TikTok creators who document copper scrapping can earn money from the metal they recover, affiliate sales of wire strippers and other equipment, and possibly their videos. However, their actual earnings are difficult to determine. Their work also reflects an offline community of scrappers who share equipment, transport and sometimes materials, while AI-generated advertisements increasingly compete for attention on TikTok Shop.
In a video, the King of Copper claimed to have spent five hours stripping wire, melting the copper in a black furnace and pouring it into six ingot molds. He said the finished metal was worth approximately $90. In another clip, he spent two hours dismantling a 110-pound air conditioner and recovered about 7 pounds of copper, 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.
Making money from wire strippers
Some copper-focused accounts make money by selling wire strippers and other products through TikTok Shop. When a viewer purchases an item through a video link, the creator can earn a commission on the sale. Courtney, for example, advertised a wire stripper exclusively for her audience. Like creator @Dragonslayer_Industries, however, many of these sellers say little about copper outside 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.”
“It’s crazy. I only got this because my neighbor was stripping the wires by hand,” he said. In a June comment, he explained that he had received a free sample and decided to make two videos about it for his neighbor. “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, but said in a recent video that it was not in his “best interest” to spend so much time stripping wire because he “makes more money” doing other things.
Competition from AI-generated advertising
Human sellers such as Dragonslayer Industries also face heavy competition from AI-generated advertisements on TikTok Shop. Even the specialized wire-stripper market contains numerous videos using AI-generated images and voiceovers. Some use very similar scripts while claiming that sellers can make “$80,000 a week” selling scrap copper.
Offline communities of scrappers
Online, copper scrapping can appear to be a solitary activity. Offline, however, 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 donated metal from demolition contractors.
Stickle also said he relies on friends with trucks to transport large loads. “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