# What do you call scrap copper



## TOOL_5150 (Aug 27, 2007)

im from CA and we just call it 'scrap' or sometimes 'recycle'.

Why do you call it fergie? Any reason, or 'just cuz' ?

~Matt


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## bigredc222 (Oct 23, 2007)

I don't know. I've been in the field since 81 and it's always been called fergie around here. We make up our own stories why. But nobody know's. I'm talking about every electircian I've ever met in Pa. and NJ. and Del. called it fergie. another funny word I came across. Riggers call blocks of wood they use while moving big stuff Dunidge. (Like done and bridge put together)


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## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

It's dunnage, wood that is used as a stabilizer to a load.

*dun·nage* (d







j) 
_n._ *1. *Loose packing material used to protect a ship's cargo from damage during transport.
*2. *Personal baggage.


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## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

As for what copper scrap is called in the NY/ NJ area, the only two things I have heard is swag or rabbit.


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## brian john (Mar 11, 2007)

CASH, BONUS, NEW FLY ROD or somtimes NEW CAMERA EQUIPMENT


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

I call it _cash for vacation_.


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## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

Mongo. Mongo Madness.


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## bigredc222 (Oct 23, 2007)

LawnGuyLandSparky said:


> Mongo. Mongo Madness.


I like that one. I think I noticed from your post's your in NY city. Is that right?


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## Bkessler (Feb 14, 2007)

When moved to ca I heard people calling it rabbit, cause it hops off the job sight!


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## Mountain Electrician (Jan 22, 2007)

Always called it rabbit, got me some this week, pulling 500's, 350's and a little 250. Cha-ching!


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## goose134 (Nov 12, 2007)

Around here it's rabbit as well, although fergie sounds like a cooler code name.


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## bobelectric (Feb 24, 2007)

Rabitt in 84,Pa.


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## gilbequick (Oct 6, 2007)

"Scrap"


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## HighWirey (Sep 17, 2007)

Three dollars a pound, in east Orlando, Florida USA :whistling2: 

Film soon folks . . .

Best Holiday Wishes


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## bigredc222 (Oct 23, 2007)

The kid told me the other day it's up to $3.20 around here. If I'm working with an apprentce they get all the scrap. Hey bobelectric, what part of Pa. are you from?


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## brian john (Mar 11, 2007)

red Does your boss agree with that?


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## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

bigredc222 said:


> I like that one. I think I noticed from your post's your in NY city. Is that right?


Correct.


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## Pierre Belarge (Feb 3, 2007)

In Westchester County NY - just north of NYC we also call it MONGO.


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## Joefixit2 (Nov 16, 2007)

We call it "soda money", but now maybe we could name it after some more expensive beverages.


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## kbsparky (Sep 20, 2007)

In the DC area, we always referred to it as _Gimp_.


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## bobelectric (Feb 24, 2007)

bigredc222 said:


> The kid told me the other day it's up to $3.20 around here. If I'm working with an apprentce they get all the scrap. Hey bobelectric, what part of Pa. are you from?


84,Pa. 15330


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## BIGRED (Jan 22, 2007)

Yo bigredc222, I first heard of "fergie" from some guys, out of 420, when I worked at Loserville (Phila. Zoo) back in the 80's.


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## Joefixit2 (Nov 16, 2007)

All this talk on scrap reminded me to go turn mine in today, it's been a couple months. I got $87.00 but I was surprised when I was photographed and also I had to give a fingerprint of my right index finger. All for a bunch of pieces no longer than 3 feet.


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## bigredc222 (Oct 23, 2007)

The fingerprint thing is good. A couple months ago they stoled all the plumbers copper out of the walls.


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## sparkyibew100 (May 7, 2015)

On the west coast including California it's called rabbit.


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## ampman (Apr 2, 2009)

sparkyibew100 said:


> On the west coast including California it's called rabbit.


You replied to a 8 year old thread I think that is a record


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## sparkyibew100 (May 7, 2015)

Just like I tell contractors...I say I'll get the job done. I never say I'll get it done on time. Lol


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

sparkyibew100 said:


> On the west coast including California it's called rabbit.


Yep, I've only heard of "rabbit" here too, when not just called "scrap". I also was told that the "rabbit" comes from it's tendency to hop off the jobsite.

_"Hey, did you get that rabbit before you left?"
"Nope, it hopped away before I got over to the dumpster to get it."_

I'd never heard "fergie" used out here in the west, but when I worked in Florida in the early 90s, I did. The guys I worked with there said they thought it came from the nickname for Sarah Ferguson, the old Duchess of York / ex-wife of Prince Andrew, because she was know to have copper colored hair (and at one time, was popular). 

But another guy told me that "fergie" was also a nickname for cocaine in the 80s, after a famous baseball player and Harlem Globetrotter (Ferguson Jenkins) made headlines when he was busted for coke possession. So collecting scrap (of any kind) was a way to get cash for your coke habit like "Fergie".

No idea if either one of those is the real origin though.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

ampman said:


> You replied to a 8 year old thread I think that is a record


D'oh!


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

funny, I read through this thread again but it seems nobody calls it:

mistakes,

or 

waste

or

lost profit.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

Fergie is found here

http://www.theunionbootpro.com/slang/


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## electricmason (Jul 27, 2007)

*who keeps the rabbit*

So my question along these line is who get to keep the RABBIT, I was told on time that in the southern states that the job foreman got to keep it as a bonus, But i know here in the northern states that a good way to get fired...


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## pete87 (Oct 22, 2012)

electricmason said:


> So my question along these line is who get to keep the RABBIT, I was told on time that in the southern states that the job foreman got to keep it as a bonus, But i know here in the northern states that a good way to get fired...




Back in the Day , we used it for the Job Party . 

It is common sense to add x-feet for Pipe loss , and wire used to make up the Head . Pan Make up .

Never had a pull to short !


Pete


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

wildleg said:


> funny, I read through this thread again but it seems nobody calls it:
> 
> mistakes,
> 
> ...



It's only a mistake, waste or lost profit if it's too short.


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## LGLS (Nov 10, 2007)

wildleg said:


> funny, I read through this thread again but it seems nobody calls it:
> 
> mistakes,
> 
> ...


Ever order 4 sets of 750s that should be 250' long 10' too short? That's enough waste to put most contractors on this board under.

Ever pull out old feeders to replace with new? 

Demo a few floors of a hi rise for a new tenant?

There's lots of money in that scrap. It's not always mistakes, waste, or lost profit.


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## Rollie73 (Sep 19, 2010)

wildleg said:


> funny, I read through this thread again but it seems nobody calls it:
> 
> mistakes,
> 
> ...





480sparky said:


> It's only a mistake, waste or lost profit if it's too short.


 
Exactly......who in the hell measures a run of copper to the inch?

Do you still call it waste or a mistake or lost profit if you're working a demo job and get to keep all the copper or do you just cash it in and smile all the way home?


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## Southeast Power (Jan 18, 2009)

We call it rabbit here.

I worked for a shop in the 80s.
The owner was one of the best men you could ever hope to work for.
We would bring all of the rabbit to the shop and some of us would stop by and skin it in the afternoon.
He would take that money from the rabbit and pay for every one in the shop, dozens of guys for a weekend of charter boat fishing in the keys. Not a party boat but four people per boat, captain, mate, beer food and two nights at the hotel at the marina.
Good times.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

My biggest mistake, made on my 3rd day on the job at US Steel, was to order 4,000ft of 1/0 cable. By the time I got to the phone at the project shack to call the supply house, my nervous brain from starting a new job transposed it and I ordered 1,000ft of 4/0 cable. That would have been a helluva rabbit party! Luckily I got to send it back.


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

I call it the contractors property. If he wants to share it so be it.


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## cabletie (Feb 12, 2011)

Don't forget the Bunny cutters. 

Around here, if it is not a lot, the apprentices get it. Sometimes they will buy the journeymen tools or break with some of the money. If it is more substantial it gets split with everyone on the job. If it gets scraped after some of the men are gone, they still get a cut. 

Other times the boss may have the scrap figured in the price to lower the cost to the customer. An example would be a long burned up underground to a school or building or re-doing a marina.


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## ampman (Apr 2, 2009)

Bright bare is only 2.15 a pound right now


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## Jack Legg (Mar 12, 2014)

Gimp

Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2


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## dawgs (Dec 1, 2007)

We call it rabbit. And I cashed in over $4500 in rabbit yesterday. Was almost nervous leaving the scrap yard. I tipped the two guys at the yard $10 bucks each.


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## pugz134 (Nov 8, 2010)

Most call it rabbit around here. I call it gun money.


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## Chris1971 (Dec 27, 2010)

Rabbit, pig scrotum, mongo. Just a few I've heard.


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## sparkyibew100 (May 7, 2015)

Just got back from Local 98 Philly. They call it fergie but didn't know why either.


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## btharmy (Jan 17, 2009)

We just call it scrap.


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## aftershockews (Dec 22, 2012)

Jack Legg said:


> Gimp
> 
> Sent from my C771 using Tapatalk 2


That just gave me an idea. 

A few years back, I bought another garbage can but then the city would no longer empty the one I bought. Had to lease from them. So it sits.
I quit saving scrap copper since we dont have a place to put it.
Now I know what to use that extra garbage can for.:thumbsup:


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## Rollie73 (Sep 19, 2010)

I (we)collect mine(ours) in some old 45 gallon plastic barrels we have. That reminds me.....they are pretty full. I'm sure the guys would be happy with a little unexpected mad money and my motorcycle needs a new battery.

Gotta go!!!:thumbup:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Rollie73 said:


> Exactly......who in the hell measures a run of copper to the inch?.............



More to the point..... who CAN measure it to the inch? 

Yeah, maybe if the panels are side-by-side with a nipple between them. But can anyone honestly say they can measure from the lugs of a panel, down through a gutter then underground even 30' and up to another panel and come up with _exactly_ the correct length for each and every conductor?

I'd love to see a real install where someone goes to the supply house and says, "I need four cuts of 3/0. One 51' 5", one 51' 3", one 51' 1" and one 55' 8" please."

_Then pull that in_ and have the ends staggered just perfectly so all he needs to do is strip, bend and get out the torque wrench.


I'd pay good money to see that show.


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

it's a given that you have to order slightly more than you need.

I worked at a company where we used to pull measuring tape for everything 0 and bigger. I know for a fact another foreman used to regularly order more than he needed for his "bonus". basically, stealing. I also know that a lot of guys won't admit to their mistakes, which is why I posted that noone ever calls rabbit mistakes, or waste.


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## Sparky Girl (Apr 15, 2015)

bigredc222 said:


> I'm from easteren Pa. Philly area. We've always called scrap copper fergie. I was wondering if that's what it's called everywhere or if it's local slang. If you feel like it,tell where your from and what you call scrap copper.


Chicago area - rabbit. When I was an apprentice I asked my journeyman why. He said, "Because if you take your eyes off it, it disappears quick as a rabbit."


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## sparkyibew100 (May 7, 2015)

We also call a ratcheting cable cutter a rabbit gun.


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## Bad Electrician (May 20, 2014)

What do you call scrap copper - STOLEN


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## CT Tom (Aug 10, 2014)

Poor estimating.

I hate having left over. Makes me feel like I screwed up measuring or ordering.


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## dawgs (Dec 1, 2007)

Rollie73 said:


> I (we)collect mine(ours) in some old 45 gallon plastic barrels we have. That reminds me.....they are pretty full. I'm sure the guys would be happy with a little unexpected mad money and my motorcycle needs a new battery.
> 
> Gotta go!!!:thumbup:


All the #8 on up gets stripped with the stripping machine and gets stored in the rabbit box (an old gang box). The small thhn and tray cable goes in Rubbermaid garbage cans.


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## Bad Electrician (May 20, 2014)

CT Tom said:


> Poor estimating.
> 
> I hate having left over. Makes me feel like I screwed up measuring or ordering.


Depends on the job we have done jobs building temporaries and when the permanent equipment goes in it is not uncommon to have 5g-10g of gimp.


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

having such a small supply, i call it pocket money or vacation money. still waiting for the vacation


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

papaotis said:


> having such a small supply, i call it pocket money or vacation money. still waiting for the vacation


_What's 'vacation'?_
....................Forrest Gump


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## Bad Electrician (May 20, 2014)

CT Tom said:


> Poor estimating.
> 
> I hate having left over. Makes me feel like I screwed up measuring or ordering.


I'd rather have 10' too much than 1" too short.


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## Voltron (Sep 14, 2012)

We call it scrap copper.


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## dronai (Apr 11, 2011)

Reminds me, I have a couple trash cans full of "Gimp" to go cash in. Gimp, I like that.


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