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My parents collect cans for a living

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Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#31

Post by stevejb »

bobthepanda wrote: post #18
jandrewrogers wrote: post #4

I have not thought about collecting cans in a very long time. Decades ago you could make a decent bit of cash collecting aluminum cans. It was a common past time for poor people and undoubtedly contributed to the very high recycle rate for aluminum since it was a source of income for many people. This was widely known, so people would often go out of their way to make their aluminum trash easily available to be colle…

The problem is more that the nickel deposit was never really adjusted with inflation. A nickel in the '70s would be roughly a quarter today accounting for inflation, and there is certainly no state in the US with a deposit that high.

There is also less alumnium in a can now than from the 70's, so it may not be as bad as is apparent.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#32

Post by johnnyApplePRNG »

As they should.

About a decade ago in Toronto, Ontario, Canada we actually made collecting cans out of recycling bins illegal. The city claimed that these "scavengers" were taking their rightful profits.

I shit you not. [0]

[0] https://toronto.citynews.ca/2008/08/07/city-to-crack-down-on...

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#33

Post by Karrot_Kream »

kstenerud wrote: post #27

My family used to do this all the time when we were kids. We'd go along the ditches on the side of the road and make a family outing of it on weekends. At the beach my brother and I would drag big plastic garbage bags around and collect as much as we could from people who were happy to help some kids out and also happy to be rid of the bottles and cans. You could make some decent coin at it, but that was also in the…

I know what you mean. I used to walk around my school and the road for coins as a kid to pay for Advanced Placement (reduced cost) tests. I still instinctually reach for cash on the ground after a decade in software.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#34

Post by hunterb123 »

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #17
arkis22 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wait till you realize what's happening in the rest of the world. where people work much harder and still don't get by.

Or, if you take another section of the rest of the world wait till you realize what's happening in the rest of the world where people work less hard and don't have it that bad.

Then hopefully immigrants are also going there and enjoying that system, if it supports them, wherever it may be.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#35

Post by cgio »

throw8932894 wrote: post #23
sien wrote: post #7

From the article "Jessica is a proud first-generation Ecuadorian-American and a second-year Percy Ellis Sutton Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge (SEEK) student at Baruch College majoring in business management with a minor in law and policy." Jessia is the American dream. First generation, got to college and writing like that. Lots of Americans concentrate on what is wrong with America. There is value in…

Quoted post unavailable.

So you need to own a couple houses or businesses to be considered one who made it? I don’t have one of either, but I am somewhere where I feel I made it. Less of a safety net than if I owned a house of business, but then again those are too expensive to be pursued with no attention to alternatives and also provide a very porous shield from the crises.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#36

Post by asdff »

tschwimmer wrote: post #8
jandrewrogers wrote: post #4

I have not thought about collecting cans in a very long time. Decades ago you could make a decent bit of cash collecting aluminum cans. It was a common past time for poor people and undoubtedly contributed to the very high recycle rate for aluminum since it was a source of income for many people. This was widely known, so people would often go out of their way to make their aluminum trash easily available to be colle…

In the San Francisco Bay area, collecting cans is still very common among the homeless. In some parts of SF people will dig through your recycling (and garbage) every garbage day for recycling. Additionally, many public garbage cans have a semi-open section at the top which I have seen used for disposing of cans. I don't know if it's intentionally designed that way, but it's much easier for anyone to get the cans fro…

At my college campus it was traditional to just throw empty cans into your yard while partying. By morning, they'd all be collected and gone.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#37

Post by heavyset_go »

arkis22 wrote: post #15
elil17 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The writing in this article is incredible and I have nothing but admiration for the author and her family. But, to me, this situation is what’s wrong with America. Why are people who are clearly so hard working struggling to get by?

wait till you realize what's happening in the rest of the world. where people work much harder and still don't get by.

> where people work much harder and still don't get by.

This happens to a lot of people in the US, as well.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#38

Post by channel_t »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #4

I have not thought about collecting cans in a very long time. Decades ago you could make a decent bit of cash collecting aluminum cans. It was a common past time for poor people and undoubtedly contributed to the very high recycle rate for aluminum since it was a source of income for many people. This was widely known, so people would often go out of their way to make their aluminum trash easily available to be colle…

Can collecting has been wildly popular over here in Portland OR for as long as I can remember. Basically no cans that are set on the curb ever last long enough to get picked up by waste management. Typically it's homeless people who collect them but there's also enterprising immigrant families and seemingly people from other walks of life who do it, some who try to collect at more industrial scale by filling their cars with cans.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#39

Post by mise_en_place »

callmeal wrote: post #24
mise_en_place wrote: post #22

I like these types of stories that show the harsh economic realities of many in America. It was not the case many years ago, when they could become an American citizen by working hard enough. Now they are servants, beholden to the corrupted members of our government.

>Now they are servants, beholden to the corrupted members of our government. ITYM corporations. The government is desperately trying to help and corporate interests (in the form of Joe Manchin's blocking of the BBB act) are how we got to this point. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/12/joe-man... Most people have forgotten that we "solved" the ozone hole problem through regulation. We could have done…

Nope, the worst thing a corporation can do is try to sell me something I don’t want. The worst the federal govt can do to me is imprison me, or worse, kill me. It’s time we hold these fascists accountable.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#40

Post by 0x0nyandesu »

This is honestly sad, pathetic, and nothing to be proud of. There's no chance at moving up doing this line of work and depends entirely on the state continuing a recycling program that pays less and less as inflation rises. You put yourself at risk by competing with homeless for these cans. Any time you're not working you lose out on profit and that can happen just from getting sick or injured.

There's so many better jobs out there. My own immigrant parents started from doing service jobs in the food industry, driving, and kitchen work. They ended up doing all sorts of other jobs over the years but now own four properties with two fully paid off. This article isn't a success story, it's a story of failure.

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