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getting used to dumpster diving?

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  1. #1
    ParkerFlyer4 started this thread.
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    getting used to dumpster diving?

    Everytime I dumpster dive I am nervous. and I feel like everyone thinks im a crack head. Or a bum, diggin for dinner. Does this ever change? I would dive in a lot more often if I didn't care what people thought...



    Today In 1 dumpster I found:
    A vacuum (the cord broke at the base so they threw it away. still works. And they kept the cord and wrapped it up for me
    2 monitors and 1 tower
    Microwave
    dvd player and a small tv.

    Good score for 5 min of, hurry my ass up and get the goods before anyone else sees me!

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  3. #2
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    Stop worrying about what everyone else thinks and start making money.

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  5. #3
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    You live in Wooley lol

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    Quote Originally Posted by ParkerFlyer4 View Post
    Good score for 5 min of, hurry my ass up and get the goods before anyone else sees me!
    That was the best 5 minute youtube video I've seen in a while! Will you be going out again tomorrow?

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  8. #5
    ParkerFlyer4 started this thread.
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    looks like everyones watching me..... I thought for sure my camo bandanna and face paint would be enough when I rolled up to the dumpster in my rhododendron. I'll have to re-think my incognito.

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  10. #6
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    Wasn't me but I have 3 monitors if u want them...

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    Quote Originally Posted by ScrapYaHerd View Post
    Stop worrying about what everyone else thinks and start making money.
    you said it............It's all about money honey

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    I just zone out & don't look at any one, 9 times out of 10 a dumpster seems to pay out something. 1 out of 100 you will get your chops busted by the owner

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  14. #9
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    PRIDE....I keep reading about pride on this site. People saying that they left their pride behind ages ago, therefore they can dumpster dive or curb side shop. IMHO I think we all have the strongest Pride! The act of getting money, to take care of our families, no matter what it takes!!! To hold our heads up high while doing a job that the masses don't understand. Getting in a dumpster with people watching. HELL I think that takes more pride , guts and balls than most people have.

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    I agree with totalfish. When I was out of work, my goal was to provide for my family. I could care less about the looks I get then, now or in the past. Been garbage picking most of my life and it tells people I value a dollar and I am down to earth without taking anything for granted. Hell, I get dirty looks when people ask where I grew up (low income town).

    The only thing about diving is to watch the laws on tresspass and watch for bugs you might pick up.
    Oh yeah, here in NJ you now have to watch for black bears!

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  18. #11
    gustavus is offline Metal Recycling Entrepreneur
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    When my son was around 10 years old took him and his mother to a mud bog run, an hour later my son is complaining that he's bored. So I handed in a burlap sack and told him to go and pick beer bottles and cans to which he complained about but went grudgingly.

    When he had the trunk of the car full I ran him over to a bottle dept, $40.00 later no more complaining. I'm not sure how much he made that day but it kept me busy running him back and forth to the bottle depot.

    At the end of the day my boy is asking if we can come back, I told him that I had already seen the mud boggers do their thing a second day would be boring but if he paid my admission I would help him pick bottles. to which he agreed.

    The event was for 3 days, on the second day some guy is telling me what I jerk I am by having the boy picking bottles for me - child labor. When I told this guy that he had it wrong that it was I who was helping and that the boy was getting all the proceeds from our combined efforts.

    On the last day my son took his mother and I out for a Chinese dinner and still had slightly over $800.00 to the good from which he wanted to buy a motorcycle. The next weekend we went to several dealerships seeking out a cycle with engine problems.

    Finally we found a sweet Kawasaki KX-80 with a seized piston that we got for a song, we dissembled the engine then sent the cylinder over to Mongoose in Coquitlam to have it sleeved with a Wiseco then mated up a piston and connecting rod from the same manufacture who are well known for their high performance after-market parts.

    Wiseco: http://www.wiseco.com/

    Mongoose Engine: http://www.mongoosemachine.com/

    With the connecting rod and piston installed slid the cylinder into place then scribed the ports, removed the cylinder then did some porting and polishing before the final assembly. One day riding at the pit another kid with a KDX-80 water cooled wanted to swap bikes for awhile, when the KDX kid came back he was all smiles asking all sorts of questions on how and the why my sons KD-80 bike had such an impressive power band.

    The secret of course was in the time spent porting and polishing, which paid off in spades.

    At the time I had a Can Am 175, which can turn your hair prematurely gray. My son and I spent many pleasurable weekends riding up in the mountains near Chilliwhack and Hope B.C..

    Live your own life as you see fit and don't let it bother you with what others think - screw em.
    Last edited by gustavus; 05-22-2012 at 10:35 AM.


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    Got used to the odd,dirty looks along time ago not from this but from metal detecting in the water. I could hear some people poor guy must be out of work blah blah blah yup out of work swinging a 1500.00 detector also making money lol. Don't give a rat's arse what other people think there's money to be made go out and get it.

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  21. #13
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    I have had people call me a bum or a loser for digging in dumpsters. One guy changed his tune real fast when I pulled out a near new 4 drawer Craftsman toolbox!

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    on Saturday my parents had a small cookout at their apartment with me, my g/f, my brother, sister in law, and nephews. I've pulled stuff out of their dumpster before, both my parents know it. So my mom comes up to me and tells me theirs metal in the dumpster, looks like part to a grill? So my mom, g/f, and I walk out to check it out. Here it's a base that you set a pot on with a line that would hook up to a propane tank (can't think of a technical term, but for like making booyah.) Also a exhaust heat shield, tall lamp, and a couple other small things. My g/f doesn't want it in her car, so my mom says I can throw it in their garage. But she's telling me "hurry up, Jesus Christ the neighbors are going to think we're (bleep) poor, look like scumbags digging out of the dumpster". I say "who gives a (bleep) what they think, I gotta support myself too."

    So we go back to the patio, and my brother goes "where were you?" I say "Makin money." "Oh, dumpster diving again? That reminds me, I have a computer monitor for you, come by after dinner."

    So, then I go by my brothers. He had a monitor, plus took the liberty of walking across the street and grabbing an old carpet scrubber off the neighbors curb. Old style Kenmore, looks like a shop vac and the scrubber hooks up to it. Works **** well as a shop vac actually, saved me $80 in buying one.

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  25. #15
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    First time you find a bunch of tools someone dumped or something you really "want" for yourself, but maybe haven't got around to buying...that feeling will fade.

    Then you don't care who sees you or what they think.

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    I don't give a rats arse. I am making money and saving it from the landfill which won't last forever. Those landfills add up. That extra money I get gets spent locally and helps spur the economy. Many more reasons than that, but there is a start.
    "64K should be enough for anybody." - Bill Gates 1981
    http://www.treasurecoastelectronicrecycling.com/

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  29. #17
    ParkerFlyer4 started this thread.
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    Thanks for the reply's guys, appreciate it. I work a full time job, and scrap as a hobby/side job. So I only take freebees. I don't have any financial 'need' to dive, so I don't very often. But it seems like I always find some treasure every time I jump in.

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  31. #18
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    I admit I am a bit self conscience when I dumpster dive, but hey I am keeping stuff out of the landfill and putting cash in my pocket.

    My last diving expedition netted me 110 bags of potting soil which I sold through a local auction. My take was $187 after fees. Not bad for less than an hours work.

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    There's another way to look at this.

    People should be ashamed of how much of the earth's resources they waste. When they put a perfectly usable item in the dumpster that they know will end up in the landfill their faces should burn with remorse. Why don't they have the decency to share it with a neighbor, or friend, a thrift store, or a scrapper?

    The values of our society are all turned around.

    We're the ones putting some of the huge volume of recyclables that get thrown out every day back into the system. We're providing a valuable service. We have every right to be proud of that.

    The wasters are the ones who should feel judged.

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    I actually love the fact that people give me these kinds of looks! The way I see it, if they think negatively of me for picking a dumpster they are not likely to move in on my territory and cut me out of money! for the record there's absolutely no shame in picking! In a few months I will have my first degree in business, and begin my bachelors..

    One thing we all know is buy low sell high... Well it don't get no lower than freezing so if that means me hopping in a dumpster and hopping out with $20 or more in goods... So be it

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