Question

[Cass]

You go to a scrap yard to sell your scrap copper or what have you.

While there the owner, who knows your a plumber, shows you 2 new 60' rolls of 3/4" K copper that someone sold as scrap. They normaly sell for around $250.00/60' roll at the supply house.

He offers you the both rolls for $225.00.

Do you buy them?

[geniescience]

Discount insufficient. Risk is not calculable, as you don't know where it's been. Neither does he. All warranty is off.

david

[jimbo]

First, from an ethical standpoint: is this a scrapyard which checks ID's on people who bring stuff in, and cooperates with police to combat stolen merchandise? Or is it a forgone conclusion that those rolls are "hot"?

Second, if you resolve the ethical dilemma, you still the risk on the condition of the copper. When you get rolls from a box store, you run the risk that Homer dropped the box from a 12 foot ladder and there is a big flat spot on the tubing. The outside of the box may not show the damage.

[Mike Swearingen]

A good ethical question, if you assume that the new copper rolls were stolen.
I would not, but then that's me, even knowing that one of my competitors is probably going to jump on it.
This kind of thing is presented to us all at one time or another, and to me, it just isn't worth it. Why be part of the problem, if you can be part of the solution?
If my family was starving, yep. If they're not, nope. Ethics is always a matter of choice. Your call.
Mike