Copper-scrapping creators on TikTok can generate income in several ways, from documenting the labor of stripping and melting wire to selling tools through TikTok Shop. However, the money made from the scrap itself and from affiliate sales is often unclear, while the online activity contrasts with the cooperative communities that many scrappers form offline.
Scrapping copper for content
In a recent video, The King of Copper said he spent five hours stripping wire, melting the copper in a black furnace and pouring it into six ingot molds. He estimated that the resulting metal was worth approximately $90.
In another clip, he spent two hours dismantling a 110-pound air conditioner and removing about 7 pounds of copper, which he valued at $47.
Although the videos are compelling to watch, it is unclear how much money The King of Copper makes from them. He did not respond to inquiries from WIRED.
Selling wire strippers
Copper-focused accounts can also earn money by selling wire strippers and other products through TikTok Shop. When a viewer buys a product through a link in a video, the creator may receive a commission on the sale. Courtney, for example, advertised a wire stripper.
Like creator @Dragonslayer_Industries, however, many of these sellers rarely discuss copper beyond their advertisements.
“If you have abandoned wire lying around, you need this wire stripper,” Dragonslayer Industries said in a January video, before running bright green wire through the machine linked for purchase. “It’s basically just printing money. It’ll probably pay for itself in the first hour of use.”
In a June exchange in the comments of one of his videos, he said: “It’s crazy. I only got this because my neighbor was stripping the wires by hand. I got a free sample, so I thought I’d make two videos and give them to him. I thought they probably wouldn’t sell because it’s so niche. This is my biggest sale since I started doing affiliate videos. I think I sell 5-10 videos a day.”
In May, he claimed to have contributed to the sale of thousands of wire strippers. It is unclear how much he earned, because TikTok Shop merchants set their own affiliate commission rates.
Dragonslayer Industries declined to speak to WIRED. In a recent video, however, he said that spending so much time stripping wire was not in his “best interest” because he “makes more money” doing other things.
AI-generated competition
Human sellers such as Dragonslayer Industries face substantial competition from AI-generated advertisements on TikTok Shop. Even the niche wire-stripper market contains numerous videos using AI-generated images and voiceovers. Some feature very similar scripts that claim sellers can make “$80,000 a week” from scrap copper.
Communities beyond TikTok
Online, copper scrapping can appear to be a solitary activity. Offline, scrappers may form communities that are less visible on TikTok. Stickle told WIRED that the scrappers he spoke with often worked in small teams, divided profits and looked out for one another.
People struggling to make ends meet, particularly those experiencing homelessness, sometimes received donations of metal from fellow demolition contractors.
Stickle also said he relies on friends with trucks to transport large amounts of scrap. “If they find a lot of stuff, they couldn’t just drive back to where they were. They had someone they could call,” he said.
Source: www.wired.com
