# Best thing you found dumpster diving **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 10, 2001, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683 "2001-11-10T22:05:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TotalRecall\_cb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@TotalRecall\_cb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TotalRecall_cb)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/1 "2001-11-10T22:05:11Z")
I got a computer. It looked like two broken ones, but put together it was one good one and a lot of spare boards. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/2 "2001-11-10T22:11:17Z")
Thousands of C-cell battery holders still in their packages. We loaded them into my friend’s pickup truck, took them over to the electronics salvage shop and received a few hundred dollars each for a couple of hours work. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/3 "2001-11-10T22:19:02Z")
Yeah, I’ve had a few half-decent computers out of skips(is this the same as a dumpster?) ---
**Author:** ![Wicked\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/2acd7d/32.png) [@Wicked\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wicked_Blue)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/4 "2001-11-10T22:39:38Z")
I had a dirty hippie boyfriend once who loved to go garbage picking. The first time he took me, I admit I was a little creeped out. But, I liked him, and I think if he suggested we go dogshit collecting, I’d go. He had just moved into a new apartment and had little furniture, so we went ‘shopping’. He actually furnished his whole dining room with stuff other people threw away. None of the chairs matched the table, but it looked cool in a hippie-stoner kinda way. He also found living room chairs and a crappy black and white television. I got tired of his starving-artist crap after a while, but we had fun while it lasted. Rose ---
**Author:** ![DaToad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@DaToad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaToad)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/5 "2001-11-10T22:44:31Z")
Myself, mostly alive, the morning after way to much tequila! (It was not a pretty sight) ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/6 "2001-11-10T22:51:25Z")
Couple days after Thanksgiving (think lots of rotting turkey carcases) my mother realized she had acidentally thrown away some very important papers. My dad and I had to dig halfway through the dumpster to find them. It was absolutely horrible but it made my mom happy and we felt good. For myself, old broken TVs with the screen still intact. 🙂 I had brought along my hammer for just such an occasion. weeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/7 "2001-11-10T23:10:03Z")
A working 19" color TV Dining room table A nice couch A car. Drove it for 5 years. All I had to do was wire around the neutral safety switch. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2001, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/8 "2001-11-10T23:17:52Z")
“A car. Drove it for 5 years. All I had to do was wire around the neutral safety switch.” How did you pull that out of the dumpster? ---
**Author:** ![GreatKingRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@GreatKingRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreatKingRat)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/9 "2001-11-11T01:35:13Z")
The store next to my pool hall throws out any damaged merchandise, I have found a case of dill pickles(one broken),a case of green olives(3 broken), two cases of lamp oil(1 broken in each,hope they throw away a lamp soon),a case of laundry detergent(1 broken,but still half full),two cases of heavy duty degreaser,three bags of kitty litter and numerous odds and ends.I check it every night after I close,actually had to get in it for some of the stuff. Years ago I found an old Texaco gas pump, like an idiot i just took the signs off the side of it,sold them for $85. Never dawned on me to get the whole pump, which I am sure would have gotten a good price. dammit ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/10 "2001-11-11T02:54:14Z")
After a bunch of college kids had graduated and moved out, many overseas, we found a chinese work processer. Tres cool. ---
**Author:** ![renigademaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@renigademaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/renigademaster)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/11 "2001-11-11T05:16:18Z")
I go dumpster diving and I have gotten many working computers including my DEC Vax 750/11, about 30 pentium II,s Laserjet 5p that only lacked toner, a Cisco 24 port swtich that had only the fiber uplink was bad. I donated most of them to my school or to charities. ---
**Author:** ![Turbo\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/12 "2001-11-11T06:07:02Z")
About 20 Big Macs, 5 Filet-O-Fishes, several cheeseburgers and lots of french fries all in one-easy-to-carry bag. ---
**Author:** ![eyewearlime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c6cbf5/32.png) [@eyewearlime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eyewearlime)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/13 "2001-11-11T12:11:19Z")
I used to work late at a store next to a sporting goods store. I have found Nikes, t-shirts, hockey sticks and pucks, golf clubs, baseballs, etc. all perfectly usable. They apparently would spray things that couldn’t be returned to the factory with ugly red ink and throw them away. Like I cared about red ink. Once we came very close to getting caught by the police (apparently it is stealing). We stayed very still and quiet and the cops never got out of the car. Hey, we would have been happy to share! The only sheer joy I received from a pretty lousy job. I’m pretty sure the sg store workers dived for our trash as well–we worked at a bookstore. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/14 "2001-11-11T13:09:25Z")
I’m in the 'burbs, where sidewalk salvage (ie, trashpicking) is the order of the day. Best find was a tripod for a camera. Other good ones were a drum and a beat-up but functional guitar amp. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/15 "2001-11-11T16:21:16Z")
When it legal to get in those rhino lunchboxes? If they are on a public US street that’s okay right? If they are on private property you need permission, right? Also, the Supreme Court said that trash is public property so I guess it’s okay to take. One lumber yard said that I could have lumber in their box as long as I didn’t climb into it. ---
**Author:** ![aftermarketeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@aftermarketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aftermarketeer)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/16 "2001-11-11T20:08:56Z")
I sometimes help clean up after the church functions, and there’s always a few idlers within peeking distance, just waiting for us to leave so they can find what’s edible. I always put the edible extra food in separate boxes, on top of the pile so it can be found without digging. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/17 "2001-11-11T20:21:31Z")
A hardwood (maple ?, cherry ?) office desk with one drawer and the legs missing. All the milk crates that I could carry (repeatedly). ---
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/18 "2001-11-11T20:47:15Z")
When I was in college, my roomate and I found this big mad-scientist-ish looking piece of computer hardware in a dumpster behind one of the buildings. It was a massive metal rack full of cards, the front full of LEDs and numeric displays. When you switched it on, it made a sound like a jet engine starting up and all the lights on the front would flash in interesting patterns. Apparantly it was some kind of old network hardware. Never got it do do anything useful, just dragged it back to the dorm room and left it switched on in the corner. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/19 "2001-11-11T21:07:02Z")
Just a couple of weeks ago I snagged a perfectly functional paper shredder next to someone’s trash can in our neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2001, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683/20 "2001-11-11T22:38:28Z")
Well, it wasn’t in a dumpster, but only next to it. More than once I’ve found things next to my friend’s condo complex dumpsters. People put it there so it will be taken. I just gave another friend’s daughter a fake Gucci backpack, I’ve taken bags of clothes to church along with a used but perfectly fine baby stroller, and I took for myself a folding camping director’s chair. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-thing-you-found-dumpster-diving/92683.md?page=2)