My dad works with lighting. A long time ago, a man would come and pick up the extra metal at the warehouse. One day the man couldn't come and Dad did it and he found out that the metal was worth a lot of money. After that, Dad took it.
I first started helping when I was eight. I've helped a lot with it so Dad pays me when we go there. Rowan started to work when he was five. We put the metal in the van to take to the metal yard. Transformers, ballasts, and copper wire are separated. A big magnet comes over and picks up the ballasts and puts them in a bin. Then they put it on a scale and another guy checks the weight. Dad throws the transformers into another bin and they weigh that. Then the copper wire they put into smaller bins to weigh.
It usually takes 3 or 4 hours. We work really hard, but Rowan talks a lot.
Then we go out to eat.
Saturday we got up at 6am and took all the plastic off the copper wire. It took 3 hours. We got $300 for copper wire this time.
I think it's fun to take metal. It's good hard work.
In the summer we go to garage sales and get all the free metal. We get copper wire off of computers that don't work and fax machines. We do it because we get money for it for college.
I like finding metal. It's kinda like a metal hunt.