1/4     Do people try to get CA REFUND from bottles and cans?
        \_ Lots of people do.  You can see them pushing shopping carts down the
           street.
           \_ how much do people get for recycling?
              \_ I assume you mean per hour, since obviously it's 5 cents
                 per can.  In a good location at a good time, you can make
                 a good 15-20 bucks in an hour and a half of scrounging.
                 "Good location" here partly means someplace where no one
                 else is doing it, i.e. not Berkeley.
                 else is doing it, i.e. not Berkeley.  I have no idea what the
                 bums in Berkeley make.
                 \_ Uh, no. At 5 cents a can you'd have to pickup 400 cans
                    an hour to make 20 bucks. You'd be lucky to get 400 cans
                    a day from a restaurant. I think your order of magnitude
                    scale is waaaay off. I used to trade in cans, after a
                    couple months we usually had enough to buy a 24 pack of
                    soda.
                    \_ My numbers aren't "off," they're based on direct
                       experience.  Yes, that's 400 cans.  No fucking shit.
                       You have to be someplace where poeple will drink
                       a whole 24 pack and then throw all the cans in the trash.
                       Repeatedly.   And yes you have to bust ass to collect
                       them and yes you will completely fill up your car with
                       smelly bags of cans...but my numbers are correct.
                       \_ First off, I've never really seen any of those
                          bums/bag ladies "bust ass." They're either
                          incapable of "busting ass" or they choose not
                          to. Most of them are unfortunately mentally ill
                          or have a drug addiction problem.
                          Second, you simply can't pick up 400 cans per
                          hour from the trash in the real world. You might
                          be able to do it under ideal test situations, but
                          give me a break, you can't do it in real life. In
                          order to get even close to 400 cans per hour you'd
                          basically need to raid EVERY recycling bin in
                          a couple square miles, it's simply not going to
                          happen. The only way you could do it is to actually
                          OWN the recycling bins, and the city owns them,
                          so bums/bagladies are going to have to stick their
                          hands through the receptacle and manually grab
                          each can out of the recycling bin. It gets much
                          much harder to do this if you're going to go through
                          the regular trash.
                          Third, people don't deposit soda cans in a neat
                          little heap for you to pick up. They either are
                          A) Tossed into the recycling bin if they're good
                          citizens.
                          B) Tossed into the trash, a much more likely
                          prospect.
                          C) Tossed into the bushes.
                          Fourth, hauling 400 cans per hour isn't exactly
                          easy. Have you even picked up a bag of say 150
                          cans? It's not exactly light at that point.
                          Hauling 400 cans per hour is just going to be
                          exceedingly difficult unless you're a long shoreman,
                          and it's obvious bums/bagladies aren't exactly
                          physically fit.
                          In reality, I bet they get around 10-15 bucks a
                          day worth of cans if they're lucky.
                          \_ I wasn't talking about bag ladies or bums, and
                             for the third time, I'm not speculating, I've
                             done it.  Do you want a fucking video tape?
                             Your idiocy has pissed me off enough, I'm
                             tempted to go do it this weekend, video tape
                             the whole fucking 2 hour project and send it
                             to your dumb ass just to put you in your place.
                             I don't have any idea what homeless people in
                             berkeley make.  Probably not much. I never claimed
                             that this was a viable way to make a living,
                             I'm just telling you what a resourceful, able
                             bodied sodan can make.
                             \_ Okay, you've got some major issues. 1. Why
                                the fuck are you collecting cans for a
                                living if you went to Berkeley? Isn't the
                                fucking concept to get an education so
                                you don't have to PICK CANS FOR A LIVING
                                IN THE FIRST PLACE? 2. I don't give a shit
                                about your fuckiing one shot project because
                                your one shot project proves only one thing,
                                that a person can carry 400 cans around in
                                an hour. The question is how mucn can
                                people make per hour in real world situations,
                                not in your fucking ideal setup. Get a fucking
                                clue and STFU. If you could realistically
                                make 15-20 an hour picking up soda cans
                                off the street bums wouldn't be on the
                                fucking street. Your idiocy amazes me.
                                Hell, if you want to rent a dump truck
                                you can pickup a couple tons of cans in
                                a minute. I mean, what kind of moron are you,
                                do you believe that you can actually get
                                exactly the MPG on a car day-in-day out?
                                Or do you believe in 100% efficiency in
                                conversion of energy? God, why do people
                                like you even bother to attend school?
                                Might as well give up your seat with someone
                                with half a brain of common sense.
                                \_ You don't fucking read, do you?
                                \_ I haven't posted in this thread yet, but
                                   I have to say, this is awesome.  You
                                   sir, are a total moron.  It's rare to
                                   see stupidity in such a pure state.
                                   \_ No shit.  If he had half a brain, he
                                      could easily have convinced me to spend
                                      my weekend running around tearing through
                                      trashcans with a camcorder and a
                                      stopwatch. His loss.
                       \_ Try it again with a shopping cart and see how it
                          goes.