Dumpster Diving!

[DRJ1014]

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?

there are only cameras on the rich places like bestbuy. there usually taping at night.
the best excuse is to tell them the people where throwing it out and if they dont want it i was going to take it. (only DD on places where there is no signs saying you cant go through the trash or no trespassing then you will spend the night in jail or get a ticket.)
the best time is right after dark when the small buisnesses close. for the big buissness its good to go 1 1/2 hours after they close.
the tools you need are gloves (i like 2 pairs of gloves. i like the surgical gloves then like gardening gloves the surgical ones pertect from liquids and the heavy ones kinda protect against sharp objects and other things) also have a map. like of the back of the store. where there are exits where the dumpsters are. also its good just to watch the store for a while to see when trash day is. on trash day you get the mother load. also bring a flash light some old shoes black clothes and either a backpack to put the stuff in or have someone meet you there in a car. also a small pocket knife to cut things open like boxes.
the adverage catch seems to be cd's movies and small parts of computers like sleeving ide cables etc

[Scorpionjwp]

Ok one of the pc stores is located near a highway, where the dumpster is in plain view of traffic. I mean the store sits in the front, small parking lot in front of store and highway near that. The dumpster is sitting in the back away from the building but is in clear view.

Can you dd at the morning time? The store I wish to dd is closed on sunday.

[HvyMtl]

Scorpionjwp: Here is what you do. First, go in daylight. A little recon goes a long way. Look at how easy it will be to get in the dumpsters, look for cameras, access routes, etc. Find out your town/county and state laws/ordinances to see if there are any against diving. Be friendly to the local cops. Watch how they and the "mall security" check on the dumpsters or merely drive by them.
Never go alone. (other person can be used as a look out as well as helping you lift stuff out of the dumpster.) Always have thick clothing on and gloves - (latex for wet stuff under heavy work gloves is what I do...getting cut in a dumpster is a bad thing, a tetanus shot might be a good idea ) Wear heavy boots (as some dives require going completely into the dumpster.) Wear stuff that you won't mind throwing away, as some dumpster stink will find its way on your clothes...
Bring flattened boxes ("what?" you might say, but they come in handy, and that is the best excuse to any officer or security guard - a "friend" is moving so you are getting boxes to help them.)
As for tools, you probably won't need any, besides if a cop does stop you having tools (any kind) could be misconstrued. Having tools with you will have a cop think you want to break in, not merely dumpster dive.
As for the best time to dive, well that depends on when the dumpsters are serviced. Usually I try things out on Sunday after the stores close but before sundown if possible. Why? Because most people will not think that you are up to "no good" during daylight hours.
NOTE: never throw anything away in a dumpster, there are laws against that. Also, never climb a fence or jimmy a lock to get to/in to a dumpster, then you are trespassing/stealing.

[jpmkm]

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.
If business is that bad do you really think they will be throwing anything away? Anything they do throw away will be things they couldn't possibly sell in the store, which is going to be pretty bad. There might be something in there though.

[Scorpionjwp]

I have been googling for any answers saying that Dumpster diving in Cincinnati or Milford, OH is ok, meaning I can't find any ordinance or law saying that you can't or can dumpster dive in Cincinnati or Milford.

If anyone living in Ohio, knows of this answer please let me know. If anyone that lives within the outskirts of Cincinnati, could you help me out on my first dumpster dive. Garage around Cincinnati goes out on Monday between 7-10 am

hey jpmkm, I have seen kmart throw away furniture just to make room in this store. Oh btw it has been years since I have seen a kmart truck pull into this store to unload stuff. When a truck shows up it is usually a small kmart truck that usually has something martha stewart on it. They have some groceries in the store, the sad part about this store, is when kmart runs low, they head down the street to either krogers or meijers and stock back up.

[DRJ1014]

damn my friends stink. i asked them all and they dont wanna dive. even my own damn brother wont.

anyone looking for an extra member to dive with?

or anyone wanna start a dive team?

i live in anaheim ca right next to esperanza high school.

[Scar1.8T]

I have been googling for any answers saying that Dumpster diving in Cincinnati or Milford, OH is ok, meaning I can't find any ordinance or law saying that you can't or can dumpster dive in Cincinnati or Milford.


Try to find something on scavenging. Here all the regulations are under scavenging.

[Scorpionjwp]

Ahh! I can't find anything under google, I tried a search for scavenging, then scavenging regulations, then so on. I type cincinnati behind it and it comes back everything with the word scavenging and cincinnati separate. Like cincinnati ozone ordinance using scavenging devices, but this is not what I need.

If anyone has a link I could be directed to, please help me out!

[jpmkm]

Ahh! I can't find anything under google, I tried a search for scavenging, then scavenging regulations, then so on. I type cincinnati behind it and it comes back everything with the word scavenging and cincinnati separate. Like cincinnati ozone ordinance using scavenging devices, but this is not what I need.

If anyone has a link I could be directed to, please help me out!
First try going directly to some cincinnati government websites and search for scavenging there. If that fails then your best bet might be to go to your local police station and ask them. They would be the ones you would have to deal with if the situation ever came up so they should know what they are going to do.

[Scorpionjwp]

well if someone wants to dd with me, down here in cincinnati, OH, please pm me and let me know.

[MaMMa]

anyone in houston know goood places?

[starhawk]

anyone in or near chatham co., nc know of a good place to dd? i am getting *very* desperate for a new laptop here, lol... or maybe the typical college lack of sleep is making me loopy.

[Xxplosiv]

scorpion what store are you talking about? microcenter?

[Scorpionjwp]

I have several places to dumpster dive at, oh btw I live on the outskirts of Cincinnati in Milford, OH.

So I have quite a few places to dumpster dive. For example: 1 small computer place about a quarter mile from my house, a mile down the road is: Homedepot, meijers, another small computer store, half a mile down from that is a Kmart w/o a compactor, and a lowes.

Driving down to Eastgate, I have the following: Biggs, HH-Gregg, officemax, and a few others.
I could try microcenter, but I am not sure if they have a compactor or a dumpster.

Lets put it this way, I am within a fair amount of distance to get to them.

[JaiQuest]

Mamma,

I live near houston, we usually go around bookstores. Where exactly do you live... in houston? or around it?

JaiQuest Crew

[Thermite Paste]

i just found three working lawnmowers in the dumpster behind wallmart. One had no back wheels.

[MaMMa]

Mamma,

I live near houston, we usually go around bookstores. Where exactly do you live... in houston? or around it?

JaiQuest Crew

290 and Jones. Jersey Village area

I drive almost everywhere though. What can you really find behind book stores besides books :lol:



i just found three working lawnmowers in the dumpster behind wallmart. One had no back wheels.


PICS!

[Thermite Paste]

well i threw out one of them because the frame was incomplete, and my friend has the other. Its too late to take pics of the one i have, but ill take some tomorrow.

[MaMMa]

you can use the motors for go carts or something!

[TheCowOfNow]

Every other thursday night, my dorm goes dupster diving in chicago suburbs. I didn't realize it was so popular.

[buzzard34]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Hmm, I'll have to start hanging out with my college chums again.... ;)

[covertclocker]

I live in Fall River, MA. 02720 Anyone within an hour away care to start dd team?

[weasel2htm]

GRR :mad: I just found out that there is an ordianance against DD here in Sedalia, MO oh well at least I asked one of our finest instead of finding out the hard way. :rolleyes:

[jpmkm]

Guys, I just found a CAKE in a trash can. Hardly any of it was eaten!!!(it was a chick's birthday cake). Icing is kinda hard but my mouth is having an orgasm!

[umbra]

exsuse me while I lose the cake i'm eating

[jpmkm]

duuuuuuuuuuude it's fucking good. It was on top of the trash, still in a box. It was calling to me! Fuck I am fucked! I'm gonna have to ride the bike forever tonight.

[Taggard]

Guys, I just found a CAKE in a trash can. Hardly any of it was eaten!!!(it was a chick's birthday cake). Icing is kinda hard but my mouth is having an orgasm!

Oh wow. Now that is just uh.... Let me think.
Ok. What I mean is some things that are in a dumpster are there for a reason. I mean a 1/2 eaten can of ravioli would be 1 thing, but a cake? GAG!

[jpmkm]

Maaaaan, there's a thin line between cake being left in the lounge and cake in the trash can. Chicks are all the time leaving stuff like that out because they don't want to eat it! It's up for grabs. I don't discrimate based upon location.

[antoniohawk]

I agree with jpmkm firstly because he's right, and with the added bonus that he's also from KC. I don't know if anyone has posted about this or not, but it seems that Blockbuster (maybe just the few by my house) are remodelling and throwing out all of their old shelving systems. My dad and I grabbed around 30 of these suckers, I'll have to take some pics so that you know what I'm talking about.

[FallenBuddhist]

What exactly does Blockbuster have to do with cake out of the garbage can (which, mind you is perfectly acceptable)?

Just curious.

[starhawk]

:eek: nothing, i hope... :: puke ::

[vbrtrmn]

GRR :mad: I just found out that there is an ordianance against DD here in Sedalia, MO oh well at least I asked one of our finest instead of finding out the hard way. :rolleyes:

Did you ask what the ordinance is? Did you look it up? If I asked a police officer if Dumpster Diving was illegal, he'd probably say "Yes", whether it was or not.

[antoniohawk]

What exactly does Blockbuster have to do with cake out of the garbage can (which, mind you is perfectly acceptable)?

Just curious.
Not much, but this isn't really an on-topic forum lol.

[nochay]

I agree with jpmkm firstly because he's right, and with the added bonus that he's also from KC. I don't know if anyone has posted about this or not, but it seems that Blockbuster (maybe just the few by my house) are remodelling and throwing out all of their old shelving systems. My dad and I grabbed around 30 of these suckers, I'll have to take some pics so that you know what I'm talking about.

metal? Scrap metal++ ... profit!
:cool:

[Scorpionjwp]

Ok Guys, I have googled for an answer for dd is legal in cincinnati. I have tried the city government website, the Miami township website, ordinances in ohio, laws in ohio and other things to find some information about dd in ohio, but I have found nothing.

I have noticed that someone in nw ohio has done some dumpster diving.

Please someone instead of telling me to google for an answer, which I have already done with no luck, is there an ordinance in Milford or cincinnati, OH or a law in these places that prohibit dumpster diving?

If someone knows an answer or a direct link to point me to, that would be great. But please don't tell me to google for an answer I can't find!

[antoniohawk]

metal? Scrap metal++ ... profit!
:cool:
Yup, all metal. Now I'm at my mom's house so I won't be able to take those pictures this week, but I'll get them taken eventually.

[jpmkm]

Ok Guys, I have googled for an answer for dd is legal in cincinnati. I have tried the city government website, the Miami township website, ordinances in ohio, laws in ohio and other things to find some information about dd in ohio, but I have found nothing.

I have noticed that someone in nw ohio has done some dumpster diving.

Please someone instead of telling me to google for an answer, which I have already done with no luck, is there an ordinance in Milford or cincinnati, OH or a law in these places that prohibit dumpster diving?

If someone knows an answer or a direct link to point me to, that would be great. But please don't tell me to google for an answer I can't find!
Just go ask a cop. He will be the one to arrest you, not us, so he should know if it is illegal or not. If he says it is illegal, then ask him where you can find that information so you can research it further.

[abby.normal]

Guys, I just found a CAKE in a trash can. Hardly any of it was eaten!!!(it was a chick's birthday cake). Icing is kinda hard but my mouth is having an orgasm!
That just screams out gross but hey...all the more power to you.
You didn't get sick from it, I hope ;)

[starhawk]

That just screams out gross but hey...all the more power to you.
You didn't get sick from it, I hope ;)

:rolleyes: no but i nearly did... from reading his post.

[Astronutty]

My dad actually makes a good living dumpster diving. He found me an a 300 Zero alluminum briefcase, a 24x36 inch print of the first three astronauts that landed on the moon... signed by each! My dad works at a flea market and sells his loot for good prices. The best of his stuff he keeps.

His biggest moneymaker is old air conditioners, he scraps them and sells the aluminum.

[weasel2htm]

Did you ask what the ordinance is? Did you look it up? If I asked a police officer if Dumpster Diving was illegal, he'd probably say "Yes", whether it was or not.

I asked one of our finest that I go to church with, I've known her sence I was in 5th grade. she's up there in the ranks too, like a sgt or a captain. and she said that there was an actual ordinance, I didn't try to argue.


Ignorance is bliss.... :rolleyes:

[Bender_Unit_22]

Every other thursday night, my dorm goes dupster diving in chicago suburbs. I didn't realize it was so popular.


where do they go?

I live on the edge of chicago and could check out some suburb spots

[t0x1k]

Is after christmas a good time to dumpster dive? People are going to be tossing boxes, but what about old crap? I mean people must get new computers and toss the old ones right?

[starhawk]

it's possible, i suppose.

[jpmkm]

Another thing to keep in mind is returns. Most stores will probably either resell these items or send them back to the distributor or manufacturer, but some may toss some items.

[jeffmoss26]

hi guys-
a few weeks ago I got what I think is the best so far. I got a complete Inter-Tel Axxess phone system. It was given to me by my mom's work. All I have to do is reprogram it and buy some phones, and it should work perfectly. Even though I didn't dive it, I did save it from the trash.

[d34dly]

Is after christmas a good time to dumpster dive? People are going to be tossing boxes, but what about old crap? I mean people must get new computers and toss the old ones right?

Best place for stuff like this is college campuses. After the Spring semester is over people will throw away just about anything. I had a friend find a TV that only had a broken Coax connection. Some girl didn't want to fix it and had daddy buy her a new one. He took 5 minutes to solder and had a new 27" TV.

[Streyeder]

His biggest moneymaker is old air conditioners, he scraps them and sells the aluminum.


Good money in scrap copper, brass, and A/C radiators. My dad owns an A/C business and I scrap all his A/Cs that he replaces. I got $1400 on my last load and still have at least 1.5 more to go that size or bigger from all of the A/Cs he replaced after hurricane Ivan. Too bad I don't have time to cut the ends off, else I'd have prolly gotten 1600 or so...

[Suicidal Insanity]

Diving request:

On the off chance that someone lives in Germany (Munster/Soltau/hemannsburg-region):

Wanna dive?
a bit late...
found anyone? I live in muenster myself

[Destonomos]

murray kentucky here anyone wanna go dumpster diving, i asked some of my friends at college and they all said i was crazy.... I went to wally world and got a nife and flashlights and gloves and all and never went yet. Anywhere on the net I can look to see if its illegal in my area. There is a nice athletics store across from campus and a office depot and some other stores i'd like to hit up.

[HvyMtl]

Ok, google (or web search engine of your choice) your locality - see if they have a website. Some municipalities have their laws on the web.
Also, google your state and see if they have their laws posted online as well. Some do some do not.
Call the city hall or public library and ask where you can go to read the ordinances/laws. Most local libraries should have the local code in the reference sections. Example: All Tennessee libraries have a copy of the Tennessee Code Annotated available. The newest editions usually are at the main branch.
Ask a lawyer friend. Ask a Cop friend. (tho they may not know.)
Google search for dumpster diving websites (there are a few.)

[cmstar]

I'm in Lex KY. Only looked at a few places close to my way to work. But have found some useful things USB cables, CD cases, etc. Need to expand my route.

If I were in Murray, I'd dive with you. Once you hall some nice stuff home, your college friends will no longer think your crazy. And even if they do, they're the ones missing out.

[quasimodem]

I just today infact found a 19" color Television at my apartment complex sitting outside the dumpster, not a high end brand name, (can't remember now as it's still in the car) but it looks like it's in nearly new condition. Will test it tonight when i get home, but hey, you can never have too many televisions right?

QM

Its a generic brand, works great, no remote tho.

the cable connector is a little loose, but still... television in another room, gotta love it.

[PhateX1337]

Nice find on that TV :)

HvyMtl - I'm in Nashvegas too, Southeast to be exact, wanna dive one night sometime? That is assuming that you dont care about all that lawyer stuff :-D

[LadyMakoFox]

Best places to go are comp shops, and electronic shops


Before I moved I used to do this alot, might be weird and stuff to people but back when the PSX was alot of money I found a new on that only had a crack on the case at the time I was like "SCORE!", now I wish I could get the same luck XD

[LadyJaqie]

when I was homeless and had my S-10 I used to get steel and copper and take it to scrapyards to get cash. I would get a ton of cash that way. that along with getting comp parts and electronics to resell kept me from being without food.

[appatula]

well basicy I hit the jackpot today, havent had a hit like this one in a while but I figure I shall share some pics with you guys.....
The whole lot, everything was sealed, and some cool store displays
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421595930/0.jpg
empty CD cases, theres got to hundreds. Store stickers tape ect.....
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421595930/1.jpg http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421595930/2.jpg
Original never used GTA San Andreas and Metal Gear Solid 3 ect PS2 game covers
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421595930/4.jpg
The voices in my head are giving me ideas.................. :p (pic explains for itself)
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421595930/3.jpg

[appatula]

And the D-Dive continues....."The Next Day"
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421595930/5.jpg
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421595930/6.jpg
http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421595930/7.jpg

[kirkthebeast]

And the D-Dive continues....."The Next Day"
pics



I was hitting Gamestops/EB games in a 30 mile radius and all of ther dumpsters were closed in with just a slit for smashed boxes. What kind of bin did you find this stuff in? Good score BTW

[Komataguri]

Holy Frelling Hell App!

All that Gamestop stuff, YOU SCORED!


Theres no open dumpsters within walking distance of me [ Don't have a car that works, currently ] so I've just been doing some CCing.

Ain't found crap, Not even that precious first garbage day after Christmas.

There was NOTHING out.

[Captain]

About the game displays you can usually get those for free when they are done with them if you just go and ask them to put your name down. Remember that employees usually get first choice.

[appatula]

thanks kirkthebeast and Komataguri,
The dumpster was a regular sized one with 2 plastic lids, wasent locked or anything, I guess I lucked out anyhow I have a new spot, the sports authority moved :p and for the displays maybe so if you ask they will give them away but I think they do have some rarity to them expesially the Halo2 collectors edition games, it says "FOR DISPLAY ONLY" right on the bottom of the case, anyhow I dont think if you asked them they would give you the keys to the "Display" case and the front door either :D ;)
-Appatula

[Scar1.8T]

Are those just the boxes or the actual games cuz I see at least 4 copies of Halo2!!! Diving here absolutely SUCKS. I have been all over Birmingham in about a 15 mile radius and all I get are compactors, locked dumpsters and stinky garbage. I am wasting so much gas that I figure I'll have to give up soon.

[appatula]

yes games are in most of the boxes, sorry to hear about the dumpster diving were u live sucks, my area will probly start to lock stuff up soon expesially gamestop im shure. but bolt cutters are only 20bux so hey. anyhow good luck.
-Appatula

[Thermite Paste]

me and my friend looked in a dumpster by my friend's apartment, and we found a bob the builder and a spongebob umbrella, LOL. we then beat the crap out of them, and threw them back.

[Pack Rat 24]

yes games are in most of the boxes, sorry to hear about the dumpster diving were u live sucks, my area will probly start to lock stuff up soon expesially gamestop im shure. but bolt cutters are only 20bux so hey. anyhow good luck.
-Appatula

Bolt cutting would make you a criminal, lol

[mason_msw]

Yeah sorry posted in the wrong one...

[Kuros]

Would anyone know some good places around the North County area to DD?

[Tiny]

North County of what?

[Kuros]

North County of what?

California, just realized I forgot that. :p

North of san diego.

[Loai]

I cant say that I have ever been "dumpster diving". Sounds like fun? ;)

[Deathjester]

i went dd'ing for the first time yesterday and found a working 19" color TV, just one of the channel buttons was stcukl but that was an easy fix. the pictrue on it is great! :D

[FalseGod]

Anyone in the Austin area interested let me know.

[ReVRiN]

DD in the garbage room of a corporate building is the best... my coworker and I were dumping 3 monitors in a bin when I noticed it was packed to the top with the contents of some company that went tits up.

We pulled out 2 projectors that only needed new light bulbs (just so happened to have them)... USB keyboards still in original boxes, 2 bar fridges, and 2 Dell D600 laptops.

Nearly all the items were in mint condition. We've seen rack mount (insert part here) everything but we can't be bothered since we both got our fill already.

So if you are IT and ever need to get rid of something take it down to the buildings dumpster yourself and you may come back up with more then you expected.

[spacemonKey]

I was diving with some friends 4 nights ago and we found a display model for a Lexmark all in one printer which was in perfect conditon, still had foam protecting it. Haven't tested it out yet though but I'm hoping it works.

[Grizzy]

well if someone wants to dd with me, down here in cincinnati, OH, please pm me and let me know.

Sent you a PM :)

[mrbobo]

I was diving with some friends 4 nights ago and we found a display model for a Lexmark all in one printer which was in perfect conditon, still had foam protecting it. Haven't tested it out yet though but I'm hoping it works.


I found a display of different USB hubs I was siked got into the car and realized it was a non working display model :p .

Good luck with it.

[CptTrips]

HUGE movie poster behind an AMC theater!!

http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~jrb03j/movieposter.jpg

[Atari]

hippy :p (im just still sad cuz i had to get a haircut)

Nice find.

[Thermite Paste]

^^ wow, you have the same hair as me. i just got mine cut, so its a little shorter, but yesterday, it looked exactly like that.

[Mewohkie]

I'm in Norwitch New London area of connecticut, I need some weekday divers.
This weekend my first dive I hit up rentacenter staples and a little one byte computer place

100 watt powered subwoofer, brand new a few of the sideing stripps coming up, missing fuse and fuse cap, easy fix

a Belkin USB card with 2 usb ports, just a little scratched on the connector pins but works fine.

a USB to Mini USB wire, Perfect

2 Belkin KMV's with wires cut, easy fix

2 Pioneer 30w max speakers w/ sony xplode face plates and boxes for car door
and 2 pioneer oval speakers 30w max w/ sony xplode face plates and boxes.

We left a 17" CRT monitor and a office light. Monitor was out in the rain and light had broken bulbed lamp *powerful office lamp* had no room for it tho with the size of the sub I had to carry.

[bink]

I'm in Lex KY. Only looked at a few places close to my way to work. But have found some useful things USB cables, CD cases, etc. Need to expand my route.

If I were in Murray, I'd dive with you. Once you hall some nice stuff home, your college friends will no longer think your crazy. And even if they do, they're the ones missing out.


where did you go diving at in lexvagas???? i got ran off behind CompUSA after I went to Tony Romas one night. Where do you live in lex...i live on appian...just off Tates Creek.

[Shark-MegaByte]

Anyone doing diving in the Louisville metro area want some company? I've never tried it before but am interested to see what can be found.

[Mewohkie]

So me and my FAMILY went again last night and man was it great

odd job
found a 2 piece glass picture frame that just needs to have the backing put back on, no damage to it

found a perfect office chair with plastic covering coushins, but was too heavy to pull out so left it

peir 1
ceramic coffe mug part of a set where one broke, no damage otherwise
copper garden frog no damage present to my mother
wooden based copper leaf decoration nothing wrong given to aunt as a present
fogless mirror with light and digital time display, nothing wrong
george forman mini grill/bun warmer, little plastic nub was broken off but didnt hinder it useless, they taped the nub on it and cut the wire I fixed the wire and a little gorilla glue and its brand new works fine

a friend of my aunts came with us and she was into it, mind you shes about 60+ years old while my family was in the van she ran things i found inside the van for me. I have to say that grill is a gift from the gods.

[Komataguri]

Had a nice CC haul the other day.


Pentium 1 server, Unknown condition of the mobo...but the 2.13gig harddrive and the 3x64meg ram works :D Not bad, but good enough to fix up my 'rents computer.

Unknown Comp with a 800meg harddrive and EDO RAM. Harddrive s about the only thing I kept out of it.

[Mike85]

I am just curious, is dumpster diving legal? I have an Office Max about a mile down the road but don't want to get lectured for too long on the legality of looking through a store's dumpster.

Cheers!

[Komataguri]

You have to check local laws, Generally unlocked, uncaged dumpsters are open game.


Compactors, locked dumpsters, and caged dumpsters are off limits...thats breaking and entering.

[ikari303]

Anyone wants to go in Salt Lake City, UT, gimme a PM.

[NeoNemesis]

Owner of the house down the road died and when the house is finally sold all there stuff (I guess what nobody wanted) was put by the side of the road for anyone. I got:

broken computer:
2x16MB of Ram put to good use in my 1994 Mac
2x copies of Norton Antivirus verison 1.0 still in their original plastic
1x pentium cpu I use as a stress toy

I also found:
Waterbed mattress in perfect condition
2x trouble lights
1x extention cord
a metric ton of old records
1x old painting
1x pole position for the atari 2600 (whatever it was called)

[troycheek]

I do most of my DDing at the hospital where I work in security. The official word straight from the heads of both IT&S and Engineering is that anything in the dumpsters is fair game, because only things that are broken are thrown away; everything else is put in storage. Of course, experience tells me that any time IT&S gets new toys, the old toys get thrown away, and Engineering routinely tosses anything they remove when renovating.

I've been out of work the last couple of months and haven't been able to do any diving. Lousy cubital tunnel syndrome! I've glanced in a few dumpsters around town during daylight hours but have avoided nighttime raids as a professional courtesy.

In the past year I've snagged a dozen or so 13"-17" monitors, several keyboards, multiple mice, and so many power cords that I've stopped collecting them. I scored a huge rolling desk with 19" racks on either side instead of drawers, which included a couple of 386-ish computers, some video switching stuff, and a battleship-grade UPS. And by battleship-grade I mean that not only is it built like one, but when I pulled the company's website up, I saw a pic of a similar UPS actually installed in a Navy ship. Batteries won't hold a charge, though, so it's just a very expensive power strip (with line conditioning!) until I can come up with six NP7-12 batteries. I should have kept the rack rails and screws and stuff, but I ended up ripping most of that stuff out and just stacking stuff in it.

My brother and father both work renovating houses. My brother brought me a C600 computer and huge 21" monitor that he found sealed in a crawlspace. Computer is currently crunching SETI@home and the monitor was my main one until the focus started going out on it. My father brought me a Smith-Corona electric typewriter with built-in floppy drive and a monitor, found in an attic. And they've also brought half a dozen 286/386/486-era computers with maybe a few floppy drives and a few fans worth saving between them. I need to take a big bunch of them to the nearest dumpster, now that I think of it.

Non-computer stuff in the last year: a huge deep double stainless steel sink, ultra-bright exam light on sliding rails, 3 solid-core doors (going to be my new shelves someday), and the rolling office chair I'm sitting in.

Not much chance of me getting in trouble because I'm a security officer for the hospital. I've run divers off and then gone back to the dumpster to see what they were excited about. Yes, it's trash, but to get to it, you have to come onto private property. And while I DD myself, it's also my job to keep out people who aren't there for official hospital business. Trespassing is trespassing.

Word of advice to anyone thinking of diving at a hospital, doctor's office, medical mall, etc. I work there so I know where all the used needles, bloody bandages, and spare body parts are kept. You don't so I suggest you don't risk it.

A final word about construction/demolition/renovation dumpsters. They are a great place to pick up old carpet, old furniture, old counter tops, scrap metal, etc. But beware that many companies that do this kind of work have agreements where all scrap removed from the site is their property. They get very upset when they catch someone taking items that they were planning to sell/recycle/re-use/pass off as new to the next customer...

[jamestime88]

i went once, found 6 stuffed animals that i sold online for $30. I think i should go back to media play tomorrow, i need to make some money.

[Leon2ky]

My friends and I dive in the local Blockbuster from time to time. We usually end up walking away with movie posters, and sometimes (not always) some DVDs or Couple so-so games.

We aquired over 20 FFXI games (for PC) back in June when we did it in 2004!!

[Komataguri]

...


I agree with him, Don't dive medical facilities. Its not worth the risk, People don't care which dumpster they throw crap in half the time, SO you never know where the needles, adult diapers, and what not are.

Its better to avoid.

[DaCoOlNeSs]

HOLY SHIT. I got caught in a dumpter today :eek: and fuck it was scary. I opened it up (because this computer store is notorious for throwing out perfectly good computer epuipment) and there was a new dell, I didn't know what was in it, but I was determined to get it out. So I hop in, and then the door slams on me. You have no idea how hard it is to climb out of dumpster when you are scared half to death.:eek:

[antoniohawk]

That is a crazy story, I'm glad that that has never happened to me. I don't remember the last time that I was even in a dumpster that tall that it could close on me. Anyway, did you get the Dell?

[240zguy]

Does anyone know what the DD laws are for PA and MD?

[Jon8RFC]

I found 3 250gig DiamondMax 16 5400rpm drives. One works just fine but the other two suffer from common Maxtor death problems...they're displayed as their model family in the bios and don't spin up at all. They're receiving power just fine because the little "Smooth" chips on the back get hot...TOO hot (as a result of the failure I guess).

They should be under warranty because these drives come with 3 years and are dated March & May of 2003. I thought it could be a simple firmware fix from what I read online, but after emailing Maxtor tech support, I was told this is not the case since they don't spin up at all and suggested sending them in for RMA if they're covered. I guess I'll just have to figure out what to do, because I don't want to waste money shipping the drives if they tell me they won't repair them since I don't have any proof of purchase or anything (which would be a good business move on their part).


Let's see...when I was 13 (20 now), I took a couple friends to a magazine dumpster at the elementary school by my house and we found a few pr0n magazines...man were we happy :D

I've found a bunch of wires, some of which have been used and some went back into the trash.

[bbsux]

Anybody in Lincoln Nebraska go diving? I'd be interested in tagging along...

[homerjr43]

i found a 15 inch cornea lcd in a dumpster at school...tried to find a cheap power adaptor for it and finally found one on ebay for 18 shipped.. i opened it up spliced the power adaptor in a poof i have a working 15 in lcd for 18 dollars...i can complain

[Devistater]

I found 3 250gig DiamondMax 16 5400rpm drives. One works just fine but the other two suffer from common Maxtor death problems...they're displayed as their model family in the bios and don't spin up at all. They're receiving power just fine because the little "Smooth" chips on the back get hot...TOO hot (as a result of the failure I guess).

They should be under warranty because these drives come with 3 years and are dated March & May of 2003. I thought it could be a simple firmware fix from what I read online, but after emailing Maxtor tech support, I was told this is not the case since they don't spin up at all and suggested sending them in for RMA if they're covered. I guess I'll just have to figure out what to do, because I don't want to waste money shipping the drives if they tell me they won't repair them since I don't have any proof of purchase or anything (which would be a good business move on their part).

Generally you can just tell them the serial numbers from the back (or plug them into the online webpage) and see if its under warranty. They never go by receipts or anything. Only serials. The warranty length is from date of manufacture. The only exception is if you can prove you bought it much much later, then sometimes the warranty is from the date of purchase.
Linkage:
https://www4.maxtor.com/en/support/service/rma/create/01_serial_number.cfm?dt=
You should always check webpages before emailing :) And emailing should be last resort before calling. I dunno about you but I've always got crap answers when I email.

[Andrew_Carr]

I've never seriously considered dumpster diving, but there is an office depot right by my house(no car) and it seems people here have found some pretty interesting things.
But how legal is it, and will you get arrested?

I'm from Georgia, so the cops here are pretty anal, but I doubt they'll be camping out at an office depot at 10pm.

[omniviper]

me and a friend a forming a local socal dumpster diving group. im trying to look for people to join or people to join us. PM me if you're interested.

[vbrtrmn]

me and a friend a forming a local socal dumpster diving group. im trying to look for people to join or people to join us. PM me if you're interested.

The world is a big place, perhaps you could narrow it down :P

[DaCoOlNeSs]

That is a crazy story, I'm glad that that has never happened to me. I don't remember the last time that I was even in a dumpster that tall that it could close on me. Anyway, did you get the Dell? oh of course I did, you dont scare yourself half to death and not get the loot :p


it was a P4 2.4 533 and 512GB RAM with a 40GB HDD and an MX440, crappy, but loot non-the-less

[Jon8RFC]

Linkage:
https://www4.maxtor.com/en/support/service/rma/create/01_serial_number.cfm?dt=
Great! I didn't notice that before. One drive is under warranty but the other expired a year ago :( Oh well, half a terabyte for free is pretty sweet. I did the advanced RMA option so my drive should be here by next Tuesday and I can use their packaging to return the bad drive...I told the guy how I packed it up and he said that's not how they ask that it be packaged, but he said if I do advance RMA I can use what they sent to send the bad one back :)

Now all I need to find is a case & psu, mobo w/ cpu and hsf and that's a whole extra machine I can have :D

[zoom314]

oh of course I did, you dont scare yourself half to death and not get the loot :p


it was a P4 2.4 533 and 512GB RAM with a 40GB HDD and an MX440, crappy, but loot non-the-less

Well at least You have that nearby, Me all I have nearby is an AM/PM Mini Market.

[twiggles]

I've only technically went dumpster diving once. When I was about 10 my dad noticed a box of candy beside a pharmacy dumpster, he looked inside and there were about ten boxes of good Russell Stovers chocolates and chocolate bars(all expired). We kept a couple boxes and gave the rest away.

Anyway, I score stuff all the time from my dad's rental properties. When people move out, they leave all kinds of stuff and my dad gets me to help him clean them out so it's there for the taking. It's not exactly "dumpster diving," but it's getting good stuff that's technically trash. I've gotten everything from computers/parts(he once rented a place to a PC repair firm, and they left an entire room full of good stuff - unfortunately they also left owing my dad $4,000), to TV's and electronics, to musical instruments, to pharmaceuticals, pipes, and all kinds of dope(including a QP of nasty weed and the remnants of a meth lab - my dad rents to some great folk).

[simpsond]

I found 3 250gig DiamondMax 16 5400rpm drives. One works just fine but the other two suffer from common Maxtor death problems...they're displayed as their model family in the bios and don't spin up at all. They're receiving power just fine because the little "Smooth" chips on the back get hot...TOO hot (as a result of the failure I guess).

They should be under warranty because these drives come with 3 years and are dated March & May of 2003. I thought it could be a simple firmware fix from what I read online, but after emailing Maxtor tech support, I was told this is not the case since they don't spin up at all and suggested sending them in for RMA if they're covered. I guess I'll just have to figure out what to do, because I don't want to waste money shipping the drives if they tell me they won't repair them since I don't have any proof of purchase or anything (which would be a good business move on their part).


Let's see...when I was 13 (20 now), I took a couple friends to a magazine dumpster at the elementary school by my house and we found a few pr0n magazines...man were we happy :D

I've found a bunch of wires, some of which have been used and some went back into the trash.


Buy the same drive from an online store, then RMA it and send back the old drive, when you get another new one, RMA it again with the other drive, some may not even check serial numbers. Or you could be ethical and throw them away :)

[TWiST2k]

I've been dumpster diving since 1996, and have never really taken extended time of off doing it, needless to say im very learned in this art. Everybody needs to get a bit more creative when there trying to RMA stuff. First most of the time there not going to even care if you have a proof of purchase, reciept, etc etc, I will admit in the last few years they ask more often then they don't but you still get alot of folks that just dont care, and its all about who answers the phone. Second, lets say they do ask you for a reciept or some kind of proof that you purchased this piece of hardware, this is where we get creative, "I got it as a birthday present" "I got it for christmas" etc etc etc....Third, let's say that for some reason you get Mr.Hardazz and he decides, he is going to do it by the book from now on, most of the time at this point I would just hang up, but otherwise I would still power thru with this approach, "Well my drive is dated as being manufactured as of lets say for example March of 2003, well no matter when this was purchased or where or why or for how much, it is physically younger then the warranty for that to even matter, alot of the time they will be like "Oh never thought of that" and then your off to the first step and pretty much last step to receive a brand new piece of hardware from something you found in a stink old, rusted, digsuting, stained, mutilated, good ol' trash can.

Now I will say that I did not read this entire thread, I read the first page and by the time I was done I skipped straight to 31, so I may have missed someone allready giving this sound advice. I would also like to say I have noticed a significant lower percentage of good stuff being thrown out then I did back when, and it seems like other then the occassional or random comeup, that I have been seeing the same era of hardware for quite some time. I am not 100% on all the implications of this phenomenon, alot of it has to do with the new computer recycling laws that are being passed, I mean we hafta pay extra in cali is we buy a lcd tv or monitor er whatever now, its like CRV for flat screens, so they can pay to recycle it... I think that is non-sence as usual. So really in my experience alot of places don't adhere to this rule but some have, making comeups more scare,

On another not quite identical note but similar context, I also have noticed that technology was flying for a couple few years not too long ago, and now seems to be chugging along as a slow but mostly steady pace, I think the reason for this is that when tech was seriously booming I mean going from 1Ghz to 3Ghz was like overnight compared to teh time it took to get to 1Ghz initially, these companies realized that they could milk the consumer for more money by slowing down the release cycle, and for the most part I think holding back tech they have to slowly satiate us into dishing out loads of cash for stuff thats allready outdated before it even finally hits market, I noticed this alot when I tried to order xn X800 when they were released like a year ago, I had it on backorder for like 10 months and finally gave up, these paper releases are just ridiculious, if there not ready to give us the hardware then certainly don't tell me its being released, cause its not. So in turn this whole situation has also slowed the computer upgrade path, and finally trickles down to teh trash digger, to inadvertainly ruin the comeup bottom line.

[zoom314]

Hopefully no drives from divin are OEMs, Maxtor won't fix them I was told, Which really and truly sucks!! :mad: And Yeah I read the serial number on them to Maxtorp. :eek: :mad: :mad:

[Devistater]

Hopefully no drives from divin are OEMs, Maxtor won't fix them I was told, Which really and truly sucks!! :mad: And Yeah I read the serial number on them to Maxtorp. :eek: :mad: :mad:
Depends if they are OEM OEM from like dell (who has a contract to do thier own support instead of maxtor), or sorta OEM just a bare bag hdd from newegg.
The easiest way to tell, goto that webpage I linked and type in the serial number to see warranty.

[zoom314]

Depends if they are OEM OEM from like dell (who has a contract to do their own support instead of maxtor), or sorta OEM just a bare bag hdd from newegg.
The easiest way to tell, goto that webpage I linked and type in the serial number to see warranty.

I did call the OEM(Compaq I think, It was more than 9 months ago) afterward and they said they only warrant the whole system, not the drive and that the OEM will not honor Maxtors warranty, Also Maxtor won't do any work on It even If I could pay for It, So I bought a working drive off of ebay instead, It's a moot point now as I threw the drive in the trash months ago.

[matt_c_j486]

Yeah so I went out on my virgin trip, took the van in case I found anything huge...I live in Calgary Alberta Canada. I checked out a Chapters, Compusmart, a strip mall, FutureShop, Home Outfitters, and another chapters/strip mall. I only found stuff at the chapters/strip mall, at chapters were 4-5 boxes of crappy books with their covers ripped off, and in the strip mall was a treadmill. The treadmill was missing those bars you hang onto when its going too fast, and one of the spindles (for lack of a better word, sorry I'm not up on treadmill tech) looked a bit off. So, not so bad I guess. I guess I could've taken it home and played with it, but my friend who came with me was too much of a sloth and we decided not to take it. Anyways, guy with the dell pc, I salute you. And keep on diving guys...

Matt.

[quasimodem]

Not sure if it counts as "diving" but as i was leaving work they (some other company in the building) was hauling a huge server case to the dumpster, and I naturally offered to take the case thinking "it could be modded" or something right?

So they agree to let me have it, help me load it into the car, and then tell me that 1 of the SCSI drives (all 9gb hotswap) died and only 5 of the six still work.

Looking at it, its an old Dell PowerEdge 4200. they think it was only a dual P2@300mhz with 512MB but hey. if nothing else the dual hot swap powersupplies and the scsi hot swap should be worth something.

QM

[Komataguri]

I'd be careful with RMAing harddrives you get from dumpster diving.


For all you know they could be loaded with child porn, and could load you in some serious shit if the manufacterer just happens to be able to boot them and get a glimpse at whats on it.

[nosoup4you718]

*sigh* after e-mailing my city...

Dear Steven

Section 86-14 titled Prohibited Collections of the Skokie Village Code
states;

"It shall be unlawful for any person or entity to collect, procure, or
obtain any waste materials from the parkways or alleys unless the person
or entity is the Village or its contractors"

maaaaaaaaaan.... imma do it anyways :cool:

[PersonMan]

*sigh* after e-mailing my city...

Dear Steven

Section 86-14 titled Prohibited Collections of the Skokie Village Code
states;

"It shall be unlawful for any person or entity to collect, procure, or
obtain any waste materials from the parkways or alleys unless the person
or entity is the Village or its contractors"

maaaaaaaaaan.... imma do it anyways :cool:

That just makes it more exciting :D

[Kaiga]

here is the swag from my recent dumpster dive: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1027366848&postcount=97

[G'ßöö]

best thread I've read in a long time and not too full of off topic crap. hilarious stuff!!

O.o
\__/

cheers to all the hard werkin DD'ers !

[n64man120]

Hey, I tried to go DD with my buddies today for the first time. It was about 5 in the afternoon and we went to bestbuy, circuit city, blockbuster, and several other places. Most of them had dumpsters and not compactors... but they were all pretty much empty and stuff. What is the best time of day, and time of week to go. And how much success should we expect?

[jpmkm]

Hey, I tried to go DD with my buddies today for the first time. It was about 5 in the afternoon and we went to bestbuy, circuit city, blockbuster, and several other places. Most of them had dumpsters and not compactors... but they were all pretty much empty and stuff. What is the best time of day, and time of week to go. And how much success should we expect?
Best time of the week depends on the pickup schedule. You'll just have to go around every couple days for a couple weeks to see when the dumpsters are fullest. I wouldn't count on too much success from the larger chain stores, though some people find some good things. Some of the best places are small computer repair shops.

[Komataguri]

Hey, I tried to go DD with my buddies today for the first time. It was about 5 in the afternoon and we went to bestbuy, circuit city, blockbuster, and several other places. Most of them had dumpsters and not compactors... but they were all pretty much empty and stuff. What is the best time of day, and time of week to go. And how much success should we expect?

if they were empty, probably means garbage was recently collected.


Want to find out the day they collect garbage, then come the night before for maximum haul.

[humvee13]

dont expect anything from best buy other than garbage.. Most of the product thats junk or broken goes back to a main warehouse where its sold off. There isnt much destroy in field type of stuff.

[Kaiga]

I just found a copy of Windows XP home, and a copy of Half Life 2 in the Best Buy Dumpster on saturday.

[Thermite Paste]

i just found a 128 mb usb drive on my sidewalk... and it works, lol

[quasimodem]

Over the weekend at my apartment complex I picked up a pII-400 gateway, missing a hard drive but had memory. works too, booted to a floppy disk and everything came up.

and another machine, no power supply, celeron of some sort on a slotkey. haven't looked at it yet.

and again at the office another machine from the office next door, this time they didn't even pretend to want to carry it out, they came to me first.... it's a p2-400 gateway as well, but hey, it's free.

rumor has it they puked an array upstairs, so i might be able to get their server in a week, they were all talking about getting new ones in.

QM

[tim_m]

my college's office of information technology is always throwing old hardware out and they just leave it in the hallway where i work so it's up for grabs. today i got 2 working 19" monitors (well i've only tested the one but the other was in the same pile). there were actually 4 total but i can't use them all. i'm actually only using the one at my work computer. previously i've gotten a 12 port 10 mbit hub and 2 24 port 10 mbit hubs, lots of network and power cables, keyboards, mice, and an 8 port kvm switch, but it doesn't work :(

[Kaiga]

yesterday I scored 15 working USB cables, 2 creative 256 MB Mp3 players, (yes they work except the screen covers slide around a bit) a Gateway Essential P4 (2.0GHz 512MB RAM, a DVD-R/CDRW combo, 80GBHDD, mobo has onboard video, sound, but the problem is that is has no cables for anything, just the PSU has its cable, but IDE cables is what i havbe alot of.) a 15" LCD falt panel, and a huge wreath of network cables.
all found at my local mall's dumpster. but tonight, is the big night, (well, actually early tommorow morning @ 2:00 am, I will go DD at a closing LAN/PC/Gaming center. oh yeah.

[Thermite Paste]

yesterday I scored 15 working USB cables, 2 creative 256 MB Mp3 players, (yes they work except the screen covers slide around a bit) a Gateway Essential P4 (2.0GHz 512MB RAM, a DVD-R/CDRW combo, 80GBHDD, mobo has onboard video, sound, but the problem is that is has no cables for anything, just the PSU has its cable, but IDE cables is what i havbe alot of.) a 15" LCD falt panel, and a huge wreath of network cables.
all found at my local mall's dumpster. but tonight, is the big night, (well, actually early tommorow morning @ 2:00 am, I will go DD at a closing LAN/PC/Gaming center. oh yeah.
damn, that is a nice haul.

[Komataguri]

I'm hoping to make my first serious dumpster dive session this evening just around dusk [ 6pm or so ]


Scouted the places out last tuesday, local Office Max and several comp stores have wide open dumpsters.



I was kind of put off by the office max when I scoped it, Cause there was nothing dry shit in there [ You know, office papers and the like ] but had a stank to it.

[Kaiga]

damn, that is a nice haul. thanks.
the funny part was when I was climbing out of Comp USA's dumpster some lady walked by and gave me such a strange look. lol.

[aldy402]

anybody ever go DDing in the NYC area?

[dragon]

Willing to go DD, in and around Denver, CO area. PM me.

[jeffmoss26]

yesterday i was given two computers from my school.
1 worked fine, and 1 needs a hard drive. Both are Dell Optiplex's.
the one that works is a P3 500, 128MB ram, 8GB hard drive, ATI 3D AGP Video.

[Garzilla05]

Well, I went dumpster diving on Saturday with two buddies and we came in with a pretty good haul. As follows:

-One Lock box with key
-One Infrared foldable pocket pda keyboard
-30 CD-R's
-20 DVD-Rs
-One leather computer chair (small slash on back)
-And of course, the weekly raid 50 bags of chips (Frito Lay tosses out any expired bags, so you raid them weekly and there's a dumpster full of closed bags of chips : ), good deal)

Keep this thread going!

[Kaiga]

yesterday I scored 15 working USB cables, 2 creative 256 MB Mp3 players, (yes they work except the screen covers slide around a bit) a Gateway Essential P4 (2.0GHz 512MB RAM, a DVD-R/CDRW combo, 80GBHDD, mobo has onboard video, sound, but the problem is that is has no cables for anything, just the PSU has its cable, but IDE cables is what i havbe alot of.) a 15" LCD falt panel, and a huge wreath of network cables.
all found at my local mall's dumpster. but tonight, is the big night, (well, actually early tommorow morning @ 2:00 am, I will go DD at a closing LAN/PC/Gaming center. oh yeah.
I forgot to reply abouit this post.
ok, at the LAN center scored a nice one:
2 DDR pads
A set of 200W speakers
A used Xblade PC case, but the top has a big long scratch on it
some MORE networking cable
an office chair
2 working 19" CRTs
7 Keyboards (all the same, just a bunch of regular Medion Keyboards)
6 Mice (all laser too!)
some empty files, a filing cabinet
a Playstation 2 Light up sign
3 unused cans of air
and a 16 port network switch.

[Garzilla04]

Me and a few buddies went dumpster diving over the weekend. I dive whenever I can, and almost always come back with some good stuff. This past weekend was especially cool...

We started off by hitting up the 2 local staples near my house. We found a leather office chair, which had been slightly slashed, works like a charm. Along with 2 Panasonic digital voice recorders, a spindle of DVD-Rs, and a spindle of CD-Rs.

We had this idea to check out the local Frito Lay distributor. I knew of a distribution center about 20 min away from my house. So we drive there and check it out, the main gate happens to be open and I see no "no tresspassing" signs anywhere in sight. Rather than driving my car into the center itself, and risk getting trapped (whole place was gated w/ barbed wire). Me and my buddies parked my car in a pipe-fitting place right next door, and ran through the woods to the back of the building.

We decided it would be safer for me to scale the barbed wire fence rather than having the three of us run into the gate, which was on a main street. So my buddies boosted me up, and a I carefully scaled the barbed wire with no scratches. Behind the building I followed this pitch black alley with my friends on the other side of the fence. Finally reached the dumpster, and took a peek inside... :eek:.

The dumpster was literally half way filled with every kind of Frito Lay product you could think of. Doritos, Grandma's Cookies, Lays Classic, Pepperoni Bites, plus a ton more. I hopped right in, and began clearing the dumpster of all the goodies, and tossing them to my friends on the other side of the fence, who then made quite a few runs to my car. We ended up filling his trunk with this stuff. All of which is only 3-7 days over the Exp date. I was never the kind of person to eat food out of a dumpster, but if its a sealed package with an enclosed dumpster...im down.

Im set with dorm food for awhile :D

[Destonomos]

anyone want to go DD around the lower kentucky area? Right now i'm in Murray at college, its about 10 mins from the tennesse boarder.

[|distortion|]

Anyone here in Melbourne Florida wanna go dd'ing?? Email me...

[PoisonedPawn45]

Me and a few buddies went dumpster diving over the weekend. I dive whenever I can, and almost always come back with some good stuff. This past weekend was especially cool...

We started off by hitting up the 2 local staples near my house. We found a leather office chair, which had been slightly slashed, works like a charm. Along with 2 Panasonic digital voice recorders, a spindle of DVD-Rs, and a spindle of CD-Rs.

We had this idea to check out the local Frito Lay distributor. I knew of a distribution center about 20 min away from my house. So we drive there and check it out, the main gate happens to be open and I see no "no tresspassing" signs anywhere in sight. Rather than driving my car into the center itself, and risk getting trapped (whole place was gated w/ barbed wire). Me and my buddies parked my car in a pipe-fitting place right next door, and ran through the woods to the back of the building.

We decided it would be safer for me to scale the barbed wire fence rather than having the three of us run into the gate, which was on a main street. So my buddies boosted me up, and a I carefully scaled the barbed wire with no scratches. Behind the building I followed this pitch black alley with my friends on the other side of the fence. Finally reached the dumpster, and took a peek inside... :eek:.

The dumpster was literally half way filled with every kind of Frito Lay product you could think of. Doritos, Grandma's Cookies, Lays Classic, Pepperoni Bites, plus a ton more. I hopped right in, and began clearing the dumpster of all the goodies, and tossing them to my friends on the other side of the fence, who then made quite a few runs to my car. We ended up filling his trunk with this stuff. All of which is only 3-7 days over the Exp date. I was never the kind of person to eat food out of a dumpster, but if its a sealed package with an enclosed dumpster...im down.

Im set with dorm food for awhile :D

nice :)

[Scorpionjwp]

Man, I sure envy you all, I live here in Cincinnati, Oh and I can't find a single place to dive at.

Every place I go to, they have gates on them or at the most have someone stay late night to prevent dumpster diving from happening.

Most places around where I live try to prevent anyone from doing dumpster diving.

If anyone living in the Cincinnati area that has successfully done dumpster diving let me know, I might join you one night.

[jamestime88]

it's hard, it took me a few nights to actually find places that i could dive at. try to look for smaller stores to dive at. some of my favorites around here are borders, GNC, media play, and whatever toy/hobby stores.

[Megadeth_Guy01]

GNC, eww...! Why would you want old/expired vitamins and energy drinks o_O.

[solidsnake31990]

im going after school tomarow to the local dump to find whatever comys i can find. im looking for an old compy from the early 80's/late 70's to put a new motherboard in, and a PII or PIII for a friend, cause he needs a web server. ill post pics in the other thread of everything i get.

[Scar1.8T]

im going after school tomarow to the local dump to find whatever comys i can find. im looking for an old compy from the early 80's/late 70's to put a new motherboard in, and a PII or PIII for a friend, cause he needs a web server. ill post pics in the other thread of everything i get.

Hope you have some luck there, our dump here compacts everything and then buries it to conserve space.

[solidsnake31990]

Hope you have some luck there, our dump here compacts everything and then buries it to conserve space.
ive found plenty of beige booty at the dump before. christmas is the best time to go.

[Komataguri]

I don't believe your allowed to go into our dump searching for stuff.

THo, I used to know a guy that worked there...and OMFG the shit he would find!


One time, back in the 90s, a massive Toys R Us truck came, and just dumped a fuckload of NES consoles and games.

And, atleast the ones he nabbed and brought home, worked!!

[solidsnake31990]

I don't believe your allowed to go into our dump searching for stuff.

THo, I used to know a guy that worked there...and OMFG the shit he would find!


One time, back in the 90s, a massive Toys R Us truck came, and just dumped a fuckload of NES consoles and games.

And, atleast the ones he nabbed and brought home, worked!!
i know the owner of the dump, so he says that i can get compys whenever i want.

[Scar1.8T]

ive found plenty of beige booty at the dump before. christmas is the best time to go.

I always try to do a massive round of curb diving at the first pickup after christmas, intercept it all before it goes to the dump. I have a couple K6-2 laptops sitting here that I found this past christmas. They make nice little folding boxes seeing as they use next to no power.

[Komataguri]

I always try to do a massive round of curb diving at the first pickup after christmas, intercept it all before it goes to the dump. I have a couple K6-2 laptops sitting here that I found this past christmas. They make nice little folding boxes seeing as they use next to no power.


Hehe, I did that to this past christmas.


Wasn't much but boxes tho

[SpangeMonkee]

I always try to do a massive round of curb diving at the first pickup after christmas, intercept it all before it goes to the dump. I have a couple K6-2 laptops sitting here that I found this past christmas. They make nice little folding boxes seeing as they use next to no power.


just what I need to post from the couch. I'll buy one for $25. ;)

[PAPutzback]

I found my wife which was actually my best friends mom who was doing a bum at the time. I think the smell of the Chinese Food knocked me senseless

[mrweasel]

I wanna see more pics. I want proof before I go climbing into yucky dumpsters that good stuff can really be found.

[lednerb]

Dumpster diving is the greatest. I just recently moved into an appartment (I live in Iowa City/Coralville IA area) building that is close a copier repair/stereo business (in a stip mall type thing), and there are 4 or 5 dumpsters just for my appartment building (only two have good things in them usually), plus other business in near the shopping center. It is an awesome place to DD. Over the last several months I've found 2 Pentium II 400mhz computers, 1 1.1ghz Athlon (Thunderbird), 4 6 ft monster cables, various car & home stereo cables, and an all-in-one printer/scanner. The non-electronic items I've found include: 2 handmade ceramic candle holders, an adjustable bedframe (at least I didn't take the bed, who knows what happened on it), and 2 stools. It is amazing how much working/useful stuff is thrown out everyday. I kinda wish people would stop being so wasteful, but that would mean less stuff for me :D

[Techx]

Hehe, I did that to this past christmas.


Wasn't much but boxes tho

Sorry guys, the day after last xmas i was cozy with a cup of java playing with my new games and gear, not digging through someones garbage lol.. sorry I'm just not that desperate for someones used junk to go scrounging through peoples trash..

[GeForceX]

I found a working Voodoo 5500 AGP card behind Wal-Mart.

-J.

[antoniohawk]

I wanna see more pics. I want proof before I go climbing into yucky dumpsters that good stuff can really be found.
Take a look at the [Post What You've Found Thread (http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=768269)].

[robble]

My Fav DD places are behind the local KFC and Pizza Hut. mmMMMMmmm!!
Always get a full meal =)

[starhawk]

I have GOT to try this :D I'm going to be in Raleigh this weekend so I might try it.

If I can find the right places... I have a hunch that the compactors may not be too much of a problem-- you just have to get there before they run it ;)

[jpmkm]

I have a hunch that the compactors may not be too much of a problem-- you just have to get there before they run it ;)
And hope they don't run it while you are in it. I would never mess around with compactors.

[NessyROS]

If I can find the right places... I have a hunch that the compactors may not be too much of a problem-- you just have to get there before they run it ;)

It might not be a good idea to hop in any compator, period. #1, you can run the risk of being crushed, #2 bodily injury, #3 To give an example, I work at Best Buy as a Computer Area Manager, and every Best Buy not only has a compactor, but the compators are actually wired into the Alarm System, last thing you need is to have your local SWAT team show up. Yes, I am being serious, if an alarm goes off like that, one squad car won't show up, SWAT will. So don't get me wrong, DDing can be decent, but a compactor is nowhere near worth it.

[SpangeMonkee]

It might not be a good idea to hop in any compator, period. #1, you can run the risk of being crushed, #2 bodily injury, #3 To give an example, I work at Best Buy as a Computer Area Manager, and every Best Buy not only has a compactor, but the compators are actually wired into the Alarm System, last thing you need is to have your local SWAT team show up. Yes, I am being serious, if an alarm goes off like that, one squad car won't show up, SWAT will. So don't get me wrong, DDing can be decent, but a compactor is nowhere near worth it.

Yeah, b/c the criminals that warrant spending a ton of tax dollars to active a special crew of people are breaking in to dumpsters. set the national alert to orange for that.

[starhawk]

@jpmkm: you don't get IN it :eek: that's worthy of a Darwin Award in and of itself. You just stick to the top foot or two of the area you can reach from outside.

@NessyROS: I wondered why they didn't guard the dang things, aside from not caring enough to pay anyone :rolleyes: So much for my dreams of a "free" 6800 that someone returned and just needed a little prodding :rolleyes: yah, I know, that one was a pipe dream to begin with...I think I'm going to scratch *that* idea.

Maybe poking around Circuit City would be a better idea... :p they owe me one for a POS Packard Bell they sold me a few years ago that had MAJOR memory problems... basic story goes like this: got a Legend 402CD from them, they said 8MB RAM would be enough. Well, guess what? If you're going to do *anything* in Win95, you need at least 16MB. So I haggle with them for a while, and they try to blame it on Microsoft, and we go back and forth for like two weeks. They finally upgraded it to 16MB... but they got their revenge. The d*** thing never worked right since... my guess is that the ticked-off underpaid teen who had to deal with it, put in a bad stick on purpose.

@SpangeMonkee: lol... more like they don't want to actually risk someone getting something free when they could sell it for a $100 profit by marking it at an atrocious price.

[NessyROS]

SpangeMonkee: Yea, I know it sounds stupid, but whenever an alarm of some sort goes off, it is usually called to managers first, with local PD already on the way, depending on the alarm is what depends on what will show up from PD. Blame BBY Corporate for being so anal retentive, considering a "typical" Best Buy has between 2.5 and 3 million dollars of merchandise in the building.

Starhawk: to burst your bubble even more, no actual product of ANY sort is thrown out at a Best Buy, it is all shipped to a sort center, and like a 6800, those are shipped back to BFG. Hell, the most you could get out of a BBY compactor if you felt extremely froggy would be empty coke bottles, trash, food from the break room, cardboard, and paper. Very rarely does anything besides that go in.

[Scar1.8T]

Most compactors at large B&Ms that I have encountered are fed by a chute from inside the building anyways, with no access to the outside. I too am never getting in a compactor either.

[vbrtrmn]

Please please please never dumpster dive in a trash compactor! Trash compactors are for what .. hmmm .. oh yeah, compacting trash. What if you're in the compactor and someone accidently turns it on? Yeah, I know the probability of this is very low, but I would prefer to not be crushed in a giant dumpster; it just doesn't seem pleasent.

[weebling1]

I need to start going again, I've not dove in almost 4 months

lol, i've been layin' low for a month. Tried popping out of the dumpster just as the rent-a-cop came out for a smoke. Lucky me he went inside to get a friend, I was 1/2 a block away walking casual when they came out to watch me.

/me slaps myself for diving when cars were parked there! : /

[jamestime88]

GNC, eww...! Why would you want old/expired vitamins and energy drinks o_O.
most are still good after their labeled expiration date, and they do throw out quite a bit of expired products :cool:

[Scorpionjwp]

As far as I ever got to dumpster diving was when our next door neighbors was throwing away their patio furniture.

Some excuse of not wanting to repaint it, so he was going to throw it out. My mother and father needed some patio furniture, they were going to go out and buy something later, so I saved them the hassle.

I took the furniture off of my neighbors hands and repainted it, then placed it on our back porch. This stuff was made of cast iron too, with a table along with four chairs.

[munkle]

I just hit up media play, scored some wicker baskets :p

[HvyMtl]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/223950_dumpster12.html

note the linky to an organized Seattle, Washington group of dumpster divers - also note the one sentence about Police stings... Why would they bother to attempt to sting someone over garbage? Not like there are other REAL criminals out there... shame on you Seattle cops...

[pigwalk]

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.

Umm not sure if anyones mentioned this yet, but that means they sell crack there. Seriously.

Had 4 pairs hanging at my old place in Cali lol.

-wil

[undeadsac]

Man, I sure envy you all, I live here in Cincinnati, Oh and I can't find a single place to dive at.

Every place I go to, they have gates on them or at the most have someone stay late night to prevent dumpster diving from happening.

Most places around where I live try to prevent anyone from doing dumpster diving.

If anyone living in the Cincinnati area that has successfully done dumpster diving let me know, I might join you one night.

i grew up in newport, there isnt shit to dive around here

[Oh4Sh0]

looking for some people in NW Ohio (findlay/lima) area to go dd'in with. :)

[muhsbandit]

hey im going to be moving to tempe, arizona in the fall for college, and i need some new diving partners down there. anyone interested?

[Oh4Sh0]

Went tonight with a co-worker after close.. I live about 20mi in between two small cities (pop 40k).. So we went to the first one (Findlay, Ohio) and the first place we stopped was walmart.. I was amazed to find no compactor.. so we were in a big "rail car style dumpster".. and unearthed a boxed patio set. Came with a glass end table, 4 chairs, and two folding chairs, all brand new. Had a price sticker of $188 still on it. So somehow we shoved all the chairs into my intrepid, and along with a roll mat from staples, cruised to other places. Stopping at eb-games didn't yield much (eb games is in a strip mall with "pet supplies plus" ... and my god some of the dumpsters smelled so bad, you'd lift the lid and taste instant throw-up!)

But anyways, we went to the mall.. bestbuy.. all trash compactors.. nothing good. So we went home, happy that we nabbed a $188 patio set.. Then we decided to try the other town...(Lima, Oh) not much there, checked the mall.. walmart.. rex.. office max.. office depot.. you name it. Finally we stopped at "Custom Audio Concepts" and in their dumpster was a dvd player (car.. looked like it had been //racial slur here// rigged), so we left it. But there was also a 15" Alpine Type-R subwoofer, that had some slight cosmetic damage we nabbed. Then we went to blockbuster and grabbed about 70 dvd cases. And now it's 5+ am in the morning, time to call it quits and go to bed. If I wake up before I have to go to work, I'll take pictures of the stuff we found.. was pretty fun. ;)

[Oh4Sh0]

Pics...

I don't have an amp, can anyone tell me if I can hook the sub up to a home theater reciever (or perhaps just the 52w HU) to see if it works?

Also, I didn't get pics of the folding chairs that came with the patio set, cuz my friend took it. We also got little things like an alltel cell clip, blockbuster t-shirt, keychain, pens, etc.

(didn't put images in IMG format because they're big - straight from camera)

Cushions (still in plastic, and "end table" in cardboard box..
http://intensecs.com/DSCF0004.JPG
Another shot.
http://intensecs.com/DSCF0005.JPG
Patio Chairs
http://intensecs.com/DSCF0006.JPG
Tag + my hand
http://intensecs.com/DSCF0007.JPG
Sub + Chair mat
http://intensecs.com/DSCF0008.JPG
Damage to sub
http://intensecs.com/DSCF0009.JPG
Side Sub
http://intensecs.com/DSCF0010.JPG
DVD Cases
http://intensecs.com/DSCF0011.JPG

Was a good time. Can tell you that after that, I'll be going again. ;)

[SpangeMonkee]

Pics...

I don't have an amp, can anyone tell me if I can hook the sub up to a home theater reciever (or perhaps just the 52w HU) to see if it works?


no. the ohm rating has to be the same. typically car stuff is 4ohms, where as home stuff is usually 8 ohms. if there is not enough resistance, it could burn up your stereo.

[Oh4Sh0]

Thanks! Thought so, but some kid at work was telling me you could hook it up to a house stereo system.. :)

On another note, would hooking it up to the HU work - would the HU put out enough power for anything to happen? lol

[FanZ]

I just found out that its legal in Charlotte! woohoooohoo.

found a new tv.. apparently the hotel threw it out just because the bottom of the box were damp.. its small though, i think 20"-ish

[bob]

Out by the Lays chips distributor, They had their dumpster full of chips.

Most of the other brands were ripped open... but the doritoes were good. Some still had one week before they would expire. We had my friends toyota overflowing with chip bags, I ate so many, and made meals out of them.

I found two PIII-466Mhz computers in my schools dumpsters (this was in 2003). Earlier that year, when they were given a big grant for computers, they threw out craploads of computers. What wasnt hauled away in dumptrucks was tossed in the dumpster. I managed to haul off 16 computers in a chevy suburban before the damn satitation engineers pulled up in their trucks.

[SpangeMonkee]

Thanks! Thought so, but some kid at work was telling me you could hook it up to a house stereo system.. :)

On another note, would hooking it up to the HU work - would the HU put out enough power for anything to happen? lol

it'll prolly put out enough power. you just have other problems than just the resistance. like the fact that you have no kinda highpass filter on there. you don't want the highs running through that sub. just hold on to it until you find an amp in a dumpster. :)

[Suprnova04]

Yesterday I found a horse in my garage. I kept it and rode it around all night. I named it Pirate.

[mediacoretex]

my friend found a 40 gig tivo it worked he is moding the case and putting a computer in it

[Bad_Samaritan]

The other weekend I was throwing out some old mini-blinds. I lifted up the lid on the dumpster and inside were two computer towers. I figured they were junk, but I took them back up to my place to see if I could salvage anything from them.

#1: Pentium 3, 800mhz, 30 gig hard drive, 128 MB ram, Compaq. Booted up in safe mode. Restarted and it was fine.

#2: AMD Athlon 2 gig, 120 gig hard drive, 256 MB ram, Compaq. Booted up fine.

I can't imagine why these were thrown out!

[AskRodman]

I can't imagine why these were thrown out!
When I worked for a local computer support company, I had customers ask me if they should throw brand new computers out and replace them because they had gotten bogged down with spyware. If I had been less ethical, I probably would have sold him a new system, and taken his home (I'm just barely at the 1GHz level). Oh well.

[Garzilla05]

I think it's a good idea to check out Best Buy anyway. They tend to put appliances and things outside of the compacters, and so far I've come away with a working mini-fridge and a 27" Sony TV (had a few small colored lines across the screen) that I got fixed for $40.
-Zilla

[Tenchi4U]

Just snagged a Bissell Powerforce Lightweight Upright 12-Amp vacuum (approx $44 new from WalMart) from an apartment neighbor (placed in the trash pickup spot (under stairwell)) with a brand new bag.

Cut about 1/2 a pound of hair off the brushwheel and 1 inch of debris from the suction hose, works like a dream.

http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/164.png (http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&id=164)

[TechSys]

When dumpster diving, don't just look for department stores or retail stores. Look around for new construction sites (homes, stores, etc..). You'll be amazed at the tools and stuff you can find. the other advantage, if you are into selling metal, is you can get steel, aluminum, and copper from these places.
Last time I went DD'ing (5 years ago), I wound up with a couple hundred dollars in scrap metal. Not bad for just a couple hours work.

There are 3 reasons not to dive in a compactor. One is quite obvious, it is dangerous. The 2nd one is, most compactors, if you can get into them, can get you into the store (at least the ones I've seen). This can get you arrested for attempted b&e. The 3rd is they are usually locked anyway. If you break the lock, well, that can also land you in jail.

Just thought I'd throw my .02 in here. I have been tossing around the idea of DD'ing again cause it was fun and if done right, a person can get some decent money from the stuff found.

[Everstorm]

Am I the only one who has gone dumpster diving at Mwave's wharehouse? I was there doing a willcall/pickup on some parts, and my buddy and I went around back and rummaged in their dumpster.

All we found was a little tiny fan. It sucked, because the dumpster was filled with exciting boxes from nice pc parts. We were sure one of them would have something in it, but no go.
We mounted the fan on my friend's northbridge heatsink, was there until he replaced his motherboard =)

That was at their old wharehouse. They must be doing well, their new place is Massive and Truely Impressive. I'll have to check out that dumpster next time I'm picking up a case =)

[Manaknight]

i can't believe i just read all the pages of this, anyway if anyones in the pittsburgh area and wants to raid i'm down, most of my friends are too proud to snag freebies so i could use a team :P, i'm gonna try a solo run tonight

[blindviper]

you missed out if this thread would be left alone it would be over 400 pages long :)

[tredlite]

I have found many things behind stores after hours.
Some of the best times is an area that does a lot of garage sales, people are getting rid of things they have no use for so they sell it or throw it out if it does not sell. The best time is around the holidays Christmas.
the last thing i found was a Wet/ Dry Vac 60Gallon, someone had purposely cut the end of the cord so it would be of no use. Well it does help being resourceful, i found an old surge protector 3prong and cut about 5 inches of it and spliced the two together, cleaned it up and it works as if it were brand NEW.

[Everfalling]

well, my frist DD didn't go so well. i think we went on a day after trash day, because we musta gone to almost 10 places and all of them were either empty, full of regular trash, or full of cardboard. only thing that looked like it was worth taking, were 3 matrisses in the back of a JC pennys, and what looked to be a full outdoor grill in the dumpster of a Costco. Unfortunatly we didn't have space for either finds, and there was no way were could have got that grill out of that dumpster. we're gonna try again on thursady night and see what we can get. i'm gonna try getting some lock breakers or something to open up some of these FBI things. There were at least 3 palces that looked like they had some nice stuff, but they were all in locked up dumpsters. bastards... who locks up their garbage? i mean seriously...

We tried most of downtown concord and pleasant hill (cali) and basically hit electronic stores and large retail places like Fry's, Circuit City, Best Buy, Staples, tower records, good guys, sam goody, EXPO, target, Toys 'R' Us, Bed Bath and Beyond, Costco and JC Pennies. Does anyone have any suggestions of where to try hitting next time?

[jpmkm]

I wouldn't ever break locks to get into a dumpster. That's just stupid. Regardless of their reasons for locking their dumpsters, the main purpose is to keep you out, and if you circumvent that then you can get into a shitload more trouble than just regular dumpster diving. Just be careful.

As far as good places to hit, a lot of times large chain retailers are some of the worst places to hit. They often have a system in place for dealing with damaged or returned merchandise(sending it back to a distributor/manufacterer or whatever), so very little of it actually ends up in the dumpsters. I don't know what you are looking for, but some of the best places I've found are local computer shops, especially ones that build computers. A lot of times customers' old computers end up in the dumpsters. Apartment complexes are sometimes good, but there is often a much higher trash:treasure ratio in those dumpsters, so that might not be worth it to you. So I'm not saying to necessarily stay away from large retailers; it's just that there are probably better places out there.

[dextrous]

I used to work at a local computer shop. If that show was any indication of other like shops, than it would be the WORST place to DD. We threw away nothing. If a customer gave us a machine, the only thing that would make it to the dumpster was the case, providing it was some POS dell/gateway/hp/insert OEM here or AT.

[jpmkm]

I used to work at a local computer shop. If that show was any indication of other like shops, than it would be the WORST place to DD. We threw away nothing. If a customer gave us a machine, the only thing that would make it to the dumpster was the case, providing it was some POS dell/gateway/hp/insert OEM here or AT.
Every shop is different I suppose. One of my buddies works at a shop and he said that one day they cleaned up their shop and just threw tons of shit away. Power supplies and drives and motherboards and everything. In any case, I still say that one would have better luck at a local shop than a big nationwide retailer. As always, though, it really depends on the stores in your particular location.

[tredlite]

well, my frist DD didn't go so well. i think we went on a day after trash day, because we musta gone to almost 10 places and all of them were either empty, full of regular trash, or full of cardboard. only thing that looked like it was worth taking, were 3 matrisses in the back of a JC pennys, and what looked to be a full outdoor grill in the dumpster of a Costco. Unfortunatly we didn't have space for either finds, and there was no way were could have got that grill out of that dumpster. we're gonna try again on thursady night and see what we can get. i'm gonna try getting some lock breakers or something to open up some of these FBI things. There were at least 3 palces that looked like they had some nice stuff, but they were all in locked up dumpsters. bastards... who locks up their garbage? i mean seriously...

We tried most of downtown concord and pleasant hill (cali) and basically hit electronic stores and large retail places like Fry's, Circuit City, Best Buy, Staples, tower records, good guys, sam goody, EXPO, target, Toys 'R' Us, Bed Bath and Beyond, Costco and JC Pennies. Does anyone have any suggestions of where to try hitting next time?
OOOOOHHHHHHH, you do not want to do that, once you go to such extremes as to breaking chains and or pad locks you're able to consider yourself as breaking and entering, even if it is a dumpster, and i have heard of departement stores making examples of people caught. :(

[Everfalling]

alright, alright i wont break padlocks >>

[tredlite]

I looked through the local paper and noticed lots of garage sales in my area for this weekend. Saturday and Sunday night is a good night to go out and hunt.

I found behind Home Depot two 5 Gallon gas tanks, will come in handy for my riding lawn mower.

[EdMcK515]

Hmmm.... I have a Gamestop and EB Games both realitively close to me. Gamestop has an open dumpster, not sure about EB. May be worth a look sometime.

[jwasil]

I'm looking for a dumpster diving partner up in this area (Hartford, Springfield area). I've gone by myself, but think this would be a lot more fun (and lucrative) with somebody else. I'm 23 and have transportation.

[Oh4Sh0]

Well I went again - this time with a different friend.

At walmart this time I didn't find shit. Nor did we at Meijer - compactor.
We went to Rex and he found a 19" Zenith TV (Generic, no A/V inputs)
Then we went to EB where we found some cool posters (I'll take pics in a bit)
Went to ABC Warehouse(electronics), Pier One, Big Lots, Hobby Lobby, Staples not shit.. :(
Last we went to Skip Tate's Appliance - (hometown shop) where I found what looked to be a really expensive 27" Mitsubishi on a swivel with A/V's galore. It had been sitting outside for a while from the looks, so we tried it in a near-by power outlet.. to no avail :(

Atleast we got one TV out of it, can't complain.

http://www.intensecs.com/posters.jpg

[tredlite]

There is a local Blockbusters that was closing. Well i decided that evening after seeing the workers clear out the store of movies and then the contractors come in and gut the place clean i decided to go around back to the dumpster to see what i would be able to find. There was lots of broken glass and billboards in the dumpster. but behind the dumpster was a commercial type of all-in-one printer like the big desktop cannon types used in a office setting. I did notice that there was no cable with it other than the power cable, the swivel hinge to the scanner hood seems broken but aside from that looks pretty good. I will test it out this weekend coming. If it works i will post a pic.

[nobrainer]

Long post about my first dumpster dive

Ok well after reading this dumpster diving thread last night (THE WHOLE THING) I was convinced it was something worth trying out. Of course I was a little upset since I live in sweden and don't have huge retail stores like most of you living in the US.
Anyway I figured I'd hit town (10-15 min bike ride, no car :() and check out my school cause last year they had all the old pcs after upgrading in a dumpster outside the school with no locks. I thought since school is starting soon maybe they threw out some old 2.0ghz intel dell machines.
I never made it to town.
On the way there I realised that I Live in one of swedens biggest university towns, and that the university is 5 mins from my house. After arriving there at 1:30am I struck gold immedietly. there was a loading/unloading bay with dumspters and a section that was walled off. The dumpsters contained nothing interesting but the walled off section (with unlocked sliding gate) was full of old pcs and screens. After calming down (decent find on first dive ever) I stripped some pcs only to find most parts removed (hdd and roms) I figured someone else had been here. I did take home a PIII desktop with all innards and a mini tower case with mobo and cpu, and a working hp scanner. Of the 15 screens I took the only flatpanel crt (17" fujitsu siemens) and another generic one for the desktop (first haul... I needed to take unneccessary stuff...) Of course transportation was i HUGE issue. me on my bike with a CRT under each arm and everything in my backpack? I don't think so.. Before sorting the transport problem out I rode around more. I found the Computer Science and Physics departments in the univeristy :D but no dump site :(
It then struck me that there is a science park here in Linkoping. It is where all the headquarters for the major tech companies are. Ericsson, HP, Nokia, Flextronics and a few more. Sounds like a great place to check out.. No joy. I only found Ericssons dump site but they had compactors and shredded documents. I figured I'd call it a night (3:30am) So I headed back to my local Euro Spar and picked up a trolley and pulled this LOUDASS thing about 3km to the university, Uploaded all my goodies, shit weighed about 5.78 tons and things were spilling over the edges. I then walked home with my bike in one hand and trolley in the other. Getting uphill and downhill was a story all on its own. Stupid thing has 4 swivel wheels so it spins 360' easily. Makes life that much more difficult. Anyway, got home at 4:30am (yes 1hour+ to do 3km) hooked up my flatpanel screen and it works, havent tested the other things but who cares? I think its a decent haul for my first time. :)

Thanks for the inspiration fellas!!

[tredlite]

Long post about my first dumpster dive

Ok we