Dumpster Diving (Tips and such)

[Meresgi]

So who else on these boards does this? Me and the fiance went out tonight and hit up a few places. Found some car fans and a steering cover from autozone that were tossed because the package had a dent in it. Then we went over to Trader Joes and found a ton of shit. 5 packages of grape tomatoes thrown out because 1 tomato was bruised, a melon that had a small dent in it and a whole package of lemons because 1 lemon had a very very small touch of mold.

Wondering what other stores are good to go to or what times of the week are the best. I noticed a lot of places around here in Columbia MD have compactors which suck, or they lock their dumpsters but more are out there in the open.

[Abandon]

CREAM SODA, WHERE ARE YOU

[Meresgi]

CREAM SODA, WHERE ARE YOU

He's sleeping in a dumpster right now or knife fighting mice for cheese, let him be.

[Vandole]

[Tyche]

So a few years ago, I worked for a company that made some stuff for a warehousing company. They warehoused Taylormade goods. All sorts of goods, gloves, hats, and most importantly...golfbags. Anytime there was a bad stitch or something, it would get tossed. I got wind of this. I just called one of my contacts and he pulled a few out and let me pick one out. Would have been trashed had I not saved it! 2006 British Open Staff Bag (this is a random pic I found online, but it's this bag).

[Ksandra]

only time I ever did dumpster diving was in college just before summer break. Friend and I were going to room together in the fall and wanted a couch and chair for the dorm. Didn't give a shit and college kids throw a TON of good shit away because they are going home far away and can't bring them. So ya we got a couch and like a three-piece chair set that were practically brand new.

[Cream Soda]

CREAM SODA, WHERE ARE YOU

Bravo, lol was wondering how many posts till my name got mentioned

[dejet]

find a store with lazy fuck kids working. Any store should know that you can return bad items even if opened lol(not for full price but ya you get a percent back)

so if theres shit thrown out its going to be lazy people who cant be bothered with inventory keeping.

[Meresgi]

I noticed the dumpster behind Autozone had a lot of shit, all of it had a sticker that said "Special Handling". Anyone work for Autozone and know what that means? It seemed from the look of it it just mean "throw this away".

We heard Panera bread was a good place to go, as they throw out all their bread at the end of each day but mother fuckers have a sealed compactor (why panera WHY!?) Organic food markets though seem to be the best bet as they throw out entire packages of items. Harris Teeter one time threw out about 40 bags of chips (Lays, Fritos and other stuff) just because it was 3 days till expiration date, we found it while doing some work near Harris Teeter and brought home all the chips which were completely fine.

[Chrius]

Leftover bagels get thrown out every day at close at Einstein Bros, probably other such places too. You can even request to take them earlier in the week/day and they'll throw it in a large garbage bag (new of course) so that makes it sorta like dumpster diving. That's generally for somebody who will donate it to a shelter or something. Not sure if it's a hard and fast rule though. If you wait til it's in the actual dumpster though, then they might not be thrown in a fresh bag

[miokomioko]

I found a Burton snowboard with K2 bindings in a dumpster once. I cleaned it, waxed it, sharpened it, then rode it down a grassy hill... and then took it to Pismo Beach and took turns with my friends, towing eachother through the wake and sand dunes with my shitty old Range Rover. The best $0 I ever spent.

We left it in the middle of the dunes in Pismo so someone else would happen across it and go "wat."

[Gregorio]

There's an auto parts company near my home town that used to throw all damaged and dinged parts out into a dumpster behind the place, but they weren't actually throwing them away. They would ship them back to their manufacturing warehouse or whatever for them to be either fixed or scrapped for other parts. So you might just be stealing.

[AidenCarby]

Fucking Economy

[Timwakefield]

Fucking Economy

[volcanicweather]

Used to live next to a middle school growing up which had the school district HQ right on site. All of the new tech inventory throughout the district would be sent there and thus all of the old inventory would be brought back and "disposed" - except the people had no idea what they were doing. Got motherboards, cables, network cards, graphics card, cases, monitors, on and on from their dumpster, most of the time in perfectly fine and working condition. Learned a lot about computers working with them too, if you messed something up who cares as it cost $0?

[Gryffes]

Veganmav ( poker playing dumpster diver ) Protip: Find a pizza place where they can't eat leftover stock or unused stock/etc, ring up and order a pizza to collect - don't show up. They'll have to toss it and at some point you'll get a free pizza.

[Meresgi]

Used to live next to a middle school growing up which had the school district HQ right on site. All of the new tech inventory throughout the district would be sent there and thus all of the old inventory would be brought back and "disposed" - except the people had no idea what they were doing. Got motherboards, cables, network cards, graphics card, cases, monitors, on and on from their dumpster, most of the time in perfectly fine and working condition. Learned a lot about computers working with them too, if you messed something up who cares as it cost $0?

Wish I could find something like this around here. We have a few fitness stores but I highly doubt they throw out gym equipment..but who knows.

Hard part is figuring out when their trash pickup's are for these places and then also figuring out when they throw out the most shit during the week.

[Nephlite]

Any college campus you'll hit jackpot.

Here in D.C., there's University of the District of Columbia, Howard University, Georgetown University, American University, Galludet University, Trinity University, George Washington University all within like a 10 mile span. We got a call at Georgetown for a dumpster diver. The problem is if the receptacle is still on private property, or behind a gate, or whatever (not on the curb) then it's still technically considered private property till it's been properly disposed of. Well this particular case they were renovating a building so the guy was diving for copper and made off with about $20,000 worth of copper they were going to recycle. So he comes back, we bust him and didn't even arrest him (citation for misdemeanor taking property without right). The guy who called us was the head of housekeeping there so he let us grab anything we wanted that was in the dumpster for catching the guy. I got a (bit dusty) Sony Bravia 42' Flatscreen (practically brand new), my partner made off with a bass guitar and a drum set, a whole box of unopened cereal, about 30 of those plastic bins you can store under your bed (not cheap), two Ikea lamps, a stereo, and I snatched a collection of old Battlefield games for the PS3.

Edit:

Best time to go is at the end of the school year (around May). Make sure you pick yourself up a good pair of puncture proof gloves. My frisk gloves are made of woven Damascus steel chain and kevlar with a leather shell on the outside that's not only stick proof but cut resistant and contagion resistant. Waterproof is a plus (good leather) just incase you stick your hand in some muck and they're washable. Also check the laws (I believe you're ok in Maryland) about dumpster diving and whatnot. If the product or item is truly trash then you probably can't get in trouble. Just don't go breaking in to locked containers or caged areas like they do at fast food chains.

Another good place to go is Microcenter. Some of the "techies" there think they know everything and they have horrible disposal and recycling protocols. Only reason I know this is because I used to moonlight security at one in Virginia and used to catch people all the time grabbing their recyclables. I suggested lock and key and fences for their stuff but they never listened. Quit after they wanted me to stand out back all night watching the dumpsters and not patrol the rest of the store.

[AidenCarby]

Pretty sure since you were in college, the most valuable of those findings was the cereal.

[Nephlite]

Man you wouldn't believe some of the crap you find at a college disposal area. Since three of those colleges I listed are in the top 50 for richest colleges in America, they throw away everything and just buy new shit, even if it's in perfect condition. Office chairs, computers, microwaves, stoves, washers/dryers, countertops, dishwashers (one such is actually in my house now and works like a champ), shelving units, bed frames (gotta be careful of those because of the bed bugs), carpet, TV's, projectors (the ceiling mounted ones that cost like $7000, not the cheap shit). You name it, you could probably find it laying around a college campus.