Dumpster Diving (Tips and such)

[Nephlite]

Yeah I wouldn't do food that's unpackaged. Too many variables with rotting stuff and whatnot. But furniture and electronics, you can just ride through a rich part of the area (Arlington, Virginia) and see piles and piles of shit just laying on the front lawns of some of the mansions out there and just grab a room full of stuff. My coffee table set was sitting infront of an embassy three years ago. Nice dark brown wood made of maple or something really heavy with a "Free" sign stuck to it. Now I got a nice coffee table and two end tables that probably cost a few hundred bucks.

If you say you won't take something that's free, then you were brought up in a rich family that pays hookers in gold while you dip your feet in your off-bedroom Jacuzzi while listening to Eminem cause you're gangster. Who the hell turns down free stuff? Had to break my wife of that cycle. Guy at the mall was handing out free cans of Red Bull as part of a promotion and she said no thanks. I had to bring her to the side and explain that even if she didn't want it, she never stopped to think I might have wanted a double fister and made her go back and second-thought the guy a can.

Free Cycle and Craigslist are good places to check. Haven't had any problems with them but heard stories of people getting robbed or lured in to scams or the owner suddenly changing their mind and asking for money anyways.

[Meresgi]

Jesus people, no one is picking put used hamburgers and lettuce from the trash bin lol. Sealed and packaged fruits with a little mold on one piece are still completely fine to eat, just like if you have bread at home and it has a tiny bit of mold you can tear it off and eat the bread just fine, it's not going to kill you. Fruits with skin like oranges, lemons and melons too unless they are broken open obviously. It's all basic common sense really if you do it, just if it looks funky or not good...then it's probably funky and not good, but a majority of what is thrown out by food stores is still edible. The expiration dates on chips and shit don't mean a fucking thing that freshness date is bullshit if the bag is still sealed up. As for furniture yeah, not gonna go pick up an IKEA table missing some parts or something, but a lot of places DO throw out furniture that has scuffs on it. We did this at Wal-mart when I worked there all the time, if a furniture had a nick or something on it, it was thrown out back and written off as a loss..then some people would usually come back later at night and take it home instead of letting it get trashed (Though it was Wal-mart quality so it might have been better to just see it off)

I mean honestly to each his own though, if you feel it's "beneath" you or something then no one is forcing you out to go do it, but if you want free fruits and shit and are at least intelligent enough not to shove used syringes into your hands and mouth then get some free shit. It's all based on area too obviously, if you live in the ghetto, you probably shouldnt be poking around in the back of stores or you're gonna get hobo stabbed or shot, or a zombie is gonna eat your face off after taking bath salts.

If you say you won't take something that's free, then you were brought up in a rich family that pays hookers in gold while you dip your feet in your off-bedroom Jacuzzi while listening to Eminem cause you're gangster. Who the hell turns down free stuff?

Actually made me laugh out loud with this. Some pimp ass mother fuckers in this thread who wipe their asses with $100 bills.

And yeah, if you think the free section of Craigslist is full of saints and none axe murder unemployeed circus clowns compared to just going to a dumpster behind a Pier 1 or something you might need to look at Craiglist again. It's all common sense. aka obviously the unpacked food is not good or aka obviously the guy named "[email protected]" is not actually giving out that free flatscreen.

[archibaldcrane]

Look, grabbing dinged-up furniture from the roadside, or hell even from behind a Pier 1 is one thing.






Taking only-a-little-bit-moldy food and eating "just the good parts" is for fucking hobos.

[Tweek]

wtf.

[Cephius]

It's almost like there's a middle ground between risking tetanus for a $30 CRT monitor and wiping your ass with gold

[Slapper]

Non-hobos digging in trash for food is nothing new. They're called "Freegans."

edit: http://videos.howstuffworks.com/plan...nism-video.htm

[Jefe]

If I didn't have to engage in a fist fight with winos, I'd probably be doing this as well. There's something funny about "peeling off the bad part" of something and eating the rest. You're literally consuming garbage lol ;x

[Tagus]

Well if you're looking for tips, I've got one...

Supposedly Dunkin Donuts throws hundreds of donuts, bagels, muffins, etc. away every night to make room for the new ones. There's one by my work that does it around 2AM every morning, give or take 10 minutes. I guess there's others that do it between 1-2 AM as well, if you can narrow down the time.

Note: This is all hearsayfrom co-workers, as I have never gone dumpster diving in my life and god willing will never sink to that level, but I figure if there are people here who have to do it or whatever, maybe this will help?

P.S. - And I guess the preferred name of dumpster diving amongst the ghetto dwellers in my area is "Goin' Scrappin"... so if you want to keep it real, don't call it dumpster diving.

[Furionstormrage]

I work for Autozone's Loss Prevention department. Those "special handling" stickers just mean that the store's manager has to personally check to make sure they're not fraudulent returns or damages, and then dispose of them. Typically, these items are ones that aren't worth returning to the manufacturer for credit, so they're just thrown in the dumpster whenever the manager has a chance. (Most often, they'll throw them in the trash and the closing employees take the trash to the dumpster. All of the hazardous materials (batteries, fluids, etc) and returned merchandise that can be returned for credit will be kept inside the store.

[Tajin]

Look, grabbing dinged-up furniture from the roadside, or hell even from behind a Pier 1 is one thing.
Taking only-a-little-bit-moldy food and eating "just the good parts" is for fucking hobos.

This thread is full of what the fuck people, pretty much this.

[FNH]

ftfy

No. You are the trash you eat.

[FNH]

Look, grabbing dinged-up furniture from the roadside, or hell even from behind a Pier 1 is one thing.
Taking only-a-little-bit-moldy food and eating "just the good parts" is for fucking hobos.

It's almost like there's a middle ground between risking tetanus for a $30 CRT monitor and wiping your ass with gold

Laughed so hard at these

[Kaisha]

I thought the thread title was literal.

[FNH]

I thought the thread title was literal.

Unfortunately, it was more "When does X restaurant toss their shit so I can chow down fo free?"

[Pikarya]

BG: How to get AIDS, cancer, etc.

http://mrgreatlakes.files.wordpress....ical-waste.jpg

[notorious bum]

I know most of you have heard of Lifehacker before. This is old practice for those looking to avoid shelling hundreds of dollars on basic ass furniture/electronics whenever you move to a new place for the 1st time or need to replace old shit. Getting free food works really well for those who know poor bastards stuck working at restaurants. So much food and commodities are wasted in this dumb ass country, even all the shelters and organizations set-up to re-purpose shit can't use/acquire all the shit that gets thrown out.

I'd love to live in your fantasyland where being employed means you're job security is forever and those who stoop so "low" as eating perfectly good fucking food makes them hobos.

I don't know where yall grew up, but in every ghetto you are taught to never turn down free food, even if you ain't hungry. Survival 101

[Tajin]

I'd love to live in your fantasyland where being employed means you're job security is forever and those who stoop so "low" as eating perfectly good fucking food makes them hobos.

Perfectly good fucking food =\= food with a little bit of mold or even =\= leftovers tossed with the rest on a new bag.
Neither of the two come close to perfect food in my book. Survival101 dont get sick.

[Bregor]

wtf bg

I know people are poor as fuck, but really? I'd sooner turn off my internet than do shit like this

^

I was going to go dumpster diving once, but then i went to college and got a high paying job instead.

^

A couple years ago I was visiting friends in NYC. We got a big group of people together to go to a karaoke bar, and this one guy I sorta knew from college was talking about how he was squatting and dumpster diving pretty regularly. I was just left thinking, five or six years before that, we received the same education and had the same opportunities, relatively speaking. How had he fucked up so badly? Was it intentional? He did seem to have an odd sense of pride about his new way of life.

Back to you nitwits on BG: Buy video games that require monthly charges and internet access, rifle through trash for food. What the fuck is wrong with you people?

[Ashmada]

I'm way too late for a "light the Cream Soda signal" comment but fuck it, I'll say it anyway.

[Kaslo]

I remember getting my start as a seller on half.com while working at our campus bookstore. Was told to throw away a bunch of old editions of textbooks. Instead stacked them behind the dumpster, came back later and got them, then listed them all on half.com for cheap. Became a decent source of beer money.