Dumpster Finds (Another Man’s Trash)

Return tag said broken. Took it apart and fixed it with a little super glue.

Let me dig up a pic of my ex girlfriend.

Return tag said “handle broken”. I loosened the knob on the opposite side and “fixed” it. Lol.

Set of 3 nonstick sauce pans with lids. In the box. Return tag said “Rust on the inside of pots”.

It was the copper colored flecks in the coating.

They work great. $80 set for free.

I’ve got more. I’ll post them later.

Where do you find this stuff? (Don’t answer “in a umpster!”)

Is it wrong that this is what I pictured when I saw this thread title?

RacerX said:

Where do you find this stuff? (Don’t answer “in a umpster!”)

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Usually in compactors from target, Home Depot, sams club or Walmart. Or when we put open tops out at Walmarts for overflow and renovations.

Sometimes I’ve found things in cans brought in by other guys from belk or the like. If the happen to dump right next to me when I’m dumping.

I found a mouse trapped in a can I was emptying a long time ago. I tipped it to let him be free and a got tam seagull swooped down and ate the poor bastard.

Pulled a whole case of these out of another guys can one time. 6 boxes. Had no clue what they were. Just saw it was Tiffany.

Turned out to be $150 box sets of Tiffany perfume and lotion. Gave a couple to the office girls and other drivers and brought 2 home.

Gave one to the wife and another to a friends wife.

And never forget……dumpster flowers.

That's it... i'm trading in my magnets for a dump truck.

Frank C Lyons said:

I found a mouse trapped in a can I was emptying a long time ago. I tipped it to let him be free and a got tam seagull swooped down and ate the poor bastard.

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I’ve found raccoons and possums. If I can I position a 2x4 to let them climb out.

Frank C Lyons said:

I found a mouse trapped in a can I was emptying a long time ago. I tipped it to let him be free and a got tam seagull swooped down and ate the poor bastard.

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It was hiding in the can from the gulls. Poor bastard indeed.

I find broken tape measures and tools and return them to Lowes or Home Depot because I'm a rat bastard. If they want to live by the chinesium, they can die by the chinesium.

Found 2 industrial meat slicers. Tried to sell them on here but no takers.

Sold them on the wife’s Facebook marketplace for $400 each.

Chdamn said:

Found 2 industrial meat slicers. Tried to sell them on here but no takers.

Sold them on the wife’s Facebook marketplace for $400 each.

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I almost bought one of those. lol

I sold U.S. Divers gear at the dive store. People would return stuff cause it didn't fit right or whatever, (and we were good about fitting people correctly but you-know..some people) and USD would tell me to not return it just throw it away.
Um, no. There was nothing wrong with it and like new.
Masks, fins, snorkels, suits, boots, blah blah and I sold the pro line stuff. It was pricey.
I couldn't resell it but I gave lots of it away to my buddies and regulars.
It's amazing what companies will tell you to throw away.

Chdamn said:

Return tag said “handle broken”. I loosened the knob on the opposite side and “fixed” it. Lol.

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This guy bought and returned it.

yard mongrel said:

I find broken tape measures and tools and return them to Lowes or Home Depot because I'm a rat bastard. If they want to live by the chinesium, they can die by the chinesium.

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Had a driver that use to get the display car seats out of the Walmart compactors. Go buy the real ones from the store and return the displays in the box then sell the good one on Craigslist.

I have one of those really nice Dyson cyclone fans in every room of my house. All free. Gerber pocket knives, kitchen knives, Bluetooth speakers, watches, I know people who’ve found cell phones and laptops. A bunch of vacuum cleaners.

Chdamn said:

And never forget……dumpster flowers.

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Looks like she keeps you under lock and key with that door pipe.

yard mongrel said:

I find broken tape measures and tools and return them to Lowes or Home Depot because I'm a rat bastard. If they want to live by the chinesium, they can die by the chinesium.

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Hard to do that now as of Feb 1, you'll need receipt or lookup to return stuff at HD.

Not exactly from a dumpster, but my dad used to go to flea markets and would buy any "Old Timer" pocket knives he found with broken blades for like 50 cents or a dollar apiece. They had a lifetime guarantee, so he'd mail them back to the factory, and they'd either replace the broken blades or just send him a brand new comparable model knife for free. We always had a bunch of them lying around when I was a kid. He knew all the companies that had good replacement warranties. I once picked up a big S.O.G. leatherman tool that was broken in half at the joint. It was just lying in the middle of the road at an intersection. I figured I could take the blades out of it and use them for something. My dad took it and sent it back to S.O.G. and they sent him a brand new one for free.

A couple of our convenience centers have a tent for free stuff. Picked up a mini shop vac and used it for years.

Chdamn said:

Found 2 industrial meat slicers. Tried to sell them on here but no takers.

Sold them on the wife’s Facebook marketplace for $400 each.

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I got one working and cleaned up and now it's in the closet because I can't afford the meat to slice with it.

I can take pics later, but I only have one treasure from a dumpster - a brand new (still had the product cards in it, like warranty cards etc) Timbuk2 messenger bag
Tried to look it up on their site, nothing there. Emailed them and it was a custom bag that a company had ordered - yes, there's a small logo on the outside, a pharma company. Easily a 100 dollar bag. Had a tab bit of dirt on it, spent a few cleaning it up and it's still in rotation of use

Roc was the king of dumpster diving.

It's a good thing @Chdamn's Wife has been with you for a while. Imagine springing this on a new woman: you know, I just paw through dumpsters for all the nice stuff I give you.

GoWolfpack said:

It's a good thing @Chdamn's Wife has been with you for a while. Imagine springing this on a new woman: you know, I just paw through dumpsters for all the nice stuff I give you.

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"i got a good deal, one of the gun people from the internet clued me in but said i can't tell anybody"

One of my drivers gave me a case of Mr Burberry shaving lotion he found. The wife loved the smell so I splurged and bought a bottle of the cologne. $100.

About 2 weeks later I’m in one of the trucks and see an almost full bottle laying on the floor. I called the regular driver and asked him who’s it was. He said “I found it in the landfill. I use it to spray in the truck when the landfill smell is really bad”.

I said “you mind if I buy you a bottle of brute and take this”. lol.

My son needed a new bike when he outgrew his first one. Was just about to go buy him one when Walmart got an open top and threw away every display bike they had.

Got a brand new $200 3 speed dirt bike for free.

I was visiting next to a substation upgrade when I saw wire hanging over the edge of a large dumpster. Asked a worker if I could look in the dumpster and take the wire. Took anything on top I could pull out. Three kids and a mom where walking on a trail beside it. Kid- “why is the man in the dumpster”. Other kid “he’s homeless.” Took it to the scrap yard getting almost $600 that day. Went straight to a home and garden center where I bought a commercial push mower and ate a steak dinner and had mad money left.

Walmart compactor




Home Depot compactor




Other than that…tool bags, packages of alkaline batteries, bags of grass seed/fertilizer/mulch/topsoil, light bulbs, insulated lunch bags and some pretty decent pieces of lumber.

Found this in the dumptster at work a few months ago. I hide it in various spots throughout the building and wait for someone to find it. I've had to retrieve it from the same dumptster a few times. Her name is Shelby.

Any of you guys find a dewalt or bosch miter saw in there, lemme know.

It’s amazing what corporate America puts in a dumpster. When I worked in a fiber optics manufacturing plant I was told to reduce inventory in my department immediately in 2001 when the industry hit rock bottom. They brought in dumpsters where I threw away many millions of dollars of brand new specialty parts and motors. It was all about the inventory taxes.

BlackGun said:

It’s amazing what corporate America puts in a dumpster. When I worked in a fiber optics manufacturing plant I was told to reduce inventory in my department immediately in 2001 when the industry hit rock bottom. They brought in dumpsters where I threw away many millions of dollars of brand new specialty parts and motors. It was all about the inventory taxes.

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Yet if you wanted to take some home you'd never get permission or you would be fired for stealing.

I've seen both.

After US Opens at Pinehurst in 2005 and 2014 we found miles of wire, unused wood of all sizes and descriptions, shirts still in the wrappers, etc. Unbelievable what the USGA threw away after those events.