/diy/ - Do It Yourself

I just took eleven car batteries to a recycler today. Not much but twenty bucks is twenty bucks.

is there a way to get into dumpsters with trash chutes on them?

>>61530

>>61533
i lol'd

>>61513

so your inside the dumpster the whole time? is that what im reading from this thread?

What shops should be targeted for dumpster diving?

used to work at chick fil a. those bastards throw out ALL of the salads and wraps at the end of the day. fully wrapped in foil and everything. they wouldnt let employees take any of them.

so, right after chickfila closes, squeeze through the locked gates to the dumpster area, and if you can fight off the hobos there are delicious fresh salads and wraps to be had for free. true story.

I lurked this thread a couple days ago, It was quite inspiring, I may go out for a peek at my local stripmall.

Thought I should finally support you guys with "The fine art of dumpster diving", which you probably already have, but whatever.
http://www.mediafire.com/?eo3fw4xafmngxth

>>61598
Sorry, "Art and science of dumpster diving". I've had a few.

I was digging through a book store's dumpster last night and two cop cars drove up. I asked them if it was legal to dumpster dive, they say why not since the store was throwing them away. They just told me to be careful since it was around 2 AM.

>>61588

This man tells the truth, hobos and all.
Not even joking, hobos are all over that shit.

Anyone in the Louisville, KY area know much about the local laws/regulations?

I know that as long as it's posted private property, you can get into a bit of trouble but aside from that I need to have a bit more info before I take the plunge, so to speak. I've tried looking on my own but I can't find any specific laws.

got my current propane gas grill from a walmart dumspter diving. They throw out some expensive shit cause it's slightly damaged. The propane grill just needed a few cheap components replaced, otherwise it's been working fine for years.
I've also gotten bikes from dumpster diving walmart. Majority of the time the only thing wrong with the bikes is slightly bent frames or big dings in the frames.

>>61690
forgot to mention, it got harder to dumpster dive the nice stuff from walmart, cause they hired security to stop people from dumpster diving and made the security tell people it's a liability for them to take damaged goods. If you can find a walmart without dumpster security i say go right ahead. A new walmart opened up recently in town and i tried to dumpster dive it cause no security around, but got caught on camera and they made me leave stating liability issues again, for one i shouldn't be in there and could get injured and two the merchandise they throw away is damaged and could cause me harm. blah blah blah

That old thread was awesome. Some people had some awesome finds, and others had morbid ones.

>Thought I should finally support you guys with "The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving", which you probably already have, but whatever. http://www.mediafire.com/?eo3fw4xafmngxth

I downloaded that book because of that old thread. Gonna be buckling down to read it this weekend. The few preview pages posted in the old thread seemed enticing and easy to read.

Gee stay away from this guys dumpster :(

>>363644

How stupid is that!

Ewwwoooo

>>>363644

I used to dumpster dive the telcos back in the late 80s early 90s. All sorts of good manuals, and sometimes hardware.

bump

Last night I went dumpster diving by myself, it sucks to be the only 17 year old kid that's allowed to come home whenever he wants to.
Also I didn't get that good of a find, plus paranoida kicks in when camera are around yet no one comes out to deal with you.
All I found was books with their covers ripped off, Victoria Secrets ripped bras/panties, and 5 pounds of rock pops. Do they rip it on purpose so no diver can make money off of it?

>>63267
When a bookstore means to return unsold material, they rip the covers off books and magazines to make them unsellable, and the publisher/distributor gives them credit for "returned" material.
It's cheaper just to trash books than to ship them back.

>>63267

Its common policy for most high end clothing stores to damage clothing when they throw it out, more thing should be fairly easy to fix if you're any good at sewing.

I've found some nice shirts, but my sister seems to be the lucky one. She'e brought home 5 or 6 big, fully working TVs, a bedframe and a couch.

seriously how in the fuck is this thread always in DIY? what is it about trespassing onto private property, invading peoples/business' privacy, and stealing private property that makes it applicable to DIY? rape is DIY too. wtf is this shit?

>>63267 All I found was books with their covers ripped off

http://consumerist.com/2010/01/waldenbooks-employees-protest-orders-to-destroy-unsold-books.html

>>63335

Rape is a felony in all states. Trespassing is at worse a misdemeanor. Plus any DA that tries to win a case purely on someone digging thru a trashcan would be laughed outta court for wasting the courts time.

>>63335

/diy/ is alla bout saving what you've got a making use out of it. Dumpster diving is the art of finding "trash" that is perfectly good, America is filled to the brim with assholes who throw away shit that is perfectly fine.

>>63267
Bookstores are told to do that. I've seen books that say on the first few pages where the law stuff goes notes like: "if you bought this without the cover it was stolen and it's illegal."

PS. I work at a mall as a janitor and we toss the washroom garbage in the main compactor with everything else, so be careful with what you tear into. There's poop in there. Tampons and poop.

Be 17.
Go to Homecoming dance with friends and girlfriend (Amerifag).
Leave early because dance is lame.
See friends digging through dumpster while I'm getting in my car.
Be curious, drive up and say "what's up".
Friend hands me two unopened Coors Lights she found in the dumpster.
I put them under seat the go park next to friends' cars.
About the time they are arriving to where I am, I am getting out of the car.
Out of fucking nowhere comes a police officer.
"Where's the beer he says?"
>Pokerface.jpeg

Receive an M.I.P. (minor in possession) and have to go to N.A. meetings for weeks.

To this day I don't know if it was a set-up.

Moral of the story. If you find beer in a dumpster, don't take it.

>>63341
And plus the only reason you can get pissed if someone is dumpster diving is if they make a mess. I have never gotten yelled at by people when digging in dumpsters, they are throwing it away and someone grabbing from the dumpster isn't stealing, it is reusing.

>fishing this thread out of the trash, dusting it off
Hey, shiny!

>>63420
Compactors are the bane of recyclers everywhere anyhow.
Mix the totally useful things with rotting garbage, then smash together with hydraulics! Neat!

Almost everything is always ruined, with the bonus of compactors carrying a horrid smell through the area And being "valuable equipment" that causes companies to lock up access gates overall.

>>63538
A great point.
Leave things neater.. well, No Worse then when you got there. That pile of wet cardboard you pulled out to get to that Whatever-you-found? Yeah, That mess is what changed the store manager's opinion from "i don't really care about divers" to "Scum! Call all the police! Everyone!"

Don't be the person who ruins things.
>you never know if the next dumpster will have the perfect part for that killbot you have been building.

A tip for anyone who's interested - conferences and exhibitions. There's a massive conference centre near me, and also an airport which hosts an arms industry shindig every year. The amount of awesome stuff I've gotten out of the skips after conferences is amazing. From the airshow I've got (big!) scale models of missiles and aircraft, books, DVDs, toys, the conference centre massive bags of unused freebies - t shirts, caps, pens, all that jazz.
Well worth a look guys. Keep an eye on your local paper for any conferences happening near you, scope out the venue and raid it on the night it finishes. Wear a tabard and a boiler suit and no one says anything.

>>64187
At a Salvation Army in my town a girl was crushed to death in a trash compactor a few years back. She shoplifted and dove into the dumpster and tried to hide out. I remember seeing that on the news. Lansing, Michigan if you're wondering..

Found a neoware slim computer in a dumpster today, brand new, cellophane unopened.

>>64218
never thought of this one. Something to look.. wait..

>Wear a tabard and a boiler suit and no one says anything.
>wear a tabard and a boiler suit

Image related?
Dunno if that is very subtle. Could there be an industrial term/language gap here?

>>64274
the compactor menace claims another.

>>64274

Darwin Award winner?

I have a supermarket a few miles away that closes at midnight and I'm running out of food.

How should I go about raiding that shit?

>>64811

With large retail stores that is when they start stocking.

I live in New York and pretty much all of the restaurants in the Gramercy area won't give you any food they are throwing away. Starbucks will give you tons of food at the end of the night if you ask. Same for Dunkin Doughnuts.

I work at a rather large heavy equipment repair shop, and to let you divers know it's quite the treasure trove of parts of you're into that thing. Mostly big equipment but we do occasionally service one ton trucks. Most of the stuff we throw out could be reused but not to our standards. However lots of the stuff is heavy. We do get quite a few dumpster divers but we dont encourage it because it's a liability for us. If you ever see tools in there don't take them because they were thrown out for a good reason because they're moat likely dangerous (and probably useless). We actually have to destroy some things (like brake chambers on semis) because they could kill someone if they were used. Also have a story:

>have to throw out this big ass hydraulic piston
>get someone to help me carry it
>throw it into the bin (can't really see into it)
>hear "OW WHAT THE FUCK"
>wat
>guy who looks like a bum crawls out clutching his hand
>starts yelling at us
>he pushes me to the ground
>guy with me (who is built like a brick shithouse) picks up a pipe and starts chasing the homeless guy
>they both run out of the yard
>he comes back ten minutes later
>the homeless guy got away, but he did throw the pipe at him and hit him with it
>he still jokes about the time a hobo almost kicked my ass

For the people in the DFW area, the Borders that was at Dallas / Preston & Royal 10720 Preston Road , #1018 Dallas, TX 75230 has a whole bunch of bookshelves in the dumpster right now. Said dumpster is in front of the store. Unfortunately, I drive a tiny little car and couldn't take anything but I saw lots of great stuff in there. They're pretty much taking the entire store apart right now, so there's probably other goodies in there as well.

so last week, i was diving with my friend at the local strip mall we've been to a thousand times. only this time when we lifted the lid behind one of the stores there was a shottily butchered deer carcass.

my guess is that someone got one without a proper tag, took the easiest meat to get, and tossed the entire hide and entrails into this dumpster to avoid getting caught. such a waste.

on the plus side, that same night we found wood stain, pizza, and a new keurig machine to replace the old one we have. (which was also found in a dumpster, display models i'm guessing)

>>65097
Thanks for the heads-up, anon.

Not in a position to make a retrieval like that just now, and there are no more places to Put bookshelves in here, but perhaps another /diy/gger will make a score.

>be homeless
>survive on dumpsters
>dumpsters empty lately
>always seeing these meme spouting weirdos stealing my dumpster stuff

no but seriously, you fucking garbage hunters are weird and i'm tired of these threads

>>65181
and thank you for coming all the way in here to tell everyone.

>>65181
Do you throw away perfectly good stuff?

I swear this country needs a reshaping of it's waste management system, there is no reason garbage hunters should have to dig through the gross stuff to get to the useful. It is a real shame that we don't have giant recycling centers that organize ALL the trash.

>>65198
i'm not some packrat materialist who needs to grab every piece of junk he finds that "might be usefull" filling his house with fucking shit that he'll never use. and i dont need to throw "perfectly good stuff" away cause i don't buy shit i dont need in the first place.

pic related ita your room full of all this perfectly useful stuff you just couldnt bare to see thrown out

>>65204

Stereotyping there, Do you never rebuild things yourself? keeping parts isn't always the same as pack ratting.

>>65204
that looks like mostly trash to me, boxes and shit that can be recycled. a messy room that needs cleaning =/= packrat, hoarders can be messy yes but most of the stuff is useful.

>>65209

>Parts

Yes. This.

Or wood scrap. I actually have a whole tub of wood scrap. I regret nothing.

>>65204

The point is that people these days throw perfectly functional shit out because they got the newer model.

Somewhere out there right now is a $900 stereo amplifier setting on a curb next to the trash can and the only reason it's there is the owner got tired of it and bought a $2000 amp.

>>65249

I've seen a lot more in craigslist limbo these days though. (craigslist limbo= bullshititem $30, $30 is just enough more than bullshititem is worth that the poster will keep putting it up for half a year at $30 even though bullshititem will never sell.)

>>65258

That's how everything on craigslist is where I'm at. I don't even have a craigslist city within 50 miles of where I live.

whats the coolest/most useful thing you all have found while diving?

for me it was an old graphicpal tablet from a wallmart bin.

>>65273
Tons of designer label clothes. Barely worn. I rarely dive. But I dress like a douchebag king.

Nabbed these out of a trash can in a shoe store in the mall. They're a tiny bit big though. Small stain on one. Look fine to me.

>>65299
stained shoes that don't even fit you. wow what a find. LUCKY

but seriously, that's fucking trash. find someone in that shoe size that wants them or throw them out. cluttering your apartment with shit like shoes that dont fit you is just making a mess. its just retarded. and you make dumpster divers look like moron packrats.

Tried last night

Was hungry and just wanted some food so I thought I would raid the local supermarket dumpster. Sealed stuff only obviously.

NOPE.

The store had a compacter with chute that lead directly into the building.

Couldn't do anything.

Anyone know when DD throws away their donuts? I'm think about getting some free donuts from the garbage.

there is nothing good in dumpsters that is why they throw those things out.

I saved a PSP 1001 model from a curb side cleanup last year.

It was in pretty bad shape, the analogue stick was dead ($4 for a new one from ebay), and the eject button on the top was missing (you just need to use your finger nail to pull the metal clasp - never looked into repairing it). And it was covered in children's stickers.

Came with its charger and a UMD movie of spiderman 2 inside a box of imitation lego.

I still use it from time to time

>went diving for the first time last week
>scored a mini fridge in perfect shape
>sell it on craig's list for 75 bucks
>shit was so cash

let's get this going again.

503 oregon, any good places? i live about a mile away from the lake.

Went trolling behind the industrial section the other night after band practice. I roll passed the dumpster for a shipping company.

Hopped the tiny fence, checked the bin.

Yanked out three Anvil road cases. one was badly damaged, stripped it of it's hardware, trashed it.

One of the other ones fits both of my heads,

and the other fits all of my drum hardware.

Google Anvil cases. Big Money. <3 diving.

I-m Living in eastern Europe and every time i see a thread like this, I get jelly at all the rich westerners getting all the good loots. Would be pretty pointless to check dumpsters around here :<

Are there any laws regarding dumpster diving in Australia?

dunkin donuts you guys. seriously. like all other places its a liability to give away the "old" food so it gets thrown out. dumpsters full of donuts. the employees might be bros with the manager and could get first pick, but if they arent then all the good donuts are there. its kind of awesome.

>>66240
Haven't been yet, just wanted to say I'm another 503 watching these threads. I keep wanting to try it out but the weather's been keeping me away...

what are your tried and true go to stores for this?

i live in aus and i love diving

so much good shit here, found a radio with a crackly speaker that i turned into a car cd played for my gf. runs off cigarette lighter socket

found the gf a shit-tonne of bras that i sowed back together
a new exhaust for my motorised bicycle
a mint condition rocking chair
computers
32' lcd tv with broken stand. made a wall mount, still use it.

etc etc

Lawn mowers are a great pick from home trash. Most of the time you can fix the fuckers for $10-20 and resell for $50-75.

Post semi-related.

Gainesville, Florida.

They really HATE hobos there. Basically, any perceived homeless activity is met with legal bullshit. Panhandling is illegal, dumpster-diving is illegal, et cetera.

That said, I've furnished apartments out of the stupid shit people throw out between semesters.

My friend, who works at Office Depot, jacked a perfectly complete, brand new desk out of their dumpster, because the manager thought it was missing screws. It wasn't. It's amazing what people throw away.

I would totally do dumpster diving if it wasn't for the fear of people seeing me, I'm too much of a pussy for this shit. I'm afraid someone I know will see my diving or the cops will pull me over or something.

Had to break this into parts, apparently it was too long for 4chan to handle. I used to live in Antioch, IL and was flat fucking broke, the town was literally devoid of jobs and myself and my roommates were all unmotivated stoners. We were so very broke that dumpster diving was the only way to survive, and one of the people I lived with had been doing it for years so we actually did pretty well. There were a few assorted places we would stop at occasionally for trinkets and such, but the food was always more fun. Walgreens was completely hit or miss, but when it was a hit it was incredible; huge boxes of candy and cookies at seemingly complete random usually. Some notable hauls were ~150 Reeses Fast Breaks along with some Butterfingers, then there was the time we got 5 or 6 massive boxes full of boxes of peanut brittle (which we never ended up eating much of because it was shit quality, and the peanut brittle became sort of a running joke), and right before I moved to my current place around 60 or so bars of Hershey's chocolate.

>>66674
Then there was the donut shop, Still Larry's. That one was pretty regular, and almost every night if you looked through all the bags there would invariably be one magical big stuffed to the brim with donuts, muffins and bagels. Hauls from there would typically last several days to nearly a week, because even though there were 4 of us living in that basement you can really only eat so many donuts until you don't want any more, and then since it was the only food we'd just sorta wait until we could eat more which was typically near the end of the day. But my favorite of all, and this was the absolute highlight of dumpster diving for me, was Antioch Pizza. See, they sold pizza by the slice, and when they had too much pizza the rest would go into the trash, neatly sandwiched between cardboard pizza trays. Not all of it was good, granted, but we weeded through to find the stuff that was still clean (which was most of it) and we wouldn't go after a certain time because if it had been out for too long then we didn't trust it to be safe. The really interesting part was that the pizza shop had very distinctive "seasons"; in the spring and summer hauls were pretty average, and in the fall they were terrible to the point where most of the time there wasn't anything, but winter was an all-you-can-eat pizzapalooza. We would literally come back every time we went with anywhere between 2 and 6 full pizzas of varying types; it got to the point where we would have trouble closing the fridge and freezer because there was pizza spilling out from fucking everywhere. For at least 3 solid months, we lived on literally nothing but pizza, every meal of every day, and it was glorious.

>>66675
Anyway, those are my tales of dumpster diving. I haven't really read this thread so I don't know if it's in the right spirit, but I figured it might be interesting to somebody here. I just sorta visited /diy/ on a whim and thought it was pretty cool to see this thread here. Also, in case anybody was curious (which I doubt), I moved out of there just very recently and now have a job and no longer have to worry about dumpster diving to survive, though I've already started casing the area to see if there are any good spots, haha. It's surprisingly fun once you really start doing it, and extra fun in company; one time we found a box of women's clothing while on a donut run and ended up walking home decked in ill-fitting lady clothes just because we could, and many laughs were had that night! Plus, the cops don't give you too much shit, at least in my experience. The police in Antioch are well known in that area for being complete sacks of shit, but when they see you coming out of a dumpster they seem to not really care. Just make sure you don't have anything illegal on you when you go, and if they do decide to stop you be honest and polite.

>>66674
>>66675
>>66677
Sounds like you scored a ton of junk food (pun intended).

Did you use dumpstering to actually sustain yourself?
Is it even possible to have a healthy diet digging out of the garbage? Considering most grocery store vegetables are deficient of nutrients even before the expiration date.

>>66684
>Did you use dumpstering to actually sustain yourself?
I did indeed, we got lucky on rare occasions by finding a ride to a food pantry or getting some food from friends, but 95% of our food was from dumpsters. We were just a couple steps above being homeless in that we had a place to sleep, shit and bathe.
>Is it even possible to have a healthy diet digging out of the garbage?
Not at all. It kept us alive, sure, but it was the furthest thing from healthy. Try living on Hershey's chocolate and donuts for a week straight; once the novelty of IT'S SO TASTY wears off, it becomes awful and you really start feeling like shit because your body isn't getting anything it needs. Plus, with how hit-or-miss dumpstering is, there's no semblance of a schedule to your diet. Sometimes we'd go for days surviving on water, then we'd have a good haul and eat a bunch of pizza and donuts for days. Shit really messes with your metabolism. However, I still managed to come out of that situation a lot better than I went in; I was around 250 pounds when I moved in there, and in the course of 11 months I dropped myself down to 175 (which at 6'1 isn't half bad). Granted, it wasn't the right way to lose weight, but at least it got the job done, haha! Now that I'm in a better situation I've been eating healthy and working out, and it's a lot easier to stick to when I don't have all that extra weight weighting me down all the time.

>>66695
So it seems like for someone who already buys groceries, dumpster diving is mostly for hopefully finding the odd cool gadget.

I hate how people talk like it's some vast bounty out there, when you can't even avoid diabetes doing this.

>So it seems like for someone who already buys groceries, dumpster diving is mostly for hopefully finding the odd cool gadget.

Starting to feel that way myself, so I have to remind myself it's for the thrill of the hunt. Same reason why I like bargain hunting on eBay, local classifieds, and sifting through clearance items.

>I hate how people talk like it's some vast bounty out there, when you can't even avoid diabetes doing this.

Some people's hauls are indeed epic. There was one guy in the old thread who found $3000 cash. Others talk about finding functional electronics, intact furniture, Anvil cases (as a musician myself I was impressed when I read this), etc. There was a link to some German diver's blog where the author uploaded photos of grocery store dumpster raids and the haul of fresh fruits/veggies was absolutely staggering... more produce than can fit an average empty fridge. So I assume the bounty is out there, and we just have to know where to look for it, if you're willing to risk said diabetes. :)

bumping for more stories

>>66902
Epic Haul Greentext
>Live in Apartment complex.
>Dumpsters scattered everywhere.
>Take a walk one night.
>Come back with the following.
-1 Desk
-2 Chairs
-Various picture frames
-and my best find: A full box of assorted Legos.

Makes me want to go out tonight and see what I find. Make it a weekly thing perhaps. Someone want to do a simple FAQ on how to properly dumpster dive?

>>66902

Found a dead hooker in one once.

>Someone want to do a simple FAQ on how to properly dumpster dive?

It exists:

>Thought I should finally support you guys with "The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving", which you probably already have, but whatever. http://www.mediafire.com/?eo3fw4xafmngxth

>>66949
>A full box of assorted Legos.
>MFW

the amount of jelly I feel, I just can't explain it!

>>66954
Just wondering if there was an infographic or something similar. I'm going to be reading that in a moment.

>>66961
first: don't make a mess.
first again: actually entering the can/dumpster/whatever is last choice.

If asked what you are doing be honest (or mostly honest).
Do not carry illegal weapons or substances. If you have nothing to hide there is nothing to fear if questioned by an officer.

If someone tells you to leave, then leave.

>tl;dr
Don't act like a drugged up murderhobo.

>>66966
Thanks teka.

I think I'll take a camera with me at some point and document my dumpster diving and post it as a thread. Probably in one of these general threads.

I'm thinking closer to the end/beginning of the month? I figure that way the people moving in/out of the complex would be more likely to dump stuff then? It'll be cold so obviously jacket and muck pants/shoes. Gloves are a must. Hell maybe even an air filter thingy that goes over the mouth if I want to do some serious diving.

Just wish I had a car.

I lived at an apartment complex and I grabbed a bong out of the garbage once.

this gets a bump.

going out tonight for a look, cased the place out the other day.

will update you with pics of what i find (if anything)

I sometimes find a whole garbage bin full of pop cans that are meant to be thrown away. I separate the bag from the rest of the trash and "forget" to put them in the dumpster. I'm too tired from work at the end of the night to go back and pick them up so I leave them for whoever wants them. Usually gone the next day.

>>63521
>don't take it
Unless you're not a minor.

I have found a lot of amazing things. I use to live close to a join military base (air force an army) alt he apartments close to it would house military getting ready to leave. They would toss out so much brand new gear out it would be a joke. I have probably picked up and sold about 500 bucks worth of combat boots alone. Would find magazines for m16 m4. back packs, all the good shit. That lasted for two yrs before I move. I find alot of good food.

>>67172
You know I wouldn't even think of it. That's a good idea anon.

>>67179

Well alot of them will order crap before they get deployed. It arrives and they go "Oh herp da derp, I fucked up on my order" They're not getting a storage unit or some shit like that for a few items, so they just toss the shit. I decided to check out the dumpsters. I knew I had tot toss gear back in the Marine Corps. Any apartments and crap that are close to a base by a few miles, that do month to month lease, go check those places.

My favorite personal dumpster diving story:

>just bought the parts to my first computer, on their way in the mail
>didn't buy a monitor, figured I would buy some cheap piece of shit at bestbuy and save on shipping
>lived in a huge apartment complex, dumpsters everywhere
>day before parts arrive, walking to a friend's house in another part of the complex
>kicking cans around, throwing rocks at squirrels, typical underage behavior
>peek in a dumpster for something interesting to break
>the biggest fucking CRT monitor I had ever seen, with a custom red paint job
>carried that motherfucker home as fast as my weak little middle-schooler arms and legs allowed
>ended up only paying about $2 for the power and VGA cable

I used that monitor for 7 years until I finally retired it for an LCD. I still have it, and it still works. Still have no clue why somebody bothered to paint it red.

not dumpster diving but, working at a 7-11 as shitty as it is you get so much free crap it hurts. All you can drink coffee, fountain drinks, and slurpees even when you're not working, my boss gives away all the day old sandwiches/pastries/fruit after they're written off, find one flaw on anything in the store it's written off and who ever gets to it first gets to take it home, all the outdated (2 hour old, they start getting gross at 6) corn dogs, taquitoes and hot dogs you want. if you're poor work at 7-11, they feed you.

Picked up a working fridge outside some nearby student apartments. Sold that shit for 80 bucks.

Drinks all around. Not really dumpster-diving, but hey.

>>61598

Funny, the author's family is a bunch of welfare leaches and this led him... to become a Randroid. Typical.

This is the only reason I go on DIY

>be 16
>go dumpster diving
>first spot I hit
>giant, industrial size window AC sitting next to dumpster
>my cheap ass parents refused to have AC in the house
>weighs a million pounds
>get AC into trunk
>put it in my window
>close bedroom door
>room goes from 90 to shiveringly cold in about 2 minutes

bump for cool stories

found a huffy slider out the back of a toy shop, there was a huge dent in one of the front forks, and the crappy fron wheel was buckled (something heavy must have dropped on it)

brought it home, went to the tip and found a new front wheel and rode that fucker around the streets for weeks.

yes, i'm a grown arse man. still the best fun i have had in ages

>>63335
It is not stealing it is reusing. They didn't want it so theythrow it aways and people take it. It is better than it taking up space in a landfill.

just began eyeballing dumpsters a week ago or so thanks to diving threads on /diy/

just checked my first dumpster (ok not really, its the dumpster my job uses)

and finally just cased out my first joint tonight on the way home from work. results are below:

-eyeballing: I've been looking around for apartments that have open gates so I can get in, haven't spotted one yet. Theres so many around here its just a matter of time though. are cheaper appartments better than high dollar ones? I have both choices readily available.

-first dive: dumpster behind my job. I know in the past there was a bike shop next to us, and i used to see a bike in there almost every time I had to throw trash out. never thought to look at it to see its condition/take it. I myself work at a computer shop, and i know damn well i've tossed computer after computer in there, but theyre all junk Pentium 4, pentium D, no real value for me or anyone beyond a "i just need -any- computer" mindset or completely not worth fixing computers. I found a big thick piece of wood, not sure what it is, but the first thought i had was "i could use that for a table top since I'm planning to make a new computer desk", its really big and really thick, woulda been perfect, but it had holes and cuts and all kinds of stuff making it useless to me. Secondly, found a big solid wood door in really bad condition (sanding + paint or stain would have fixed it right up though), considered taking it after seeing a fancy DIY picture of making a sliding door over your bar area in-home, but decided not to as i dont drink often, dont have a home bar, and have no use for a solid door. If it had windows i would have considered taking it to replace our houses front door.

>>67653 continued


Scouting: I checked out a couple dumpsters on the way home from work today, only one has presented interest to me: Behind a dollar general there's a few big dumpsters that were completely closed off, i can only assume theyre full. I'm considering going back to see what I find, but i'm hesitant cause its in the shopping center with all kinds of asian stuff. Asian restaurant, asian food market, and asian nail salon. I really don't feel like digging through giant catfish heads in hopes of finding something

What I want:
I'd -really- like to find some good working or repairable electronics. nintendo through current game console erra related stuff, watches, jewelry, TV, broken but repairable flat screens, mini fridges, DVD's, etc etc. Ohh and project wood would be -perfect-, one hobby would support another, would be sweeeeet.

thats all i got atm

Made for a good read, Ill bump it

Tomorrow I will start searching for dumpsters with potentially awesome shit in there. I live down the street from a target, radio shack, 7-11, military surplus... I have a feeling I might come up on some cool shit, especially since the holidays and all. Will post pics if I find anything,

Okay guys. Tomorrow night, on my way back from work I'm going to do my first big dive around the apartment complexes that are around me. Wish me luck.

Also: Bump.

At this point, I'm tempted to dumpster dive since my family is in such tough shape right now. Also, would it be odd to take some of the stuff my neighbors leave on the sidewalk and resell it on craigslist? Not shitty stuff, but the actual decent things.

>>68051
Oh yeah go for it. I saw a roomba on the side of the road and totally wished I had a bag for it. I was heading to work so I couldn't exactly take it with me.

>>68053
Yeah, I tend to see old couches and old tv's quiet a lot. But sometimes I see old mirrors, desks, and so on that actually look like stuff I wouldn't mind using in my own home. I mean, if people can take stuff from goodwill like clothing and furniture and refurbish it to sell, then doing the same with people's "junk" wouldn't hurt.

Also, what's the best time to actually dumpster dive? I'm tempted but my husband works night shift so I don't have a car and I'm in an unsafe neighborhood.

Potential lucky strike
Local engineering firm, does stuff for the air force. Go past their place yesterday, have got bits of metal from their dumping place before. There's what looks like a complete landing gear assembly resting against the skip, about 4 foot high, with tyres, must be from a decent sized jet I would think.
I'm going back there in my truck when it gets dark and it's fucking mine. I'll figure out what I'm going to do with it later.

>>68055
From my guess, It would be the dead hours of the night. 10pm-2am. I'm going to be walking home at that point so thats when I'm going to try. I'm going to do some scouting near my job tomorrow as well to find a few places near there. Otherwise when it's dark, let common sense dictate what you do.

>>68060
I can't wait to see you on Hoarders...
- "Why do you have this?"
- "I thought it might be useful."
- "It's an airplane landing gear."
- "I figured I might build an airplane one day."

Find your local bread distributor, they throw out tons of stuff constantly - the one in Greenville nc even keeps theirs clean on the inside, and stacks\organzies stuff to make it easier for divers to get food...

>>68132
I know a guy who delivers bread and he hooks me up with huge trays of pastries and assorted breads for free. If the food is going to expire within a week or so they just throw it out.

>>68109
>"Why do you have this?"
Proper response:
"Why would you NOT want to have this?"

>>68109
I've decided I'm going to put metal shelves on it, and use it as a bar.
Assuming I can actually get it, of course. I've realised I've got no lifting gear and it probably weighs a fuckton. Hopefully I'll be able to drag it up a ramp using my winch.

So how do you dive for shit you use at work?

I'm on a FIRST robotics team, and go dumpster diving regularly for stuff I think the team can use in each build season's robot.

Bike frames, electrical wire, VCRs (The tiny motors in those things ave godlike torque sometimes),and all sorts of stuff.

I even found some sheets of thin stainless steel in one raid, along with HUGE boxes full of LEDs and other components outside of a Radioshack from a different raid. Even a few perfectly fine RC vehicles.

My Radioshack is diving HEAVEN at this time of the year.

Dumpster diving? It's too hard every place I've been to has a compactor that is fed directly into the building.

bump

Any tips? Tonight's the night.
I've already got the gear I need.
>no loud noises
>dont make a shit mess
>no lethal weapons
>gloves on all the time
anything else?

>>68323
Use a flashlight. Keep the light INSIDE the rim of the container.
If anyone asks, you're just looking for tin cans/cardboard boxes.
If one side has more garbage than the other, go through the side with the least "stuff" first. It'll make your life a whole lot easier.

It's called dumpster DIVING for a reason. Proper position for rooting through a dumpster is thus:
Jump up and grab hold of the side of the container. Haul yourself up so that your belt buckle is resting squarely on the rim. From there, lean forward, using your legs for balance. (bring them in closer to lean forward, stretch them out to lean back.)

bump

Possibly going to go diving later this week- gonna check the local electronic stores and radioshack, best buy, gaemstoop.
Any tips for best locations for certain items? My goal is computer/parts and/or a camera- I figure these locations should have at least something.
Anybody have any luck finding decent cameras? I want one, but not bad enough that I'd blow a shitton of money on it.

>>68554
Don't simply expect to peek into a dumpster and find it full of gently-used electronics.

You are competing with corporate return policies, destroy-before-discard policies and, importantly, the employees themselves. And Compactors, which do a fairly good job of wrecking things, along with other pickers.

Not suggesting you should just abandon everything, just that you give it plenty of time. Develop a routine of poking your head in here or there a few nights a week until you learn patterns.

Maybe the Gamestop dumps any broken equipment every wednesday, or you notice that the RadioShack tends to throw out the damaged packets of components in the same type of trash bag each night.

I used to work at The Home Depot. They would throw away some great shit, like place rugs (the fuck expensive ones that were 200+ dollars), 2x4s, or anything that wasn’t selling quickly enough. There were multiple occasions when I threw away 30+ sheets of perfectly good drywall, or grout or shit like that. It killed me to do it, and after a while, I simply refused to participate in throwing it away. If you can get an inside hookup, like one of the members of management, you might be able to pick up some stuff for free or extremely cheap. I was able to pick up 7 full pallets of grass fertilizer for around five dollars a pallet because they were going to throw it out. On a different occasion they were throwing out about two dozen eight foot long 2x4s, but I didn’t have the money so I cut them in half and threw them away. They do this with almost everything that wont sell.

>>68602

The dumpsters they have at the store are well secured, and I strongly recommend that no one attempts to dive in these. They are only accessible from the inside, and the door to it is often locked. When it is unlocked, there is a 5 meter long sharply angled chute that is impossible to climb out of. Anything that is thrown away is pretty much destroyed by the compacting ram they run every hour, so its not worth diving into in the first place. Like I said earlier, your best bet is to be good friends with one of the managers there and have them call you before they throw something out. There was a dumpster around the back of my store, but that was for anyone who wanted to throw out their old washing machines and fridges, but its worth taking a peek into that one too.

found a laptop in a dumpster loaded with cp

two reformattings later and i have decent comp

Been reading this thread and I think dumpster diving sounds pretty interesting. I actually read an excerpt of that book that was posted back in my high school days, and I'd really like to try this.

One problem though, and I'd like your advice, /diy/. I'm and 18 year old girl. Not exactly safe to be walking around alone at night, especially diving into dumpsters. I also have no car, but I have a bike. Thoughts or suggestions? I dont really have any guy friends to go with, and I think if I mentioned this to girls they would be freaked out and think I'm crazy.

The upside is that there's a gamestop literally right outside my university. I have been outside late at night(walking back from the library at 2AM) , but I've never ventured outside of the university.

I live in Tampa, if anyone wanted to know.

>>68628
Basic protection, etc. A switchblade of the sorts would be enough. Just muster up some courage and dive on in.

>>68629
Is there a best time to go? Like right after the store closes or more towards the early hours of the morning?

Anyone have good spots for diving in the 801 area? I think I might have to try this sometime...

Reporting back from my first pre-dive.

Scouted two places. My apartment complex/ the one next to me and a plaza near my job. Pointless diving at my job. Compactors out teh wazoo. However, there is a shopping plaza with a dollar general and a radioshack within. The dumpster is in an obvious location and is quite visible.

My apartment complex proved tricky. I thought the garbage day was tuesday, I was wrong. It's thursday. Mostly empty pickings. Except for a batch of dumpsters with a "couch graveyard"

I'm going to be heading out once again in a week or two. potentially closer to the end/beginning of the month. More move outs and what not. I'm wating to get some more equipment before I try a strip mall.

>>68628
>>68628
>>68628
>>68628


fffffffuuuuuu, if I had seen this sooner I would have totally gone tonight since you are local, I expect you go to USF? I live in St. Pete but I am close enough and I don't mind driving anywhere for some good finds, wanna give me contact info? 21/m pre-law student, not a creep?

>>68323
I'm this guy.
First time /diy/ver experience was actually great. I went to atleast 4 places before reaching the gold mine which was this local electronics store.
I was looking through some boxes and I nudged a box that felt heavier than the other boxes so I wiped the snow off and found a BellTV Satelite box DVR or whatever.
Next to it was 2 remotes, and a shit ton of assorted cords. And 2 antenna things.
Didn't bring the Satbox/DVR though. Going to go even further soon.

Any experience with Costco?

Any Chicago people?

>>68628
lol are you talking about the GameStop on 50th and fowler. I live right there. So what shitty dorm did Usf stick you in?

Guy who was going to get an undercarriage here

If anyone's interested, I got chased off by security and then stopped by the police.

For fucks sake.

staying at my gf's for the weekend, she just moved into an apt complex a couple weeks ago. shes at work and im bored so i decided to take a stroll by the dumpsters during a smoke

stopped by 3 dumpsters, theres lots more but there were alot of people out (one guy started eyeballing me) so I'm going to wait and continue tonight, she'll probably be game to go.

found a broken giant ass tv and destroyed couch outside the dumpster at stop 1. didnt look in cause lots of people out.

peeked in stop 2, its loaded with shit like someone just moved out/got evicted, over half full. lots of random garbage but i spotted one of those black gaming chairs that are kinda U shaped...probably going to nab that tonight if the dump guys dont come today. also saw an extension cord which i'd be interested in. not sure what else is in there but I think itll be worth digging.

third stop had some nice leather couches and chair but they were both ripped with stuffing coming out -really- bad, like they ripped it just to stop someone from taking it. also had a full size bed and boxspring which looked very clean, but i have no interested in beds from the dump so i'll be ignoring that. didn't look into this one cause eyeballer from round 2 was still staring at me, just walked passed it.

cant wait for tonight to come now :D

>>68984
west chicagobro here

>>69000
I'm north Chicago. Lincoln Square. How west are you?

330 here, just got back from casing several stores, trash just ran within the last two days so most are empty but I found part of a mannequin. Going back tonight to hit up game stop, 2 dollar generals, a deals, bike shop, sporting goods shop, radio shack, staples, three rite aids, and two liquor stores. In my area all the big box stores compacts aswell as medium size grocery stores.

bumping

I'm guessing not but what the hell. Anyone know any good places to go diving in Sweden?

>Be last summer
>work as custodian for school
>dumpster divers dream
Haul over summer:
>1 small leather coat
>countless beer cans and liquor
>30" tv with dvd player
>sega dreamcast
>Awesome futon from crate and barrel with washable cover
> bob Marley tapestry
>new unused fishing rod
>north face jacket (worn like never it was folded with a tag hidden behind a chest of drawers)
> green swim trunks
>Colombia jacket
>shit ton of change i got like 70$
>nice pair of jeans
>unused shampoo, soaps, detergent, laundry soap.

and finally

a buddy of mine found a riding whip (kinky).

>>69169
sorry bud. the us throws out soo much shit. dunno what Sweden is like. You could be a pioneer.

>>69169
Sweden is rather large you know... Take a look at trashwiki and see if your town is listed. There are several blogs to with Swedish divers. Otherwise just look around, itś generally no problem finding good stuff. For food i recommend cheap stores like Netto and Lidl, they don't invest in compactors. Got 3 bags of cans and loads of fruits and veggies last Wednesday, see picture of some of it. Lycka till!

>>69226
sorry for the big picture, bit tiered + drunk :)

bump

So this seems to work out well for people, from what the thread shows. Has anyone had any luck with anything in Manhattan?

>>69303
Manhattan seems like it would be the number one place to A) find a lot of competition and B) find that things are locked up, locked down, generally locked and beyond easiest access.

My best haul. Nothing special

>Small store that takes donations and sells them second hand
>Store workers are mentally disabled
>Proceeds go to help disabled
>Regularly throw away stuff due to store being too small
>One day there are about 15 bags of garbage on the ground
>Most filled with clothes
>Grab as many as I can fit in car

Most of it sucked. Largely all older women clothes. Took a pair of boots that fit me (really ugly but I use them while trail riding and they're coated in mud). Star wars pinball machine (gave as birthday present to friend who collects Star Wars stuff). Let family take what ever they wanted. Took all the stuff left in good shape and brought it to my local Goodwill. ~$200 tax deduction. The rest of the stuff I gave to a friend who makes clothes.

Oh, the bad part was there was a mouse in one of the bags that decided to live in my porch until I got him.

>>69119
Which places in 330 usually have decent shit?

>>69396
Those I listed. I'll be in green tonight (south of akron) and springfield township (in south akron). Wouldnt mind a trip down to n. Canton to hit up all the stores around belden.

>>69411
Damn. I live in Dover and our best spot is a hostess outlet store. Snowballs and twinkles everywhere.

>>69226
>trashwiki
>Dumpster diving in Bratislava is virtually impossible. Most businesses take big measures in order to actually protect their garbage

Sigh.

>>61513
>have phone on night stand
>there's a trash can on the other side of the night stand
>Empty trash
>Go back inside
>Look for phone, nowhere to be found
>Run outside like a madman
>dumpster dive to pick up trash bag
>Get back inside
>Ask room mate to call my phone
>Bag vibrates and rings
>MFW the garbage truck was actually emptying the dumpster exactly when I was going out.

Yep, not DYI at all.

>>69432
DYI

>>69426
I'm thinking I'll take a look around the docks and local electronics stores, can't trust wiki on this until I make sure on my own.

I actually remember indoor dumpsters that were accessible on foot, they were under an office building. I went in there because I was drunk and wanted to take a piss.

I won't dig in local apartment complex dumpsters because people know me, maybe somewhere a bit farther.

>>61527
>>11
>>$20
you do realize Autozone gives $5 instore credit per battery. Also most junk yards will offer $3-5 cash also.

Hello /diy/, Gamestop employee here!

I'm still a little shy about dumpster diving, but I like to dig through Gamestops garbage bins at the end of the night (we throw our garbage into this big dumpster and I'm just TEMPTED to go fiving in it, it's in a building, so no bitter cold and it's so well lit, it's just BEGGING to be dived in - but I'm worried about leaving a bad impression off my employers since I just got employed).

Anyway, I've only dug through the garbage twice at gamestop and managed these goods. Only the basketball game has an actual game in it. And for whatever reason I have a game case fetish (I plan to make fake game sleeves and slide them into the empty cases) and I'm fishing for the gift cards (I plan to make a sort of dress out of them).

Tips for people who plan to dive outside a Gamestop, expect a lot of stickers tags, paper trails, and the bottom, bottom of the barrel of games, if any. There might be an odd kleenix or two, but for the most part the garbage is pretty sanitary.

>>69484
> game case fetish (I plan to make fake game sleeves and slide them into the empty cases) and I'm fishing for the gift cards (I plan to make a sort of dress out of them).

Hmmmm... dumpster diving...

My only experience with that was when a friend and I found a left handed children's guitar sticking out of a dumpster. It was in great condition, and I sold it on Craigslist for $50. It was a pretty sweet deal. I'm thinking about doing it again soon at a local industrial park.

>>69484
Yeah, I'm a new hire and want to try, but a store in my state literally had EVERYONE get fired because they were helping a dude sell games they knew were stolen so all the stores around are pretty careful about that kind of thing. Plus, the dumpster is hard to get to because of it's location so I don't think I could really get anything out of it, and they check you when you leave the store to make sure you didn't steal anything, which I think dumpster stuff would probably fall under.

However, on person at our store at least has been allowed to take several unused DLC vouchers from unused game since they aren't required to be sold back. I managed to get a decent one recently.

About game cases, check your local video store or ask a friend if you know one who works there. I got a few cases and games from a then-girlfriend that way. But when that store went out of business, both me and my friend managed to get about a hundred cases each for free, before they started trying to sell them, a mix of 360, PS3, and Wii. Plus, I got a ton of Nintendo cases that still had codes to register with their rewards program so I got the free Platinum reward from their program. It's a specific circumstance, but if you see one dying, definitely check it out.

Meh. I've played lookout and scrounger alike for some friends who cook for Food Not Bombs. For a while, TJ's dumpster was quite prolific. All the same, the plaza it was located in had a hawk-like security guard. Never did anything, but sure had a way of swooping. Then a lock went on. We weren't gonna retaliate with bolt cutters only to be met with bleach. Lame.

A lot of my vintage elctronics come from house cleanout dumpsters. I've a fleamarket friend and he gives me shit from them. E.g, toploader VCR, XT Clone @8MHz, a first-gen Walkman, old VHS pornos, odd line-powered goods, a 50's percolater, .etc, .etc. Basically, if he can't sell it at the flea market, he tends to give it to me. Mostly because I've fixed his PC several times, built him one off Newegg parts at-cost and hooked him up several times with weed connections.

>>69497
SAUCE

Just went and checked around one of the main shopping streets near my campus (Indiana University). Came away with nothing but knowledge of where to find a lifetime's supply of cardboard.

So much disappointment.

Might check around Target and Barnes&Nobles in the coming days.

>>69119 <- me

Just got back, Holy shit.

empty game cases and gift cards from game stop, Awesome sonic toy still in the undamaged box, christmas for my lil bro. foam pad for a wii balance board? some kind of dock for a nintendo 3ds. A hat new in the wrapper from another dumpster.

Riteaid has a shit ton a magazines, all had the covers ripped off. Grabbed maxium and a few car mags. Shitter material.

radio shack was a dud, liquior store and DG had locked dumpsters.

Finally Staples. Fuckin A Pic related, everything on the left side. small filing drawer, norton 360, car charger, usb to usb, printer ink, envelopes, super glue, logo design pro, screen cover of ipad (cut up to put on my phone), and best of all 12' HDMI cable. halfway through night shift from kohls next door let out and I had to hide next to the dumpster. Last thing I found was a photo album, poked my head up to check if any one was around before I hopped out and guess what? Cop sitting behind my car running the plates. Shit. chill in the dumpster and he comes over. FUUUUUUUUUUUUU. So much good shit and I could have any. We talked a bit, I ask if I did anything wrong. He told me I was trespassing. I noted that there was no lock on the gate or dumpster, and not a single no trespassing sign. Asked if I had my weapon (ccw holder) And I didnt so I said nope. He told me to put the shit back, I asked if I could have one thing (dat HDMI) and he said "sure, ahhh fuck it, take it all I don't care.". Props to Springfield PD for being cool.

Worst thing I ran into was a spilled cup of coffee in one of the bags from verizon wireless.

Game stop anon want these gift cards?

Each Lowe's has a store number. That number is the code to all of the combinations of their locks. Like the locks for their dumpsters and what not. They also have trailers full of appliances they pulled out of the homes of the people that bought new ones.

>>69824

did you work there/tried this? It sounds too awesome to be legit

>>69840

It isn't legit. Lowes uses Best Lock brand security locks. They are a kind of pad locks that can be unlocked with multiple keys, and even use a core key to swap out which keys will unlock what.

I'm FSA (Facility Service Associate, means I'm half janitor half handy man) at my local Lowes. My key only unlocks the janitors closet, but my supervisor can unlock that, the dumpster, and the electrical closet, while the Store managers can unlock everything.

Mostly, if I was going to dumpster dive at lowes, I'd look for scrap wood from behind the lumber side. Everything else will get compacted. And the appliance truck the guy was talking about gets locked by a manger only lock.

I have a few tips. Read most of the responses, but not all.. Sorry if repeated.

craigslist free stuff- just "OK". Usually picked over very quick.

live near a uni or big apartments? You better not be buying any furniture. Near the end of each month, start looking around. I find nice couches, tables, etc that I immediately sold on the spot via a craigslist ad, claiming to be the rightful owner. $5 for a couch, $5 for a table, etc.

Super protip, easier, less ahdy: Give the apartment manager your card or contact info to call you when he gets an eviction or a move out that leaves shit near the dumpster. See, he has to pay to have it hauled usually, as the people are deadbeats, etc. I get 1-2 TVs per month from doing that, and sell on CL for $10-$30 each.

Now, exactly what I just told you, do that at any mini self storage places. Near the beginning and end of the month, people bolt and usually unload half of the shit they can't carry in their vehicles, or don't want anymore.

>>69814
StaplesFag here, I can confirm our dumpsters are goldmines. I had to throw away $2000 worth of antivirus software the other day because it was the older version. MADE ME SICK. Some diver got to it before my accomplice could secure it...

Bluh 2 hours and I found nothing. 2 Lowes, both using compactors, walmart was locked up, guys chased us from the mall.

Bunch of industry parks around here, nothing but scrap wood and cardboard. Found a few apartment building I'm going to check in a few days.

Guys following me from the mall parking lot were trying to get me to pull over but turned off after maybe a mile. Weird shit, they were running over to us and prob got my license plate numbers.

I noticed some posts talking about finds from mall stores. I have a one story mall with some big department stores (JCPenny, Dillards, Sears) and smaller stores (Victoria's Secret, Express, GameStop, Hot Topic).

Would digging here be beneficial? I don't know what security is like there. All I know is there's a sign that says parking over night isn't permitted.

I live in a "Small Town", I'm not sure if that's what you'd call it. We're a big enough town to where we have a Wal-Mart, several fast food chains, several hotels, etc.

Now what I'm wondering- Is if with some of the stores I'm about to list, whether or not it would be worth my time to check the dumpsters out.

- Wal-Mart
- Radio Shack (Small store, not sure if they even have a dumpster, tbh.)
- Lowe's (I've heard different remarks about this throughout the thread, some posts make it look like it's more difficult than it's worth.)
- K-Mart
- Hampton Inn (Hotel)
- The Best Western (Hotel)

Those are the only stores I can really think of that would have things I would potentially want. Wal-Mart though I'm concerned because when I part-timed there, they threw a majority of trash into a compactor. So I'm not sure if there are other bins they put bigger/more expensive items in, etc.

And also for the Hotels, I'm not sure if it'd be worth it.

Over all I'm not sure if it's worth it, as I said we're a small town, but we've been getting a surplus of Gas-Rig employee's.

Thoughts?

Does anyone have the symbols? I remember them, but I lost the picture and it's pretty helpful for people who don't know them

well shit, just came back from a 2 hour run.

1st stop was a dumpster next to a radioshack.; it turned out to be a bin that Burger King uses instead.
I went around and peered into several dumpsters around the area but quickly learned that if a fast food restaurant is nearby, everything is going to be smelly, greasy boxes.

I then drove around an IKEA, but there were only some eerie trash compactors and locked up 15 foot fences.

Walmart was next door and i almost had a chance to snag what looked like some furniture, but an anonymous forklift interrupted me.

I found some construction stuff (a couple of AC filters and some rubber belts whose purpose is unknown)

But my visits to Lowe's and Home Depot only yielded pallets. lots of fucking pallets. There was also a huge bundle of rebar, but it wasn't exactly trash.

Target was a no-go; they compact their trash and keep the rest inside the store. There was an outdoor dumpster but it smelled like rotten dank and looked like it was mostly empty boxes and soda cans.

MetroPCS had no phones, only pizza boxes.

>>69986
FInally, after collecting some meager shit, I stopped by a local apartment complex and checked a couple dumpsters. I found a Dish Network satellite dish that I might turn into something, possible a microphone-amplifying listening device. Maybe a way for me to capture wifi signals from longer distances.

The weirdest part came when I stopped behind a Dollar Tree to check out a dumpster. I found a perfectly intact light bulb but then I saw a couple homeless-looking guys riding toward me on bikes. For all I knew, I was trespassing on their dumpster turf, so I jumped in my car and took off. I had a hunting knife in my pocket just in case something went down. luckily I didn't have to use it. I only put it in my pocket when I'm in sketchy areas. For suburban areas, I can leave the knife in the car; nobody is going to even ask me what I'm doing.

To top it all off it was raining considerably, so most of the stuff I could have picked was soaking and useless.

And apparently I typed much more than i intended to.

>>69987
always respect the denizens of the dumpster, they live on that shit. That being said, yeah always carry a knife in case you run into some fucking crack head.

Just keep trying. Electronics stores have the best shit imo. Yes, it's always going to have dumpster juice, just get used to it, it's not toxic. You really have to tell yourself before you start, "This is about to get filthy. Fuck it." and just not give a shit. I'd recommend riding a bike instead of driving a car for obvious reasons, but if it's raining I'm not even sure if it's worth it.

Also, look for places that lock up their trash yet have easy ways around those locks (like they keep it in a chain linked area or something).

also I decided to throw this together real quick, it basically says the same thing as the other one but might not be as pretty.

>>70016
Not to be picky, but couldnt the x symbol just be standing for dangerous stuff? Otherwise someone maybe gives it a chance, even though it contains needles?

>>70034
well I suppose it depends on how much of a risk you're willing to take. If it has an X on it, chances are you won't bother, since it implies it's not worth the effort. A bunch of Xs represents something really bad or dangerous, so you really want to stay away from it. If you want, you can just treat everything with an X as full of AIDS infected needles and you probably won't miss out on much. The exception being the * (the X and the + superimposed) which means it's difficult but potentially worth it.

Also, just to be clear, I didn't design these, Hackbloc did years ago.

>>69814

Gamestop/Gift card collector here

First of all, congrats on the awesome haul! I am jelly of a couple of those things! Makes me want to hit some dumpsters outside right now!

Secondly, thank-you so much for the offer, but I'm too much of a coward to give my address, even through private e-mail...But thank-you again for the offer!!

>>69696

Oh yeah! I forgot they checked your stuff before you leave...! I've only had that happen to me once so far... My managers are nice, so I'm sure if I say "hey, these are from the garbage, can I take this?" I can get away with it. Perhaps You could too? Offer to take the trash out at the end of the day, pull out anything worthy and show the manager at the end of the day?

As for the closing down electronic/vidya stores, that's a good idea! I wish I took advantage of all the blockbusters closing down now...I'll keep it in mind for the future though!!

>>67172
Take the magazines, file off military info. Ebay.
worth about 5$ a pop.

>>70058
Ebay doesn't sell magazines because the Virgina tech shooting. Keep the military stamps intact and sell them at a gun show, they command a higher price.

I was coming out of work at the mall last night and saw a woman taking giant boxes out of the cardboard recycling. Her car was full of the the things and no one around seemed to care. (Then again the security guards are pretty busy around closing. They have to lock all the doors and check stores. It's annoying because I have to give them my keys before I go and I can never find them.)

a long time ago on city mass trash pickup I found 10+ NES games and they all worked.

there's a 4 mile road just outside of town that people just throw stuff out and leave. mostly shit though

>>69321
Sucks. I'm in Manhattan and interested in starting this up. I'll scout out Staples since from reading, that shit sounds glorious. Otherwise, lets see what happens. If anyone has any stories about Manhattan, Uptown or Down, definitely share and if not, I'll report back here and share how it is.

I haven't gotten to read through all of this stuff yet, and don't know if anyone mentioned it, but Staples is a real winner for dumpster diving.

Case in point: I used to do computer repair for them while I was in college. When someone drops off a computer to get fixed, especially older model ones, but sometimes not, and they sign, it says if they don't pick it up 60 days after being contacted, we can legally toss it.

You would be surprised how many people never call back for their computers.

Also, the amount of people when I called and said "it will cost $200 for a new motherboard.." or "this computer is a few years old, and buying a new one would be cheaper than fixing it" that told me to just forget it was absurd. I have so many computer parts from that.

Actually, the computer I'm using now (or case, rather) is from a Vista-era Compaq. It was a year old and the power supply died. The guy said he didn't like fixing stuff and just wanted to buy new, and told me to toss it. So, I put it out at the dumpsters, and after we closed, drove around back and got it.

I'm not sure about all Staples, but I've worked/helped in 3, 2 of which were in smaller towns, and they don't have cameras at the dumpsters. Also, they throw away any food/candy that is CLOSE to expiration. The same thing with returned hardware/software. They don't break them or anything, they just toss them. Staples also doesn't have a lot of gross stuff to sort through, the only garbage we have that's gross is the outside ones that people throw fast food bags in, but we don't sell hot food or anything, so it's not bad. Also, from my experience, everyone that works there tends to just set the pricey stuff on the side of the dumpster and not actually throw it in it. Must just be in their mind that throwing around stuff that's worth money is stupid.

Sorry if that's tldr, but I hope it helps some of you looking for stuff.

I knew someone who found an awesome couch outside an apartment building, just sitting there! What a haul! Trash becomes treasure! DD is so rewarding...


...Naw, not really. The dude ended up bringing a scabies-infested couch into his apartment and giving them to his girlfriend.

>>70111
Was down near Exchange Place and got a kickass set of blueprints out of a can behind one building. Though they did have security at both ends of the fairly short alleyway.

Not a diver, but I've worked a couple stores and read the guides, so I'll offer some information I haven't seen in this thread yet.

You can just about live off of Tim Horton's trash. I worked in one for a year, fairly popular place, but we always had two or three bags of waste at the end of the day- mostly donuts, but also bagels, muffins, etc. The healthy muffins with bran get eaten least and thrown out most. There was no security. Hell, I had guys walk up and ask me if they could have the discards when I walked out the back with the bags. I handed it over, just asked them to toss what they didn't want into the dumpster. Owners get right pissy about "hobos" hanging around, but owners don't work the night shift and the (usually student) night shift workers know how hard it is to make a living. Some of them might even put the good stuff into a box for you if they know you're a regular.

Bookstores rip off the covers and mail those back to the publisher for reimbursement. They toss the remainder. If you're looking for free reading material and the library doesn't do it for you, check bookstore dumpsters.

If you want computer parts and equipment, check out business tower dumpsters late at night. Businesses will throw old monitors and computers out when they get replacements, because it's too much work to get it all recycled. Some companies replace office computers every couple of years, if the economy's doing well or they're in a profitable industry. Sometimes the business dumpsters are harder to get into, but on the other hand some of them just leave the monitors/computers sitting by the back door.

just watched this, I highly recommend it to both those who are active recyclers and the people attempting to discourage it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Y1xt4nEvipg

Full, cleaner version of >>70016

>>61513
>live in student apartment community
>go to dumpster to get rid of the recycling
>see a box full of pots, pans, utensils, other kitchen tools
>mfw I acquire a saucepan, a casserole dish, a knife sharpener, a knife, a mug, and a cake pan

>What shops should be targeted for dumpster diving?

Most stores lock their dumpsters or use the big compactor-style dumpsters that are hard to get into. You'd probably have better luck at an apartment building dumpster. If you're looking for furniture, look around the dumpsters close to college campuses, especially near the end of the semester when everyone is moving out.

>>70209

Thanks for posting that man, I enjoyed watching it

>>70264
Dude, not really. Apartments around times when lots of people will be moving out for one reason or another, sure, but on a day-to-day basis any sort of housing dumpster will probably have exponentially more actual /trash/ than useful items.
With stores it is a bit different because they don't tend to generate as much straight up waste as do households. (Or at least the proportion of waste to other items isn't has high.)

After reading some posts in this thread and realizing that I skipped Staples my last dive, I'm going back out there.

going to the local electronics stores tonight :D

another thing to look out for guys is car audio shops.
when people come in there wanting a better sound system they usually already have one in their car.
i make a bit of $ on cl selling old car speakers.
like $5-$10 per speaker.
i usually dive at about 3am monday morning because there is litterally nobody around.
i never take my car, and i usually walk and take a backpack.


protip: it's advisable to take a weapon, but if the pigs stop you with a knife, you're fucked.
so, get a smallish pocket knife, and some skate shoes. cut a hole in the tongue of one shoe and slide your knife in there.
if cops ask you to empty your pockets, you are safe.

also, be respectfull. dont leave a mess, and dont be hostile toward other divers unless they are hostile towards you first.

Interesting thread. I found a dismantled Tekken arcade machine in a dumpster behind an arcade near my house. I so would have picked it up if I had a car.

Alright guys I just did some decent diving at a Staples, Game Stop and a Half Price books by my house and heres the list of loot I brought back.


Books: Close Encounters of a Third Kind
Cujo
Carrie
Pet Semetary
The Exorcist
Dances with Wolves
one of those Magic Eye books for teh luls
2 books from 1866 one of which is a 4th grade Lit book for a teacher and another that has the farewell speech of George Washington.
Art Through the Ages: Ancient and Medieval
A reference book of prescription drugs
A Far Side book
Spanish to English dictionary hardback and looks fairly old
and a Journal
From Staples I got a laptop bag and from game stop I got 2 ds multi game cases and a poster for Battlefield 3.

Btw guys go the night before trash day if the dumpsters are fenced off and locked up. Normally all of those dumpsters are under lock and key but tonight they were all open for the picking.

Happy diving everyone

People who expect something for nothing.

Ugh, this is why I make sure to put the litter box scoopings into the trash bag before taking it out.

I'll also bust up any furniture/appliances I am unable to take with me or sell off when I move.

>>68999
reporting back in.

This is harder than I thought. I got the arcade chair, (pic related, same thing I got)

I was going to dig for more but by the time i got there people had already thrown more shit in, a bunch of big particle board and other large and heavy pieces of wood (FFS i have wanted project wood too, but I was 200 miles away from home and wouldnt have been able to take it)

anyways, i got the chair out, couldnt get the extension cord cause it was stuck under god knows what, i must have gone back to the dumpster 7 times trying to muster up the courage to say fuck it and just jump in, but i was -way- too concerned with "shit people are going to see me" and pussied out over and over. to be fair this dumpster was out in the middle of a main road open for all to see my doings.

anyways, was very happy i got the chair, gave it to gf as she said shealmost bought some a few weeks ago...

the downside: i later smashed my toe into it walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night (darkness ftl) and i think i broke my pinky toe :(

>>71033
shitfuck missed the pic

anyways, to give some thought on my experience so far:

1. doesnt seem to be worth attacking giant companies buildings ie home depot, wal mart, target, etc etc as they all have big policies to use compactors/be under lock and key. Staples excluded (I just read up on that, cant wait to go check)

2. i've worked at a mall. I can vouche that some stores (JC penny, most of the "big company stores" in there etc) will compact there stuff, but there are regular dumpsters and compactors out back. The compactors get used whenever they get full and a worker needs to make room [at least where i used to work] and i would NOT recommend climbing inside, but peeking in to see what you can grab in arms reach wouldnt hurt. the dumpsters are also valuable. also make sure to check the garbage bin a movie theater uses if your interested in movie stuffs. i used to toss out trailer footage all the time (was a projectionist) and movie posters.

3. appartment complexes are a fucking goldmine. be ready to deal with the nasty, but it also seems to pay off more than anything from what im seeing

>>71030
such an ignorant fuck. free? time is money and theres a lot of effort going into dumpster diving. secondly, your tossing it because you dont care about it, but instead of letting someone else have it you make sure to its going to waste? fuck you and fuck anyone like you.

my mates brother grabbed a ps3 off road side pickup
came with all its cables and a controller
he turned it on, it was disc accessing but nothing was showing on the screen
gave it to me
i reformatted it a few times
voila
free ps3

I'm jelly of some of the stuff people have found.

Has anybody tried behind some pharmacy stores like Walgreens or CVS?

>>71066
I've done Longs before, and they're CVS now. I wasn't looking for anything pharma-related though, but they definitely leave their shit wide open.

>>71072
I may consider checking it out. My mom works at the Walgreens just down the street. I could always borrow her car to make a late night run over to the store(and just tell her I'm picking up some toothpaste or something) and see what they have. I'd probably try for smaller stuff, unless they've got some old holiday decorations or something.

Also, people, don't be afraid to get pallet.. Brake those down, free firewood. Also, don't be afraid to use those suckers to build stuff.

>>71077
firewood is such a waste for pallets. pallets = money, theres plenty of places you can sell them for 5-20 bucks a piece

unless you want project wood, more power to you on those too

>>61525
>>61523
>>61521
>>61519
What is all this?

>>71158
different types of trash compactors you'll run into at big retail outlets and malls

i personally wouldn't suggest bothering with those

>trashwiki
>United States
>Georgia
This article or its section is a stub. You can help by expanding the article.

God dammit.

Anyone got any experience with Krogers, Wendys, or Starbucks?
I'm thinking Starbucks would be a moot point, though.

>>71180
bring a straw to starbucks they sort their dumpsters by flavour

decided to go diving one night, Didn't find shit. On my way back home and thought I'd try the drug store, maybe find some pills, valium or some shit. Fuck all for drugs but scored a bunch of bags of chips. They were neatly placed in cardboard boxes and the dumpster was clean. Packed as much as I could carry of my favourite brands and went home. Clean dumpster but didn't want to take any chances so i carefully emptied the snacks into those gallon ziplock bags.
Not a single bag had reached the expiry date and were not at all stale.

just got back from a 2 hour walk around my small city.

went to a car audio shop, but got discouraged by a big barking dong

walked to the auto shops, but found nothing but locked dumpsters

walked back into town, to the bike shop. sitting outside the shop were two complete bikes, tho they both were a bit crappy. didnt take them out of respect

computer shops had no dumpsters att all, that puzzled me.

at the sports store i dug through lots of worthless cardboard, but found a magnifying glass still in its plastic. it's pretty neat.

toy shops dumpster was so full you couldnt even dive in it, and it is only a monday night.

last place i went to, found a key, but it didnt open any locks or doors surrounding where i found it. (me confus)
also found in same dumpster, a chest flys machine that was pulled apart. didnt take it/too heavy/wouldnt have been able to find all the parts

>>71204
>got discouraged by a big barking dong

I found a big bag of weed in an old couch I found on the side of the road

>>71242
Must've been one big dong.

>>71242
hey man, those things get real scary.

'Sup /diy/vers.

Mainefag here. Might go diving tonight if I get off my sorry ass.

We've got a lot of stores around here. I'm in the market for a new computer, and I enjoy electronics in general, so I figured I'd hit up the local Staples and Radio Shack. There's a Lowes here but I've worked there and it's hard to get stuff (did get a bunch of herbs, basil and the like from the gardening center one day though, when a fellow cashier tipped me off that there was a cart of plants headed towards the dumpster. Gardenfags might want to keep that in mind, they throw out perfectly good plants because they don't look nice enough to sell. We have a free herb bed as a result.)

Might also hit up Big Lots, see if they're throwing out anything good. There's a GameStop and a bunch of moderately touristy places too, as well as some place that sells movies. Everything but the Lowes is in one of two mall-esque plazas, so it shouldn't be hard to drive around the back and see what I can grab.

Any suggestions/priorities? What kind of clothing should I wear? What time is best to hit them up? What order should I prioritize things in? I haven't been diving in ages, last time I went diving it was with my Dad and we rescued about a thousand square feet of carpeting from the local cinema, most of it in prime condition (it was all in 2-foot wide strips, the stuff they have on all the isles).

>>71398
>isles
ISLANDS INSIDE THE THEATERS
by the beard of sexsmith

>>71444
My apologies, it seems the 'a' key on my keyboard didn't register. Does that now grant leave to be an asshole? Because if it does, I have quite a lot of trolling to catch up on.

>>71464
Relax bro.

>>71470
I aint even mad bro.

Anyways, any thoughts? Figure I'll head out around 9ish, see what I can find.

>>69814
Um I'll take those gift cards fellow diver!

>>71489
My sister Really wants some new Zelda game.
Id really like to get it for her.

>>71484
9 is a bad time.
Go in the am. My best experiences were in the 1-3am range.

>>71176
I say trash compactors should be severely punished, if only to make the economy of getting them ruined.

>>71494
None of them are loaded, I checked when I got home. Your still welcome to them, 18 of them including the staples ones I found.

My boyfriend and I went on our first dive tonight. We looked through many stores listed above but only found one thing in a Sally's Beauty Supply. A white straightener that can sell for a pretty penny. They cut the cord near the end but it was still twist tied together. My boyfriend says it's an easy fix.

We didn't bother looking through bags because it rained earlier today and some bags were still a little sprinkled. We found a lot of compactors, but we had a great time bonding. Next time we're bringing a small knife or something to cut through bags.

Anyone dived a library dumpster ?

>>72166
My library usually gives away old and damaged books. I don't know about throwing them away though, people can't resist free things, especially if their avid reader and with the prizes of hard covers. Worth a shot tho, never know with the donated books that are not "suitable" to a snooty/christian head librarians standards.
Being in Canada where we don't waste perfectly good stuff these threads are a letdown when I go diving. Could be the shit town I live in...

>>72521
prices*

>>72094
>small knife
I'd say go at least 3 inch folding blade in case of crack heads. And no, I'm not joking, I always carry one on me unless I'm planning on going through a metal detector or getting arrested. You have no idea how useful it is, even if just as a confidence booster.

My life is ruined http://youtu.be/i2hk9J6jRDw

question for the retailers/experienced divers out there: would the few nights leading up to black friday be a good time to dive? I figure that stores might throw out their old stuff to make space for new sales items.

>>72166
I work in a library. If it's anything like mine it's going to be pretty hit or miss. Some days you'll find nothing good and others you'll find mountains of books discarded from here or there. Dozens of cookbooks, volumes and volumes of some encyclopedia, a bunch of science fiction novels, things like that.

>>72584

Excellent idea. My boyfriend is one of those rare males that doesn't carry a knife with him on a regular basis. I will be sure to suggest this to him.

>>72818

I'm wondering this as well. Bump for knowledge.

Going to have to jump on the Staples bandwagon. Just got a paper shredder and a sliding desk attachment for a keyboard, both still wrapped in plastic and boxed up. Everywhere else I checked sucked.

>>72899
fuckin' Staples compacts here. so does the Old Navy and Dicks. why would you compact clothes?

>>72818
Yes yes and more yes.
Last year I myself wasn't much of a diver but my needy friend kept asking me to go.
He went everyday from 4 days to BFriday. It was on Wednesday Night/Thurs Morning that he found boxes full of goodies at stores.
He couldn't drive so he only took what he could carry but mentioned the dumpsters were so full, he only took from the boxes sitting next to them.

This year will be different since he's not in town anymore. It's upto me to become the Diving King.

>>72906
awesome. I live in a college town and there are shittons of strip malls everywhere. I hit two or three tonight but didn't find much - just some lawn furniture and a backpack. I'll keep checking though.

>>72818
Actually January would be better. A lot of places I've worked play just throw out the returns that don't come back in packaging. Old merch get priced low and put out on the floor during Christmas in the hopes someone will pick it up. At lest that's how its been in the half a dozen places I've worked at in the Maine mall.

>>69814
>>69814

YES. Send them to me please.

I live close to a indoor snob tennis club. Once a year they drop a huge dumpster in their parking lot and get rid of old sports stuff and (i guess) old users tennis equipment bags. Last year i got $80 from simply searching the tennis equipment bags in the dumpster. Lots of pockets in those tennis bags.

>>72892
If you need a recommendation for a knife, I'd say pick up something by Gerber at your local Walmart. Price range is generally between 15-40 depending on what your specific store stocks. Good quality knives for the prices, too.

If you want to go for something like the other anon suggested, a three inch folder, the Gerber Paraframe pretty much fits the bill. 20-25 at the Walmart I got it from if I remember correctly. Comes sharp enough to cut through trash bags out of the box for sure, and light as hell because of the way the handle is constructed. I don't use it as much as a lot of my other knives, since I seem to have something of a fetish and buy all kinds, but it does a good job for what I've used it for. Check what's in stock, though. Don't get something because it looks pretty, get something that does what you want it to do. And remember KNOW YOUR LOCAL KNIFE LAWS.

Well. I noticed there were a number of people basically saying A) slim pickings or b) scared to go. Both are fair enough points. Also live in Canada, and there is a nice trick. During spring/fall,a lot of the richer communties will throw out nice things on the curb. Grab a backpack and go for a walk. Managed to get me cpu parts, moniters, a perfect condition cast iron frying pan, all sorts of useable things.

anyone in 604?

>>72906
I should also mention that on the night and following nights after Black Friday he found other people at the dumpsters so beware.
Late reply since I just got back from a dive.

DVD Player, AM/FM Clock Radio, some books, showerhead and a suitcase. Not much tonight.

>>70209
Have school tomorrow, but ended up watching this somehow from start to finish even though I told my self I wouldn't. Most impressive.

Has there ever been a dumpster dive meet up?

Anyone in D/FW?

I went last night to Staples, Walmart, Toys R Us, a Shell gas station, the grocery store, a dollar store and a Best Buy and there was nothing good. What gives?

>>73103
my personal thought would be to learn the trash pickup days for the stores you want to dive at, and go the night of for best results. you probably hit them up the day they were picked up.

good rule of thumb: if its empty, you showed up late. not that there wasnt anything good thrown away.

Inspired by this thread i decided to go down to my apartments basement garbage bin, the first bag i open contains:

a pair of size 8 high heel shoes decent condition
a 2/3 full bottle of reed fragrance oil, smells nice
a three ring binder full of project management notes and lessons
ping-pong balls
a dish scraper
a bunch of travel coffee mugs without their lids
and one starfish decoration

not bad for 3 minutes of effort, kept the scraper, ill probably go back down in an hour and pick em up/look for more.

>>73102

lololol

I live in Arlington, let's go play in garbage together...I'm serious

found some lights tonight, going to go make some swords

So what do you guys recommend for a dive stick? Does anyone here even use one?
Thinking of just cutting a couple feet worth of bamboo and using that until I can come up with something a little more specialized. Figure it would be study enough to do what it needs to and double as a crackhead hitting stick, though I'm not really worried about being attacked in the first place. Downside would be that it may be a tad trickier to explain to authorities why I have a bamboo baton.

>>73116
I'm in Dallas and scared to meet up with strangers without getting to know them. I also can't drive.

>>73351
>>73116
Hey you guys I'm >>70857 and I'm down in Burleson. I'd be down for a group dive some time.

>>73301
I ripped off an old telescoping antenna off of a radio. It will compact down and fit in your pocket so thats one less thing to explain to anyone.

>>73116
>>73354
Shy person who can't drive here.
I'm near Northpark and that huge Half Price Books.

NEED NEWB GUIDE MADE!!!!

Not sure if this has ever been brought up. Look up depression era laws on "rag picking". Ya see back in the day, a person could go to city hall and pay like .25 for a rag pickers license, it was a way for the cities to get a kick back from the depression and folks diving to live. Hence the term "rag time".
Back to the point these laws are forgotten but still on the books. It doesn't cost much to get an official copy of local law even laminated, and a rag pickers license are still the same price. Old laws FTW

Dive stick I use is two foot bamboo with a large metal hook screwed in the end, drilled a hole through it on the other end for a lanyard for my wrist. Never have to dive for your stick, rookie move. I like to bring small chunk of camp pad for the dumpster rim and my belly, it can slip between back and backpack for transport. Plus if a cop stops you and you have specific gear for the job and they are clearly not for B&E, bro LULZ can be had play your cards right.
My dream stick would have a light on the end and pinchers made from bike brakes worked with a pull string + hook. Telescopic for storage, light weight. I'll keep an eye out for crutches perfect material.

So after reading this thread I got so pumped up and excited that after I ate lunch I went out for a car drive to spot local places to dive. The very first place I went to was a local pet supply store and I took a quick look in the dumpster. Right at the top was 5 bags of cat litter that were cut on the side but each bag still had about 3/4 of cat litter. I can truly say I have found my calling I can't wait to go back out tonight. My Cats thank you

So a CVS near me has cameras everywhere, including one right next to the dumpster. Should this dissuade me?

Also, when is best time to dive? When is worst time?

anyone in the buffalo ny area or surrounding wanna go diving together hit me up. ricerandproud@gmail.com

When it comes to dicing and the times to do it. Instead of asking when is the best time, you really should just check the place a few times a day, during dif hours if you can. Reason why is cause we all live in dif places, dif towns etc. I find it easier to dumpster dive at like 11am then I am during 10pm-3am. Reason why is due to all the ppl going out partying, going to bars etc. While at 11am, every one is at work or still passed out.

The best is going to a college/university when all the students leave for the summer. Everyone has to clear everything out and usually they do not realize how much shit they have and can not fir it all in their cars. I found mirrors, big speakers , rolling chairs, tons of TVs, bikes etc...The best part is if you are young and look like a filthy student no one will question you, take whatever you want it's free pickins!

>>73388
Hadn't thought of a lanyard on the end, good idea. Wii-remote stick fo sho.

I go dumpster diving and i find old soggy sock i sniff and it smells of mushrooms and my frend toled me it was seaman.
Best find is barely eaten sand witch from a office.

>>73475
How old are you?

Anyone know Staples pickup nights? Also, do Best Buy, OfficeMax, or Office Depot compact?

>>73482
Best Buy's do compact and I went last sunday night and the dumpster gates were unlocked and open

Sort of related to dumpster diving. A guy I knew once worked for a scrap company which took in dumpsters from all kinds of companies. He was like 14 at the time, sorting out scrap from the rubbish that was usually in these containers. A lot of it was cut so it couldn't be reuses/resold, but there was clothes, electronics, etc.

The skips they got from deceased old people's houses usually had money hidden in the pictures frames. They found World War II stuff; letters, helmets and stuff. Sometimes there'd be drug needles and the whole place would have to be shut down while it was decontaminated.

Another place nearby was given some motorcycles to dismantle, from UK Customs, as they weren't road legal in the UK. They started cutting them up, found out they were hollowed out and full of cocaine. The guy who owned the scrap place was dodgy as fuck, so he probably kept a few kilograms before calling the police. When they arrived the place was shut down for a week.

bump

>>69986
Ikea would be a bad place to dive. Anything that's diveable gets marked down and thrown in their discounted, damaged goods room. Some of the stuff is significantly marked down, and if you know how to do upholstery repair, you could end up with a good deal on some couches and shit.

great find last night.

lcd monitor, large tube monitor, security camera (some damaged components but the image sensor/lens should be fully functional) large white board and a cabinet with a fluorescent light mounted in it`(i plan to use this as an atrium for my bonsai project.
tl;dr try office building dumpsters

so fuck, apparently my local Walgreens throws out gold because that shit was locked up tighter than the Virgin Mary

It's definitely a good idea to have 1 or 2 friends go with you. having one person on lookout is extremely helpful

>>69872
>>69872
concerning locks, do you think the old aluminum can lockpick would crack these open? I know it works beautifully well on master locks but i haven't tried it elsewhere

I'm going to stake out my local electronics stores.

bump

I work full time and enjoy my sleep, however i have time off over christmas/new year. Is this a good time to go diving?

any aussies in here? especially around albury/wodonga

>>72995
>Live in virginia
> Concealed weapons are all but illegal
>Gun permit allowed
>Not a knife permit
WHY

>>74357
Melbfag here. I dive the local phone exchange in broad daylight from time to time.

My stories not really dumpster diving but whatever.
> be in 8th grade
>dumpsterdive at in my local stripmall
>Find weird light bulbs
>throw them over the edge at pussy friend who wont dive
>It shatters and weird gas comes out
>Get scared and leave.
Last month
>Driving a van (my moms)
>See awesome leather couch
> Pick it up
> Put in friends basement
>His mom freaks out
>Chop the couch up with axes and burn it

Last week
>Driving home from work
>See badass fucking table
>Its a coffee table with dark wood/lightwood checkered on it
>small cracks nothing big
>Fit in small ford escort trunk
>Drive the rest of the way home with trunk open
>take table inside
>wash+lemon oil
>Super nice have a hookah on it right now.

>>71398
Portland? Either way, I didn't expect to see any 207 people here.

Hi /diy/

first time poster from AUS here -2041 to be exact

I've found that most bakers delight stores throw out all of their bread (not the sweet or savory stuff, just the loaves and sticks) out every day.

if you want the cleanest bread just take away the top layer of rolls and shit, throw them on the ground and fill your backpack from the middle

but there is a serious amount of break there, about 2 wheely bins full at my store and it is tiny! what's good is, it's quick and easy.. my local store never locks their bins either

i've been eating this bread for a long time and never had any problems :)

:)

To contribute something useful, word is that the Odwalla juice factory in Westbrook Maine fills their trash with near expiration date or unsold juice, in the bottles and all. Could be a good place to hit for any Mainefags.

>>74920
Brunswick/Topsham.

>>74932
Interesting. Good to hear, thanks anon.

>>74388
>Live in CA
>Shitty gun laws, feels bad man.
>CCW permits allowed, but rare.
>Can conceal any size folding knife, and can open carry any size folding or fixed blade knife.
>No age requirements for knife-carry, which means a 2 year old could open carry a zweihander or a claymore
>unfortunately, counties can impose restrictions on knife carry
>fortunately for me, my county doesn't!

It's nice that I could, potentially, walk downtown with a machete on my hip.

>>75074
You can walk down the street with a machete on your hip in pretty much any city in the US. It's *concealed* blades that are illegal, not clearly visible ones, especially if they can be classified as a gardening tool like a machete. Else, how the fuck would you move it across town, or garden in someone's front lawn? Giving it the same locked box laws like guns seems excessive, even for politicians. Although, funny story: in California, if you have a gardening tool in your trunk, like an axe, it's completely legal. But if the axe is missing its head, it's classified as a weapon and is illegal. Friend of a friend got dicked over by that once.

>>75155
Good point, I should've used a claymore as an example instead. Though that too may be allowed most other places. Best thing is the any-length concealed carry of folding knives without a minimum age requirement.

I found this electric grill while walking around on my block. It's pretty highend and has removable plates so the owner must have tossed it because it was broken. I looked online and the fix is order a new thermal cutoff switch or bypass it entirely which is what I will do. yum grilled sandwiches.

I'm inspired by all of this.

Found 35 rolls of duct tape in my local hardware stores dumpster... So much potential!

bumping for more,

Not exactly diving, but I saw one of my neighbors throwing out some perfectly good stuff by the trash pickup area by my building, so I swiped it.

-Five medium sized dinner plates with a flower pattern on them.

-Curtain rod with no mounting hardware.

-Several plastic tupperware containers, the tall kind that probably is meant to hold cereal.

-One large tupperware lid. Useless without the container.

-One large casserole pot. No lid unfortunately.

-Large dish-drying rack.

-One of those sealed large bottles that hold pickled vegetables (peppers immersed in liquid in my case). Not sure if it's supposed to be decorative or if the contents are supposed to be eaten.

Gonna flip it on the online classifieds.

>>61598
Reading this now. Full of info? Yes. Does the author come off as a giant asshole? Yes. We get it. You don't like 5-0. At least come up with something else to call them besides "pig".

>>75874

Agreed. Perhaps maybe the cops in his area are bad, but the ones in my town are just trying to do their job. Both of my best friend's parents are cops and they are some of the nicest people I know - granted I haven't run into them while in uniform.

There's a new market that opened in my town called Pro's Big Ranch Market (or of the sort). As soon as you walk in there are doughnuts and mexican pastires EVERYWHERE!! They have so much fresh produce, it's insane. I'm going there tonight to see if I can snag anything delicious.

>>75874
this. this everywhere.

i learned a few things and came across some stuff i never thought of, but if you take out the good infos, youre left with a diatribe that amounts to "fuck the system".

bump

Has this thread reached the bump limit?

Lets find out.