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

[quote name='Rozz']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]

You have to go every once and a while and get the promo stuff before they get rid of it. Heck at a Gamestop in my town, they have a free box with like 10 Vikings Art Books and 2 Assassins Creed ones. I plan to stop by more this week and get some to trade here on CAG for people.:D:D:D
 
[quote name='yukafls']You have to go every once and a while and get the promo stuff before they get rid of it. Heck at a Gamestop in my town, they have a free box with like 10 Vikings Art Books and 2 Assassins Creed ones. I plan to stop by more this week and get some to trade here on CAG for people.:D:D:D[/quote]
I wish the employees at my Gamecrazy did this.:cry:
 
My EpicFailStop the employees take it or they pitch it. I lucked out once, as they had this awesome guy working for a while who would basically take all unclaimed preorder stuff but if you asked for it he'd give you it. Seemed his car was like an EpicFailStop preorder bonus museum. Then he left/got fired/something and it went back to being ExtremelyEpicFailStop. :(

In other news, if they ever hire me, I am so going to be taking lots of crap they would otherwise get rid of. I've got a closet of packratting +2, with a 50% storage increase.
 
[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]

Reminds me of when I was elementary school age, and lived in Santa Clara, CA. The city had a trash day once a year where residents could get rid of large items and piles of trash that would normally be too big for the regular trash service. As a result, there would be piles of trash that had a lot of furniture, appliances and "other" stuff. So, I was hanging out with my brother and some of his friends near a duplex area, and lo-and-behold we found a pile of Playboy magazines in one of the piles. :cool:

Unfortunately, one of the younger siblings of my brother's friend went and told his Mom and she came out and yelled at us and took all the magazines away to dispose of completely. :cry:

I was only around 10-11 years old at the time.

A few years ago, my brother got 3 computers, metal shelves (the kind that you snap together and place sheets of plywood on to create the shelves), various DVD's, and a box full of J-pop CD's when he used to work as a security guard for a high-cost apartment complex.
 
One day last year I was walking home from my bus stop when I passed a neighbor's garbage and I noticed there was a can full of old toys. I ran to my house to grab a plastic bag and headed back all excited at what good things I might find.

It turns out most of the toys were broken and dirty, but there were about 20 NES games! :drool:

Among them were gems like Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt, TMNT: The Arcade Game, and BattleToads!

Unfortunately there wasn't an NES along with them, and I don't own one either, so I can't play them. However, a friend did lend me his NES for about a week, and they all worked! I offered him the games, but he thought I should keep the games and find my own NES... which I still have yet to do.:roll:
 
I always find the best defense to when cops are called while dumpster diving is to claim you live in it.

It works...sometimes...
 
[quote name='ddrlenz']I always find the best defense to when cops are called while dumpster diving is to claim you live in it.

It works...sometimes...[/quote]

If that was a joke then :lol:

If not :cold:
 
[quote name='darkslime']I found about 70 coke rewards points in one trash can. ^_^

3 dasani 24 packs + 3 2 liters.[/QUOTE]

2 summers ago I found enough coke points in the trash for a PSP :)
 
[quote name='lilboo']2 summers ago I found enough coke points in the trash for a PSP :)[/quote]
That's awesome. :applause:
I have about 250 right now, going for the BB gift card.
 
[quote name='darkslime']That's awesome. :applause:
I have about 250 right now, going for the BB gift card.[/QUOTE]

It wasn't all in 1 day. This was during the spring and most of the summer. I went to a festival downtown in Philly..and Coke sponsored it. There were bottles EVERYWHERE!!

Since you can only put 10 codes in a day (at least at that time)..it took me a while to eventually get the points in my account. But I guess a free PSP was worth it.
 
I scoped out the location of the dumpster for my nearest gamestop... It shares it with a shoe store, Great Clips, a Subway, and maybe another store or 2... At least as far as I can tell... So I'm sure it will be full of skangy food and hair...

But my question is: Generally, what's the best day & time to hit it to check for game related stuff? Or does it just come down to chance? I was thinking maybe Monday night since they may throw out stuff to make room for Tuesday's releases... but I really have no idea...

The nice thing about it sharing a dumpster is that nobody would ever know whether or not I worked for one of the other stores... The bad thing, of course, is the possibly food, hair, chemicals, and general gunk... ugh!

Any opinions?
 
Not from a dive, but I found a really nice Schwinn mountain bike on the side of the road in 2004. The only thing wrong with it was that the tires were flat, but once I had them replaced, the bike worked great. Lasted me three years until some random jackoff stole it from my backyard.
 
[quote name='crunchberries']Not from a dive, but I found a really nice Schwinn mountain bike on the side of the road in 2004. The only thing wrong with it was that the tires were flat, but once I had them replaced, the bike worked great. Lasted me three years until some random jackoff stole it from my backyard.[/quote]


lol, thats funny.
 
[quote name='Zarathos']I scoped out the location of the dumpster for my nearest gamestop... It shares it with a shoe store, Great Clips, a Subway, and maybe another store or 2... At least as far as I can tell... So I'm sure it will be full of skangy food and hair...

But my question is: Generally, what's the best day & time to hit it to check for game related stuff? Or does it just come down to chance? I was thinking maybe Monday night since they may throw out stuff to make room for Tuesday's releases... but I really have no idea...

The nice thing about it sharing a dumpster is that nobody would ever know whether or not I worked for one of the other stores... The bad thing, of course, is the possibly food, hair, chemicals, and general gunk... ugh!

Any opinions?[/quote]
I don't know the best day, but just hope you don't find a hairball this big.
world-record-hair-ball.jpg
 
My dad used to work at the Navy Base when they had navy housing. (Navy people lived there for free.) Well, when they went oversees, they could never take anything big with them, like stoves, washers, dyers, refrigerators, etc. So, they'd throw them out. And guess who would take them? We got a BRAND NEW washer, a good dryer, 2 refrigerators and a stove. My dad has even found some smaller stuff, like a good bike, a printer, two computers, and a bag full of Playstation controllers/wires/multitaps.
 
[quote name='Access_Denied']We got a BRAND NEW washer, a good dryer, 2 refrigerators and a stove. My dad has even found some smaller stuff, like a good bike, a printer, two computers, and a bag full of Playstation controllers/wires/multitaps.[/quote]

DAMN, thats a score.
 
[quote name='crunchberries']Not from a dive, but I found a really nice Schwinn mountain bike on the side of the road in 2004. The only thing wrong with it was that the tires were flat, but once I had them replaced, the bike worked great. Lasted me three years until some random jackoff stole it from my backyard.[/quote]

I found a bike laying right behind my car the one day across the street from my house. But, at that time there were lots of little kids in the neighborhood, so I figured it belonged to one of them. So, I gently moved it up against a pole and left it there for like a month straight.

No one took it, so I called the cops, told them someone just abandoned it, they took it and I was gonna call to see if someone claimed it, but at that time I was content to drive everyplace. But now with gas being so high, I'd really like to have that bike.
 
I used to work in a shopping center that also housed a GameStop. The recycle bin for the whole strip was right behind my work, so sometimes I'd see some decent standees. Usually the GameStop guys are too busy playing grabass with each other to bother recycling anything, but I found a bunch of Mortal Kombat lithographs in there about a year ago.

The Ross next door is always tossing 'new' jeans and shoes and stuff, but they have cameras on their dumpster and lots of 'DONT DIVE' signs.
 
I've never actually taken trash from a dumpster, but I have grabbed items from the curb. Most often my interest was strictly in computers, I only found older equipment (I believe a 'pentium' was the most powerful I came across...) but they made for some amusement in fixing em back up to working status.

The only other 'real' haul was outside of school, there was a man who ran a TV repair shop out of his home and was tossing out a lot of old junk. He assured us it was all broken, but I grabbed a whole bunch of assorted remotes, some VCRs... my friend had a van and nabbed the huge screen TV which was broken just as he had said : o

I'd look for stuff around where I live now, but just seems less pleasant here :p
 
Never gone dumpster diving and don't plan on doing it anytime soon. Me and my dad do get stuff from the curb if they're worth it. One time my dad found a lot of copper wiring that was being thrown away. He stripped the plastic that was on it and brought it to a junkyard. $800 right there...
 
[quote name='DarkRider23']Never gone dumpster diving and don't plan on doing it anytime soon. Me and my dad do get stuff from the curb if they're worth it. One time my dad found a lot of copper wiring that was being thrown away. He stripped the plastic that was on it and brought it to a junkyard. $800 right there...[/quote]$800?!?! How much wire was there?
 
[quote name='Bioshocked360']$800?!?! How much wire was there?[/quote]
Copper is currently about $3.90 per lb so it had to be over 200 lbs worth...
 
[quote name='DarkRider23']Never gone dumpster diving and don't plan on doing it anytime soon. Me and my dad do get stuff from the curb if they're worth it. One time my dad found a lot of copper wiring that was being thrown away. He stripped the plastic that was on it and brought it to a junkyard. $800 right there...[/QUOTE]

Whoever threw that stuff away was an idiot... there is so much copper theft around here its crazy
 
I found a near-mint copy of nintendo power issue number 1, and a bunch of nes games (crappy ones). Also a game genie. Since then, I've been diving quite a lot, but the only gaming-related thing I've found is some old hockey game for the SNES, that was horribly dirty. I usually find books and stuff; found a couple of garfield comic collections once.
 
[quote name='DarkRider23']One time my dad found a lot of copper wiring that was being thrown away. He stripped the plastic that was on it and brought it to a junkyard. $800 right there...[/QUOTE]

Yeah, "found". That's probably what dads who steal copper wiring tell their dumpster diving sons so they will look up to them. ;)
 
[quote name='jousley']Yeah, "found". That's probably what dads who steal copper wiring tell their dumpster diving sons so they will look up to them. ;)[/quote]

lol
 
In college we picked up a real crappy 70's looking TV from a curb. Unfortunately, it could only access 2 channels, one spanish and one weather. We left it there once we moved out.
 
[quote name='Negative']In college we picked up a real crappy 70's looking TV from a curb. Unfortunately, it could only access 2 channels, one spanish and one weather. We left it there once we moved out.[/quote]

Those, my friend, are the only two channels you need.
 
I found a vtech computer kiosk with 3 kids laptop things in the toys r us dumpster. They got me $20 in credit to the local used store.

In the gamestop dumpster I found a bunch of xbox cases that were needed for my collection, and some licensed GBA game boxes and manuals.
 
I did some dumpster diving for a while, but I've stopped. The only good store in my area for it is this gamestop. It's the only one that isn't part of a strip mall that shares a dumpster with a salon or restaurant. I got a lot of guides for awhile, but when there was a switch of managers, that one got a manger who actually destroys guides.

I stopped since it wasn't worth the gas to drive around and my parents didn't want me doing it. I spend a lot on gas doing yard saling, and that is more productive for me. That and I've run out of room. I've had to get creative in storing my collection of guides and games.
 
Well, this week was the annual time that this big trash thing comes around and picks up all the large items that can't be normally thrown away.

First I was biking with my cousin and we spotted a Ping Pong table. It was in pretty decent shape and I planned on buying one in a few months, so this should hold me over. Problem was that it wouldn't fit in my aunt's SUV. So...we kind of wheeled the gigantic thing all through one neighborhood, crossed a really busy road, and went into my neighborhood and put it in my yard. :lol: People kept driving by.

Then while dragging the ping pong table I saw two minty complete PC games just sitting in a box. Nothing special, just some Star Wars X-Wing game that's on a floppy disc and Sim City 2000. Turns out Sim City was missing the game. :/ But it was still an interesting video game find, so I snagged both of them.
 
[quote name='jousley']Yeah, "found". That's probably what dads who steal copper wiring tell their dumpster diving sons so they will look up to them. ;)[/quote]

Apparently, me being there and helping him put the copper wiring into his truck isn't a more reliable source than a piece of shit who accuses people of being thieves. That's always nice.

One other thing... I'm not a "dumpster diving kid." Never gone dumpster diving. Never will. Get your facts straight asshole.
 
[quote name='DarkRider23']Apparently, me being there and helping him put the copper wiring into his truck isn't a more reliable source than a piece of shit who accuses people of being thieves. That's always nice.

One other thing... I'm not a "dumpster diving kid." Never gone dumpster diving. Never will. Get your facts straight asshole.[/quote]

Haha man, why you gettin so tore over that? It was funny, get the stick out of your ass.

As for my dumpster diving adventures...I tend to check a few dumpsters whenever I'm out for a walk. Usually I come away with some tools or spare ethernet cables/phone cords. Things that will become useful...eventually.
 
Didn't know this thread existed. This was about a year ago...

I was walking home and saw a crate next to a dumpster. I thought to myself "I could use a crate for my records." I got a little closer and saw the crate was filled with records and then found 2 more crates, 1 with more records and 1 with playboys (some still in their bag) as well as girls gone wild videos. I only took the sealed playboys to avoid stuck pages and wiped the videos down with alcohol.
 
Sorry to double post, but a couple of weeks ago I was at Blockbuster and the lady had 2 large Soul Calibur IV plastic banners near the door. I asked if they were for sale and she said "No, I have to throw them out, but you can get them out of the dumpster if you want." I looked at her with a questioned look on my face and she said "Technically we are not supposed to give them to you if they are in the store, but you can just take them".

Flash forward to today, I peeked in the dumpster and saw a box with some magazines in it. I got an Otaku USA mag, a few PLAY, Nintendo power, Rolling Stone, and EGMs!
 
Never actually gone into a dumpster for anything, but I once spotted a SNES in a curbe pile- made my BF do a u-turn so I could get it. Worked fine, but didn't come with any cables/controllers. I gave it to my sister's fiance, not sure he ever got the cords for it.
 
It's been awhile since I've gone dumpster diving. There really aren't many worth diving around me and with gas prices the way they've been the last couple years, it wasn't worth it. The only one I did dive regularly was a GS dumpster for game guides. I don't anymore since they tear them up. That and I'm running out of room for stuff.
 
[quote name='erehwon']It's been awhile since I've gone dumpster diving. There really aren't many worth diving around me and with gas prices the way they've been the last couple years, it wasn't worth it. The only one I did dive regularly was a GS dumpster for game guides. I don't anymore since they tear them up. That and I'm running out of room for stuff.[/quote]

If that's the GS i'm thinking of, that manager is a douche, I used to go to his old store and he would always act like he knew everything and treated employees like crap. the old manager of that store was cool back when they had the B2G2 DVD back when i was in college, but then he turned to the Dark side of GS.

P.S. If you want to Dumpster Dive go to canterbury green right at the end of the IPFW spring semester, I knwo when I moved out a few years ago kids were throwing everything from Beds to TVs out by the dumpsters, but be careful, my friend was digging around in the pile and found some "Glow in the Dark" Sex position dice!! EWWWW!
 
Not a dumpster diving find but found in a parking lot in a shopping cart was a perfectly good Tommy Hilfiger coat, just needed a washing. Now I am not a fan of brand names but I will wear it if its free especially if its a coat and it fits good which it did in this case as its very hard for me to find a coat that fits. I live in an area where Canadian shoppers like to dump their unwanted clothing all over the place. This was found on Black Friday night so next black friday I will be scouring a bit more.
 
heres a good one i just found..

from the antiques roadshow website:

In the summer of 2004 a guest named Gary, a self-professed "dumpster diver," came to the ROADSHOW event in Reno, Nevada, with a beaten-up old print he said he'd found among trash gathered from a vacated house. He decided to hold on to it, and after showing it to appraiser Christopher Lane, Gary was pleased to learn that the 1820 print, made from an iconic work by American painter John Trumbull, had historical significance in addition to its value of $800 to $900.
Click to expand...

this is the print he found
trash2treasure_200404A08_s01.jpg


$2 bill
trash2treasure_200404A08_s03.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top