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My parents collect cans for a living

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Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#401

Post by thrower123 »

Aachen wrote: post #371
thrower123 wrote: post #114

I used to collect cans and bottles. Nowadays I don't know where you'd even take them to redeem them; there isn't enough money in it to justify paying sonebody to sort them; an entire truckload of cans wouldn't pay for the gasoline to drive them to the store.

Isn't the idea that one takes the bottles when you go to the store anyway? At least that's what we do. We've cut down on bottle use also, but even so there's a load from time to time, and I've started buying joghurt that comes in reusable glass jars so whenever I get new ones I return the old ones.

Maybe that works if you have the infrastructure set up for that workflow.

The way that it worked for us, was we saved up a year's worth of bottles and cans in the basement in 55 gallon barrels, then we took them to the local redemption place attached to the general store, where one of the high school kids that attended the full-service pumps would go sort them, which took an hour or so. If it was a good year, it paid for a few rides and some french fries at the county fair.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#402

Post by rootsudo »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #368
rootsudo wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's valid. Refugees are refugees and are granted legal status. Illegitimate Spanish speaking aliens encourage human trafficking through unsafe conditions, Turbo, Colombia, Darien Gap, Cayotes in general and sponser cartels, - etc, worker extortion, unsafe work places (e.g. company hires illegal aliens, pays under minimum wage, no safety regards and if there's any talk out of line - it's just a call to ICE/DHS and th…

"baitclicky poverty porn that sounds bad" I'm not sure you know what either "baitclick" or poverty porn are, and I'm very sure that you are misinformed about immigration in the United States, no matter how close to it you feel. Regardless, you don't get to dismiss facts simply because they make you feel bad. There are not in fact significant support networks for legal immigrants, even refugees. There are informal com…

That is not true, by standard if you are a legal immigrant, you are entitled to social services and get the help you need. This can be seen most recently by the Afghanistan refugees resettling in the USA.

Guaranteed food, guaranteed shelter, guaranteed medicare, guaranteed access to education. Expedited identity services.

In any state, or province, you can look it up and see what services are available to legal immigrants.

The issue I stated above, and in other replies is that many Central and South Americans are here illegally, and that is why they fall into these types of traps and are continually stuck. There are more ways to access USA legally and green card is one of them. The most common one that I did not say was marriage and then the spouse that immigrated can sponsor their family.

While you write quite happy and positive, I urge you to not drink this sort of kool-aid.

While immigration to the USA is not perfect, there are services that help legal and in many cities/states they even ASSIST illegal aliens by allowing them to have identity cards, not enforcing laws, dropping cases, adding several languages to their social services, offering interpreter services, having guaranteed defense help for lawsuits (tenant rights) and the right to an attorney (public defender.)

I also suggest you review this, many immigrants and Americans don't.

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/guides/M-...

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#403

Post by rmk »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #368
rootsudo wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's valid. Refugees are refugees and are granted legal status. Illegitimate Spanish speaking aliens encourage human trafficking through unsafe conditions, Turbo, Colombia, Darien Gap, Cayotes in general and sponser cartels, - etc, worker extortion, unsafe work places (e.g. company hires illegal aliens, pays under minimum wage, no safety regards and if there's any talk out of line - it's just a call to ICE/DHS and th…

"baitclicky poverty porn that sounds bad" I'm not sure you know what either "baitclick" or poverty porn are, and I'm very sure that you are misinformed about immigration in the United States, no matter how close to it you feel. Regardless, you don't get to dismiss facts simply because they make you feel bad. There are not in fact significant support networks for legal immigrants, even refugees. There are informal com…

Well, one of the problems is the pronounced tilt toward family migration, which occurs at the expense of highly skilled migrants. There are no political points to be won by encouraging legal, high-skilled immigrants, so they are treated like dirt while illegal immigrants' concerns (e.g., dreamers) rise to the top of the pile.

Another problem is jus solis, which enables illegal immigrants to lay claim to public funds indirectly via US-citizen children. The large number of illegal immigrants makes this a problem. If their numbers were better controlled by prompt enforcement of existing immigration law, then most people would simply not object to providing a high level of assistance to a small(er) number of illegal immigrants. However, the large number of illegal immigrants coupled with a low-medium level of assistance creates an underclass that will remain on the lower rungs for generations.

The last problem is the "refugee" problem. Because family and skilled migration are the only other legal paths available, many people abuse the refugee provisions by posing as victims of political violence, domestic violence etc., in order to gain entry. This has blown up into a huge crisis at the US-Mexico border.

A significant number of hispanic immigrants and citizens are in one of these problematic categories, and the sheer scale of the problem is the actual issue.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#404

Post by 999900000999 »

valarauko wrote: post #370
999900000999 wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It definitely was. And LA was affordable up until 10 years ago, then things got rapidly worse.

What changed? NYC has been pretty unaffordable for a very long time - what changed in LA?

The rent sky rocketed.

If you want to see what happens when you ignore basic economics and focus on feel good solutions, come on down.

Instead of making it easier to build housing，the local government effectively floods the market with housing vouchers. If you give out a 1200$ housing vouchers, a unit which would only be 800$ on the free market is all of a sudden 1200$ since that's the voucher's max.

I really do miss the LA of my youth, but it's gone now.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#405

Post by nikolay »

All my money as a kid (and that's over 30 years back in Communist-then Bulgaria) was coming from recycling paper and bottles (we didn't have cans). It was more work than it is now as you had to wash the bottles very well. Back then, it was the norm for kids to do it and especially so with paper. I can imagine today's kids doing so much work for little money. But I've though my kids and we don't throw a single recyclable into the trash! It's inconvenient to recycle as you need to have room, and we have to separate paper, plastic, glass, etc. from other trash, but we do it. I recently switched to Recycle From Home [0], which is now in Orange County, California.

[0]:https://www.recyclefromhome.com/

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#406

Post by me_me_mu_mu »

kwinten wrote: post #399
me_me_mu_mu wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only people complaining are rich privileged people who get into top colleges because of daddy and mommy. Source: know a bunch of such people. Good thing about wealth generation is ultimately these low level buffoons get weeded out, they will never break past the low millions. They never knew real hardship so they can only go so far.

The only people who complain about America are... millionaires? I can't follow your train of thought at all. Crazy if you actually believe this.

First of all, I'm replying to someone. So, that implies you don't understand context.

Read the parent I replied to, then read what I wrote. Sure, me using "THE ONLY PEOPLE" is a bit strong, but unless you're a machine you would understand the context.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#407

Post by joveian »

zepearl wrote: post #383

Language/writing question At the very end: > Now, when people ask me what my parents do for a living, I tell them not with embarrassment or shame, but with pride. In this context, is "pride" appropriate, or would "dignity" (or something else) be better? My mother tongue is italian. I understand "pride" as referring to something exceptional that was done (which doesn't seem to be the case in this article), "dignity" o…

At least in the US I think pride is now used most commonly in the sense of dignity and in the context of the article pride is the more formulaic term (all based on my general sense from random stuff I read). As in "Pride Month" or "proud to be ...". The sense you mention does also exist and would usually be the case if refering to a particular person or event and in particular when saying "proud of". Although regularly working 12 hours a day is not common so that sense could potentially be intended in this case as well. Even that sense wouldn't necessarily be that strong and conveying that you feel a strong emotion of pride in some accomplishment would involve additional words. Interestingly, when I checked the definition on Wictionary quickly it gave primarily negative connotations to the word while I think that sense is rarely used in the US and usually in a religious context (and even there it would often involve additional words to indicate that the negative sense is used), although I think it may have been used that way more commonly in the past. Usually other words would be used in the negative sense.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#408

Post by helsinkiandrew »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #258
Warrenio wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This story is set in Brooklyn, so the author's parents are likely benefiting from the five cent deposit on every beverage can sold in the state of New York [0]. Can deposits are a great idea, in my opinion. Why don't more places have them? They give people an incentive to recycle (so they get their deposit back), and if they choose to litter, whoever cleans up after them gets the money. [0]: https://www.tax.ny.gov/bu…

Because it obfuscates costs and creates complexity that can cause more issues, such as people raiding garbage bins. It would be more straightforward if government paid for cleanup of litter and it becomes a part of the spending budget where the amount of spend can be tracked. And teach children not to litter and cultivate that sense of responsibility for one’s environment. And prosecute littering.

Replying a little late - but I think the deposit on cans is to increase recycling of materials rather than reduce litter.

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#409

Post by johnnyApplePRNG »

chongli wrote: post #346
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a ton of case law in pretty much every common law jurisdiction establishing that stuff that is visibly trash-like and abandoned in a public area is fair game. If the job is redundant because volunteers are doing it than maybe the city should stop paying for it.

These areas are private property: the ends of people’s driveways. The city pays for trash and recycling collection from these areas. The scavengers steal all of the profitable items (mostly metal) from people’s recycling, making the recycling program even more unprofitable than it already is.

Exactly right but why is the issue here that the city is losing out on money?

The issue should be that people in our society are so desperate for income that they're literally digging through our trash for our scraps, no?

Re: My parents collect cans for a living

#410

Post by nicbou »

downrightmike wrote: post #363
bluedino wrote: post #225

Michigander here. One of the very few states in the USA with a bottle deposit. 10 cents per can/bottle. It's actually prohibited to put a bottle or can in a landfill here. It's very common to see people digging through trash cans and such, collecting bottles and cans to return for deposit. We have two garbage cans in the garage at home, when they both fill up we will take them back to the store. It's a inconvenience…

In Germany the machines just print out a slip of paper with a barcode that can be used to get cash back at the register, or as store credit. The machines compact the plastic, and are fairly quick. On your way in, you just pop them in and go shopping. If more states had the bottle deposit, it would be easier to handle.

I found the German Pfand system too complicated. Lidl and Aldi won't accept most of your bottles, and there's no unified symbol for Pfand bottles.

In general, recycling in Germany is really confusing.

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