Rag & Bone Man or Any Old Scrap Iron?

[maxine]

I'm sitting here typing away this morning and hear the cry of "any old scrap iron?" outside my window. Is this the return of the rag & bone or scrap man I wonder? I can't see as it round the back of our property.

It's different to gypsies knocking at your door asking if they can take things out of our rubbish pile for our next trip to the recycling centre as this sort of cry has a feel of tradition and charm about it.

From a marketing perspective how brilliant to be shouting out around the streets like this. Does this constitute cold calling? How does this work in no cold calling zones?

Anyone else hearing the cry of the scrap man or rag and bone man in recent times?

 

[S-Marketing]

Has Maxine finally gone loopy, or has she actually got a scrap man shouting in the street? Who knows.

Has he gone the whole 9 yards and got himself a horse and cart?

I don't think shouting any old iron will be as effective these days as 90 % of the uneducated population won't even know what metals in their house have any iron content anyway.

 

[I Love Spreadsheets]

We see them on a regular basis in the Welsh valleys but most have loud speakers to shout through.

The cost of just about all metals has rocketed over the past few years so it is actually good business at the moment. The cost of metals has gone up so much it is causing a lot of theft problems. We have railways shut down because signal cables have been nicked, schools flooded after theives broke in and stole all the heating equipment and the lead flashing from the roof and we have even had a hospital have to shut down their operating theaters because someone pinched the cables from the back up generators. There was even a case of a thief killing himself trying to pinch a cable that was carrying 10,000 volts at the time.

We even had our wheelie bin stolen from outside our house by some crooks to use in transporting the lead from the church down the road.

 

[Posilan]

Yes! We get a number of they around our way. They either shout "Rag! Bone!" and we have one that plays Chas n Dave's "any old iron" at top blast.

Steve

 

[spreadtrader]

I heard the 'any old iron' call the other week on my road.

It lost all its charm when I saw the fat grubby bloke in a rusty old transit shouting out the passengers window with a loud hailer in one hand and a cig in the other.

 

[Laurenpears]

We have one that comes round our way every morning including weekends...... "SCRAP METAL......SCRAP METAL.......SCRAP METAL" Drives me loopy when he stars and the worst part is that you can hear him for miles around, i think its annoying more than anything, i think its a form of begging!

 

[VSpy1]

lI think they are still a great idea - many people have old items they struggle to get rid of......

I really like the chas and dave touch though - something different!

It reminds me of a big issue seller I once walked past shouting "Two free staples with every edition!"

Quality. Nuff said.

 

[Fenland]

.. i think its a form of begging!

That's an interesting point,,,there is good money in metal at the moment so are they essentially "begging" and getting goods, AKA money, for free or are they doing us a service?

 

[Laurenpears]

That's an interesting point,,,there is good money in metal at the moment so are they essentially "begging" and getting goods, AKA money, for free or are they doing us a service?

Exactly my thoughts on this.... i wonder what business rates the pay!

 

[maxine]

Has Maxine finally gone loopy

Yep!

...The cost of metals has gone up so much it is causing a lot of theft problems...

Mad isn't it? Look at all the people disrupted by cables being ripped up. A friend of a friend of a friend of mine was heard bragging recently about how much money he was making by thieving!

... and we have one that plays Chas n Dave's "any old iron" at top blast...

Brilliant.

...lost all its charm when I saw the fat grubby bloke in a rusty old transit shouting out the passengers window with a loud hailer in one hand and a cig in the other.

haha ... nice modern image there

i think its a form of begging!

It is isn't it. Thankfully we don't hear it for everything hey? "Betterware, get your betterware catalogue" lol

lI think they are still a great idea - many people have old items they struggle to get rid of......
.

Absolutely up our way the council will charge £65+VAT per bulk item to be gotten rid of with the rubbish so it's saving people money in some cases

 

[Small Biz Jessica]

Wow! Surprised to hear this, although it does seem like metal prices have been through the roof lately. Realted to demand in China, I believe.

Statues have been cut off their plinths here in London for their metal content, terrible. A Henry Moore I think went down in Dulwich.

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

Since the price of scrap metal has gone through the roof, we have several scrap merchants a week calling despite a notice on our door saying 'no scrap merchants' (several say they cannot read). They are as big a nuisance as cold callers and usually get short shrift from me, but if they are merely shouting from the street and not knocking on peoples' doors, they are doing little harm, and may be providing a service.

Barrie

 

[Buzzworx]

i get the ragbone man every saturday morning with the gentle neigh of the rusty transit groaning away, get the same three in the compound at work everyday still ask even though i'm a joiner.

 

[maxine]

.. the gentle neigh of the rusty transit groaning away.

hehe

 

[altwebdesign]

every other person is a scrap man in my area, infact the local council clamped down on it because they were claiming to be unemployeed and using the houses as a business front, but they still do it regardless!

Craig

 

[Steve Sellers]

We get about 4 of them a day in our area. Very rarely on horse and cart like they used to be.

I don't so much mind as they are useful for getting rid of scrap that I would otherwise have to tip.

I was talking to a client about this the other day. One of them had gone into his shop and said "I noticed you have a load of scrap in your back yard, can I take it off your hands". To which my client pondered "how did he know it was there" without climbing up the fence to have a peek into the back. I would be fuming, and as it happens he wasn't very happy - quite rightly so!

 

[MBE1]

It's different to gypsies knocking at your door asking if they can take things out of our rubbish pile for our next trip to the recycling centre as this sort of cry has a feel of tradition and charm about it.

Anyone else hearing the cry of the scrap man or rag and bone man in recent times?

Real Gypsies don't knock at the door, they just take what they want. As for the Scrap/rag and bone man, they have never gone away, just making a comeback on easy pickings these days.

In my area a load of road signs and manhole covers are regularly stolen, until the business stops using mainly cash it will continue since few ever get traced back to the thieves.

 

[DarrenTSO]

Iron is worth $130/tonne scrap, it's barely worth collecting via this method I'd have thought.

Copper and any metals used in catalytic converters are what they'll be after.

 

[midgetman]

Theres a local guy to me advertises in the local paper that he will collect free of charge anything metal, including old tv's fridges washing machines etc, So I had a fridge to get rid of, called him and he said there is a 2 week waiting list as he is so busy!!!!. Good business model if you ask me, for the price of an old flatbed and some petrol he is coining it in.

 

[Alba Transcription]

Our local authority will pick up free of charge. However, getting an old cooker two flights down to the pick-up point wasn't an option. We got a guy from Gumtree who picked up from the house for free.

He said he'd probably get £10 to £15 for it from the scrap merchant. He was in and out in five minutes.

Everyone was happy.