Am I the only one too embarassed to go Dumpster Diving?

[Cmosfm]

It seems that most of you here go dumpster diving, I know that you can really get some good stuff but I'm just too embarassed to go digging through dumpsters!

I really have to respect you guys who actually do this, I love my hobby of game collecting with a huge passion, but I just cant dig through dumpsters! Those of you who do it must love it more than I do.

Anyone else feel this way?

[Half Japanese]

I haven't yet had much desire to, but I get the feeling that once an old friend of mine moves back in town in a few weeks, we may end up doing it. Some of the stuff you guys here that DD get makes me want to try it at least a few times to see how it goes.

[aaron_157]

im good, i dont want people to look at me like I do the mexies that dumpster dive out at my work.

[MarioAllStar2600]

I do it all the time. I wouldn't do it during the day cause its a pretty embarasing thing to do. At night nobody sees me though.

[FF6]

I didn't think anyone really did it and much less admit to it. But i just read a post today about it and thought it was pritty funny. But if you were going to do it, gamespot or toys r us would be the right place to start.

[GamecubeFreek]

When you talk about dumpster diving, are you talking about finding games or promotional material, or what? I got a Mario Kart standee from the dumpster by GameCrazy, but the mangager usually just holds these things in the back for me.

[josekortez]

There ain't no shame in my game!

Honestly, though, the find I just posted has been the most fruitful dumpster find for me yet. Also, the dumpster was in an open trash area between the Gamecrazy and some tire place, so I don't think anyone was looking. It was 1 o' clock in the afternoon, but it was about to rain, so it was up to me to save those cases! Hey, I got a Mario Kart Double Dash pin number for free, so it was completely worth it.

[kainemaxwell]

The dumpsters at my mall are the ones that can compact the trash so I doub tI can go through it....plus am embrassed a bit. *blush*

[chaoticjelly]

Woah dumpster diving, sounds bloody ace!
Never thought of that!

Generally backs of shops where they put the rubbish are closed off (im in UK)
lol

How does rubbish disposal work in america? can anyone enlighten me, I have a tale to tell soon...

Does all your rubbish go to one central location? do people have to drive there to drop large lots of rubbish off?

[Sotenga]

May I relate to a humorous anecdote here? I haven't ever dumpster dived, but my mom did once... probably not going to do it again. She was rooting through the trash, and not too far away was this psycho bitch just screaming at her. I believe she was tossing profanities at my poor mother. Either that was the crazy lady's own trash, or she was eyeing something that my mom was. Anyway, mom's probably not going to go through the local wastebaskets for a long time. I probably won't either. I keep getting the feeling that a cop will come out of nowhere, and I have a clean police record so far. That, and if I reach too far in, I'll most likely discover something green, touch it, and become a pile of bones. LOL

Seriously, I'm not going for the double D anytime soon.

[tynstar]

I don't do it for two reason. 1) I feel wierd doing it. 2) All the game stores I can think of are share a dumpster with a food place and they can throw away some nasty shit.

I have looked on top of the trash pile though.

[davidleeroth]

I wouldn't dive into a dumpster but I in my summer job I dismantle cars in my city's wreckers' yard. Near, like 20 meters from it is a recycle center which collects pretty much everything from electronics to paints to batteries to plastic, you name it.
Every now and then, ignorant people bring in their old videogames that "their son doesn't use anymore". We made a deal with the nice man in the center that I'll dismantle whatever his old Opel needs and he gives me me all the old computer and videogames he receives.

Well, it works like magic, last summer I got about 50 NES games, some MD games, a Dragon32 computer and a lot Commodore stuff among others.

[sidgoop]

Dumpster diving has yielded the following:

HP Laserjet 4 printer
Nokia 17" monitor w/ built in speakers
Gateway Profile 3 Computer w/ PIII 850 mhz

All needed a little work, but are just fine now. I would dive in a heartbeat.
Just remeber folks, dirt washes off, and pride isn't hurt if nobody sees you.

chaoticjelly - the way that it works is that most retail places, and apartment complexes, have huge metal dumpsters that are emptied once, maybe twice a week. Most have a hinged door on top, but the easy ones have a sliding door on the side that permits easy access. All of my stuff came from apartment complexes. The best place & time to dive is around college campuses right after the semester ends. Students want to get the hell home, and are too lazy to pack up a lot of stuff.

[kai123]

My buddies and I used to dumpster dive all the time. We have found lots of junk and some good stuff. We were talking about going again this weekend. For free stuff I don't mind getting a little dirty. Also if you go take some really tuff work gloves. Don't dive in dumpsters with stores beside restaurants sometimes they share dumpsters.

[dave2236]

I do it all the time....not the sissy way of leaning over and picking stuff out....I mean put 1 foot on the top and up adn over. Our Blockbusters and game stores have no food places nearby so the dumpsters are perfectly clean.

[WiseSalesman]

I've been thinking about "taking the plunge". Can anyone brief me on the legality issues?

[dave2236]

I've been thinking about "taking the plunge". Can anyone brief me on the legality issues?

If you get caught by a cop or a rent-a-cop......they will probably just laugh at you. Seriously what are they going to do?


Just be truthful, say you are a video game collector, some stuff these stores throw out is worthless to most people, but I also collect books and boxes and promo items. I figure instead of it going to the landfill, I might as well take it.

[YoshiM]

My family and I dumpster dove once a looonnnnng time ago. However someone must have spotted us (even though it was dark) as there was grafitti spray painted on a wall at mobile home park we lived at broadcasting our little excursion.

Would I do it again? There isn't anything around where I live that would throw away good stuff and most places have locks on the dumpsters. One time recently I *almost* snagged a Mac Performa from the Salvation Army dump area but if it didn't work (it was an all-in-one) it would have been a waste of my time.

[kainemaxwell]

Heck I'm a bit embrassed to ask at the store if they had any extra stuff right now.

[eolsen]

I would like to go, but if my father saw me in a dumpster...But I suppose I should just ask gamestop to call me up when they get stuff they want to throw away

[crashdummycow01]

hehe.. u said rubbish .. i dont hear that everyday.. anywayz.. the only stores in my town with games are.. sears,walmart,kmart,kbtoys,and fye..

sears/kbtoys/fye are all in our mall.. which have dumpsters with locked fences surrounding them.. also sometimes the gates are open.. but they're like right next to the main entrance to the mall and theres no chance in hell that i'd be seen going in lmao. also walmart and kmart's dumpsters, if they had ANYTHING, i'd have to dig through all the crap from the other sections of the store.. since all the trash goes into one dumpster.. the only way i would get free sh!t from kbtoys or fye and stuff, is if i asked them if they had any gaming things they were throwing away... and i'd prolly be too embarassed to ask them that in person.. i'd prolly call in and ask.. plus if i asked in person, i prolly wouldnt make it out the door with the shit b4 i was beaten by a bunch of kids and had my shit taken lmao.

[Iron Draggon]

OMG, I never even thought of dumpster diving for gaming stuff! I bet you can get alot of free magazines that way too. Most game stores will throw out all the leftover copies as soon as they get the new issues in. That's how I used to get all my gaming mags for free. The guys at my local EB would just give them to me as soon as they got them in, because they said I was always in there buying a ton of games, and they always throw away extra copies at the end of the month anyway. I didn't even have to ask them to do this, they just started doing it one day. They were really good to me.

[davidleeroth]

Heck I'm a bit embrassed to ask at the store if they had any extra stuff right now.

What about after the manager has found you in their dumpster? LOL

[jonjandran]

Heck I'm a bit embrassed to ask at the store if they had any extra stuff right now.

What about after the manager has found you in their dumpster? LOL

Actually at my EB when the manager found out that I look through the dumpster he started holding things for me, and If it's to much stuff he'll tell me to go look in the dumpster because he just threw a lot of stuff out. :D

[l_lamb]

I've been thinking about "taking the plunge". Can anyone brief me on the legality issues?

AFAIK there's nothing illegal about it unless there's some sort of "no trespassing" sign around the area or on the dumpsters themselves. The owners of the center where my Blockbuster store is put signs at every rear driveway. There used to be a problem with homeless guys digging around and one got hurt. I guess he was after Boston Market's trash. :eek 2:

[Oobgarm]

We've got Jack of All Games, a wholesaler, nearby. They're the ones who re-wrap the old N64/SNES/Genny games in the cardboard and resell them. They also handle the ditribution of the newer PSX budget games you see floating around. I've personally been diving there once, only for some of those cool plexiglass spinning showcases. They had quite a few games in there, mainly old Genesis sports titles. Can't remember anything of note that I found. And we're talking an industrial sized dumpter here, not a small one.

I should go back sometime........