My Hero/The Junk Man

Last fall I had a bunch of junk in my garage that needed disposal so I could get my car inside for the winter. Two refrigerators, an old couch, an electric lawnmower, some old T.V.'s, old computer stuff and a 55 gal. barrel smoker. Luckily my city has a big item pick up that you can schedule online, all you've got to do is get the junk to the curb. My brother-in-law and nephew helped me move the stuff.

The pickup was scheduled for Tuesday so we got everything to the curb on Sunday. On Monday morning the first vulture arrived, he was a young guy with a beat up white pickup. The back of the pickup looked pretty full but the guy started dragging one of the fridges toward the back of the truck. I poked my head out the front door and said, "Need any help?"

"No." He answered. "I'm used to doing this alone. It's all about leverage." Sure enough he tipped it up on the back of the tailgate, flippped it over an old water heater and plunk it landed in the corner of the pickup on it's head but secure. He roped it off. "The city really frowns on stuff dropping off your trunk into traffic." He quipped. He immediately went for the second refrigerator. "Where the hell are you gonna put that." I asked. "Just you watch and see." Was the answer. Sure enough after some tipping, flipping and finagling the second big box was roped down and secure in the back of the little truck. He got the 55 gal barrel secured and was going after my old lawnmower when I said. "I sure did love that old Black and Decker mower. I know how to fix it but the cheapest price I could find online for the magnet it needs was $35 plus shipping. I'd rather throw it out that get ripped off like that." Immediately he says, "I fix it for $20, clean it up, tighten all the nuts and put on some newer tires." I put the twenty in his hand and we shook on it.

I invited him in for a cold drink or a cup of tea. We drank tea and I asked him about the junk business. "I love it." He said. "Before this I was doing construction and that was a rotten gig. During the housing boom these jack leg contractors were screwing the hell out of everyone. Twenty, twenty two dollars and hour sounds good at first but all the labor is contracted and you've got to take care of all the taxes, transportation, tools, boots and god forgive if you need insurance. They run you like dogs, fire you on a whim and don't care if you get banged up, poisoned, cut or crippled. Ain't no skin off their nose. Now all the construction has dried up. The contractors are running from the feds and back taxes and smart guys like me are on the streets making ends meet."

"How does modern junking work." I asked. "Well." He said. "Most of the heavy metal goes to the crusher but it's amazing what people throw away. I find perfectly good appliances people just put on the curb after upgrading. I find lots of computers that have simple problems like a blown power source or that they are so full of bugs, viruses and trojans that they slow to a stop. I clean them up or fix them and sell them on ebay for cheap. Some appliances I can clean up and get running and put them on Craigslist. Some stuff you can breakdown for parts. If we lived in the third world everything would disappear on the first day. That ratty old couch would be salvaged for the fabric, the ticking, the springs and the wood frame."

This junk man is my hero for the year. He loses his job but does not stop for a minute. Not just junk a man he picks, fixes, markets and recycles the throw aways of an embarrasingly rich country. If markets do not work, black markets will emerge. All of the unenemployed will live on their wits. We will survive, not pay taxes and subvert the stupid economy that tossed us on the street.