Lucky Day Yesterday

Talk about being in the right place at the right time, twice: Scouring the areas of my town that have Monday morning trash pickup late yesterday morning/early yesterday afternoon, I came across some steel shed pieces that were at the curb. Turns out the guy who was getting rid of them had taken down his old, decrepit and rickety shed and was in the process of bringing the rest out of his backyard, he said that it was fine if I took it all, and I even helped him move the remainder of it out of his yard into the back of my dime (s10 for those who are unaware of that little nickname for the Chevy/GMC S-series trucks). It only got better when his neighbor across the street handed me a box full of copper pipe and tubing. I gave the guy who was getting rid of the shed (and his wife) as well as his neighbor across the street a few of my business cards. The guy's wife said she was gonna give one to a friend of hers, and, to make it even better, the guy who gave me that copper said that he has a fridge that he's looking to get rid of soon and would give me a call when he's ready to get rid of it.

After tying down the shed pieces (and putting the box full of copper behind my driver seat in the truck), I proceeded to another area that actually has Tuesday morning trash pickup just to see if anything was being put out well in advance, and just my luck, I found an old, beat up stove, which I loaded into the truck on top of the old shed pieces (with help from the guy who was getting rid of the stove, left him a card too). Tied it all down again with the stove providing extra top weight to prevent any of the shed pieces from flying off and, since I had no more real space left for much of anything else, proceeded to head home, where I didn't even bother unloading anything, and called it a day.

Took all of that steel and copper in early this morning before heading off to my full-time job and walked out with $117, not bad for 2 hours worth of work I think, and I have a couple of potential clients who may have even more stuff in the future for me. Definitely a great day out on the trail doing what I dub as either "treasure hunting" or "shopping (more like "shopping spree" I know)."

It always pays to ask before you take stuff from the curb (if anybody is around) about 80% of the time they will have more stuff to get rid of. Nice score, keep it up.

Originally Posted by happyscraper

It always pays to ask before you take stuff from the curb (if anybody is around) about 80% of the time they will have more stuff to get rid of. Nice score, keep it up.

Careful though, my wife asked one lady if it was alright and got roped into praying with her for 20 minutes. Prayer is okay, but there was scrap metal to gather!

Originally Posted by JunkmanDan

the guy who was getting rid of the shed (and his wife) as well as his neighbor across the street

Almost started to sound like you coulda gotten into more than you really wanted!

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Good job, but did you pull all the brass fitting off the stove first?

Because of storage and time constraints (not to mention having to lift the sucker from a decent height off the truck), I was unable to, otherwise I would have. I did, however, cut as much wire out as I could when I went to dump it off, but not enough wire to justify cashing it in right then and there, put it with the rest of my wire that I currently have...

I was just messin with ya Dan, when I read the guy was getting rid of his shed, and his wife, and the neighbor across the street

Originally Posted by JunkmanDan

I gave the guy who was getting rid of the shed (and his wife) as well as his neighbor across the street a few of my business cards.

Now THAT my friends is a clean-up! Getting rid of the shed, wife, and neighbor all in one fell swoop! Bet he's gonna have lots of extra space after that!

Originally Posted by Bear

I was just messin with ya Dan, when I read the guy was getting rid of his shed, and his wife, and the neighbor across the street

Oh, I get it now, even though that wasn't what I meant at all...

Originally Posted by Mick

Can I get the shed?

It was shot and falling apart, rusted to hell. Probably by now it's on its way to becoming part of a skyscraper somewhere overseas...

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Hey, Dan could of had a new wife and a new neighbor,,,lol

One wife is enough for me!

Originally Posted by bluemeate

is it legal to strap a load down over the height of the bed walls?

Hey Blue, I do it every time. Just look at the truck to the left of this