As we empty our soft drink cans we keep them in containers outside. I periodically bag them up and take them to Lipsitz Metals for recycling. Yesterday Chris told me that I was being "Green" for Christmas. I told her that I wasn't being "Green", I wanted "Green" Anyway, I loaded all of the bags of cans into the back of the truck and headed down to Lipsitz. I waited in line for my turn. When the time came I pulled the truck up, got out, and started to take the bags of cans out give them to the attendant. He slices each bag open and pours the cans on the conveyor. At the end he prints out a ticket which I take to the office. The ticket indicated that I turned in 54 pounds of cans. How much would I get? Once inside the office I eagerly anticipate my new found wealth. The man behind the counter says, "That's $32.40!" That is 60 cents per pound of recycled aluminum. Not bad for just drinking soft drinks and keeping the cans for about 6 months.
Now, let's look at the numbers behind the numbers. Thanks to modern manufacturing techniques there are approximately 33.5 cans to make a pound. In 1980 that number was 25 cans per pound. That is why the cans seem so much thinner now. I can remember when I was in junior high and high school guys would show off by tearing an aluminum can in half. I did that recently and was proud of the fact that I could still do it. Then I learned that I could do it because the cans are made a lot thinner these days. So much for the feelings of youth from days gone by. Back to the numbers. So let's see; 54 pounds multiplied by 33.5 cans/pound equals 1809 cans. If you divide 1809 cans by 12 cans in a 12 pack you get 150.75 packs. Let's just say 150 packs. Now we can have fun. My $32.40 divided by 150 packs equals approximately 22 cents per twelve pack. OH! If I spent an average of $2.75 per twelve pack to buy the 150 packs of drinks that means I spent $412.50 in order to make $32.40. OH MY!
Let's look at it another way. If I spent $2.53 per twelve pack ($2.75 average cost less the 22 cents made from recycling the twelve cans) that means each can would cost a little over 21 cents. Sometimes it is better to look at the little picture than it is to look at the overall big picture. The big picture can get cluttered up with lots of silly numbers that lead us away from the overall goal which is the fact that each can is worth a little under 2 cents each. Keep that in mind the next you chunk a can out the window. "Hey honey! There went 2 cents."
I felt good though, after all that was money I didn't have earlier. Maybe I will fare better with the pecans. We have one pecan tree in our yard. We had an extremely good year for pecans. Towards the end of fall I began to harvest pecans. Harvest is a fancy word that means "stoop over and kill your back". Anyway, in my spare time I would pick up pecans and store them. On Christmas Day I was cracking some and decided that I had more than I could ever use like in forever. So, I made the momentous decision to sell what I couldn't use. I kept about half a bushel and bagged the rest. I would take them to Empire Seed and then come home to wallow in my new found riches.
After leaving Lipsitz yesterday I drove to Empire Seed. For those of you that do not know, they are across the street from each other. I walk in and tell the gentleman behind the counter that I have pecans to sell. I tell him that I had I so many pecans that I could use them all and I wanted to sell the rest. He said, "That's OK. We eat all we can and then sell the rest, just like the ice cream!" I wonder if he used to work for Blue Bell Ice Cream? Any way, he then tells me, "...45 cents a pound" and proceeds to weigh them. After weighing the pecans he takes them to a massive bag and dumps them in. This bag had every kind of pecan in it imaginable, at least in my imagination. Then he announces that he has to weigh the bags empty and get the difference. I commented about the different pecans in the big bag and he laughs about buying an occasional rock or two. Then he shows me a pocket knife that was in a bag of pecans he bought the other day. He said he kept expecting the owner to come back to get it. He hasn't come yet. I tell him it is not bad for 45 cents a pound.
I then learn that my haul came to 39 pounds. At 45 cents a pound that is, let's see, $17.55. OH!
The fellow at Empire Seed then tells me that the local Lion's Club brings in bags of pecans to be cracked. The Lion's Club then shells them to sell for $7.99 a pound. OH MY! If I did that I could make $311.61. OH GOODNESS! From both of my trips I made just under $50. Why that won't even buy a tank of gas! OH MY GOODNESS!!!!
© 2007 Barry T Horst
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