Dumpster Diving: Ways to make money

[jeffrey]

Dumpster diving offers a number of ways to make some extra money. You want to make sure that dumpster diving is legal in your city before going out and doing it, but if it is you can make some decent extra money doing it.

If you find stuff that is in good condition but which you don't need, you can still financially benefit from it. Take these finds and donate then to a local charity, a Goodwill or Salvation Army store. All the things you find and donate to charity you can deduct on your taxes. You can help out charities and get some tax write-offs on your federal taxes at the same time.

Many things that you find when dumpster diving will have value beyond giving to charity. The items with a higher value can be sold on sites like CraigsList or eBay to make some money. There are quite a few people who make a reasonable second income by selling what they find while dumpster diving.

Dumpster diving will also save you money. You can find a wide variety of things when dumpster diving which you won't need to purchase. This can save a couple hundred dollars each month.

[creditcardfree]

I've never had the nerve to try this. Has anyone here done it? Can you tell us about your successes/failures?

[disneysteve]

Well, if you are being literal and mean actually climbing into a dumpster, I'd have to say no. But if you mean it in a broader sense to include any trash-picking activity, then definitely yes, many, many times. I have pulled things out of dumpsters and rescued a great many items from the curb.

[nmboone]

My dad does this at Blockbuster to get free movies sometimes. It's kind of embarrassing!

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by nmboone

It's kind of embarrassing!

Why?

If you saw a $20 bill in the dumpster, would you be embarrassed to lean in and pick it up? If so, why? If not, why would it be embarrassing to pick up a $20 DVD?

I thought of one of my wife's favorite trash-picking stories. In 1990, Disneyland was celebrating its 35th anniversary. Kodak was running a promotion to mail in box tops from film boxes (you remember film) to get a free 35th anniversary watch. At the time, I was a pretty active dealer of Disney memorabilia so I did my best to get as many free watches as I could.

Anyway, we were attending my medical school graduation at the Philadelphia Academy of Music, a formal, ritzy affair. Of course, hundreds of photos were being snapped by everyone attending. So there we were, dressed in our finest, reaching into all the trashcans to pull out the discarded Kodak boxes to get the proof of purchase panels needed for the free watches.

The same year, we also got a ton of boxes when we visited Disney World, another place where thousands of pictures are taken daily. We did particularly well with the trash can in the Camera Shop on Main Street, where lots of people bought film and immediately opened and tossed the box.

I ended up with a few dozen watches. I sold them for about $15 each and made quite a nice profit.

[disneysteve]

The problem I have, which I've kept under control in the past couple of years, is that I would want to rescue everything I saw in the trash, even if I didn't personally need it. I just thought it was such a huge waste for it to go to a landfill. I'd end up filling up the garage with stuff. Some of it would end up sold at a yard sale, but a lot would just take up space. I've finally accepted the fact that I can't save the world myself. Now, I will drive past stuff if I have no use for it and nowhere to put it. It still annoys me, though. If I was retired, I'd definitely take it all in and sell it.

[Casebusters]

That sounds like fun, I have a Blockbusters near me so as long as they do not lock their dumpsters, I may have to look!

[payoutless]

A friend of mine made some big money this past summer. All she did was drive around a pick things up from the curbs of peoples houses. She didn't dive in a dumpster, but the premise is the same. She made over $400.00 in one month. All it cost her was about $50 in gas. She has been using craigslist to sale the items. I would not be scared to try something new, it might payoff in a big way.

[Saving_spree]

My cousin used to do this but I'm not that interested...

[connor_zen]

Well, with the internet, there are actually some technological ways to get the same results. Most cities on craigslist have a "for free" section in their "for sale" column, and sometimes there are some pretty good things that people give away for free. I guess that's kind of like dumpster diving in the 21st century—and you smell a lot better after the fact, too.

[GrimJack]

Here in Seattle there was a law suit that settled the 'dumpster diving is legal' issue. A guy who was 'rescuing' produce from a QFC (supermarket) was locked into one by an employee who then called the police. The guy sued for false imprisonment and won - all he wanted is an agreement from the store that it would allow anyone to scrounge through their dumpsters. It is probably not settled law but I know of no higher court ruling other than 'once it is in the garbage can it is no longer yours' that was litigated in the '60s.

[snafu]

There's a shop in our city called something like Shabby Chic. The ladies who own/operate get most of their merchandise from the curb after the trash is wheeled out in the expensive districts.

The ladies do the simplest of repairs, like replace drawer slides or re-glue chair rails and paint everything off-white or creme. A gold colored marker is used for details, edges and flaws. One of the four ladies sews the simplest of slip/chair covers for any of the small, upholstered pieces they 're-cycle.'

The merchandise looks great and the shop always seems busy.

[Mike75]

My wife will kill me if I ever bring back home anything that has ever been even near a trash can. She is a neat freak.

[anewday44]

I have to stay away from the dumpsters....that doesn't sound like any fun.

[Mike75]

Dumpster diving doesn't sound too good of an idea to me too.

[wnlbutterfly]

When we moved from our last rental home into our first home purchase, we rented a big dumpster because we had a LOT to toss. We had people dumpster diving, which I didn't mind until it got to the point of them leaving the trash they didn't want on the ground and I had to pick it up after I had already picked it up and placed it into the dumpster. We finally moved the dumpster inside the garage and put a "private property" sign up.

I would much rather things be recycled, I have put things on the curb (way before trash day), knowing that most likely someone would pick it up (hoping it would find a new home). I had a wooden child table and chair I sat out once and it showed up at a used furniture store in town.

There is a website called "freecycle" where you can get freebies that others don't want. A step prior to dumpster diving (since it never hits the curb). I have a friend in CA that gets a lot of craft supplies that way.

[superdad1580]

If my children were hungry I would do anything I could, including dumpster diving to feed them.