By sort of popular demand...the Dumpster Diving Treasures thread...

FYI you don't have to swim in trash to get free stuff from Gamestop. I became rather good friends with the manager of my closest GS and he lets me have any of the stuff they normally throw away. I have a 5 1/2 foot Samus in my storage room right now. Most of it is junk, though, so I don't usually ask for anything. I mean, what would I do with 5 new giant displays every month? What will I even do with my Samus? She's not even Zero-Suit. ;)
 
I work at Sears and you guys would be amazed at some of the stuff we throw out. The other day we threw out a brand new $250 dewalt drill for no good reason. My boss just told me to thow out a patio set that was still in the box yesterday. I really don't know why but a lot of expensive tools find their way into the trash. Sadly though all of our trash gets smashed up before it goes out so most of the good stuff gets destroyed.
 
When I was a kid my parents would take us to go look through trash all the time. It got us a lot of nice stuff: wooden lawn chairs, a Christmas tree, a swing set, Skeletor's castle (toy). I never thought anything of it until I was older, but by that time we hadn't done it for years.
 
[quote name='Lost Loser']When I was a kid my parents would take us to go look through trash all the time. It got us a lot of nice stuff: wooden lawn chairs, a Christmas tree, a swing set, Skeletor's castle (toy), and Hepatitis C. I never thought anything of it until I was older, but by that time we hadn't done it for years.[/quote]

Fixed.;)
 
Best thing I ever found in a dumpster was like 2 years ago. At my old apartment, someone left a nice pretty big paining (like 3 feet by 4 feet) right next to our dumpster. It was brand new canvas and the painter is still unknown (blue background probably painted by someone living in the complex at the time). It wasn't dirty or anything. I ended up taking it and putting it in storage. When I moved to my new condo the painting fix perfectly over my fireplace. I ended up paining one of the walls in my living room in a blue color to match the painting. It's been there since.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']Has CAG seriously become that desperate for stuff that we now dig in other people's trash?[/quote]

I dont think its about desperation, since all of this stuff is luxury goods. Its more about the hunt and I liken it to being one of those people who go to the garage sales in hopes of finding something cool they can either sell or use and save a bit of money.
I'm enjoying reading the stories. Takes a lot of guts(im easily intimidated) and a lot of luck.:applause:
 
[quote name='Sinnbox']Why dive for food? I think if someone has teh cash for a internet connection they would have cash for food.[/quote]

Why waste food? It's all about recycling for some of us.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']
Has CAG seriously become that desperate for stuff that we now dig in other people's trash?[/quote]



[quote name='Msut77']Times are hard.[/quote]

HAHAHAHA!!! Word - the country's in full blown recession. In a couple of years people will be selling 100K cars for 10K cash. (See this famous Great Depression photo for reference):

http://picasaweb.google.com/mikefaye/GreatDepression02/photo#5170745285105746434


I'll be able to buy whole city blocks in LA for pennies on the dollar. Well, I can hope, can't I?
 
[quote name='davyd']FYI you don't have to swim in trash to get free stuff from Gamestop. I became rather good friends with the manager of my closest GS and he lets me have any of the stuff they normally throw away. I have a 5 1/2 foot Samus in my storage room right now. Most of it is junk, though, so I don't usually ask for anything. I mean, what would I do with 5 new giant displays every month? What will I even do with my Samus? She's not even Zero-Suit. ;)[/quote]

Sell them on eBay. You could make some good extra scratch from those. Are they just cardboard cutouts, or full on giant pvc figures or what?
 
I don't really know why, but here in Wisconsin I find countless pairs of perfectly good water skis left out on the curb. I almost always grab them.

A friend of mine once found about fifty old playboy magazines in a dumpster.
 
[quote name='skid']I don't really know why, but here in Wisconsin I find countless pairs of perfectly good water skis left out on the curb. I almost always grab them.

A friend of mine once found about fifty old playboy magazines in a dumpster.[/quote]

Hmmm, interesting. Well it is the Land of 1000 Lakes, isn't it? So I'm guessing that water sports iw pretty popular, but there is such a limited amount of time throughout the year that you can go out and have fun on the water due to the cold weather, so people end up having their water sports toys in storage, hardly getting use, etc. and when they want to clean up the clutter, the skis take up a lot of space so they toss him. Crazy speculation on my part, though.
 
I have a good one. Doesn't have anything to do with games but definitely being a cheap ass...

My best friend and I became apprentices for carpeters (not carpenters, but people who specialize in installing carpet) and worked on removing and installing new carpets in apartment complexes frequently. I just moved into an apartment and my girlfriend and I had been sleeping on her twin bed for a week now. Being from a large family and a small home, I had gone the past four years sleeping on the couch so had no bed of my own. So one day we're unloading some old carpet into the dumpster when what do we find but a queen mattress, a full mattress, and matching box springs.

Now these things looked clean, but there was definitely no way to really be sure. I, on the other hand, had not had a full nights sleep in days due to the cramped sleeping area I had. My friend lived in an apartment with his dad and had no bed either, so he took the full size and I took the queen. Interestingly enough, we found 5 bed frames still in the boxes in a dumpster two weeks ago and took them. They weren't anything special, just the generic universal metal frames, but they did the job. So there we were with two "new" beds complete with box springs and frames fresh from the dumpster. My girlfriend is not as open minded as I am (or dirty, whatever description you choose) so I made my friend swear to never tell another soul where we got them.

I have to say that was the best find we ever made. I ended up keeping the bed for 3 years. The only problem I had was a couple springs went and made some dips in the mattress, but needless to say I had space to stretch out from then on. I never found out where exactly those beds came from and, come to think of it, I haven't told anyone until this posting that I had gotten a bed out of the dumpster.
 
been working at a gas station here for 6 years, about a week or so ago I noticed some guy just pull up and start tossing stuff out of his trunk into the trash can at one of the pumps, went to empty the trash and found it overflowing with porn mags and dvds!!!
 
[quote name='xpacdos']been working at a gas station here for 6 years, about a week or so ago I noticed some guy just pull up and start tossing stuff out of his trunk into the trash can at one of the pumps, went to empty the trash and found it overflowing with porn mags and dvds!!![/quote]

Lucky bastard.
CML
jk
 
[quote name='karkyco']Sell them on eBay. You could make some good extra scratch from those. Are they just cardboard cutouts, or full on giant pvc figures or what?[/quote]

They're cardboard. They'd be way too much of a pain to ship and I don't want to deal with people showing up to my residence. Besides, I'm fairly certain any GS would give away the same stuff I'm getting anyway.
 
[quote name='davyd']FYI you don't have to swim in trash to get free stuff from Gamestop. I became rather good friends with the manager of my closest GS and he lets me have any of the stuff they normally throw away. I have a 5 1/2 foot Samus in my storage room right now. Most of it is junk, though, so I don't usually ask for anything. I mean, what would I do with 5 new giant displays every month? What will I even do with my Samus? She's not even Zero-Suit. ;)[/quote]

Not the managers around here anymore, since they've been given strict orders to destroy anything they throw out COMPLETELY now.

[quote name='skid']I don't really know why, but here in Wisconsin I find countless pairs of perfectly good water skis left out on the curb. I almost always grab them.

A friend of mine once found about fifty old playboy magazines in a dumpster.[/quote]

I hope you friend didn't keep the ones with the pages stuck together.:lol::whistle2:#

As for the 'recycling' mattresses and crap like that, I found out too late when I was dating a now ex-gf of mine that her prior bf had helped her salvage the mattress we were sleeping on. Just the sheer thought of sleeping on someone's used mattress made me itchy the entire time we were still dating.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Not the managers around here anymore, since they've been given strict orders to destroy anything they throw out COMPLETELY now.[/quote]

That's really BS. I can see not letting people take stuff that would somehow compete with their business, like "why should I buy a new guide when I can wait for it to be thrown away," but things like displays I don't see a problem with. Probably some insurance issue. I just don't see the harm in letting someone have what is going to end up essentially as pollution.
 
Last spring i was leaving gamecrazy and had a mcdonalds bag from lunch so i walked over to the dumpster to thro it away. I ended up leaving with over 100 perfect condition strategy guides. They were in a box right on top so i did not even have to dive in!!
 
from what has been dubbed "curb crawling" (my hometown) has a sweet trash day every May, I scored some stuff from an elementry teacher's trash:
A homemade laminated California raisins poster that said "be polite by raisin your hand"
A giant poster of a close of a girl's mouth licking a strawberry (wtf) that says "luscious"
A Bunch of David Hume books 1980s prints
And some really bizarre children's drawings on poster board a series called "My made-up monster"
 
From dumpster diving
I scored an average of 12 generic variety doughnut packs for about 4 weeks straight from a bakery next to my apartment.
 
[quote name='bluekeith75']Last spring i was leaving gamecrazy and had a mcdonalds bag from lunch so i walked over to the dumpster to thro it away. I ended up leaving with over 100 perfect condition strategy guides. They were in a box right on top so i did not even have to dive in!![/quote]

Strategy guides in the dumpster at McDonalds? Damn!! How come my local Mickey D's can't have good stuff like that in their dumpster. All I ever find in there are green burger patties(St. Paddy's Day specials?) and other culinary horrors.

I'm kidding, of course, since I have yet to even try dumpster diving, though I have seriously thought about it at the only local GS without a dumpster that's guarded or near someplace 'icky'(the one GS here is next to a tattoo shop).
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Strategy guides in the dumpster at McDonalds? Damn!! How come my local Mickey D's can't have good stuff like that in their dumpster. All I ever find in there are green burger patties(St. Paddy's Day specials?) and other culinary horrors.

I'm kidding, of course, since I have yet to even try dumpster diving, though I have seriously thought about it at the only local GS without a dumpster that's guarded or near someplace 'icky'(the one GS here is next to a tattoo shop).[/QUOTE]


i hate that tattoo shop they employ a post op tranny *vomits* how i know it is a tranny it has all lady parts and an ADAMS APPLE
 
[quote name='ninjaridebikes']From my personal experience, the 3 best places to dive are..

College campuses at the end of each semester. I've found new furniture, text books, school supplies, ramen (haha), other assorted dried/canned foods, and clothing. Sometimes you find computers and laptops if you're lucky.

[/QUOTE]

For the people that would dig in the trash at the end of the semester at the dorms at my college, I always wanted to take a dump and put it in the shoebox for some $100 dollar shoes so when they would open it up they would get a nice surprise but I never did it.

Also in the alley behind where one of my friends used to live they found a working 1970's pong arcade machine left with someone's trash, it kinda looked like a small poker table since it was an octagon with padding around the edge.
 
When I was about 10 years old I got a Pokemon card on the ground when my mom and I were dumping trash. That is the only story I really have. It was only an energy card and it was all beaten up.
 
[quote name='davyd']That's really BS. I can see not letting people take stuff that would somehow compete with their business, like "why should I buy a new guide when I can wait for it to be thrown away," but things like displays I don't see a problem with. Probably some insurance issue. I just don't see the harm in letting someone have what is going to end up essentially as pollution.[/quote]


The Manager here told me that they have to destrtoy all merchandise they throwout, but any displays can be taken home by employees, or saved for customers....I only taked to him once, and he said that he will give anyone anything as long as they are there the sunady they replace them.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Strategy guides in the dumpster at McDonalds? Damn!! How come my local Mickey D's can't have good stuff like that in their dumpster. All I ever find in there are green burger patties(St. Paddy's Day specials?) and other culinary horrors.
[/quote]
Check your eyes:shock:;)... He was leaving Gamecrazy and had a McDonald's bag from lunch to throw away.

[quote name='xpacdos']been working at a gas station here for 6 years, about a week or so ago I noticed some guy just pull up and start tossing stuff out of his trunk into the trash can at one of the pumps, went to empty the trash and found it overflowing with porn mags and dvds!!![/quote]
:lol: Maybe he just got a girlfriend/married or had to move back in with his parents.
 
[quote name='mguiddy']


:lol: Maybe he just got a girlfriend/married or had to move back in with his parents.[/quote]

Or found out he likes guys......EWWWW
 
[quote name='Sinnbox']Or found out he likes guys......EWWWW[/quote]
Or found out that he likes girls...
 
[quote name='davyd']That's really BS. I can see not letting people take stuff that would somehow compete with their business, like "why should I buy a new guide when I can wait for it to be thrown away," but things like displays I don't see a problem with. Probably some insurance issue. I just don't see the harm in letting someone have what is going to end up essentially as pollution.[/quote]


The Manager here told me that they have to destrtoy all merchandise they throwout, but any displays can be taken home by employees, or saved for customers....I only taked to him once, and he said that he will give anyone anything as long as they are there the sunady they replace them.
 
[quote name='IAmTheCheapestGamer']Strategy guides in the dumpster at McDonalds? Damn!! How come my local Mickey D's can't have good stuff like that in their dumpster. All I ever find in there are green burger patties(St. Paddy's Day specials?) and other culinary horrors.
[/quote]
Check your eyes:shock:;)... He was leaving Gamecrazy and had a McDonald's bag from lunch to throw away.

[quote name='xpacdos']been working at a gas station here for 6 years, about a week or so ago I noticed some guy just pull up and start tossing stuff out of his trunk into the trash can at one of the pumps, went to empty the trash and found it overflowing with porn mags and dvds!!![/quote]
:lol: Maybe he just got a girlfriend/married or had to move back in with his parents.
 
[quote name='mguiddy']


:lol: Maybe he just got a girlfriend/married or had to move back in with his parents.[/quote]

Or found out he likes guys......EWWWW
 
[quote name='Sinnbox']Or found out he likes guys......EWWWW[/quote]
Or found out that he likes girls...
 
In my old town, I went to the gamecrazy and the DM was throwing stuff out. I scored a DS download Station Mat, and a couple of perfect DK bongos, and logitech speakers. The speakers had the two small ones and the subwoffer.
 
Only one diving experience. I go past the game crazy dumpster every now and then and I picked up a Two Worlds Standee a while ago. Nothing spectacular and pretty sad game to be my first standee.
 
[quote name='m3talst0rm']Only one diving experience. I go past the game crazy dumpster every now and then and I picked up a Two Worlds Standee a while ago. Nothing spectacular and pretty sad game to be my first standee.[/quote]
I wonder why they threw that out...:roll:
 
Eh, wasn't a dumpster dive, but basically I spotted a guitar in a case someone was setting out at the curb as trash, along with other various pieces of junk. I asked if I could take it, and he shrugged and asked for 2 bucks. So I paid him and took it to a nearby music shop where I learned it was a 1960s Gibson, worth a few hundred. :) Besides some minor cosmetic damage, it's perfectly fine.
 
The best time I ever had Dumpster Diving was when the Gamecrazy near me was closing, and they just filled the dumpster to the brim with dvd cases and tons of game cases/manuals. Nothing else in the dumpster besides one lonely bag of trash and a mountain of cases. It was me, my fiancee and her sister. I just jumped right in and sat down a pile of cases and began shaking them all for dvds or games that they may have missed and also tossing out game cases with manuals so I could keep them. Found a few DVDs and a game, nothing too special, but it was still great fun. :)
 
I miss EBGames, they used to let me have all of their crap that they were throwing away. Once they handed me a huge box of .01 guides for free and they used to give all types of cool promotional shit like standees, t-shirts, etc. Now Gamestop has to destroy everything :roll:
 
[quote name='mguiddy']Check your eyes:shock:;)... He was leaving Gamecrazy and had a McDonald's bag from lunch to throw away.[/quote]

OK, now I see what I did there. I thought it was in the dumpster at McDonalds. :wall:#-o

Maybe my eyesight isn't 20/20 like they said at the opthamologist then, huh? #-o
 
[quote name='Bravelionheart']Eh, wasn't a dumpster dive, but basically I spotted a guitar in a case someone was setting out at the curb as trash, along with other various pieces of junk. I asked if I could take it, and he shrugged and asked for 2 bucks. So I paid him and took it to a nearby music shop where I learned it was a 1960s Gibson, worth a few hundred. :) Besides some minor cosmetic damage, it's perfectly fine.[/quote]
Did you keep the Guitar or sell it?
 
^^Sick find, in other news while out on a run in a local state park found a beat up 66' mustang next to an abandoned house that borders the very back end of the park with some nice parts (including mint grill emblem). Gonna strip the sucker soon.

cheers,
mike
 
Back around 96 or so the local Rite Aid would just toss all their comics and gamepro magazines in these giant clear garbage bags out on the curb. They just removed the covers but the magazines/comics were still readable. so i figured out the days they'd throw out the old months books and score! that lasted for a few months till they figured out someone was taking their trash.
 
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