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My parents collect cans for a living

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Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#61

Post by midasuni »

gambiting wrote: post #55
rladd wrote: post #53

This is why I have always thought that can and bottle deposit prices should keep up with inflation: to give the collectors a living wage.

The cost of drinks largely hasn't increased in line with inflation, so you'd very quickly arrive at an unsustainable situation where returning a can/bottle would give you more money than it cost you to buy it.

If it had kept up with inflation a 45c bottle including 10c deposit in 1980 would be $1.52 including 33c deposit today

Instead it’s about $2

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#62

Post by nopenopenopeno »

hunterb123 wrote: post #47
nopenopenopeno wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI a great many immigrants were rich when they immigrated. A lot of rich people come to America because America offers so much opportunity to people who are already wealthy. Immigrants from overseas are especially likely to be wealthy. Indian-Americans are the wealthiest ethnic demographic in America simply because migrating from India pretty much requires being very wealthy to begin with.

Nothing I said indicated the immigrants were rich or poor, the majority are poor though. My point was if there's a nicer system than the US, immigrants will be flocking there too. Luckily we have numbers on the rates of which people immigrate to which countries, and the average wages of citizens of those countries. > Indian-Americans are the richest ethnic minority in America because migrating from India pretty much…

No post body was provided.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#63

Post by GabeIsko »

mise_en_place wrote: post #39
callmeal wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

You know the Federal government contracts out running prisons and the acquisition of execution materials to private entities right?

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#64

Post by TomAbel »

Here is a story of a man who collected cans and bottles for cash and invested the money he got in the stock market, he died a millionaire.

"Curt Degerman, known to many as "Tin Can Curt," Degerman spent nearly 30 years roaming the streets of Skelleftea in northern Sweden collecting tin cans and bottles for cash. Those who passed him by simply assumed he was another ordinary street bum.

But to the surpise of many, when Degerman died in 2008, he left more than $1.4 million to his cousin. In between collecting cans, Degerman spent a lot of time in his local library reading business papers and studying the stock market. "

He knew stocks inside and out," said his cousin.

By immersing himself in an education of thrift and smart investing, Degerman used his tin-can earnings to purchase mutual funds. He bought 124 gold bars and also expanded his cash with a savings account. By riding a bicycle and not having a mortgage on his house, his savings were made even easier.

But in 2008, Degerman died of a heart attack, leaving his entire estate to a cousin who had visited him regularly during his last days. He died a millionaire."

Sources:

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/money/tin-collector-dies-mi...

https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-WHB-2895

https://archive.md/kB5F4

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#65

Post by garmaine »

stevejb wrote: post #31
bobthepanda wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Doesn’t matter. The redemption cost is paid by the consumer when they buy the can—it is literally added to the bill, like a sales tax. Any recyclable value is extra.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#66

Post by rootsudo »

dbavaria wrote: post #51
rmk wrote: post #26

I am curious: if you collect cans for a living, do you qualify for government assistance? Is it possible that Jessica Yauri receives aid earmarked for children so they can get proper nutrition, via her parents? She does not mention if she qualifies for lunch assistance. Also, I am assuming that she goes to a public school where she doesn't have to pay to attend. It is also not clear if she receives further aid in sup…

I don't think you are curious, rather you're making a not so subtly veiled point against immigration which is wholly inappropriate in the context of this thread.

I think it is a 100% valid statement.

Are the authors parents, or is the author even valid to reside in the USA permanently?

And before anyone cries "racist", my background is 100% similar to the author in question. It's a shame that in the USA we have people who never really learned the Spanish language or culture and go on with "latinx" which is mocked even on twitter, to people who protect people that may have entered the United States illegally.

Migrating for work or school are very valid routes, but as the author stated she was "12" when she started collecting cans with her parents, it paints a picture that she migrated to the United States sometime during middle school. With per parents not having a support network in place, being illiterate in English, it seems highly unlikely they migrated here for work or university. Same for the author being 12 as well, highly unlikely that she migrated to the United States and sponsored her parents.

Nothing veiled about it, very legitimate questions. Many other families come in the country legally and are able to sponser themselves, that is one of the main focal points of immigration services. Are the people who are changing their nationality, able to survive, prosper and adapt to a new environment? Alongside liability, why should the United States have to socially assist someone that is new or even potentially an illegal alien over a "real" USA Citizen?

It is 100% appropriate, and matches the context of the story of the author - or more specifically why can't the authors parents support their child?

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#67

Post by dmurray »

mschuster91 wrote: post #60
gambiting wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of drinks largely hasn't increased in line with inflation, so you'd very quickly arrive at an unsustainable situation where returning a can/bottle would give you more money than it cost you to buy it.

Why is this unsustainable? You would still have to pay for the drink and deposit before you get the deposit back.

For one, it would increase the attractiveness of fraud where the same bottle is sold in multiple jurisdictions with different deposit rates. Instead of collecting trash across the border, buy cans there by the truckload, bring them back across state lines, empty them and redeem them for the "deposit" you never paid.

Of course, there are some plausible technological or political solutions to this. But it does change the economics.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#68

Post by kkjjkgjjgg »

smt88 wrote: post #16
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.

"It's worse somewhere else" isn't relevant to whether it's acceptable in the US. The US has the resources to reward hard workers with financial stability. It also benefits from brain-draining other countries with this promise. If the US continues to slide away from the "American Dream," the brains and prosperity will end up somewhere else.

So how much do you want to pay for bottle collecting? When you say "the US has the resources to reward hard workers", in this case you mean everybody who buys a bottle should pay more. Or how would you envision it to play out?

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#69

Post by hunterb123 »

nopenopenopeno wrote: post #62
hunterb123 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing I said indicated the immigrants were rich or poor, the majority are poor though. My point was if there's a nicer system than the US, immigrants will be flocking there too. Luckily we have numbers on the rates of which people immigrate to which countries, and the average wages of citizens of those countries. > Indian-Americans are the richest ethnic minority in America because migrating from India pretty much…

Quoted post unavailable.

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Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#70

Post by dmurray »

garmaine wrote: post #65
stevejb wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Doesn’t matter. The redemption cost is paid by the consumer when they buy the can—it is literally added to the bill, like a sales tax. Any recyclable value is extra.

The recycling centre's costs per ton of aluminium collected likely go up, though, from dealing with more physical cans.
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