Do you consider this stealing?

In March my scrapping business partner was looking for morel mushrooms in some woods about 2 miles from his house. While he was there he noticed some old farm equipment there rotting away. It must have been built in the teens or 20's and it was probably sitting there for over 50 years. He saw one of the neighbors walking his and told them he was doing and the neighbor said that it wasn't his property and that it was owned by Pfizer. Pfizer owns like 3000 acres in this area where they grow wheat and corn for the cattle they have. The area where he was at was probably at least 500 yards from where Pfizer is actively using.

He and my brother went back there a couple days later with our trailer and got all of easy pieces in two trips and they got over $100 each. About a month later he and I went back there with his blow torch to get the hard/big pieces. The spokes on the wheels of this stuff was made from like 1'' dia cast iron. I noticed on the axle of one of the pieces the word 'Deering' was cast on it, I assume this company eventually became 'John Deere'? He cut what he could to get the weight down so we could move it.

We left one piece there that had a bush growing through it and was so thick that the torch probably wouldn't do much, it probably weighs around 700-800lbs. We got almost 1200lbs of heavy gauge cast steel and at the time the scrap yard was paying $270/ton and we each got $80 for 2hrs of work. I'd like to go back and get that other piece but I guess we are technically trespassing on Pfizer's property and with the price down to $160/ton it's not worth the risk.

Let me know what you think.

BTW I didn't post pics of this job on my 'J & J Scrapping' facebook page just in case....

If it wasn't yours to begin with, and wasn't on your property, and you had no permission from the owner's of the property to even be there - what would you call it?

Didn't have permission so it was wrong and is considered stealing.

I am sure they don't know it's there - was there - and it's not like they're going to use it or restore it. I am sure Pfizer won't go broke because of $500 of scrap metal missing from their property. Plus who would I call to get permission? I am sure if I called their 800 number or contacted them via the web I would get someone in New York that would just say no.

Still doesn't make it right. Doesn't matter if they know it is there or not - you know that it doesn't belong to you. Whether or not it hurts Pfizer is also immaterial.

Bottom line - if you take something that doesn't belong to you and you don't have permission - it is always stealing. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Since it was trash/junk from a multibillion corporation I really don't feel bad, but it would be different if it was on an individual's property we would ask 1st and if they said no, then we would leave it.

Originally Posted by JoesGotScrap

at the time the scrap yard was paying $270/ton and we each got $80 for 2hrs of work. I'd like to go back and get that other piece but I guess we are technically trespassing on Pfizer's property and with the price down to $160/ton it's not worth the risk.

Let me know what you think.

BTW I didn't post pics of this job on my 'J & J Scrapping' facebook page just in case....

You've actually answered your own question in a not so complimentary way

So - stealing from multibillion dollar corporations is ok - just not from individuals? What if it's a billionaire - is that ok? A millionaire? Makes $100K a year? Makes $50K a year? Once you've crossed that line, where does that slippery slope take you?

If it is right for one person to do something - it must be right for everyone to do that same thing. How well would a multibillion dollar corporation do if every person it came into contact with stole a few hundred dollars from it?

smfh

Well I would have called the operations manager for the company and told them about your service,he would proubly asked you what would be the cost for you to remove the eye sore,and who knows may be they would hire you for some other project that they have.I think you short changed your self out of a good conection,The the next time you might condider the bad coma,and just how stupied you really are.Its guys like you that give the Honest Hard Working Scrappers out there a bad Rep.

Well if you're going to steal from a multibillion dollar corporation, you may as well "blow torch" a piece of agricultural history while you're at it. There may be other tractor buffs on this site, and I'd love to hear other opinions, but from the half-a$$ed description of the writer it sounds like a pre-IH, pre-Deering/McCormick, Deering Harvester machine. I know several tractor collectors who would've loved to have bought that cast/stamped axle for a lot more than you got illegally scrapping it for.