Is dumpster diving a thing of the past?
Well, I have to say been there done that. I remember when living in a small city in New Jersey every Wednesday night I would go out on a patrol for computer parts. You guessed it, Wednesday was bulk trash night and man did I clean up. Not only was there whole computers, there were monitors, printers, stereos, DVDs, all kinds of things.
There are so many new and improved ways to get free stuff these days it only takes knowing where to look and what to look for is the the real key.
I have to say it is a dangerous and some what embarrassing at first but you get over both quickly. Once you’ve got a bunch of free AKA junk and made some money off it you’ll forget any inhibitions. These days with so many retail giants having tens of thousands of items on their shelves, you can almost count on them tossing brand new items many in their original packaging.
A little tip for today’s Dumpster Diver, don’t forget to look for sales slips with coupons and free bees. Go a head and do a search for coupons on ebay and see what comes up. It’s an easy but tedious money maker for sure. Probably shouldn’t put this out there. But, I have sold every gift card I’ve ever got for a gift on ebay. Got a $50.00 Walmart gift for you birthday. You could sell it in less than a day for $40.00 on ebay. “True story.”
What to look for when Dumpster Diving?
There is no real answer here. It’s all pot luck of course. If you are looking in the perfect HOT ITEM you would probably find many you could sell, many that may sell and many that would be just someone else’s junk you risked you neck for jumping into a scummy dumpster.
Many people I see on youtube.com Dumpster Dive behind retail giants like Target, Walmart and so on, you can almost surly find new discard items of all kinds. Even electronics and at which I would probably stay away from anything that can get contaminated or destroyed by water. Most dumpsters have lids but I’m sure in a rain storm there is moisture. The last thing you want are returns.
The greatest thing about The Dive is the price. FREE of course and it may take some time and lots of effort. Depending how far the nearest Walmart is you should watch your gas expenses as well. It can be loads of fun and most likely you’ll have a partner on your diving crew who may or may not be as enthused as you but none the less it’s a good idea to have someone tag along just for the safety factor.
One good thing is, and I probably should do a purge (still got lots of unsold ebay items in my storage) when you don’t sell items you acquired for Dumpster Diving AKA someone else’s trash, you can just use the time and/or let it become dumpster food again and pay it forward honey! Just let it go….
My eBay 