Scrap Metal

Bay City, Michigan, June 6, 2007:

Buying a keg for your next party just got a little more expensive. Large breweries have complained about losing thousands of beer kegs a year in Michigan because retail beer customers have been selling off the stainless steel barrels at scrap yards rather than returning them to stores to get their $10 deposit back.

As a result, state alcohol officials have boosted the deposit from $10 to $30, The Bay City Times reported Tuesday.

The action ruffled political feathers 700 miles away in New Jersey where Ronatarian Party leader Ron learned of the price increase.

"That's f*cking outrageous!" screamed Ron in front of his local beer distributor. "Who's got an extra 20 bucks for this nonsense? The federal government should intervene in matters like this. If I were president, the beer consumers of the United States would not be burdened by a ridiculous financial obligation like this, that's for sure."

"Sh*t like this makes me furious! The good people of Michigan need relief."

For scrap-metal thieves, anything is fair game -- siding, gutters, spools of electric cable, pipes, even beer kegs. Some of the more brazen ones raid salvage yards, then sell the stolen metal back to the businesses.

Thefts of copper wire, auto parts and aluminum siding let crooks tap the market for scrap metal, where some items brought record amounts per pound in May, said Tim Neal, materials manager at a Bay City scrap yard.

"Copper prices peaked out about a month ago at more than $3 a pound," Neal said.

Stainless steel was worth about 25 cents a pound late in 2005, but fetched about $1.75 per pound in early May, he said.

It costs a beer manufacturer about $152 to buy a new half-barrel when one disappears, according to Ken Wozniak of the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.

He said a Michigan brewing company asked the commission last year to raise the $10 deposit to $90 per keg.

"The Commission thought that request was a little steep," Wozniak said. "The purpose of the increase in the barrel deposit to $30 was to ensure the return of the keg, not necessarily to cover the (beer manufacturer's) cost of the keg."

"It's all about money these days," Ron concluded, "And I don't like it one goddamn bit. It used to be about the beer, man."

Posted by Bittle at June 6, 2007 07:05 AM