Yes, but if you dig a little deeper, this guy is also running a blog. Stories like these raises his blogs profile and if the story gets picked up by a news outlet that can do wonders. With enough following he can write a book, publish articles in news papers or in very extraordinary case start his own reality TV series. History channel runs a popular TV series called American Pickers following two people who go around buying and selling antiques.

Most people aren't motivated enough to compete. They might start but they rarely go through with it.

Exactly, I'm not worried about raising up more competition. A very successful business owner friend of mine said the same thing to me when I first ran it by him.

This. It takes a lot of work to follow up on leads for 20+ hours/week and lug around heavy items.

The concept isn't new, and the competition is already there both for the scrap metal market and buying/selling people's unwanted crap.

Like sharing any other business idea you mean?