Grumpy Old Men Enterprises need more help

Jim O'Neill and Dick Motram take apart some junk.

Grumpy Old Men Enterprises are hiring.

Qualifications needed: swinging a hammer, having an eye for good metal in junk and being grumpy.

"All the time we want more," said organiser Jim O'Neill, as he pulled apart an old toastie machine.

"There's no two ways about that," he grumbled over the sound of Dick Motram smashing various items with a hammer.

There's usually about 12 of the retirees working out of a building in Castlecliff.

Now that number has dropped and O'Neill said anyone was welcome to join their pick-apart operation, including grumpy old women.

"We haven't got any grumpy old woman because none of them will come here.

"If a grumpy old woman wanted to come down here and work with the grumpy old men, hey, we're not going to say no."

Being grumpy, he said, was something unique, something different.

"That's what we called ourselves ... we just called outselves Grumpy Old Men for want of a name. It's a bit of a laugh and it stuck and that's it."

The callout for more wreckers was because the old men were up to their ears in old junk.

"It just gets a bit much with all this stuff and trying to keep on top of everything.

"It becomes quite hard work at times."

They pull metal out of household items like sandwich presses, sewing machines, microwaves and breadmakers to name a few.

They love getting computers, TVs and copper wires.

"The older the better because it's got more metal in them," said Motram.

They did not want printers and other electronics that are mostly plastic turning up.

"Printers, phones, copiers, faxers ... we just don't want that crap. We've got a sign out the front."

There was also a $10 surcharge for fridges.

The computers often have gold or copper, which are high value.

Every week they take what metal they've managed to salvage to Molten Metal who then pay them for it.

The money they earn goes to schools; last year they gave $11,500 to 23 schools.

O'Neill said he hoped to achieve that again soon.

"The idea of the trust was that we give most of our money to kids, to support kids.

"They're our future, not us - we're too old."

O'Neill said if anyone wanted to join the Grumpy Old Men Enterprises they only needed to turn up at 28 Hinau Street in Castlecliff ready to work.