Money making in the Ghetto

As I continue to count down the days until I move overseas, I had another opportunity to do some cash work today - with a scrap metal company that primarily retrieves old, unused cars from the poorer ghetto's and slums of Sydney, Australia.

What an eye opener this was for me!

It was an eye opener for two reasons actually. As an office based IT worker all my life, I have never before worked in blue collar trades or jobs that exposed me to how the poorer folk live and interact. So just seeing and experiencing the ghetto culture albeit for a few hours was gobsmacking, the kids roaming unwatched by their parents and the absolute appalling conditions people live in was the first major shock of the experience. You hear and read of the struggling areas, but until your working right in the heart of it - it has to be experienced to be believed. The kids were running around rubbish piles, the stink of the houses was like nothing I have ever smelt! Just being near the front door; you could smell the damp, mold and general beyond repair state of the places. Kids roamed in unwashed clothes as they walked through uncut knee high grass! Man this was just a whole new world.

The second surprise was the amount of money to be made out of scrap metal. Not only were the abandoned cars netting big dollars for the companies searching for them, but the additional earnings from: tyres, car radios, speakers and other accessories off some of the older cars was a very interesting sight. These guys could literally get close to 300 or 400 in total from salvaging the abandoned car and are doing close to 10-15 cars a day. A little known, but very profitable niche thats for sure.

So anyway, as this computer nerd continues to get his hands dirty with these odd jobs from day to day until I jetset out of the country - its nice earning cash dollars too, the tax benefits make up the short fall in earnings :)

I thought I would take some photos with my Nokia 3G Phone (Nokia 6680 Model) - which only has a 1.3 mp camera - (yes I know I need an upgrade) but anyway, the photos give you an idea of what I was up to.