Price of copper wire has gone insane!

[Vitalux]

I went out today to purchase a piece of 14/2 gage wire which is pre-packaged at about 16' (sixteen feet) so I could add a another plug socket in a new wall.

Much to my surprise at Lowels it was $23.99 :der:

It was a few years ago that I use to pay close to that for about 300 feet.

The copper market has gone nuts. They are even selling copper ingot on ebay now.
Has copper turned into gold? :der:

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/215950/215950,1278884051,1/stock-photo-copper-ingots-isolated-on-white-computer-generated-d-photo-rendering-56958001.jpg

[John Parslow]

Probably because the Chinese are buying up huge ammounts globally (probably for their electronics Industry) ...

All the best. JP :cool:

[Lazlo]

Commodity prices have had a huge impact on solar farm construction. Enough so that contracts and pricing are not applicable for modelling only months later. Copper prices have gone up so much that engineers are now specifying "gasp! The Horror!" aluminum for string wiring.

[Vitalux]

Be a bummer if we had to go back to those ugly days of aluminum wire in house wiring.
I converted my whole house from aluminum wire a few years ago to copper wire.

who would ever think standard house wire would cost over a dollar a foot.

[Fred Steeves]

Thanks for the heads up there Gary! As a carpenter I don't wander the electrical aisle and price things that often, except for the occassional specific job. Funny timing, I just cleaned out my dad's cabinet shop after he moved out of state a couple weeks ago. Of the things I saved thinking them useful for future use was a 250' roll 14/2, a 250' roll of 12/2, and a partially used roll of 50' 14/2. I was going to just toss the 50' roll in the big garage sale coming up, now it's down in the shed with the rest. LOL.

Cheers,
Fred

[Calz]

Physical commodities vs (soon to be) worthless paper.

[Flash]

I am not going to give my adress to anyone anylonger, all my wires are copper and my pipes. lol

[Pete]

I am not going to give my adress to anyone anylonger, all my wires are copper and my pipes. lol

hey we must all be rich!

[witchy1]

Has copper turned into gold?

Yes it has - apparently resonance will do it

10414

What you are seeing above is 100 ounces of precious metals produced from LENC technology in less than 24 hours

http://drjoechampion.com/

[TigaHawk]

It's been on the rise for quite a while now.

Its profitable for people to try and peek in you're backyard for scrap metals. They'll offer to come pickup say you're old hot water unit, or anything else they know contains copper and haul it off "for free"

They take it away, have the copper stripped out of it then resell the copper.

I believe a few times, the local Train systems have been shutdown (and a person has died...) from stealing the copper power lines that run above the train tracks.


Who needs Silver/Gold when you can have copper? :)

[DNA]

Such a grounded conversation and I'm going to throw left field into the dialogue. :)

Just because it pinged,,,,,I often recomend the Lacerta Intervew. A supposed interveiw with a female reptillian.
In it, she states one of the most sought after minerals on earth is Copper. She even goes so far as to say most visiting cultures interested in our raw materials don't care for Gold. If they are here for minerals it is almost always copper. Lacerta - An interview with a female reptillian (http://imaginativeworlds.com/forum/showthread.php?18983-Lacerta-An-interview-with-a-female-reptillian)

[risveglio]

A friend of mine that used to work for the phone company said that back in the 70s during the recession they would catch people stealing the copper wire from the lines.

Any penny pre 1982 has about 2 cents worth of copper. If you check out some of the metal forums, people hoard those pennies now.

[Pete]

if this guy is really transmuting lead into gold, ultimately, it means they are no longer precious.

[witchy1]

copper also turns grey hair back to original colour (so Ive read a few times) - I suggest not eating the mineral copper tho - might make you very sick

[witchy1]

Yes Pete that website describes how the govt turned them away (originally anyway) My guess is they know how to do this regardless and Joe was seen as a pain in their butt's. Joe also has a colourful history, but he seems to have done what many have failed to do. When he first started he let in a few people for minimal $ while it was being developed. (even 1 person was a member from avalon - who didnt answer my pm and doesnt appear like he has been here since) I was about 6 months too late to get in at the ground floor and of course cant afford it now.

You can buy the secret at a very hefty price. It appears that they are making tons of it - all Assayed perfectly. Now they are moving onto rare earths.

Might all be a sham as well :-)

[Carmody]

Yes Pete that website describes how the govt turned them away (originally anyway) My guess is they know how to do this regardless and Joe was seen as a pain in their butt's. Joe also has a colourful history, but he seems to have done what many have failed to do. When he first started he let in a few people for minimal $ while it was being developed. (even 1 person was a member from avalon - who didnt answer my pm and doesnt appear like he has been here since) I was about 6 months too late to get in at the ground floor and of course cant afford it now.

You can buy the secret at a very hefty price. It appears that they are making tons of it - all Assayed perfectly. Now they are moving onto rare earths.

Might all be a sham as well :-)

The recent science says that YES, what he says he is doing, is 100% possible. This, regarding the 'face value' of the rather slim information from his corner.

The precious metals market is.... if I was forced to give the one and only real answer.... is OVER.

As in finished.

Meaningless.

In two words...'electric universe'.

[Lost Soul]

Physical commodities vs (soon to be) worthless paper.

Exactly what I'm thinking. As fiat currency declines, commodities increase to reflect the decrease in purchasing power of the fiat currency. The Federal Reserve hasn't unleashed QE-3 yet, but if does and the market responds like it did after QE-2, expect another 30% increase in commodities. About the only thing that may hold copper back is a decreased demand due to decreased housing starts and industrial demands (thanks to less consumer demands).

[aranuk]

I am glad I'm a retired builder now. The cost of slates, lead, bricks , copper wire it's all the same. 30 years ago Tin became a precious metal.

Stan

[MorningSong]

Oh! And let us not forget the bacteriostatic qualities of Copper...

http://www.scienzainrete.it/en/content/article/copper-kills-bacteria-end-hospital-acquired-infections

...which may explain why so many ancient cultures used turquoise, malachite, azurite, et al for "jewelry".

[RMorgan]

This is just the beginning! Here in Brazil, some gangs go out at night to steal the entire copper electricity wiring, directly from the poles, in poor neighborhoods, to sell it in black markets.

Could you imagine that? One day you have electricity in your house, the other day, there isn´t even wiring hanging on the poles!!

[Soul Safari]

Coming from Essex (UK) and living near the biggest 'traveller' sites (Dale Farm) in the country we have our fair share of precious metals disappear on a daily basis. Our local train station has been shut for two weekends on the bounce cos they had nicked 200 meters of 'overhead' power lines!

Lead, copper pipe, drain covers and metal fences are all targets.

If it's not nailed down, it GOES!

[dark skies]

last week in lincoln I took a generator out to a housing estate as metal theives had stolen 1.8 km's of overhead cabling:eek:, was talking to the line engineer and he said its not the first time its happened

[sygh]

Commodity prices have had a huge impact on solar farm construction. Enough so that contracts and pricing are not applicable for modelling only months later. Copper prices have gone up so much that engineers are now specifying "gasp! The Horror!" aluminum for string wiring.

well, here come the fires.

[Anchor]

I had to lay a 70m cable from my distribution box to a slab where a generator shed will be, it was 16mm² conductors; you can imagine this was not cheap.

The part of the run outside the house is 600mm underground, inside expensive impact resistant conduit, thanks to the Australian Wiring standards - you'd have to be pretty focused to steal it - LOL. It was around A$12 per metre, just for the cable. So, yes, I agree copper prices are very high!