For when you care enough to send the very best...

but not pay anything for it.

I had a 4 year old dell computer, I took the inards out and put them in a 30 dollar case and gave it to my 7y/o daughter last year she didn't know the difference

Half eaten PANCAKES?

I'm trying to figure out how much Linda Paxman's grandchildren want to avoid getting gift from her now.

I went to one of these and got a left foot inside a shoe. My mother-in-law up in Canada loved it!

There's nothing like cantaloupe rinds from Gma on your birthday.

I can see a new holiday emerging from this, Homelessmas.

I'm a freegan so I am getting a kick out of not having to pay for these replies. . . .

Obligatory?

It's like Wal Mart only you actually pay what the items are worth.

"I love dump day!"

This is kinda like the Airman's attic thing in the USAF... meh I never understood why communities didn't do this type of thing on their own.

TeddyRooseveltsMustache: I can see a new holiday emerging from this, Homelessmas.

They already have that here in America, it's called Father's Day.

They used to do neighborhood cleanup weeks where you could put anything you wanted on the curb and the city took it for free. Some people found some pretty decent stuff being tossed.

Our town doesn't have a swap shop, but you set your reusable items on your curb a few days ahead of trash pickup. Unfortunately, the past couple of times I did it, the neighborhood tards smashed my stuff.

People shop too much. That is all.

Oh sweet Lord, my mother in law used to do this cr*p all the time, bringing me bags of junk, stained clothes, beat up toys etc, I just threw it away again - recycling at its best!
When she started bringing me stale bread from the food bank, I made her stop. I told her we had good jobs and could afford bread, save the food bank for those who actually need it.
I think she finally realized she never saw her grandchildren wear the junky clothes or play with the broken toys because she finally stopped.

I'm a snob, I BUY my trash at garage sales.

bnanahamk: Oh sweet Lord, my mother in law used to do this cr*p all the time, bringing me bags of junk, stained clothes, beat up toys etc, I just threw it away again - recycling at its best!
When she started bringing me stale bread from the food bank, I made her stop. I told her we had good jobs and could afford bread, save the food bank for those who actually need it.
I think she finally realized she never saw her grandchildren wear the junky clothes or play with the broken toys because she finally stopped.

Is that you, Dad?

I read that as "More and more people are going to the dump only to find the gifts they got for their grandchildren and other family members."

Why do they give it away? Sell that shiat. People throw away valuable stuff all the time. In fact, the richer you are the less likely you are to donate stuff that is in the $50-100 range in value.

Approves

My Grandfather said it, my Father said it and now I'm saying it.

Other countries could live off the stuff we throw away.

I'm not talking about food (although we waste a lot of that too) but think of all the things we throw away because they're scratched or not in pristine condition or could be made to work with a few minutes work. It's almost disgusting.

From TFA:

But shipping is expensive and so are presents. Paxman, a retired nurse, can't afford to splurge.

Um, the very definition of "splurge" is spending more on a pleasurable thing than you normally would. And nurses make excellent money.

Or, more accurately, the transfer station's official swap shop, a clean, organized thrift-store-like area stocked with clothes, housewares, electronics and miscellany.

Yeah, kids love getting clothes and housewares from the trash.

"You can get stuff for free," she said after finding a handful of like-new children's books and a toy train. "Great stuff."

But in recent years, as dump areas (now solid waste facilities and transfer stations) look to cut the cost of trash disposal, lower their impact on the environment and help out residents, those set-aside areas have exploded into full-sized, free-for-the-taking swap shops offering everything from tableware to kitchen sinks in which to wash them.

In Portland, we call that Dignity Village. They used to be called "Hoovervilles", but that was before they got those cool ripped tents and old paint tarps.

"More people seem to be looking at it, stopping more. It's popular," said Jerry Sabins, transfer station manager. "They call it their Wal-Mart store. A lot of residents say, 'I'm going to Wal-Mart today.'"

1. How would he know that if they say it before they get to his workplace?

2. I'm sure Wal-Mart is just thrilled about that.
3. It's already cheap plastic Chinese-made garbage when it's first bought from Wal-Mart. Why would you want more?

people have also snapped up fishing gear, house steps, a canoe.


Who throws out their house steps?

"I think people are going to use it more and be looking more, with the heating situation and everything," he said. "You know, everybody's cutting corners."

How will recovering someone else's trash heat your home?

The same day Paxman stopped by, Steve Borstelmann of Sumner dropped off a leather jacket that no longer fit him and a series of Superman videos, collector's edition.

"It's hard enough making the decision to get rid of something. It's really hard to throw things out," he said. "It's much nicer to know someone else is getting it."


That's why he drove all the way to the dump to get rid of one jacket and a couple of videos: because he has no sense.

"A lot of people, that's what they look forward to when they come here - just to pick through the stuff to see what they can find," Cookson said.


Yes, thank you for clarifying that. It didn't get mentioned ANYWHERE else in the article.

• Swap shops are usually open to town residents only.

• Swap shops want donations to be clean and useable. If it's broken beyond repair, stained or ripped, throw it out.

What are they going to do? Turn you away because your trash isn't good enough for the dump? Or you're from out of town and you're not good enough to rag-pick at the town dump?

I drop stuff off at these all of the time. Had some 15" CRT monitors that I had to get rid of. Didn't want to drive 3 of them to the computer disposal area 4 hours away so I dropped them off at a local dump's "swap area". Saves me time and if someone else wants them, cool.

What I hate is the people who go there and take stuff then sell I. I work with a Dr who does this. Takes books from the "book swap" at work then trades them in for credits.

castufari: I drop stuff off at these all of the time. Had some 15" CRT monitors that I had to get rid of. Didn't want to drive 3 of them to the computer disposal area 4 hours away so I dropped them off at a local dump's "swap area". Saves me time and if someone else wants them, cool.

What I hate is the people who go there and take stuff then sell I. I work with a Dr who does this. Takes books from the "book swap" at work then trades them in for credits.

Why is it your business what they do with it?

tonesskin: Why do they give it away? Sell that shiat. People throw away valuable stuff all the time. In fact, the richer you are the less likely you are to donate stuff that is in the $50-100 range in value.

That business model has been around for years. It's called a thrift store.

I think it's awesome that such places exist, rather than just funneling a bunch of usable stuff into the dump. I'd much rather have someone use stuff I don't need anymore, rather than just trash it.

I wouldn't want to be that lady's grandkid though. Sounds like she sends them a deluge of crap they don't need, and it probably all ends up in a dump anyway at the end of the cycle.

maxximillian: My Grandfather said it, my Father said it and now I'm saying it.

Other countries could live off the stuff we throw away.

I'm not talking about food (although we waste a lot of that too) but think of all the things we throw away because they're scratched or not in pristine condition or could be made to work with a few minutes work. It's almost disgusting.

/FTFY

castufari: What I hate is the people who go there and take stuff then sell I. I work with a Dr who does this. Takes books from the "book swap" at work then trades them in for credits.

I look at that as getting paid for the time they spend finding those items, and finding a place that will take them. I'd take issue if they were getting things for free from places like shelters which are designed to help the homeless, but these "swap areas" sound more like a free for all for anyone willing to rummage.

As a society, we throw out a lot of very good things to replace them with better ones. Things that still have a lot of use left in them, or only need a little bit of fixing up but the owner just can't be bothered.

I think anything like this that helps recycle items and cut down on waste is a very good thing. One person's trash is another's treasure and all that.

I wonder if there's a place in Orange County like that.

Used to go to the regional dump all the time back in the 80s with a pickup. We became friends with the guy that worked the late shift there, and he'd pull aside the best stuff for us.
Greatest score was a nephew who took the entire contents of his dead granny's apartment and dumped it there. We got the stereo, television, but most importantly, the entire stock of unopened bottles in the liquor cabinet. There was a lot of her oak furniture we should have taken, but we were too excited to start in on the rye.

ah yes central Maine where the people have no taste and are clearly proud of it.

Okay Farkers, here comes the math:

People in the United States throw away $900 billion worth of useful stuff every year, and I think that number may be light.

If you could salvage 25% of it, and sell that for 25 cents on the Dollar, that's $56.25 Billion a year. Call $25 thousand a minimum living wage, that's 2.25 million jobs.

So your fate is mapped out: If you are a freegan, you will have to scavenge a bunch of crap, haul it to flea markets and sell it. You will never get rich---but you will never starve either, and if times get really hard, you will see an increase of customers.

Just call it good insurance against economic downturns.


\\\ makes sense to me.


\\\ better than starving to death.

oroku_saki: tonesskin: Why do they give it away? Sell that shiat. People throw away valuable stuff all the time. In fact, the richer you are the less likely you are to donate stuff that is in the $50-100 range in value.

That business model has been around for years. It's called a thrift store.

Uh. No. That isn't remotely what I'm taking about. I'm saying that rich people tend to SKIP the thrift store. And selling $50 stuff for $2 at a thrift store isn't a good business model. Thrift stores are a good place for cheap stuff to sell at antique stores, but dumps are wonderful. Some rich people don't even value their items enough to thrift it.

We can have perpetual economic growth my simply manufacturing things and employing peolpe so they buy them!

Maybe in 1952.

We've knocked together more durable good items than the whole planet will ever use.

Ever. Time to shift gears.

I used to be a garbage man and I can tell you some of the stuff people threw away was crazy. Homeowners were pretty good about trashing stuff so it couldn't be reused.

Stores were a different story. Department stores in particular. Every year the stores would toss out last years models, returns, clothes that never sold and write it off as a tax loss. If you were at the transfer station when one of these buckets came in, you could score some nice stuff. I found a few flannels, a boom box, work boots still in the shoe box, a steel thermos.

Colleges are the same way. When kids graduate and clean out their dorms, everything goes. TVs, laptops, stereos, clothes, microwaves. They don;t want to ship it home so it gets thrown away. Farking wasteful if you think about it.

I never brought home old toys or thrown out food.

I know of at least six houses and four cars which people have walked off and left, all in my home town. They are free for the taking right now.

Best of the lot are a 1200 sf 2 + 1, and a late model Chevy Impala, respectively.

It would take some expense for repair, but they may be salvaged legally for free.

That's an awesome idea. I wish someone in Kansas City was doing this.

gonepostal: ah yes central Maine where the people have no taste and are clearly proud of it.

I can't speak to their taste but there is a lot of very old stuff in Maine. You can probably find some excellent antiques in the dump there.

I got this from the dump... someone was trying to throw it away. Why? The only thing I could guess is is because one of the doors were locked and the varnish on the top was peeling off. What did I do? Peel off the varnish sand it down and stain it. If taking stuff home from the dump is tacky, I don't want to be right.

Whatthefark:
Stores were a different story. Department stores in particular. Every year the stores would toss out last years models, returns, clothes that never sold and write it off as a tax loss. If you were at the transfer station when one of these buckets came in, you could score some nice stuff. I found a few flannels, a boom box, work boots still in the shoe box, a steel thermos.


The women and children's home I volunteer for gets donations from Target quite often. Mainly by way of food or items that are no longer sellable (ie: holiday merchandise). It's a tax write-off for them, and goes to a good cause.

I don't know why any business (or person) would want to throw something away that they know to be perfectly good instead of giving it to someone who truly needs it.

SAD tag strangely absent. Is the economy of the US that bad

\\will trade week old half-eaten chicken dinner for TF access

I know two brothers who both work at a transfer station.
Their gig is to supervise the discarding of lawn-mowers, weedwhackers and the like - anything powered by a small gas engine. They get to pick through the stuff, choose what may be repairable and squirrel them away to their own truck.

They have a well equipped shop at their house where they refurbish the mowers. They sell them locally or on Craigslist
Long story short their "recycling' business nets them more than the county pays (in the $40k range), much of it tax free.

G*d I love this country!

Vanetia:

I don't know why any business (or person) would want to throw something away that they know to be perfectly good instead of giving it to someone who truly needs it.

Don't know the legal parts but the large company I work for worries about potential liability.

bunner: We can have perpetual economic growth my simply manufacturing things and employing peolpe so they buy them!

Maybe in 1952.

We've knocked together more durable good items than the whole planet will ever use.

Ever. Time to shift gears.

A comment worth recycling.

Whenever i go to the dump there is always crap i wanna take back with me. but there is a huge NO SCAVENGING sign out there, and if you try to make off with something, the dump police chase you.

Daddakamabb: I got this from the dump... someone was trying to throw it away. Why? The only thing I could guess is is because one of the doors were locked and the varnish on the top was peeling off. What did I do? Peel off the varnish sand it down and stain it. If taking stuff home from the dump is tacky, I don't want to be right.

that style looks like the stuff my grandma had. the mean grandma, not the nice grandma. faux- mittel-european looking furniture throughout the house. it depressed me no end. i swore when i had my first place, it would be all white, with clear inflatable sofas and chairs. alas, by the time i got my first place, that moment in "pop" culture had vanished...

Oh, and for no reason:

I was once dating a girl. briefly. She told me her last boyfriend was a security guard at the dump. thats when i knew i had hit rock bottom.

BlorfMaster

Whenever i go to the dump there is always crap i wanna take back with me. but there is a huge NO SCAVENGING sign out there, and if you try to make off with something, the dump police chase you.

See my post above, First choice on everything that doesn't actually go directly to the landfill area belongs to the transfer station employees. I am given to understand that there is a seniority/pecking order with them as well.

I went to the dump this summer - I tore down a retaining wall. Found an awesome grandfather clock and dresser. They just needed to sanded down and painted.

I go to Goodwill too to find things to refurnish. It's actually fun.


/first time grabbing something out of the dump
//lots of weird shiat there