I met a cable technician a while back who had a similar habit. He would drive site to site to connect or troubleshoot internet/cable service. In chatting with him, he made it a habit of picking up scrap metal. I even saw him pick up pieces of wire in the alley. They were just little bits here and there. He would toss them in the back of his truck. Eventually, he'd have enough scrap metal to sell for a nice profit. He was just picking up money from the street. He earned a good living as a technician. But, it seemed like free money to him to pick up scraps.