This is wild stuff! With fuel cost high, I try to avoid parking my diesel tanker in parking lots. I make my morning stop in my personal vehicle on the way to work. That way I don't have any stops...unless I stop on the way back at the end of my shift but that is rare and I'm usually dry.
This is why I use by Air Brake Cuff all the time. It came with the truck, so why not use it. The only time that I do not, sitting in a terminal, and even then, mostly spending the time in the truck. I still remember that special one that I hauled out of PHX
I saw on the TV other day in Lancaster that some city lights or something like that weren't working because some thieves stole the copper wires along some bridges or something. Cost the city like 100k to replace.
I have an air cuff lock. It doesn't work in Girly because the "wood" trim sticks out too far. BlackW900 showed me a locking tractor brake knob. I think I may be looking into that. I already have Lo-Jack. But, that's why they're ditching the tractors. They don't know which ones are equipped and which are not. Additionally, the thieves know where Lo-jack is effective. It isn't good everywhere.
Copper theft is a big deal here in Appalachia. The petty variety seems to go right along with the drug problem. I'm in the process of moving from Kentucky back to my hometown in NC, and in the town I'm leaving, we've had all sorts of copper theft problems. More than one drug addict has been fried trying to steal LIVE copper electric lines. (Darwin Award Candidates) A couple of bridges in our downtown are equipped with those fancy Victorian lamps, which are inoperable because somebody has stolen the copper electric wires running to them. I spent the past ten years in the radio business (although I'm in the process of selling my station now, and hopefully will be one of you guys in the near future). AM radio stations have literally thousands of feet of copper wiring buried a few inches underground...it's part of the antenna system. I've personally been fortunate, but I know several other owners whose copper ground systems have been literally ripped out of the ground by copper thieves. I have had thieves steal the copper ground wires from my electric meters before. That said, knowing how popular petty copper thievery is among crooks and how much they can get for scrap copper, I am sure a truck-load of copper is a huge temptation to crooks with the resources to steal it. It's sad to think our society has reached the point where we have to worry about that.
We had a major problem here with people stealing copper wiring from power stations. They were planning on stamping numbers on the wiring to help deter the thieves. They also started having those who sold copper to come back the next day to get their money. Since I have not heard anything else about the thefts, I assume that it has helped. For the risks involved, hauling copper pipe isn't worth it. I have a friend who was offered just a little over $1/mile to haul copper our of Arizona. The loads were Worth about $250,000, as I recall. I would not have wasted my time on loads that only paid that much money. Several years ago there was a lot of hijacking going on in Virginia and the east coast. It was a mother and her sons that were involved. I believe they even killed one or more drivers. You need to be vigilant when you drive a truck. NEVER tell others that you have a high dollar load on the truck. Over the years I have had some very high dollar loads. It is difficult to hide expensive machinery with a step deck, but there are other types of freight that can be hidden. Regardless of what you have on the truck, if it is a high dollar load, keep it to yourself. You never know who may be listening.
We haul copper and cobalt for a Phoenix based company in Africa. From the DRC to South Africa.About 1000 mile trip over 4 countries. At least 10 trucks in convoy often with pilot armed security pilot vehicle.
