My curb routes have been really weird lately. Not much quantity to speak of, but when I do find something, it's been really good. I can't tell if I'm just getting beat to the big stuff and just getting lucky with the stuff I do find, or if people haven't been throwing much stuff out.
Some of my recent good fortune:
-3 computer towers in the past two weeks. Prior to that, I think I've only found few computers in the previous 4 or 5 months since I've started scrap. I'm sure this is related to people getting new computers for Christmas. (weird thing about a computer I just found last night- it had obviously been opened up there on the curb and it looked like somebody was trying to rip out the modem without unscrewing the backplate first- it was twisted but still in there. The memory and the harddrive were the only things missing... why didn't they just take the whole thing, even just for shred-weight? And why would you stand in snow on the curb to take one apart?)
-Two days ago, I took my wife's car to work. I never usually do this, because I like travel through the neighborhoods on my way home from work. Her car is much nicer when it's freezing and snowy out, and I took the lazy man's way that day. I paid the price by finding a water heater on my way home and not being able to get it. That's the first water heater I've seen on the curb since I started doing this. I lost sleep that night over the brass and copper hanging off of it. Well last night on my run, I saw two guys walking a water heater down their driveway to the curb. I couldn't believe it. I stopped and talked to them, and THEY LOADED IT IN MY VAN. Talk about luck. They acted like I was doing them a favor by taking it. There was probably a few pounds each of copper and brass I knocked off of it.
-The week before Christmas, I was going through my best neighborhood, and I found a Denon A/V receiver with remote and manual in a bag setting out. It looks brand new, not a speck of dust or dirt on it. I forget the model number, but it looks like used ones are going for over well $200 on Ebay right now. It's only a few years old, and quite a bit better than the old one I am using. I've been itching for an upgrade for quite a while now, and this was a perfect find.
-Maybe the most interesting "find" of the past few weeks: I was on my second-to-last street one night last week, and I saw what looked like a little metal shelf next to a pile of boxes. I pull over and check the shelf, and it was just plastic. While I was there, I gave a quick glimpse into the top box and it looked like a bunch of crap. Papers, pictures, office stuff. I was cold and tired and decided to skip it. As I'm pulling out of the neighborhood to go home, I got a super-nagging feeling in my gut to turn around and check that box. I was thinking that people don't usually throw personal pictures away unless they're in a hurry, or it's not their stuff, so they don't care what they're throwing out... either way, maybe there was something good thrown away in the box. Since I had space in the van, and I was tired, I just decided to throw the box in the van and I would sort it out at home. Underneath the box turned out to be a Sony A/V receiver (no remote, but in practically-new condition) and a Realistic stereo receiver (also in good condition, but very old), and a decent old DVD player (again, no remote). They were nestled behind empty boxes and garbage bags, so there was no way to see them without picking up that heavy box first (it was HUGE, probably 3' cubed and packed full, and it had to weigh well over 75 pounds). The electronics put a smile on my face, for sure, but check out what ended up being in the box: A bag full of Mary Kay makeup sales-crap in an expensive purse (my wife tells me that the Mary Kay stuff is super expensive, and it sells good around us, I guess.), a really neat wood Japanese doll, some nice office stuff, and an unused $25 gift card to Longhorn steakhouse. And underneath all the papers and misc. crap... a ton of frilly women's undergarments! Haha, I laughed so hard at that, the Mrs. came to see what I was doing. I filled up a whole garbage can with the papers and underwear.
Have you found anything cool, lately? Good after-Christmas junk?
