Dumpster Diving!

[Falls Included]

you might want to blurr out the cd key on that one pic...

[dunks]

just got back from diving tonight to a few local places

we picked up a shitload of candy taht expired like a month ago, all packaged adn everything, boxes of halls, fruit chews, etc...

a brand new scooter and an armoire that we couldnt transport

walkie talkies, brand new

like 6 chair floor mats, you know the ones wkith the spikes that stick into carpet

very successful if i may say so

[Garzilla04]

Seems like everyone is finding these floormats everywhere. Ive found a few myself.

[Incanus]

I found one but it looked like ther ewas a gigantic hole in th emiddle of it.

[Peale]

I find floormats all the time. They're usually either folded or have a hole in it.

Not worth the hassle when you can get a new one for $15

[maxxratt]

It's probably been said before, but if you have business parks near by, hit them up. I've worked in a few, and there is always a high rate of turn-over for properties....at least where I'm at. Most of the time you'll find old computer equipment, and a lot of office items, including desks and cubical wall/desk units. It amazes me sometimes what places throw out when they move.

Another side to that is if the office tenents get evicted. The landlord can either a) sell the stuff to the next tenent, or b) throw it all away because the new tenent doesn't want the stuff. And these places usually don't have compactors.

[Incanus]

This is very true. i wish we had more here, i guess i will have to look around more.

[headchimp]

Originally posted by Cyclone187
I went to Staples the other night and found a shoebox in a bag wrapped with a t-shirt. So I open the shoebox and out falls a dead bunny. Fuck that, I'm not going there anymore :|


LOLOLOL Let that be a warning to you, drop by again and you might find a horses head.


And because someone will ask. Pics??

[222 1/3 evil]

Irony....i've been DD'ing 4 times and didn't find anything worth my time. I was taking the trash out to my apartment dumpster, and what does my friend spy? A old school NES with 2 controllers the zapper, and the following games

Super Mario w/Duck Hunt (working)
Super Mario 2 (working)
Super Mario 3 (working)
Dr Wario (Not working)
Monopoly (working slight tiling)
Tetris (working)

I went to the local walmart bought a generic wall wart and low and behold I was playing SMB3 like the old days!

[SpangeMonkee]

Originally posted by 222 1/3 evil
Irony....i've been DD'ing 4 times and didn't find anything worth my time. I was taking the trash out to my apartment dumpster, and what does my friend spy? A old school NES with 2 controllers the zapper, and the following games

Super Mario w/Duck Hunt (working)
Super Mario 2 (working)
Super Mario 3 (working)
Dr Wario (Not working)
Monopoly (working slight tiling)
Tetris (working)

I went to the local walmart bought a generic wall wart and low and behold I was playing SMB3 like the old days!


one word: emulator

[Falls Included]

BAH! thats not the same thing

[SpangeMonkee]

Originally posted by fallsincluded
BAH! thats not the same thing

actually, after our NES stopped loading games (blinkin blue screen) me and Mrs. Spangemonkee hooked up the emulator on the HTPC and we're plenty happy with that..

[Peale]

Originally posted by 222 1/3 evil
Dr Wario (Not working)
Monopoly (working slight tiling)


Clean the contacts on the cart with alcohol and a q-tip

[Cyclone187]

Originally posted by 222 1/3 evil
Irony....i've been DD'ing 4 times and didn't find anything worth my time. I was taking the trash out to my apartment dumpster, and what does my friend spy? A old school NES with 2 controllers the zapper, and the following games

Super Mario w/Duck Hunt (working)
Super Mario 2 (working)
Super Mario 3 (working)
Dr Wario (Not working)
Monopoly (working slight tiling)
Tetris (working)

I went to the local walmart bought a generic wall wart and low and behold I was playing SMB3 like the old days!

What a damned idiot, people still pay $$$ for NES's on ebay. Hell I sold a SNES on ebay, without control or power supply or anything, for $35

[222 1/3 evil]

Originally posted by SpangeMonkee
one word: emulator
But why? I like the old school systems, and I didn't have to pay but 20.00 for the adapter. So.....no complaining from me

[NecessaryEvil]

long time no post.
anyone in the Bloomington, IL area wanna get together when ISU's semester ends and go diving?

[Incanus]

I had planned on going today but its chiillllly in Toledo, Ohio! Gonna have to wait till tomorrow! :-D

[guito13]

Originally posted by Incanus
I had planned on going today but its chiillllly in Toledo, Ohio! Gonna have to wait till tomorrow! :-D

I work in Toledo! But live in detroit....

Anywho...my sister called me up and told me there was a computer in the dumpser behind her work....so i went over there....found me a dell optiplex (Didnt take the monitor...it was soaked)....took it home...opened it....cleaned it....boom...works....48Mb of RAM....503MB Quantum fireball...pentium 166mhz......any suggestions on what i should do with it....learn linux finally?

[fr33ze]

thought i'd join in on the longest thread i've found so far.

about two months ago i posted a leaflet in all the houses in my village asking people if they had any old electrical equipement they didn't want anymore and were gonna throw out and i literally got sack loads of stuff, heres what i can remember

4 tv's
4 printers
2 vcr's
3 computers
1 scanner
3 ups units
3 dsl routers
3 cd players
loads of network equipement
loads of wires and external drives and stuff
a welder
some radios and more stuff that i can't even remember.

i know it's not dumpster diving but it has the same end result and i made over £600 quid out of it for charity

[SpangeMonkee]

Originally posted by guito13
any suggestions on what i should do with it....learn linux finally?

Router!

That's what my p166 does.. Its also my firewall, DNS and SMTP server..

[Incanus]

Yes, I need to set one up, something to protect myself from adware and spam, my wife used my computer 2 days and she's already got it loaded with adware! How she does it, I'll never know but I ran it for 2 months without problem. I can't believe this shit.. :(

[NotSoSimple]

OT: How can you block that stuff using a computer though?

[Incanus]

Linux Squid buddy! it's uber customisable, and remote administration and all so you could just throw the box in a corner, and let it run forever without a monitor, keyboard or mouse! It's godly

[NotSoSimple]

What distro?

[jpmkm]

Originally posted by NotSoSimple
What distro?
Any. Linux is linux(well it is actually gnu/linux). Though for a router situation small and lean is good. Slackware and debian are good choices. As are the bsds if you want to go that route.

[mulebennett]

getting a little off-topic, aren't we? :rolleyes:

[CyberSlave]

back on topic.

I went out the other to grab a msoke at the gf's place and was walking around the side of her apt. there was a 15" KDS LCD sitting by her water facet.
had a bit of dirt on it and the top right corner of the case is scratched, but it works fine.
And it as no dead pixels.

Its a 15" RAD5 from KDS.

[workingnonstop]

back on topic.

I went out the other to grab a msoke at the gf's place and was walking around the side of her apt. there was a 15" KDS LCD sitting by her water facet.
had a bit of dirt on it and the top right corner of the case is scratched, but it works fine.
And it as no dead pixels.

Its a 15" RAD5 from KDS.


Nice

Got any pics?

[CyberSlave]

will tomorrow, the GF has the digicam and she is outta town right now.

[thrashd]

I found the coolest fucking thing EVER last week. It's a "Moving Message" display, about 2 feet long and 2" tall. It has a keypad to program the message and add effects and whatnot. It didnt work when I found it and had a few severed traces on the circuit board, but I fixed that in a few minutes with my solder iron. Right now it's hanging on my wall in clock mode.

I'll take pics/vid tomorrow.

[workingnonstop]

I found the coolest fucking thing EVER last week. It's a "Moving Message" display, about 2 feet long and 2" tall. It has a keypad to program the message and add effects and whatnot. It didnt work when I found it and had a few severed traces on the circuit board, but I fixed that in a few minutes with my solder iron. Right now it's hanging on my wall in clock mode.

I'll take pics/vid tomorrow.

Can't wait! :)

[Killermac]

sweet nice find. ;)

[jeffmoss26]

recently I got:
PowerSpec PC-Celeron 700
(put an 80GB hd in it, currently using in my home network)
a lot of wire
some plastic tote boxes like the drugstores use to get their products from the warehouse
that's about it, hopefully I am going to get some more old computers given to me.

[DRJ1014]

got over 200 network cables still in wrapers. there was like 20 boxes i only could carry one :(

[nuentoter]

Is anyone in the Northern maine/ southwest new brunswick area? I need someone to DD with.

[DRJ1014]

Is anyone in the Northern maine/ southwest new brunswick area? I need someone to DD with.

lol

take your phone book and call a radom person :D

[tmarshall]

A local "non-profit" organization builds PC's for their underadvantaged friends. I DD once a week there.

My findings:
5 P1 Laptops (all work)
Dell P2/P3 machines (about 10 in the past 3 months)
New Sparkle power supplies
Older CDRW drives

[SEALTeamSix]

Here's one of my recent DD experiences...

So I was packing up to go home for the summer from the University of Oklahoma, and I decided "what the hell, I'll take a look to see if anyone is tossing out any cool stuff", and walked around my dorms. Lo and behold, it only took me 30 seconds to find a Super NES system IN ORIGINAL BOX, complete with the power and video connectors, 2 controllers, and the games Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country, all leaning up against a trash can. The system looks cherry and works perfectly - the console was even wrapped in the original plastic (though it had been opened), and the original receipt was in the box. That was quite a haul for 30 seconds of looking! I remember getting my first SNES for my birthday years ago, back when it was bundled with Street Fighter 2 - firing it up sure brought back some good old memories!

-SEAL

[DRJ1014]

Here's one of my recent DD experiences...

So I was packing up to go home for the summer from the University of Oklahoma, and I decided "what the hell, I'll take a look to see if anyone is tossing out any cool stuff", and walked around my dorms. Lo and behold, it only took me 30 seconds to find a Super NES system IN ORIGINAL BOX, complete with the power and video connectors, 2 controllers, and the games Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country, all leaning up against a trash can. The system looks cherry and works perfectly - the console was even wrapped in the original plastic (though it had been opened), and the original receipt was in the box. That was quite a haul for 30 seconds of looking! I remember getting my first SNES for my birthday years ago, back when it was bundled with Street Fighter 2 - firing it up sure brought back some good old memories!

-SEAL

lol maybe they where going to return it thats y the receipt was in there. hopfully they dont go to [H] on this thread :D

[MN Scout]

Wow, they cut the thread down. :( Never got to read all of it. Probably never would have though. :rolleyes:

[Peale]

got over 200 network cables still in wrapers. there was like 20 boxes i only could carry one :(

That's what return trips with a car are for!

[DRJ1014]

That's what return trips with a car are for!

went back with my friend in his car and there was only one more box and he took it.

[Northerner]

this happened a few years ago but its still the best (or funniest) dive i have ever made...

a friend and i were heading home from playing golf and we drove past a grocery store
where we seen two (young) workers going out the back door with 4 cases of beer under
their arms and they stashed them behind the dumpster next to some trees and ran back in.
so i just whipped around the block and came up and parked by the dumpster and got out
and grabbed all 4 cases of beer and headed out!
we were both laughing so hard knowing how pissed those kids were gonna be when they
came back that night probably with some girls to find out their stash was gone!

[DRJ1014]

this happened a few years ago but its still the best (or funniest) dive i have ever made...

a friend and i were heading home from playing golf and we drove past a grocery store
where we seen two (young) workers going out the back door with 4 cases of beer under
their arms and they stashed them behind the dumpster next to some trees and ran back in.
so i just whipped around the block and came up and parked by the dumpster and got out
and grabbed all 4 cases of beer and headed out!
we were both laughing so hard knowing how pissed those kids were gonna be when they
came back that night probably with some girls to find out their stash was gone!
now thats freaking hillarious :D

[Falls Included]

i think we should start a new thread... just get rid of this one.. no one knows wtf is going on with it..

[DRxAndy]

Here's one of my recent DD experiences...

So I was packing up to go home for the summer from the University of Oklahoma, and I decided "what the hell, I'll take a look to see if anyone is tossing out any cool stuff", and walked around my dorms. Lo and behold, it only took me 30 seconds to find a Super NES system IN ORIGINAL BOX, complete with the power and video connectors, 2 controllers, and the games Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country, all leaning up against a trash can. The system looks cherry and works perfectly - the console was even wrapped in the original plastic (though it had been opened), and the original receipt was in the box. That was quite a haul for 30 seconds of looking! I remember getting my first SNES for my birthday years ago, back when it was bundled with Street Fighter 2 - firing it up sure brought back some good old memories!

-SEAL

now thats a great find!
you lucky lucky person :D

[Peale]

Found some really great "old" demo phones on Tuesday. They weren't in the box, but the accessories were with them in a manilla envelope. Certainly a lot better than my old phones! Retail on one was like $150 (according to what was written on the envelope) and the other about $120.

[yoda634]

this happened a few years ago but its still the best (or funniest) dive i have ever made...

a friend and i were heading home from playing golf and we drove past a grocery store
where we seen two (young) workers going out the back door with 4 cases of beer under
their arms and they stashed them behind the dumpster next to some trees and ran back in.
so i just whipped around the block and came up and parked by the dumpster and got out
and grabbed all 4 cases of beer and headed out!
we were both laughing so hard knowing how pissed those kids were gonna be when they
came back that night probably with some girls to find out their stash was gone!

that was you? wtf man :mad: you stole my beer!

[Falls Included]

lol, thats great...

[HvyMtl]

anybody DDing in the Nashville TN area?

[antoniohawk]

From various dives I have managed to obtain:

4 1" binders someone had used for biochemistry class
1 white fan (working!)
1 blue fleece blanket (threw it in the wash and it was as good as new)
1 radio/cassette player (working with only a broken window on the cassette area)

6 / 9 / 04
1 small popcorn tin
1 discover card thingies that they bring to your table at a restaurant

[awdark]

Sheesh..
And I thought that new pack of white out I found behind staples outside its dumpster was the ownage...

[stumpy]

Anyone here DD in the north houston area? I'd be interested to hear where the good places are......

[Captain Colonoscopy]

Anybody in/around the Cedar Rapids, IA area? I'm looking for someone to go diving with. 25 years old with a car, work third shift. I'm thinking about scoping out some places after work this morning(5:00am). Anyone try diving that early in the morning?

[artimus]

Anyone in or around McMinnville. A teenager? I'm 14 and have no ride. I live to far away from anything to ride my bike.

[option141]

anybody in the Portland, Oregon or Vancouver, WA area willing to go DD?

:D

[antoniohawk]

I have a good story for all of you divers. The other day I was DD'ing with a couple of friends of mine, roving around their apartment complex on foot. Since I had been DD'ing a while and had come up empty handed too many times, I decided that I would bring a knife this time to slit some trash bags instead of just going for the loose stuff in the dumpsters. As it turned out, I picked the wrong bag to slash. As soon as the bag was cut, a horrific stench filled my nose and made me gasp for breath. As I inspected the bag through teary eyes, I noticed that it was filled with none other than freshly gathered goose shit. Oh the wonders of the geese that swarm to the apartment's many ponds! I'd have to say that that was my worst DD'ing experience and prevented me from cutting any more bags that day. In the future, I will be sure to make smaller incisions, so that I don't have to deal with the repercussions of my all-too-ready attempts to get just a little big more from the trash.

[jpmkm]

I'm not a bag slasher. There's just too much weird shit you'll find in there. And most of the stuff I am looking for(computers and electronics and stuff) people usually don't put in bags. I also don't go digging down deep. If I can't see it and get to it then I pass it up. Sure, I wonder what I could have found, but then I think about what my nasty worthless shit to awesome valuable find ratio would be. I've heard of people finding dead rabbits and other funky shit inside bags.

[antoniohawk]

The more that I dive, the more time I spend at each dumpster. I've found it to be highly rewarding to move aside a few bags to check what lies beneath. I'm still not sure whether to pursue the slashing method, but I think that a few more attempts will warrant a decision. As for tomorrow, it's big item pick-up day, where the city comes and picks up washers and the like. It should be promising as I've already seen quite a lot of stuff that I would probably like to grab or at least take a look at.

[jpmkm]

Dude I LOVE bulky item pickup day. I go to school in a small town so they only do it about once a year(as opposed to once every month or two here in KC). It is so nice. I got to the point where I just rolled down the back windows of my explorer and I just started throwing stuff in through the windows. Dot matrix printers seemed to be the big thing this year. I also found a few echostar satellite recievers and a couple satellite dishes. I sold a few items on ebay this year, but my favourite one was the alps md-1000 I found a couple years ago. I put that up on ebay and later that night somebody did a buy it now for $100! For a damn printer I found on the side of the road. Here in KC my favourite find was an old compaq prosignia 500 server that was still in working condition. Oh yeah, another thing I found up in kirksville is an old Microvax II. That thing is big and heavy. It has like 32 serial ports on the back of it. I think it came from the US dept of interior, wildlife and fish division or something like that.

[antoniohawk]

I should have known that staying up till 3 last night would be a bad idea. I got up at 10:30 this morning, tired as hell, but ready to go get some good stuff. As I call my friends that live a couple of blocks away to ask if they're ready to go get some stuff, I hear the familiar sounds of a diesel engine. I ran to the front door and saw that vehicle that would ruin my day, the trash truck. :( So, I guess that it's back to dumpster diving. Do you know of any kind of schedule for when these things happen? I want to be on the ball next time.

[jpmkm]

I remember my parents had some sort of schedule for the bulky item pickups. Like there was a map that divided up KC into different zones, and then they would do each zone on a different day of the month. I knew I should have saved a copy of that. :mad: It's probably up on some website somewhere though.

edit: Well I found the zones for the missouri side (http://www.kcmo.org/environ.nsf/web/bulkyitem2004).

[antoniohawk]

Thanks for the link, now I just have to find one for Kansas. I'll go do some googling and then maybe make a few phone calls.

[SykoBMW]

Haven't been DDing since last summer, what ever happened to the huge thread? Think I'm going to DD later tonight.

[antoniohawk]

Isn't this the huge thread? As far as I know it is, since I didn't start posting in it until the update.

[Mizugori]

anyone in southbridge, MA, sturbridge, MA, or putnam, CT or the surrounding areas want to try this lol? drop me an email at mizugori@yahoo.com

[jpmkm]

This is the huge thread, but every post before 2004 got pruned out when they were doing all that stuff to upgrade to VB3.

[SykoBMW]

Ah, was going to go DD at ~11:30-12, but when I went out there were cops all over town and still tons of people out.

[scottm5657]

i scored a 150 piece craftsman tool set from the trash at my building the other day

[antoniohawk]

i scored a 150 piece craftsman tool set from the trash at my building the other day
Damn, that's the kind of thing that I need to find. My parents aren't really handymen and don't have a lot of tools. Oh, and of course I'm too damn cheap to buy tools that I need lol.

[SykoBMW]

Damn, I really want to score tools. Think I might actually have to buy some soon...

[IISEVIL]

after reading this thread I really wanna dive :-| don't wanna do it alone..

[antoniohawk]

I always go with friends so that I won't have to deal with authorities alone, if it comes to that. If you go as a group, it's also less embarassing that you're digging around in dumpsters, especially if you're doing it during the day.

[MasiveMunkey]

When you guys find computers are there ever roaches or other bugs inside of them? Once I bought a phone from costco and there were two baby roaches inside of it and it freaked me out.

[bored-sarcasm]

too bad most of the posts got wiped, but i've yet to go diving. now that i've got my car back im planning on going soon. rat shack, mad mikes computers, best buy, office max, borders, maybe home depot.

[antoniohawk]

Everyone be sure to head over to The Unofficial "Post What You've Found Thread" (http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=768269) and post what you've found. :)

[cybunny]

Ah, dumpster diving, brings back memories of my early child hood of my mom dropping e into that smelly can of wonders and holding me by my poor helpless ankles.......dear lord

[IISEVIL]

I demand that someone dumpster dive with me

*shakes fist*

[d34dly]

So my friend and I went DDing for the first time tonight. We went to a business district in Plano, TX. These appeared to be all 10-20 person type businesses.

After going through many many dumpsters with nothing, we came across a long dumpster that was pretty high up. Climbed right in and hit the jackpot. Over 20 rolls of misc. lengths of CAT5. AWESOME! Some were even at lengths of 70'. We found tons of serial, and parallel cable also. We found some monitors and old towers but they were all wet so we didn't bother.

But the cable is awesome. Will definately come in handy. :D

[mtbaird]

i think im going to go tonight with a friend if possible. what places should i hit?

im planning on going to Circuit city i know. other places are kinda far, but ill try to drive a bit. Are furniture places generally a good idea?

[mtbaird]

went tonight, not that good of luck. all the places except oshmans had a compactor.

im guessing the compactor is the really large dumpster with the tube-like thing connecting it to the building?

anyway i ended up with 2 Intel 386 machines and 1 P1 machine

through them away though ebcasue they didnt have any hard drives and were wet. still a fun experience though

[ati_azn]

anybody goes dumpster diving in new york?, all my friends thinks its a thing for bums and i dont want to go be myself LOL

[JaiQuest]

Hey Stumpy,
I'm new to the forums, but have been reading them for a while. I, and about 6 other guys at work, all live north of houston and would love to go dumpster diving.

[coldfusion21]

im in portland and would meet some guys to go DD, send me a pm or something and we can set a group up.

[HvyMtl]

Any divers (or want to dive) in Nashville, TN area?
Interested.
Seems that Staples does not use a compactor nor locks their dumpster. Office Depots usually use a compactor, so does Compusa. Office Max usually just has a dumpster, but they sometimes have a lock.
Nashville area specific: Cool Springs - lots and lots of police patrols around the back of the strip malls surrounding the Cool Springs Galleria - Brentwood & Franklin cops are notorious for bothering those that look poor (especially Bwood) There is a term for it too, "DWP," Driving while poor... So, if you decide to do something in & around that area, make sure you do it in a Lexus, Caddy, BMW, or Mercedes and act like the spoiled teens in the area - otherwise be prepared to be harrassed. (Hey, I've lived in South Nashville/ Bwood area all my life - went to school in Bwood even, so I do know what I am talking about... so please no flames.)
100 Oaks mall - all the dumpsters are either in the loading docks on the front of the building or are in back along a narrow one way "alley" for lack of a correct term. Note: there is an office space in this mall, too. Most of the front of building dumpsters are compactors and you should leave them be ( as a compressed diver is a bad thing...) Usually you can get into the dumpsters in the back - as cops generally dont bother to go back there - only mall security rarely. So, I'd hit them on Sunday afternoon.
I'll give some more updates after I drive around, and scope more places.

[server_error]

Me and a friend read this thread (yes, the entire thread, that's the kind of losers we are) and got inspired to go dive ourselves. On sunday night we went to a commercial park, nothing, we couldn't even find boxes in the FedEx dumpster :mad: . Then we went to a shopping area. It was 7 or 8 on a Sunday night, so most of the stores were closed... but there was this weird guy in a purple shirt slowly walking around with some big headphones on in front of Staples. We joked about the guy being an undercover cop when we saw him.....We made a quick run at the dumpster, as it was pretty exposed, and found nothing. So we leave Staples and hit a strip mall that's about a block away, and maybe 2 blocks long, and after driving down the little alley in the back and checking things out (Again, nothing, except a few boxes to use as cover if a cop sees us... we got shipping sized boxes so we could tell the cop we're selling stuff on ebay and need boxes), we turned around the leave the alley and call it a night. Well, I'll be damned, that guy in the purple shirt walked all the way to the very end of that strip mall after seeing us hit up Staples, he had to have ran there, it was 3 blocks away and we weren't there long. So we may have very well been stalked by an undercover cop, but no real cops, and unfortunately, no loot either. But we'll probably try again some time, I'm too cheap to let free stuff go to waste.

[mulebennett]

so Yoda634 and I went diving on my first adventure. we hit a few malls, nothing too exciting, but we got a Barnes & Noble dumpster that was filled with boxes full of magazines, so we both took a few ones that we wanted so we grabbed an armful. i got some xbox magazines with the demo discs. then we hit some small computer stores, nothing great, til the last two, where we found a whole computer--though an artifact, 200mhz--and a perfectly good 17" Acer CRT monitor. word. that's all for now, i'm hitting a shitload of places in my town in the next couple of days. <-- unemployed :D

[mulebennett]

btw, a sign i thought was funny and snapped a picture of:

http://img36.photobucket.com/albums/v109/mulebennett/sign.jpg

[fishinrudy]

DDing in Akron Ohio. We are living in a tmporary corporate apt complex that is being converted to coop homes. Took the trash down to the dumpster tonight and lo and behold there were two little tike's coupes in the dumpster. If you don't have young kids, the value is little but our 4 yr old has been playing with one that we picked up at a yard sale for 2$ for the past 3 years and his little brother has been getting pushed out of it when he wants a turn.

mor
1 coupe at a yard sale $2
1 at toysrus $40
2 free ones in a dumpster when you have two rambunctious little boys "couped up" in an apartment priceless

[Lab]

Last time I went was last fourth, maybe I'll go tommorow for old times sake.

[antoniohawk]

I was planning on going today, but it turned out that I couldn't get ahold of my diving partners. Oh well, maybe sometime this week. There are going to be too many out and about tomorrow to safely dive around here.

[DR_K13]

Anyone in orange county ca, know of any good spots? I tryed crapusa and found nothing

[HvyMtl]

if it'd quit RAINING every freakin day, I'd be better able to go look - but no... Anyway, to state the obvious, never go dumpster dive when its raining... or has been for the past month.
I'll update around Nashville, as soon as the sun comes back out.

[Peale]

Anyway, to state the obvious, never go dumpster dive when its raining.

When it's raining is a great time (depending on how hard it's raining) because you're less likely to run into other people, and there is a better chance that someone else hasn't gotten to a find before you.

[HvyMtl]

ok, and you hope the people covered up the pc parts, so that they wont ruin?
Besides we've been having nasty thunderstorms with high winds... not the stuff to go out in.

[Peale]

First, PC parts have to be in the weather for a while to ruin. Second, not everyone goes DDing for just PC parts. Third, you *never* know what you're going to find, so it pays to dive often.

[OldPueblo]

Used to do it when I was young, but I had a really bad experience. Found bags and bags AND BAGS of those pink circus peanuts. Ate so many of them that I was sick for days. The trauma was so much that I just...cant...do it anymore.

[jpmkm]

Hell I even dumpster dive when it is snowing. I just have to see if there is something out there. I'm a bit more discriminant when it is raining or snowing, but if there is something good I will pull it out.

[Invalid]

hmm, i want to try dumpster diving. But do you know if this is legal? Dun want to deal with police tho.

[jpmkm]

hmm, i want to try dumpster diving. But do you know if this is legal? Dun want to deal with police tho.
That varies from city to city. Some cities have laws or ordinances about this and some don't. You will just have to see how it is in your city. I've never had to deal with police but if I ever do then I plan on telling them the truth. None of this "I was looking for boxes" bullshit(though sometimes I am actually looking for boxes). Just be on the lookout and if there are a lot of cops out one night then just stay home.

[SeeDLeone]

That varies from city to city. Some cities have laws or ordinances about this and some don't. You will just have to see how it is in your city. I've never had to deal with police but if I ever do then I plan on telling them the truth. None of this "I was looking for boxes" bullshit(though sometimes I am actually looking for boxes). Just be on the lookout and if there are a lot of cops out one night then just stay home.

Does anyone know what to look for when trying to find out? I have looked but I can't find anything. For anyone that lives in Georgia (I live in metro-atlanta), is DDing legal?

[Thermite Paste]

im just curious, what would happen if you were caught by a cop and it was obvious you werent looking for boxes? could they do anything?

p.s. im in whippany nj

[HvyMtl]

Depends on your locality and their respective laws. In some places, it is ok to take trash, in others not so. Some places just have issues with people adding trash to the bin, not taking it away. So, to answer that: check your state law, county and city ordinances to ensure you are ok. Take flattened boxes with you so you look like you are trying to find boxes.
Make sure its legal before you do it, so you dont have to pay fines (usually this is a misdemeanor or lesser level crime, IF its illegal in your area...)
Also, make friends with the local cops if you can (less problems from cops if they know you) - as well as the local janitors/cleaning crews as they can point you to a good dive.

[Thermite Paste]

i do have a friend whos whole friggin family is cops...

[jpmkm]

A couple things that should be fairly obvious but I just thought I'd bring them up anyway:

1. If there is a posted 'No Trespassing' sign then LEAVE! Going onto private property(store parking lot or something) can be considered trespassing but I believe you have to be warned or asked to leave before you can be arrested. That sign is your warning. This brings me to point 2.

2. If you are asked to leave then LEAVE and don't come back.

3. Do not run from the cops. Actually, don't run from anything. That would just look suspcious if someone saw you running in the dark behind a store.

Just use common sense when you dive and think these scenarios through before you go out so that you will know how to act.

[DRJ1014]

This has to be the biggest thread i have ever seen:O
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1026305775#post1026305775

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1026307125#post1026307125

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1026296964#post1026296964

[DRJ1014]

hmm, i want to try dumpster diving. But do you know if this is legal? Dun want to deal with police tho.
i would say illeagal :(

basically stealing but i dont get it... there throwing it away so why cant we have it

[SeeDLeone]

I can't remember the exact law, but it says that the instant something goes into the trash, it is public property. I know it is the new england area, but I don't know if it is everywhere.

[DRJ1014]

we have cameras now covering the dumpsters :( where the dumpsters are located is on the companies property. once it leaves there property then we could get it. but as long as it is it is stealing :(

[SJetski71]

Used to do it when I was young, but I had a really bad experience. Found bags and bags AND BAGS of those pink circus peanuts. Ate so many of them that I was sick for days. The trauma was so much that I just...cant...do it anymore. man o man, plz tell me you were 8 years old and didn't know any better :confused:

What the heck were you doing eating food out of the garbage ?

[jpmkm]

Hell if the circus peanuts were sealed then I would eat them too. I love those things. Besides, we've probably sold worse stuff in my grocery store.

[Ugly_Jim]

has anyone been arrested while dumpster diving in the USA? I'm afraid :(

[synoptism]

This summer, my friend has been hired by the computer services department at my school to be their lackey-of-sorts - he moves computers, reimages them, and such. He's found some monitors. They're 14 inches and by noname companies, so they were going to throw them out. They weren't *in* the dumpster, but they were headed for it... so I grabbed them.

I just scored a couple of monitors. They all work, some are slightly discolored (purple-ish) around the edges, and it looks like 2 do 1024x768 and the rest only do 800x600.

He also had some power cables that they were going to throw out, for some reason. I might need them in the future, so I grabbed them too.

Here's some pics...please excuse the mess, I'm trying to rearrange my room and optimize the space I have. They're all less than 200k @ 500x375.

http://server6.uploadit.org/files/synoptism-IMG_0025_resized.jpg - three monitors just sitting on the ground, after a bit of cleaning (they were a bit dirty)
http://server6.uploadit.org/files/synoptism-IMG_0008_resized.jpg - three more monitors on top of TV (I pushed them back and made room for a fourth after I took the picture)
http://server6.uploadit.org/files/synoptism-IMG_0024_resized.jpg - box of power cords (I counted 38)

I've always lurked this thread, but now I get to contribute something worthy to it. Hope you enjoy my find as much as I do!

[OldPueblo]

Hell if the circus peanuts were sealed then I would eat them too. I love those things. Besides, we've probably sold worse stuff in my grocery store.

Yes I was a young-un, but they were still sealed and within the expiration date as well. We also scored boxes of gum and some other types of candy. Guess Bashas couldn't sell it.

[Peale]

What the heck were you doing eating food out of the garbage?

It all depends on the food found, and when. Candy, wrapped? Score! Bags of chips? Score!

During the winter months I literally didn't have to buy any food. I got it all from one grocery store. Nature's fridge.

You can poo it all you want (and I know you will) but really, it's not all bad.

[blindviper]

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1026305775#post1026305775

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1026307125#post1026307125

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1026296964#post1026296964
those threads are nothing this thread was over 250 pages before it was cut down

[Thermite Paste]

i was skating at an office building today, and i noticed this big open topped dumpster. i climbed inside and there was a TON of torn up carpet, but i could see a chair poking out and i found a cd and some rechargable batteries. tomorrow im gonna go back later and see whats underneath. ill update tomorrow.

P.S . the cd was a disk for some ups system

[edit] well, i got rained out, maybe it will stop later.

[Social Loser]

I went out tonight...Notta thing except for an inflatable kiddie pool behind Petco...Not much but I figure what they heck...My dog can play in it.

[HvyMtl]

Ok, its getting close to the end of the month... This is the time to start looking hard at apartments and office space. People/businesses move in/out at the end of the month.
The best time to hit those type fo places are during daylight hours for apartments and early on the weekend (depending on dumpster emptying times - some offices have theirs emptied during the weekend) for the office space.
During a lite rain might be fine. But use your common sense - don't stick yourself into a big metal box during a thunderstorm...
The weather here has not been "considerate" of diving recently. (70mph straight winds are not good diving weather...) In Nashville, we have the 5th wettest summer on record. And most all the storms have been thunderstorms. So, I havent been able to dive as much as I would like.
I intend to look hard at Hickory Hollow, Green Hills, and Bellevue to see what I can find. Downtown is iffy, too many homeless (I have nothing against homeless, I am practically that poor myself, its just that a few have turf issues. Besides they need the stuff they find in those dumpsters more than I do...)
EDIT: still looking for brave souls in Nashville, TN interested in diving...

[muhsbandit]

apparently, in milwaukee at least, you can get arrested for "prowling", meaning you dont have an actual reasoning to be driving around at a bad time of night. also its apparently illegal to go behind a closed business. we learned this the hard way (but got off with a warning, luckily)

[xphantg0d]

http://server6.uploadit.org/files/synoptism-IMG_0025_resized.jpg - three monitors just sitting on the ground, after a bit of cleaning (they were a bit dirty)
http://server6.uploadit.org/files/synoptism-IMG_0008_resized.jpg - three more monitors on top of TV (I pushed them back and made room for a fourth after I took the picture)
6 monitors? not bad what are you going to do with them?

[Jaffrin]

I know this question may have been asked, but...

What is the leagality of DDing?
Is it different depending on where you live?

[NleahciM]

I know this question may have been asked, but...

What is the leagality of DDing?
Is it different depending on where you live?
stickied for your reading enjoyment: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=759401

[HvyMtl]

Some additional info. Yes it does vary from town to town, county to county, and state to state. So check all levels of law: State, County, Local. Check with the local cops, see what they think. Some will mess with you anyway, even if its totally legal. Avoid the locked & closed fence dumpsters. Those can get you in trouble. Trespassing or theft comes to mind when I see those. Expect to get dirty, smelly, etc. Wear good work gloves, long sleeves & think jeans or work pants as sharp objects can be the norm. Tetanus shots? Make sure yours is still within its experation date... :) Do NOT go alone. This way if you get hurt you have help. And having a lookout while you legs are sticking out of the dumpster is always a good idea. Always check out your target dumpsters beforehand. You do not want to accidently bump into the "wrong" crowd in the alleys. Drug dealers get a bit touchy when someone interupts their deal. My suggestion is to do the diving during daylight as most people do not think you are doing anything wrong during daylight hours. Sundays are best. Take flattened boxes with you as this will be your excuse in diving, you need more for a move. The boxes come in handy with holding your new "loot." The best places to look are behing office supply stores,discount clothing stores, apartment complexes (especially end of month), office complexes (also at end of month), and local colleges/universites. The college/university dumpsters can really be a gold mine at the end of the year. Vandy is in my locality and the long distance students throw away everything.
This may be different from other's opinion, take your ID. Having your ID on you makes a cop relax. They think you are up to something if you do not have it on you. Worse, thanks to a Supreme Court Ruling, if you do not have proper ID on you, the cops can hold you until they get proper confirmation of your ID. If you get stopped, be nice, smile, and offer your cover story about the boxes. Offer your ID if asked. Be nice to the cops and they generally will leave you be. NEVER run from a cop.

[SquiDDy]

me and my two friends just got done with a night of diving across Orlando, we didn't really find jack, some cables, and a few little odd things like signs and product displays, but nothing really worth much

if you guys dive in Orlando and know some good spots, let me in on them :D

we hit up a bunch of major chains, all compactors as expected, and some game stores, the only places we had sucsess was the radio sacks, they just had a bunch of crap

we went to one, and found a security thing for use in store, and when we pulled on it it went off and made a beeping noise so we high tailed it out of there

anyways, it was pretty good fun, we just need to find some better areas to dive

BTW, hobos : scary

[tmarshall]

I still dive once a week.

This past dive yielded:
One Dell XPS T450 complete

One Dell Optiplex P3 Complete

Over 70 Hard drives..most work, but most are 2Gb

[HvyMtl]

Where you dive, tmarshall?

[tmarshall]

I dive at this "non-profit" computer literacy organizations dumpstar mostly.

The P3's were junk as they put it.

Funny though, they work fine.

[Main Target]

i livei n orlando

[mrbobo]

i livei n orlando

lots of competition in orlando these days, no wonder I haven't been finding anything lately :p

[ya cha cha]

Im not sure if this counts as dumpster diving but me and three of my friends found 4 pairs of brand new shoes hanging on a telephone wire behind the B-side store. Using a long pole we found, they held it and I climbed up and got all the shoes.

[unreal]

i think i should head out to 120th st in miami where ist right near an airport there are plenty of comp stores in 1 little block. my friends have found good stuff there.... i could use another suystem hehe

[OldPueblo]

So who here has participated in or observed a "Dive Rumble" where two rival dive gangs meet and dispute their dumpster territory?

[mrbobo]

So who here has participated in or observed a "Dive Rumble" where two rival dive gangs meet and dispute their dumpster territory?


:rolleyes:

[HackofDestruct]

THERE ARE DIVE GANGS?!?!?! do they have like glocks that they find behind a gun shop or something??!? personally, i find that incredibly stupid. i just go with my brother or with some people at lans.

[Jaffrin]

Can anyone post a compactor on this thread or give a link to one.
I know this may be stupid, but I was driving by a Best Buy and wasn't sure if it was a compactor or just a big dumpster. I have not gone yet, but I think I am gonna plan a trip... how many people going is to many?

Just two the best or would three be better?

[jpmkm]

Compacters are pretty easy to spot. They are big and are closed at the top. If you can't find a way into it then that means you probably aren't supposed to be in there. There is also usually some cables and stuff coming off of it.

[Jaffrin]

Yeah that describes it amost exactly...
Stupid BestBuy! :mad:

[DustMite]

Just came back from a dumpster diving run. In this town anyway, seems like all the bigger stores use a compactor. During my search at some "mom & pop" type computer stores, I found a whole pallet full of monitors (used) and all had labels with the word "Bad" written on them. I just wasn't in the mood to sort through them and maybe find a couple that would even be worth trying to fix. I also found lots and lots of "pos" cases being thrown away. I sorted through them and came up with only a couple of 80 mm fans. Most of the cases were either the desktop type or old 486 mid tower types with no side panels. I have no idea what they do with all the side panels. I searched the dumpsters nearby and no sign of them..oh well. I have yet to come across a good small case that's begging for an external water cooling setup.

On my way back home, I found an old gateway 2000 server case (missing side panels...sigh) sitting on the side of the road about one block from my house It's in good structural shape. I'm sitting here trying to figure out what it wants done to it.It's sitting there stripped down just begging for something. I'm going to stare at it a while and it will eventually come to me.It will make a nice modding project, but that's for another section and another time.

I was on my way home thinking I had been defeated when all along I should have just checked my own neighborhood. Bah! I won't let that stop me. It's still fun going out there and finding stuff for free. Ya never know.... heh :p

[DRJ1014]

Can anyone post a compactor on this thread or give a link to one.
I know this may be stupid, but I was driving by a Best Buy and wasn't sure if it was a compactor or just a big dumpster. I have not gone yet, but I think I am gonna plan a trip... how many people going is to many?

Just two the best or would three be better?
http://www.offreviews.com/pictures/pic00104_lr.jpg

hope i was helpful

[Jaffrin]

:D :D :D
I'd have to say that would compast anyones trash...

[HvyMtl]

after a quick google - here is a "refuse" compactor equipment catalog.
There is a drawing of the compactor at the upper left. click thru to see the various "refuse" compactors available...
http://www.ceqp.com/cat_comp.htm
another model for your viewing pleasure:
http://www.wastecare.com/Products-Services/Outdoor-Compactors/selfcontained.htm

[JaiQuest]

Hey guys,
Back to actual dumpser diving experiences. We went the other night, Monday, and found some pretty cool stuff. We found a black bag full of toys, exhaust pipes for Harley Davidson's (brand new), Tons of magazines, Pocket Watch, American bill validator, and a bunch of other random crap. I will post pictures. Anyway, now for the story behind the madness.

I was in a dumpster looking through a box when I spotted a bag full of rotting hamburgers that looked like onions. Immediately I knew that there were Vampires in the area, little did I know that we would later run into one. Anyway we drove around for a while and then drove across the highway to the "bad part" of town. While driving down a back alley, we saw a ladder against a building. We all got out of the car to look in the dumpster and then all of a sudden... "Hey what are you kids doing down there" in a very foreign accent. We looked up, and there was the vampire... smoking a cigarette... or some other herb rolled up. We then proceeded to get back in the car and turn around. We got to the next dumpster, opened it, and found a plastic bag. This was no ordinary plastic bag, it was behind an Indian restaurant and had maggots all over it. After that we just had some normal experiences, found a dumpster with electronics inside. This dumpster, however, was locked and we became thorougly pissed off. Enough rambling.

We'll post pics soon.

The JaiQuest Team

[HvyMtl]

Vampires? I'll be "packing" garlic next dive .... LOL

[bleedingcancer]

your kidding aout the vampire thing right..... :rolleyes:

[Johnny Lightning]

What? Vampires exist... here is spooktacular proof----> >:-[: "blah"
:D

[ati_azn]

my sister and i went to bestbuy last night at 3 in the morning, so we opened the dumpster found some ide cables, a cracked screen emachine moniter, and a streaded sony vaio desktop (i think the parts are still good) so my sister pulled the car up and she got out of the car then this security jeep pulled up and a man with weird accent yelled out DROP The THINGS GO AWAY NOWWW! NOWW!!! and btw his yellow lights atop the jeep were flashing mad bright. so we didnt want any atention and we sped away without the parts. awhh man. we gona try circut city, staples, and bath and body LOL

[DustMite]

You're lucky.. all the big stores (bestbuy, compusa, circuit city, office max, office depot, even radio shack..) around here have compactors. Forget about getting "good stuff" from those types of places around here. I am relegated to either CC (curbside collecting) or the smaller shops that don't throw anything "good" away.These smaller places strip all the cables and stuff. Any power supplies I find usually have the wires cut (I know, I have a soldering station and I'm not afraid to use it...lol). Usually I just get a couple of 80mm fans each time. Oh well, the quest will continue.

...my $0.02...

[yoda634]

my sister and i went to bestbuy last night at 3 in the morning, so we opened the dumpster found some ide cables, a cracked screen emachine moniter, and a streaded sony vaio desktop (i think the parts are still good) so my sister pulled the car up and she got out of the car then this security jeep pulled up and a man with weird accent yelled out DROP The THINGS GO AWAY NOWWW! NOWW!!! and btw his yellow lights atop the jeep were flashing mad bright. so we didnt want any atention and we sped away without the parts. awhh man. we gona try circut city, staples, and bath and body LOL

pussy -- he probably thought you were stealing and you just needed to explain what you were doing to him

lol

sucks that you missed that desktop..try going back tonight, someone earlier in the thread found a smashed up system that had a 2.4 GHz or something P4 that worked, smashed systems make good finds.

[JaiQuest]

We're actually not sure that he was a vampire... but he did look pretty scary. Maybe next time I'll get a pic of him, I think we're going diving again tonight to get some more magazines from Barnes and Noble. Either way, it was a horrible experience, the vampire that is.

JaiQuest Crew

[stumpy]

We're actually not sure that he was a vampire... but he did look pretty scary. Maybe next time I'll get a pic of him, I think we're going diving again tonight to get some more magazines from Barnes and Noble. Either way, it was a horrible experience, the vampire that is.

JaiQuest Crew

You talking about the Barnes and Noble in the Woodlands? The new one by the mall?

I'll probably be there tonight sitting outside of the coffee shop as usual.

[synoptism]

6 monitors? not bad what are you going to do with them?

Not sure. Right now, I just have 6 of those things sitting up there. Four on the bottom row, two on top. Today, I picked up another 14" monitor, another KFC. I had an idea today - maybe I'll buy some splitters, and hook them all up so they show the same picture? I wasn't sure if this was possible, but I'm going to be looking into it for the next couple of days.

[JaiQuest]

Yeah, it's the Barne's and Noble in the Woodlands. We'll be hitting it up frequently for more mags

JaiQuest Crew

[Fran]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to this forum, but not new to DD or CC. My husband and I are avid "curbie" shoppers, more so than DD's. We go out twice a week, on trash day. Last night wasn't bad; 19" Toeshibba Color TV (in vg working condition), BMI Modem and Monitor (still have to check these out yet), a really old kitchen pantry. medium size, white w/one door. (needs a bit of cleaning, but we have decided to leave it "rustic" looking), a box of old wrenches, a large heavy stepper excerciser, CSA E587A (in vg working condition) and an old wooden chair, which could use a new seat cover.

Wish we had a pickup or van. Boy...the stuff we had to leave due to our small car. We have a Ford Escort. Can't wait until Thursday!

~ Fran ~

[Komataguri]

I'm gonna go out on my bike tonight and scope things out since tomarrow is trash pick up.


Gotta scope out the highdollar hobby shop and a few rental places, as well do a little CC browsing.


Find anything good, I'll call my backup and get pics of it.

[Komataguri]

Wasn't a very good night.

Managed to nab some very nice ceiling fans that are in working condition, tho!

I needed them, to.. These babies look like the ones they want 50 or more bucks at the stores, So I'm content.

[HvyMtl]

little off topic: Komataguri, isn't there a Hurricane coming in? I suggest seeking proper cover.

[Komataguri]

little off topic: Komataguri, isn't there a Hurricane coming in? I suggest seeking proper cover.


There is. I just learned about it yesterday.


Catagory 4, one of the 50 most powerful storms in recorded history, ect ect

[HvyMtl]

so youre not in Florida then?
Where do you dive to get household items like the fans?

[Pack Rat 24]

so youre not in Florida then?
Where do you dive to get household items like the fans?

I think he does, just doesn't care...

[Komataguri]

I think he does, just doesn't care...

The eye of the storm, with 145MPH wind will pass, literally, RIGHT OVER MY HOUSE

What can you do, tho?

I wasn't able to hit dumpsters cause of rain, but I did hid the neighborhoods and picked up the fans just about 15 min from my house.

Clean those babies up and gonna put them in the bedrooms and such.

[HvyMtl]

Well, did you live? Hope your house is ok.

[guilTy]

hell even if he is ok, i doubt hell be posting anytime soon. im sure the storm f*cked alot of stuff up, including the power connections. which, actually, is needed for computers... :p

but all jesting aside, i hope he is alright. living in mobile, i can attest to their suckiness. the only reason we didnt recieve any of those storms is we happened to get a mean ass cold front from the north(mid 60's in august? i am actually amazed, even though that is at 0200)

[ati_azn]

this is getting out of topic..awhh heck wit it...he shouldve put plywood all over his house and put at least ten 2 by 4s over the plywoods then steel cable the whole mobile home to the ground, then put one of those BIG BLUE plastic wraps over his home then steel cable(100 at least) the whole thing down then he'll be safe(very safe), yesterday charley the hurricane came by NY and we hardly felt it oh well, i hope hes ok and everybody else..anyways its been raining lately at night in NY so i couldnt get and diving done

[ninethreeeleven]

Okay long story short, I got a TV, an old 27" Toshiba, okay the picture is stretched vertically from about halfway up the screen. The guy I got it from said it worked (was throwing it out). This isn't really dumpster diving but it is free stuff that others got rid of. Is there any remedy, I am hoping the pic was stretched (makes almost everyone an Egghead) because it was on the floor near my 3 12" subs, with huge magnets.
I know I'm an idiot for putting them near eachother but still, I had to plug and play.

[Komataguri]

I survived.

Total devistation.

No power for a week or more


running off a generator, can't keep the computer on long [ stealing time without others knowing ]


I don't live in a god damn mobile home

will return when power is fully restored.

[HvyMtl]

good luck and protect yourself and yor stuff - looting is NOT diving.
See ya in a week.
Anyone else out there in FLA - I wish you the best too.
Now, anyone find any good diving lately?

[Peale]

Okay long story short, I got a TV, an old 27" Toshiba...

Open it up, pull the circuit board, and replace the capacitors.

WARNING!!!! IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING INSIDE A TV, DO NOT DO THIS! There are lethal voltages inside, especially around the anode (the cable that connects to the tube)

[yoda634]

WARNING!!!! IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING INSIDE A TV, DO NOT DO THIS! There are lethal voltages inside, especially around the anode (the cable that connects to the tube)
QUOTED FOR TRUTH. Please DO NOT fuck around with this if you don't know exactly what you're doing. And I don't mean think you know what you're doing. I, like most people here, will fuck around with the insides of just about any piece of electronics I can get the cover off of, but I won't mess around inside TV's.

[Komataguri]

I just got power back today


Power crews from Pike Energy and Duke Power in the Carolina's kick so much ass for coming down and hitting the power problem harder than anyone else.



also


DO NOT MESS AROUND WITH A T.V.'S INSIDES Unless you know what your doing!

I was an idiot and did it once, and I got a jolt so bad that I literally lost the function of my left arm for 3 days.

[HvyMtl]

glad to see you back Komataguri. Hope the clean up goes fast. I bet you will be able to find some good stuff in dumpsters in FLA soon. Just make sure you are not mistaken as looters, so I think waiting a bit before diving would be smart.
If you do find a TV that looks like a fixer upper. TAKE IT TO A REPUTABLE REPAIR SHOP. Death can come easy. SAME GOES WITH CRT MONITORS -DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE - the tubes in a crt are similar to the TV tubing and hold high electrical voltage as well.

[HvyMtl]

http://www.dumpsterworld.com/
Has anyone tried this site? Is it any good? I am presently looking it over to see if it is a viable resource... Gimme an opinion.

[jpmkm]

http://www.dumpsterworld.com/
Has anyone tried this site? Is it any good? I am presently looking it over to see if it is a viable resource... Gimme an opinion.
I do believe someone here runs that site.

[Riftgarde]

I found a fetus in a jar in a dumpster once, that incident summoned 3 city police, 2 paramedics and 2 FBI agents...

[mulebennett]

I found a fetus in a jar in a dumpster once, that incident summoned 3 city police, 2 paramedics and 2 FBI agents...

bullshit

[Riftgarde]

I wish.

The moral here was not looking in a dumpster next to a house where the new owners are cleaning out and improperly disposing of medical specimens from the attic of a house that was once owned by a doctor.

But believe whatever you like.

[Thermite Paste]

I found a fetus in a jar in a dumpster once, that incident summoned 3 city police, 2 paramedics and 2 FBI agents...
:eek: what kind of fetus?

[Riftgarde]

human

[Carnival Forces]

human
holy shit...
http://www.mentallyretired.com/h/index.cfm/u_Carnival_Forces (http://www.hardfolding.com)

[ati_azn]

omg carnaval. i was just yelling HOLY SHIT while i was loading this thread and watching TECH TV. omg your holy shit just popped out when i was yelling holy shit...seriously no kidding!

[Komataguri]

human


SHould have kept it.


Mmmm.....Real baby back ribs.. *drool*

[DRJ1014]

hahahahhahahahahahahaahahhahahahahahahhahaha.......

a human eh... sick

[Peale]

I do believe someone here runs that site.

I'm a mod over there. Even without that, it's a good site.

[HvyMtl]

bar-b-q sauce...

[Thermite Paste]

hmm... my brother says he saw a bunch of computer crap (like 15 computers + monitors) in a dumpster by my local pizzaria, and im going there tomorrow to check it out. ill post pics if anything is worth hauling home (i dont have a car)
edit edit: i went back just now and with my luck, it starts raining five minutes before i get there. i got my dad to come in the car, and i got these things:

2x acer 17" monitors, some frame damage
1x p2 400 computer
1x pentium pro 200 computer
1x HUGE ASS monitor (22" i think) that has a weird input (like four different coaxial cables, someone know what this is? it has a cable that converts it to vga)

there were some more monitors buried under crap, but i didnt feel like digging them out. most of the stuff my bro saw were printers and copiers, etc. so there wasnt really that much stuff there. after i let everythign dry off and test it, ill post pics in the pics thread.

edit: whats black and bubbly and taps on the glass?......

















... a baby in a microwave!!! :p :eek:

[JaiQuest]

Hey Guys,
We went dumpster diving last night, the 27th, and found a variety of things. We found more magazines, 2 tall wall mount cd racks, and a ton of picture frames still in the box. The picture frames have a retail value of $29.99 at Linens and Things. The magazines were Rolling Stone, Ancient World, some Art Mag, and 2 other music magazines. We picked these out of the 4 boxes we found. I am now gonna post pics of these on the pic posting thread. We also found a couch which we gave to a guy at work, we bought a couch cover and he's very grateful. We'll get pics of that tonight.

JaiQuest Crew

[JaiQuest]

Dumpster Diving Operation (http://www.roas.net)

After giving our friend the couch, we really saw what he could use around his apartment. I'm not gonna go into much detail, because there is information on the hyperlinked page. Just thought this would be appropriate for the DD thread.

JaiQuest Crew

[DaCoOlNeSs]

just went DDing last night actually, right after a wedding, found a real silver platter in there. we shined it up a bit, took it to the jewlers and they said it was worth $500 big ones. canadian though

[jpmkm]

Went diving today for the first time since I've been back in kirksville(came up here saturday). I found a p4x400 soyo dragon motherboard and it is in excellent physical condition. I love the colour of the motherboard. I just don't have a p4 to test the board with and there is no way I am spending $100 for a processor to test a motherboard that I found in the dumpster.

[DRJ1014]

i have this new saying if you get caught while DD. its no longer dumpster diver its dumbster diving. see if you can get catch it

[jpmkm]

i have this new saying if you get caught while DD. its no longer dumpster diver its dumbster diving. see if you can get catch it
what are you talking about? Does getting caught make oneself dumb? I'm confused.

[iha]

I don't ever go Dumpster Diving. I've seen it on TV, but I didn't realize so many people do this. I do have 2 semi-dumpster diving stories. First one... my father works at a department store (i'm not going to name which one.. just because), anyway they had been bought out by another company and the new company was getting rid of all their stuff. So anyway, back by the dumpsters behind the store there was turns of "display" type furniture out there. My dad asked if they were just throwing it away and they said yes. Me, my brother, and my dad decided to take several of this stuff home with us. A lot of it made great desks, home entertainment stands, cofee tables, 2 REALLY interesting book shelves (i should take picture, because I still have one in my room), and i'm sure it could have been used for other stuff. All of the wood for these peices was solid wood, and in great condition (well there was some gum we had to scrape off the bottom of like 3 things. Anyway, we sold most of the furniture and ended up making well over $1,000.. probably closer to $2,000... and still kept some of it for ourselves. And wow I didn't mean to make this story so long.

2nd one isn't as good as that one. I went by this summer to visit my old highschool and my computer-tech teacher gave me 2 monitors that the school was going to throw away. They're just 15" crts.. but they work fine and are great for spare monitors to work on other computers with (rather than taking my monitor off my computer to work on other people's)... and i can probably sell them on ebay too. He told me if I went back by he'd give me some dell computers.. I think they were like PIIIs w/ 10GB Hd's and 64 MB ram.. pretty decent for FREE.. but I didn't have time to go back.

[iha]

what are you talking about? Does getting caught make oneself dumb? I'm confused.

Well, I don't know about you.. but i'd feel pretty dumb if I got caught digging through someone's trash. :p

[jpmkm]

Well, I don't know about you.. but i'd feel pretty dumb if I got caught digging through someone's trash. :p
If you would feel dumb then dumpster diving isn't for you. If you are always paranoid about someone seeing you then you will miss a lot.

[iha]

If you would feel dumb then dumpster diving isn't for you. If you are always paranoid about someone seeing you then you will miss a lot.

I know it's not for me, that's why I don't do it. :)

[HighwayAssassins]

i always liked tacos out of dumpsters. mmmmm

[DRJ1014]

no i mean if you get caught like they have you in there custidy

[cancersticks]

..
1x HUGE ASS monitor (22" i think) that has a weird input (like four different coaxial cables, someone know what this is? it has a cable that converts it to vga)

Sounds like it's BNC (http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/B/BNC_connector.html)

[Thermite Paste]

yea thats it, except i just realized one of teh connectors is broken :( ill have to see if i can fix it

[DelphianSpectre]

Went DD for the first time tonight after spending some hours reading the entire thread. Most of the big names in town have Ramjets so a no go there. Office Max is the only one that doesn't but apparently trash pickup was tonight so I'll go there tommorow.

Didn't come home with much, six boxes of computer mounting brackets (from Bed Bath and Beyond, don't know what to do with them yet). A Four foot length of Cat3 and the big find was behind Radio Shack. They had thrown away three outdoor antenna's. UHF/VHF/FM. I snagged one because the box was too big to put in my car so I just held it down through the sunroof with my left hand while operating the stick and wheel with my right. It was great, I spent the drive home laughing at myself. I'll definatly go again.

Also does anyone know a way to interface the antenna with my computer so I could frequency scan with it? Pretty much all I've thought of for it. Any recommendations would be appretiated.

Edit: The antenna's I found are 160" Long Dual Boom, 57 Element Antenna from radio shack! 3 x $100.00 a peice = $300! I'm hooked.

[Garzilla04]

Went dumpster diving the last two nights in a row. The first night we didn't have too much time, so we just hit up a Staples near my house:

- 48 Sony/Maxell DVD-Rs each in own jewel case :)

Last night we hit up a place that I passed by with my girlfriend one night and thought, "Hey, that would be a sweet place to DD." That place was our local Frito Lay station. So we pull in, the whole place is surrounded by a barbed wire fence, but the front gate was wide open.... :confused: . Looked real quick for any No Tresspassing signs, then proceeded to drive around the back of the building. One dumpster was filled with cardboard, the other...... :eek: . It was at least half filled with every kind of frito lay chip, cookie, beef jerky you could think of.

Now I know some of you are like "Gross, food from dumpsters?!" Believe me, I thought this was gross when I heard it too. But all of it was in boxes and all of the bags were sealed tight. One quick check of the expiration date....showed that most were only a few days over the date...oh well. Needless to say, I filled my trunk... :D .

[Falls Included]

Fucking Mother Load

http://www.x2tpro.com/i/[h]/motherload.jpg

What's all here, coming soon... :D :D :D

[Falls Included]

Lets see...
I've got
9x Tourque
8x Something's gotta give
5x Big fish
8x Gothika
6x 50 first dates
4x Eurotrip unrated
2x The order
3x Last samuria
12x Cody banks 2
2x radio
2x red siren
5x along came polly
3x Perfect score
and like 15 more without retail cases

and the kid that found them with me has take abot 15 already, he sold 16 to a pawn shop, got 30 dollars out of it... i said hey... i have the internet... lets do it that way

FS Thread soming soon if you want some...

[jpmkm]

Man I'd throw those movies away too. Awesome find, though. I can find empty dvd cases just fine, but I've never found any with the dvds still in them.

[Falls Included]

these were thrown away seperate from the cases, they were in the video store boxes... :rolleyes:

[Thermite Paste]

Lets see...
I've got
9x Tourque
8x Something's gotta give
5x Big fish
8x Gothika
6x 50 first dates
4x Eurotrip unrated
2x The order
3x Last samuria
12x Cody banks 2
2x radio
2x red siren
5x along came polly
3x Perfect score
and like 15 more without retail cases

and the kid that found them with me has take abot 15 already, he sold 16 to a pawn shop, got 30 dollars out of it... i said hey... i have the internet... lets do it that way

FS Thread soming soon if you want some...
ill take one of those copies of eurotrip :D

[Garzilla04]

Finally got pics of our find from 2 weeks ago.... :D.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v402/Garzilla/DDGarzaTrunk1.jpg
This is my trunk, the night of....everything we found except that pack of water :).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v402/Garzilla/BackSeatMess1.jpg
This is my backseat

Yes everything you see here was sealed and mostly all in boxes, just a few days over the "Freshness date"

Score...:D.

[nightelfmaster]

wow i guess ill go dd sometime... in a few years lol (i'm a minor)

[Falls Included]

new pic
http://www.x2tpro.com/i/[h]/motherload2.jpg

and a FS thread :D
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1026596300

[Deadpool9]

i found a dog in a dump area one time. i dont know if he fell in or someone put him there.

[HighwayAssassins]

wow i guess ill go dd sometime... in a few years lol (i'm a minor)
you dont need to be 21 to drive sober http://hardforum.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Falls Included]

yeah, do you think you'll get in more trouble (or any at all) if you are under 18?

[DRJ1014]

if you have your lisence you can be a sober driver and you wont get introuble because your not drunk or had anything to drink

[jeffmoss26]

They just finished renovating at my mom's work, I got:
about 200 feet of audio cable (various types)
Rauland Amplifier (broke)
6 channel automatic mixer (works good)
3 channel audio delay (gutted and used case for other stuff)
2 SoundSphere ceiling speakers (work well)
some other misc. junk, electrical boxes

[appatula]

good stuff jeffmoss!! cant wait for garbage night!
-BBC

[Thermite Paste]

omg...

me and my friend were skateboarding behind a local plaza, and i spotted a dumpster with square shapes in it :D so we went over to take a look.

inside were two dvd players, a cdrom player, a tape player (all hte console type thingy) and a usb cd burner.

what i kept was the better dvd player and the usb cd burner, because thats all i could use. my friend got the other dvd player, the cdrom player, and the tape player, all so he could blow the last two items up :eek:

btw, they ALL worked perfectly.

the dvd player i got is the Phillips DVD 751, and the usb cd burner is some addonics brand.

[weasel2htm]

Whew! I just read this whole freaking thing!!

Several months ago there was a hlaf-dozen computer cases outside this house (no doubt for the trash) now I did ask if I could take them and was told I could. Mostly stripped, dead 486s and P-120s but one was a Gateway Mobo was dead but the Athlon 950 processor works perfect! :D The gateway also has a Win-Me licence sticker on the side. I hope to eventually fix it up and sell it.

[Krypto]

Anyone know if you can get in trouble for doing this? i have no idea, but anyways, i found some *cough* pron magz once.

[twyztyr]

Anyone know if you can get in trouble for doing this? i have no idea, but anyways, i found some *cough* pron magz once.

I hope you didn't keep porn you found in a dumpster. That's just beyond creepy...

[mrbobo]

...
JaiQuest Crew
man the quality of these forums has gone down hill


:rolleyes:


edit by moderator:

Next time do me a favor and don't quote the offending material, that way I don't have to go thru everyone's posts and delete it several times. People will start to think I'm a Nazi with all the censorship.

[weasel2htm]

I Second That.

[Falls Included]

wtf.

[DRJ1014]

thanks scubasteve. by the way have you played in a cgc server?

[onewheeldoin200]

Damn...I didn't know dding was so common....and potentially lucrative! I'll have to check out the staples, london drugs, winners, and real canadian superstore that are all in a nice big line :)

[vbrtrmn]

First, PC parts have to be in the weather for a while to ruin. Second, not everyone goes DDing for just PC parts. Third, you *never* know what you're going to find, so it pays to dive often.

Yeah .. I go DDing for anything, if I happen to find PC parts, it may be a good dive, depending on the age, I'm pretty picky .. no old junk, ie pre-ATX .. I don't need more computer junk laying around my house :)

I found a 48U rack, one day .. unfortunatly, I don't have space for it... maybe I should get a storage unit for my junk.

[decap]

can someone explain to me how to dumpster dive

[jpmkm]

can someone explain to me how to dumpster dive
Step 1: Look in the dumpster.
Step 2: Get shit out of dumpster.

That is how to dumpster dive. For more tips, check the dumpster diving FAQ in the free stuff forum, or search the world wide web for information.

[vbrtrmn]

^^
vbrtrmn laughs his ass off!!

If you still don't get it, the haxxxor chicks can teach you how: http://www.haxxxor.com/dvd-no-leet.html

[Thermite Paste]

OMG guys i just found a computer with a p4 2ghz and 512 mb ram on the side of the road.

[buzzard34]

OMG guys i just found a computer with a p4 2ghz and 512 mb ram on the side of the road.
HOLY SHIT where was this?? and were there any more????

[Falls Included]

HOLY SHIT myself... i just found a seagate 7200.7 IDE one hundred and fucking sixty gig hard drive (160gb) in its box... upon inpection, it appears they thought it was a 32gig drive (odd seagate jumper settings...), and couldnt figure out why, and just tossed it. now i dont have to buy a new drive for my xbox!

what luck.

now to figure the thing out...

[Peale]

I find a lot of cool stuff, but that's pretty damn cool.

[Thermite Paste]

HOLY SHIT where was this?? and were there any more????
nope, last one :D it was in NJ.

[buzzard34]

dang. I'll have to be on the lookout in my own neighborhood for stuff :(

[onewheeldoin200]

Did my first dumpster "dive" at Future Shop tonight. It was filled pretty well to the brim, most of it was just cardboard/foam. My total loot for the night: a motherboard sized anti static bag. w00t! :(

I'll get em next time :p

[buzzard34]

Did my first dumpster "dive" at Future Shop tonight. It was filled pretty well to the brim, most of it was just cardboard/foam. My total loot for the night: a motherboard sized anti static bag. w00t! :(

I'll get em next time :p

FUTURE SHOP?? OMG, those are still around??? :eek:

[onewheeldoin200]

FUTURE SHOP?? OMG, those are still around??? :eek:

c'mon man, it's Saskatchewan, Canada that we're talking about. We're a good 20 years behind the rest of the civilised world. :p

[Jerunk]

Best Buy and Futureshop have a partnership as far as I know.

[buzzard34]

c'mon man, it's Saskatchewan, Canada that we're talking about. We're a good 20 years behind the rest of the civilised world. :p
Aha, that would explain it then. ;)

[MisterDNA]

I just got back from a run.

My homie and I had to get my brother's friend in with his crane truck to haul our take.

Result? Three (of 4, that one was a hdd array that's being wiped) racks of SGI Origin 2000 goodness from an institution who shall remain nameless for reasons of greed. It's at his shop now where we're working on getting it hooked in. 3 phase is a bitch to jack into, but my buddy knows a shit-ton about this system as he was there when it was junked. Worked fine but was obsolete and ditched like that for some stupid reason rather than being ebayed.

*Wrings hands with greedy look on face*

I got an old MO library, a box of like a few dozen dds-3 carts and brand new Maxell DAT tapes. My drive uses these. There was a box with easily 100 or more DDS-1 tapes in it, but those are too damn small to be of use to me. 2GB is tiny.

Also pulled a pair of 230V cabinet air conditioners made by Kelvin of Italy. Probably broken. Too high of voltage anyway.

[Tech_Pro]

going to a local computer shop tonight, wish me luck. come on daddy needs a new monitor. i'll post my findings tommrow

[vbrtrmn]

I just checked out a PC, my friend, Seth found next to his trash, in DC.
AMD 1700+
5gb hdd
10gb hdd
Cheap-o video card
Soyo MB one of the DRAGON series
Cheap-o modem
CDRW
CDROM
Zip Drive & FDD
Power suply fan is going bad, so it was buzzing.

Oh .. and semi-naked pictures of the accountant who owned it. {puke}

[KAMAZON]

I was at my girlfriends lockout for her band, and I noticed 2 girls having a very hard time moving these speakers to the dumpster. I walked over and offered to show them how to lift it properly and did it for them . I then noticed the speakers were in perfect condition, and the polimer cones weren't even warped. I told em that htey should keep it, but they declined. I give them some music recording hints and good places to buy used gear. I went ahead and put the speaker in my car. A bit later, I noticed an OLD vintage piece of music equipment. I picked it up, and didn't think much of it. A week later, I looked it up on the web and it was a SP-1200. A $1500 piece of vintage equipment that is in demand, since it has that 'old skool' sound that can't be replicated today. SCORE.

[mrbobo]

Found a very nice, refridgerator the other night! The small kind for a office :D

[HvyMtl]

I know its a bit off topic, but sometimes you get get free stuff from garage sales. I got a Hauppauge TV/FM tuner in unopened retail box free. I also got a lightly used HP Laserjet 6p free (including toner & full tray of paper.) just by taking it off a fellow's hands.
Sometimes it pays to go to garage sales...
Anyway, haven't had any luck diving of late. I'll wait til the rains quit and go out again soon.

[Bradish]

Last time I went was early this summer at the Pepsi place... I was looking for MD caps for DEWU competition:) I did manage to find a 40' long piece of tubing (the kind they use for fountain drink hookups) that was brand new in box, so me and a friend skemed up a sweet plan for some deep lake suba diving... And since we realized that it isnt possible to breathe through a tube longer than 4' we got a generator and a aircompressor and took it out in a boat and shot air down the tube, so when he needed air he could just grab the tube... Work great, cause I wasnt the one that went down there :p

I Think I'll make a run around town tommorow night... I love winter, cause now it gets dark around 7ish, I am truely the Great Alaskan DD Ninja! :D

[DRJ1014]

man it sucks where i am. you can TRY to go DD but will always fail. either trash compactors or bums. :(

[Scorpionjwp]

I'm new to dumpster diving, and I am getting jealous of stuff you guys are getting.

Well I live around Milford, OH
So the places for me to dumpster dive would be: Homedepot, Lowes, Meijers, 2 small pc stores, and kmart. All of these places are at least one mile from where my house is.
If I drive down the road for about 5 miles, I can get to a bestbuy, officemax, target, hh-gregg, and some other places.

I see that I have a buffet of places to scavange through.

I do have these questions before I just dive in.

How often is cops or cameras taping the location or watching the location?
What is the best excuse to use if a cop see's you?
What is the best time to dumpster dive?
What tools could I use to help me out to dumpster dive?
What is the average catch in starting dumpster diving?

[Bradish]

Pretty sure most K-marts use compactors;)

[Scorpionjwp]

well this one don't have a compactor. I done looked, the location of it is in a defunct part of town. I mean it was part of a small strip mall with other stores and the other stores have folded up.

If you looked at this kmart from the inside, it may look to you like a new building, but wait till you walk inside. This one kmart must have been forgotten by the kmart corporation, I just don't see how this one store runs in the condition it is in. Which by all means looks like crap.
I do have another question, do you really think kmart has the money to fix up their stores, they can't keep up with meijers, biggs or walmart and they keep sliding downhill.

I could dumpster dive into this store, there is lack of security and lack of employees. Then to factor in the loss of customers to meijers. Here is what the situation of stores around kmart looks like: Furrows across the street, company went bankrupt. Thriftway was on the end of this small mall, folded up because of new store built in Goshen, OH, which in turn became a krogers after winn-dixie sold thriftway.

Next year Walmart starts building a super store and Sams a quarter mile from my house.