My first dumpster raid

[joshnickerson]

First a bit of background. When I first moved to Georgia, I found a nearby Game Xchange, which I hadn't seen one for five years. Anyway, I went there often and usually bought something every time I went. The last time I went was Saturday, and the store was filled with people and the shelves were packed. I drove by yesterday, and the building was empty. Gone. I was disappointed, but then I thought, hey, maybe they chucked all of the displays and boxes they had. So this morning, at 6:30 before work, I drove to the back of the building and checked out the dumpster.

Needless to say, I didn't find a treasure trove of minty fresh boxes and displays, but I did find a nice assortment of Gameboy and Game gear boxes and manuals (and after those bastards told me they NEVER throw out manuals or boxes. Grrr)

I had brought a pen light and I was content at first to just hang through an opening and shift through the stuff on top. But I soon found myself pulling myself into the dumpster and rooting around. (I should note that the dumpster wasn't full... I was only about ankle deep in loose papers. Nothing gross.) Most of the stuff was ripped apart and badly damaged, but I did find some boxes and manuals that were in decent shape, if only a bit damp from the night dew. At about 6:50, I realized that I was rooting around in garbage and someone might see me, so I stuffed what I had into my car trunk and went to work.

Anyway, that was my first dumpster story. I kinda wish I'd done that earlier, considering they must have been throwing away boxes for a LOONG time. Anyone else have a more interesting story than me? If so, do post it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take a shower. LOL

PS - Boxes and manuals I don't need I'll probably be putting up for trade within the next week.

[josekortez]

Congrats on your first dive, and here's to many more. Just don't do it in areas where a lot of cops frequent. I've had to restrict my diving to early morning and just before dusk because police patrol around the game stores here.

The idea of cops harassing me over my diving leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Last year, a shoplifter ran out of a Circuit City with a basket full of games, and his stupidity resulted in him being shot dead by the police in the middle of an intersection. So for that reason, I think games and cops don't mix, except in the case of Virtua Cop 2, which is a damn good game IMO. (Sorry, little tangent there.)

[imanerd0011]

I have read online that people have found working PS2's and other new systems in the dumpster behind EB. I personally have never gone dumpster diving before, mainly because I have heard it is illegal, and if the cops were to find you doing it, you could get in trouble. Getting your name in the paper for dumpster diving would have to be one of the most embarassing things humanly possible. LOL
However, if someone told me that there was a ton of NES items in the dumpster behind a store, I would toss my gas mask on , and GO DIVING !

[joshnickerson]

First off... Virtua Cop 2 RULES! My friend lent me his Saturn and I spent a weekend laughing at how bad it was... but bad in a GOOD way. Better than Halo 2 in my opinion (Prepares for flames)

As for legality of it... it's my understanding that it's not so much illegal to be scrounging through it, as it is to be dumping your own crap in it. The store I work at has had a lot of trouble with people dumping off their own crap... we actually had a kid's wading pool leaned up against ours today.

Then there's the divers who ruin it for everyone else, by throwing everything on the ground, ripping open shit and throwing it everywhere. We have serious problems with that too. On the other hand, while I was doing it, I made sure not to leave anything on the ground and make sure it was as I left it.

Anyway, I'm not gonna make it a HABIT, but it was just something fun to do. Kinda like hunting for buried treasure like a kid. :D

[Cauterize]

PS - Boxes and manuals I don't need I'll probably be putting up for trade within the next week.

Take this as a warning guys ;) Do you want boxes with Rat crap in them, Dead Bird Bones and Monkey Poo??? If so, deal with this guy ;)

[josekortez]

Oh, and watch for those pesky used syringes! LOL

[joshnickerson]

Hey hey hey... this is Georgia, not VIRGINIA. ;)

[DShoe]

virginia girls arent trash.....trash gets picked up!

[josekortez]

Virginia is for lovers...and for RUBBERS! LOL

[RetroRevival]

On a similar theme I used to work for a national (UK) computer manufacturer who did a lot of back to base warranty work.

The bench engineers would take a "broken" part out of the machine and replace it, and over time the amount of "broken" parts were taking up too much space. They got a skip in behing the offices, and dumped it all in but told us workers that if they cought anyone "diving" they would be sacked.

Pikey old me got my mate to do the diving and I told him I would test it out (he was not very computer literate) and then sell it on to people we know if any of it worked (50/50 split)

Over the space of 3 months we had made about £1,000 each as most of the "broken" stuff was in fact working. (Motherboards, memory, processors, cdrw's when they were £80 for a 4 speed unit etc)

We decided to call it a day and would do one last "grab" a big one. We got around of us in total, 2 cars and a load of balaclavas and drove to the skip at about 2am one morning.

Got there and the bloody thing had been emptied :-(

The funny thing was that a few days later all the workers were called to a meeting where the video footage was shown of someone "diving" and we were all asked if we knew who it was. Naturally I kept quiet!

[NESaholic]

Funny story dude,real good find,quick thinking too.Just dive in and see what's in it.
Congrats man and keep us updated for DumpsterDive part 2. :D

[rbudrick]

It is legal to sift through another's trash as long as you don't tresspass to do it. Once someone throws something away, they give up ownership of it.

-Rob

[izret101]

Awhile back i took a peek into the dumpster behind KB Toys and there was nothing of interest in it. I didn't dive in just opened the lid and took a quick look.I might as well have kept walking.

That was my story.


I have heard about people getting huge amounts of really nice stuff though when buisnesses clear out and from the VG market crash.

[vintagegamecrazy]

You guys and the syringe jokes gave me a good hearty laugh. Kudos to you :D


From what I know If a cop catches you diving he will obviously run you out of there but it's not "illegal" don't quote me on that though. I do know that if the dumpster is locked it is private property and it is theft! I work at RadioShack and one of the managers told me of a story that he caught a bum diving in a locked dumpster and he called the cops on him and he got charged for burglary and breaking and entering.

I may very well go dumpster diving soon, you all have candy coated the poison quite nicely.

[ddockery]

I can understand not wanting to get into trouble, but why in the world would this EVER be in the paper? Must be a SLOW news day if that were to happen.

[Chronodriftersx]

I gotta see this, this would be a must have someday have a digitalpress dumpsterdive photo gallery of you popping up out of dumpsters with your finds :P LOL

[imanerd0011]

I don't know where you are from, but they have the Police Log in town paper. In there they list a lot of the crimes that happen in town (mostly embarassing ones). I think they do this to teach the person who did it a lesson.

[Gapporin]

I can understand not wanting to get into trouble, but why in the world would this EVER be in the paper? Must be a SLOW news day if that were to happen.

My local newspaper had coverage of a fair, which included greased pig races. On the front page. Never underestimate the power of the local media.

[josekortez]

Note to self: Bring a camera the next time I go diving. That would definitely make it more interesting!

[mkuo7]

There's a recyling place near me that has a bin for different things i.e. computers. As I was dumping off some paper I found a bag of SNES games (about 15) loose, nothing too special. Best I found was Mega Man X. Also found a mint condition working DVD player. Not too bad.. LOL

[autobotracing]

I can understand not wanting to get into trouble, but why in the world would this EVER be in the paper? Must be a SLOW news day if that were to happen.


If there was a paper ball fight at school its in the local paper here :roll: LOL

[Mattiekrome]

I would love to sift through others trash to find treasures! Grats on your first dive! (Ive never been)

[sidgoop]

Here's a tip -
Put a couple of (broken down) cardboard boxes in your back seat. If the police catch you, just act casual, and say you're getting some boxes for moving. I've used this many times, and usually the cops will just tell me to be quiet and careful. If you run, or act defensive, the police will respond with hostility. If you act cool (and it helps to play dumb), and respectful to the police, they really won't hassle you. Just don't break into any locked dumpsters. That's when they can drag you in on breaking and entering.

[rbudrick]

I gotta see this, this would be a must have someday have a digitalpress dumpsterdive photo gallery of you popping up out of dumpsters with your finds

Oh, man, that would be great! LOL I can just see it getting as popular as the OWNED pictures and such. LOL LOL

-Rob

[SegaAges]

how fo you think I got 550 mountain dew points within a matter of maybe 2 weeks or so. i would drive around the rich neighborhoods that have a neighborhood recycling truck that comes, and look through the recycling bins before the truck came that night before. i must have gotten at least 200 points that way.

dude - i could always use a game gear box or a gameboy box, if you sell, you have a pm from me