolish in the extreme to borrow money to start any business in America these days, though you should have one ready to go as a contingency. As it stands, these guys have difficulty filling out government forms.
Now back to Estelle. I got to thinking about her new brown hair and can’t help thinking that somehow, it got longer. She did come over after dark and kept fiddling with it so 24 hours later I get to thinking. Funny she doesn’t show any such tendency for big decisions in other areas, so I’m reserving the benefit of the doubt here. I say it might have been a wig. If so, she is a good-looker, I’ve never denied that.
That was my only outing, the wire machine affair. I made it to the bakery for closing, since they worry if I don’t show every day. I also had a lengthy chat in the car with Lance as he had to pick me up and bring me back until I can drive again. That fancy place he lives is indeed full of “millionaires”—if they could find any buyers. Good old Lance is beginning to see the wisdom of my waiting game. “Well, they hired the money, didn’t they?” Coolidge (allegedly), 1923. The government is only allowing them to keep the houses hoping things will turn around. That only shows the people’s representatives are as dull-witted as those who elected them. Sooner or later, they will have to face that responsibility. They can say they were only keeping up with the Joneses, but it was more like the Rockefellers. I lived through their thirty-year spending spree and saw first hand where they were headed.
I believe the middle class is just a stupid today as before the housing bubble. If they could borrow money to buy again, they would. The brake is that nobody will lend it to them any more. Here is a picture of my old trailer court, the one that I shafted because they ripped me off for $1,250.00 It still sits vacant. I like to think I was a large part of that, though the corporation is unlikely to fail. This is how the land looks after four long years. The large palm at center was in my front yard.
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