How to make $1,570 in one day | Dumpster Diving

[KLaw]

Ha, I did! We had great success to the point where we actually bought the dumpsters and trucks to haul the "merch" away. I sold that business about 5 years ago due to scaling problems. Once you hit the 1M pounds level the big waste haulers notice and put you out of business.

How / who did you sell to?

 

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[Jambla]

The company I work for throws away lots of material and various other items related to joinery. We manufacture furniture and we burn the off cuts we can but we still have too many for our burner. Every other week we have a 16 yard skip emptied but that's not enough for our waste.

People in the factory tend to store things of value that are left over from a job but this means the factory becomes cluttered. The other day we had a factory clear out and brought in a 40 yard roll off dumpster, we had to be ruthless with what we threw because otherwise it just sits in the factory and space is a premium. Lots of stuff got thrown away that would have been valuable to the right person.

 

[rrclark]

I just cannot come to jumping in the garbage but those finds if true, amazing!

 

[focusedlife]

This is one of the most amaze balls side hustle threads I've ever come across.

Even though the rewards are pretty sizeable...how does he mitigate the eventual and (I'd imagine) common...er...crappier and hazardous contents you would, typically, expect to find in those there dumpsters?

 

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[minivanman]

Ok, so I know this couple that sells on ebay and nowadays they sell on a lot of the local sales sites. They do some dumpster diving but it's not the type of dumpster in the picture. It is LEGAL in their town and they go to high end stores. It's no secret they do this. They've been stopped be the police and by the store employees and neither really said anything..... just making sure they were ok. This is only one way they get things to sell. They both retired from 6 figure jobs to go in to this business. They like doing this for some reason so more power to them. Lots of guys around here go around and pick things up from the curb. They miss out on probably $100,000+ a year because they have a pickup full of things and they take it to the scrap yard and get pennies for it but if they were smart they would sell it on the local sites and make WAY more than at the scrap yard. Neither of these is Fastlane and for the record..... even if dumpster diving was Fastlane, I don't think I could do it, even in 'clean' dumpsters behind businesses.

 

[msufan]

The strategy here is definitely to find a way to have a college pay you to be the company that removes students' end-of-semester trash in addition to the salvaging that is described here, thus winning on both ends of the deal.

 

[minivanman]

Yeah but that's only when school lets out and only a few dumpsters. Not even enough there to call it a side hustle.

 

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[Kak]

I just can’t understand this. A trash collecting business that recycles the metal, cool... but there’s no way you would find me treasure hunting in a dumpster.

 

[AndrewNC]

I just can’t understand this. A trash collecting business that recycles the metal, cool... but there’s no way you would find me treasure hunting in a dumpster.

lol My friend who does this owns a software business, and simply goes dumpster diving for the fun of it; often times finding things of value that bring in a few hundred to dollars here and there. Not even for the money.

Then, there are people out there who do it full time, with pickup trucks going out every day and such.

It's a Boulder thing.

 

[Kak]

lol My friend who does this owns a software business, and simply goes dumpster diving for the fun of it; often times finding things of value that bring in a few hundred to dollars here and there. Not even for the money.

Then, there are people out there who do it full time, with pickup trucks going out every day and such.

It's a Boulder thing.

I hope all these people have their hepatitis shots.

 

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[million$$$smile]

I'll be honest with you. I find it extremely hard to respect anyone that will dumpster dive when they are earning a living some other way.

One of the issues that I have seen personally is that some organizations such as Goodwill have had to remove their collection boxes around cities UNLESS they are manned. There were droves of people running around at night going through the boxes and removing the best of the lot. I knew someone that did this to pay for their drugs. She told me that sometimes there would be 2 or 3 of them going through a collection box at 3 a.m.

Anyone that will dumpster dive isn't too far from stealing from a charity collection box. Justification is just around the corner.

When I give items away, I don't expect someone that really doesn't need it to take it for resale.

Dumpster diving behind stores and other places isn't what I would consider an honorable 'hobby'.

 

[Raoul Duke]

I hope all these people have their hepatitis shots.

What Kills More People Each Year: TB, HIV/AIDS Or Viral Hepatitis?

It's Viral Hepatitis...

 

[xps2340]

I'll be honest with you. I find it extremely hard to respect anyone that will dumpster dive when they are earning a living some other way.

One of the issues that I have seen personally is that some organizations such as Goodwill have had to remove their collection boxes around cities UNLESS they are manned. There were droves of people running around at night going through the boxes and removing the best of the lot. I knew someone that did this to pay for their drugs. She told me that sometimes there would be 2 or 3 of them going through a collection box at 3 a.m.

Anyone that will dumpster dive isn't too far from stealing from a charity collection box. Justification is just around the corner.

When I give items away, I don't expect someone that really doesn't need it to take it for resale.

Dumpster diving behind stores and other places isn't what I would consider an honorable 'hobby'.

Respectfully, I hold the opposite view. Dumpster diving may be considered the MOST honorable hobby.

First off, garbage you put in the garbage bin are NOT donations. Donations you make in a Donation box at a Donation company is Donation! Pilfering that is wrong, and we agree there. But you can't equate that to garbage, which is what is in a dumpster.

Secondly, dumpster diving means you're creating value out of nothing (actually less than nothing, as garbage has negative "value"). You're using no resources to create something. Less pollution, less waste, less everything. Basically the poster child of Reduce/Reuse/Recycle. Keeping things out of the landfill and not creating more pollution I think is quite honorable.

Essentially, garbage dumpster =/= donation box

 

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[Deleted50669]

The real f*cked up part of all this is it could be scaled somewhat easily.

 

[minivanman]

Great idea to earn more. very interesting story. dumpster rental is a good service in usa.

Great way to spam your business on here but this thread has nothing to do with renting a dumpster. I'd be nicer and explain but I'm not sure you are interested in anything except trying to get a link..... which actually doesn't do much if anything nowadays anyway.

 

[ChrisV]

I hope all these people have their hepatitis shots.

Yea.. he's making a joke but actually watch out. People throw out MacBooks, but you know what else they throw out? Needles. Among other things. I mean it's cool you made some money but I'd really be careful.

 

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[ChrisV]

I'll be honest with you. I find it extremely hard to respect anyone that will dumpster dive when they are earning a living some other way.

One of the issues that I have seen personally is that some organizations such as Goodwill have had to remove their collection boxes around cities UNLESS they are manned. There were droves of people running around at night going through the boxes and removing the best of the lot. I knew someone that did this to pay for their drugs. She told me that sometimes there would be 2 or 3 of them going through a collection box at 3 a.m.

Anyone that will dumpster dive isn't too far from stealing from a charity collection box. Justification is just around the corner.

When I give items away, I don't expect someone that really doesn't need it to take it for resale.

Dumpster diving behind stores and other places isn't what I would consider an honorable 'hobby'.

I think this is a bit much. They're taking from dumpsters that are throwing things away. Not the donation box.

Respectfully, I hold the opposite view. Dumpster diving may be considered the MOST honorable hobby.

First off, garbage you put in the garbage bin are NOT donations. Donations you make in a Donation box at a Donation company is Donation! Pilfering that is wrong, and we agree there. But you can't equate that to garbage, which is what is in a dumpster.

Secondly, dumpster diving means you're creating value out of nothing (actually less than nothing, as garbage has negative "value"). You're using no resources to create something. Less pollution, less waste, less everything. Basically the poster child of Reduce/Reuse/Recycle. Keeping things out of the landfill and not creating more pollution I think is quite honorable.

Essentially, garbage dumpster =/= donation box

From a moral perspective, I agree. All those items would be crushed otherwise, wasting manhours, increasing CO2 emmissions etc. I mean I'm certainly not going swimming in a dumpster, but morally it checks out.