No Stupid Questions @lemmy.world jcat @lemmy.world 1y ago

Why do people steal the tip of the air compressors?

Maybe the state I live in is just ghetto as shit. It seems like every air pump at the gas station has the top part that attaches to your tire to fill it with air stolen.

I don’t understand the value of this specific part. Why do people steal them?

24 comments

They're stolen to be used for smoking crack or meth.
- That's what I always heard they were used for, they are easy to turn into a pipe so it makes sense. Also those little glass tubes with tiny roses in them that are always right at the checkout of liquor stores in shady areas are also used to smoke crack
- This is honestly the most likely answer.
  
  It's not. Nobody's smoking crack out of the tip of a compressor hose. If people are stealing them for drug reasons the most likely answer is that they're made of solid brass and have a decent scrap value. They're selling them to the same guy they're selling stolen catalytic converters and the copper wire they've stripped out of newly constructed homes to.
- Is this just a 100% guess?
  
  No, someone was actually doing it in a case I was in. It’s clear you just made a guess yourself but credited yourself 100%, but look forward to your downvote. 🙄
maybe they just wanted to decompress
Are you sure they're being stolen and simply aren't breaking off because they are cheap and/or people are rough with things they don't own? I've had the tip break off twice when airing up my tires, and the gas station didn't even replace them for months.
For some people, all they can handle is just the tip.
If I had to take a guess, its probably from folks running over it and breaking it off.
People do this? The valve is maybe worth 5 bucks if you buy it as new or probably 1-2 as used. Pretty sure it's not about the money.
- Addicts will steal anything. They even break into the vacuums to steal spare change that may have been sucked up.
I would just say it is to troll the others
- People are trolling someone in this topic. There’s always gonna be a-holes piling in. So could be either but most likely addicts.
I'm going to innocently guess it's because the tips are small parts put under duress and with more use, the looser they become and just... Fall off? And then they aren't seen on the ground of the station because people drive over them and they get scattered or smashed on the street. Of course I'm still learning to drive (in my mid-twenties) and my family members who are licensed are more often the ones who get work done on our cars. I also live in a state were self-pumping isn't that common.
Shit you are were not supposed to know about that. Guys shutdown Project Epsilon! Abort abort abort

24 comments