We're not talking about buried pirate treasure. It's garbage and it's not yours. You can't even USE a trash can that's not yours. I once had to go to Edina at 6 am to take a magazine out of a dumpster that my brother's friend threw away. It just had my name on it.

My former union brothers and sisters in the food handlers haven't gotten raises for YEARS. When you hurt the store, the store shifts the cost the employees and the customers. It's bad enough that they have to deal with Aldi, Super Target, Walmart, Costco, and other anti union establishments. Private citizens shouldn't make it harder on them.

That and also it's gross and against the law.

That shit is funny

Im not trying to pick a fight, or be contrary - no sarcasm zone here - but I am curious how picking through a stores garbage hurts the food handlers? I get that if someone sued, the store might lose money, and employees might not get raises... but I find it doubtful that that is the reason they havnt gotten raises for years. As you point out, Target and Walmart have been encroaching on smaller food retailers for years; they should get the brunt of the blame, not the enterprising and risk taking few that might see the value of thrown away stuff.

Also, would anyone really sue you for throwing away a magazine... actually trace it back to you and charge you for the use of the dumpster? Seems to me the only people that would know your magazine was there was a dumpster diver. Id also (like to) think that if they approached the police about it they would get laughed out of the station. Its such a non-issue, while there are far more serious and horrible things happening.

Im sorry, I respect your concern for all us working stiffs, but I just dont agree with your reasoning. There are plenty of places that do throw away lots of good stuff, and might not ever even look in that dumpster to see who might have tossed a random piece of garbage in there, taken an old soup can or three or would miss the pile of old apples someone could turn into cider.

While I myself dont eat out of dumpsters, I do keep an eye out for stuff of inherant material value. I have found some amazing stuff living in Madison, WI during moving day (A repairable Rickenbacker bass guitar! A Castiglioni Mezzadro chair!) . Its a full on sport/livleyhood there! I even did my thesis on re-use and waste reduction where I made salable products from disposed materials and goods that I "rescued" from dumpsters, curbside, manufacturers, etc in Brooklyn, NY.

I think those that do this are the vultures, hyenas and worms that clean up after the rest of society. I use these animal kingdom examples not in a negative way, but in a most positive way... they are a natural part of the life cycle. We are pretty disconnected from that.

Nawhattimsayin?

I read last year of a city dump out east (I think some rich Massachusetts town) actually having to have a security detail because it was being "invaded" by people from other towns that were basically picking through the rich people's trash. They locked up the city dump and wouldn't let people enter that didn't live in the rich neighborhood

Well articulated Ebb.

If FreeRangeZombie's scenario is accurate I see that as a money making opportunity that could be mutually beneficial for both parties.

Several relatives of mine plan every year to roam the streets of Bloomington during their clean-up days, where people put all manner of trash out on the curb to be hauled away. They have found all kinds of good stuff, including a sewing machine that only needed some minor maintenance to get going, and a brand new large Bialetti saute pan with lid that I use all the time. I just looked on Amazon, and a very similar pan sells for $75!

It is incredibly exciting to find good stuff... 'till it sinks in that we live in a throw away society that values little - least of all manufactured goods that used to take true skill to make. No wonder all the jobs are in countries that pay next to nothing for labor - no one understands the value of quality and only see the $ amount compared to other $ amounts, not understanding the relative dollar amount of buying something once vs buying it a dozen times.

Here ya go, ebb!

"Nowadays, people know the price of everything and the cost of nothing." - Oscar Wilde

Moving home days are best in college towns. Lots of dorm fridges, loveseats, chairs, small appliances, dishes, pots and pans, mattresses, etc.

All those years in Champaign/Urbana we never had to buy a vacuum cleaner.

Thanks, Gyro! Very fitting, watch my signature!

My roots in frugality (or at least appreciating material for what it is) run deep in my family. Since she collected metal and other material in New England during the depression, my gramma was 100% spendthrift. My entire childhood (and to this day), she had the following crocheted and mounted above her first-floor toilet:

"Use it up, wear it out; make it do, or do without"

Looking for an attribution for this quote (looks like it was brought from Great Britain by immigrants ~1900), I found this interesting article. And this great blog.

It all sounds so familiar. Growing up in my grammas house certainly made a deep impact on my mom...

My mother currently lives on an acre outside of Madison WI, where she has a huge garden, passive solar power that run tankless water heaters and offsets other energy suckers like AC, geothermal heating, a wood burning stove, chickens, bees, mushrooms, and who knows what else. In fact, aside from grains and rice, they (her and her husband) pretty much eat year round out of that garden and off their fruit trees with very little added - she trades for local organic meat with her chicken & duck eggs, honey and skills as a graphic designer and master gardener. I dont know her to have ever bought a loaf of bread. Lest you think their life is boring and mundane, they grow grapes, berries and rhubarb for wine, and hops for beer. They have yet to master either, but they have fun trying.

She knows the region, crops and seasons so well that she plants over plantings such that she can harvest several different crops from the same several square feet as they pop up at intervals. Growing up, I ran wild in the yard with her goats and geese.

Sometimes I regret not working harder to absorb her knowledge. That said, if there was sufficient interest, I could convince her to hold some seminars or classes on any of the above subjects at a local community center - mycology(mushroom growing), bee-keeping, chicken and duck keeping, and how to grow pretty much any edible plants and fruit.

That's a commitment to homesteading! That sounds like a magical place.

For reals. She has before and after pics... Ill see if I can get them, but they are dramatic, to say the least. I swear she wants there to be an apocalypse
When the Y2K thing was in full swing, she tried to talk my brother and I into moving back in

Not quite.

From one of his Wilde's plays. A character answers the question, "what is a cynic?"

"What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."

That may be true, however it appears as Jukebox Gyro wrote it ("Nowadays, people know the price of everything and the cost of nothing.") in "Wardour Street"
And then in "Lady Windermere's Fan" as: "The cynic is one who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing". So you are both right and I learned a few new things today, least of all how to google a quote.

FTFY.

Sorry. Ex English major. Not recovering.