Heh Heh... There's a NAME for what I do!

[Christ]

Originally Posted by thatguitarguy

In this resort area, there is a lot of treasure in the trash. Both from wealthy people who would rather throw something away just because they're tired of it, than to be bothered with the trouble of donating it to someone who could make good use of it, and from people who are moving back to wherever real life happens. When people move around here, they generally have a yard sale, and then whatever won't fit in the U-Haul goes out to the dumpster.

As far as food goes, I think it also depends on the local climate. In some places the food on your plate will be going bad by the time you finish your meal, whereas in a place like North Dakota, throwing something in a dumpster just means it will be flash frozen. Besides, things like Twinkies aren't "food" to start with, and any "expiration date" is only relative to the date of manufacture. They've been shown to be "edible" years, even decades after such "expiration date".

And if you don't regularly exercise your immune system, it will atrophy like unused muscles and brain cells.

Use it or lose it.

This has come up here occasionally, too... Pussification.

[wdb]

You guys are lucky. Where I live, if someone puts something out for the trash it's BROKE. (This drives my wife, who is accustomed to living among people with more "disposable" income, crazy.) I guess I live in the land of the cheapskate.

And my cats' idea of shelf life is something on the order of minutes. Anything deader than that doesn't even get played with.

[Frank Lee]

Oh sure the stuff in the trash is BROKE. But it's sooo gosh darn easy to fix!

Some fave examples: my atomic wall clock, found in a bin. I retrieved it, washed it up, replaced the battery, programmed it, and it's like new except for the (minor) rash it got from having other crap thrown on top of it. Who throws away a perfectly good clock? My theory is, a doof that thought "atomic" meant it never needed batteries. Oh, get this: one of my neighbors must have an atomic clock too, with the outside temp sender... cuz mine reads the outside temp off their signal! LOL I was all set to order a temp sender then discovered I don't have to.

A come-along (winch), same bin, missing a rivet for one of the pulleys, thing looked like brand new except for that missing rivet, probably was a manufacturing defect. Took me about 2 minutes to find a nut and bolt in my junk drawer to replace said rivet. Now, why wouldn't the tard that tossed it simply do that... or even return for warranty?

Electric space heater, same bin, not scratched like the clock. Blew the lint out of it with compressed air, turned it on, works and looks like brand new. Wow, took a mechanical genius to fix that one!

Toaster oven, nearly new, didn't sell at a yard sale cuz they had overpriced it, I guess throwing it in the bin was a better idea than lowering the price??? It be mine now!

DVD player, "door" was unhinged and it was filthy from the bin. Cleaned it up, put the door back together (SO lucked out by finding the little spring inside with the innards!!!), plugged it in, works perfectly. It's the exact mate to the one I actually went out and bought. Yes, it's true, I WENT OUT AND BOUGHT SOMETHING. New. From a store. Anyway, only downer is I didn't find the remote that goes with it. My remote from the other one works it. Spose a universal one could work it too; haven't tried.

Push mower, sitting curbside with sticker but lacking wheels and throttle cable, snagged it, cleaned carb, ran like a champ, nice new B&S engine. Scavenged wheels and cable, was out mowing with it when previous owner strolled by giving me the evil eye. Thanks buddy! Enjoy your wheels and cable!

Mountain bike, full suspension, on junk pile, missing a wheel and rear spring/shock unit. Scooped it up, made it my mission to scavenge whatever it needed. Scavenged all except for some new slick tires. Love that bike!

Oh Man, I could go on. Basically I profit so handsomely by idiot's inability to fix anything. Old School and proud of it!

[Christ]

Originally Posted by wdb

You guys are lucky. Where I live, if someone puts something out for the trash it's BROKE. (This drives my wife, who is accustomed to living among people with more "disposable" income, crazy.) I guess I live in the land of the cheapskate.

And my cats' idea of shelf life is something on the order of minutes. Anything deader than that doesn't even get played with.

This is kind of relative... everything you see is "broke" to some degree, but it's not as important as the level to which it is broken.

Often, it's something stupid that just makes life a little less convenient, such as a small crack that had terminated on both ends in the corner of a flat panel plasma TV. I picked it up and sold it for $500 a week later.

There's a guy back in one of the podunk towns I used to live in (Gratz, PA) that picks up "junk", refurbishes it, and sells it back to the local residents. He's seen people come in and buy back their old stuff not recognizing it, then finds it on the curb again the next spring.

He jokes that he could make his living on the same 30 pieces of furniture, because they've been recycled so many times.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Oh sure the stuff in the trash is BROKE. But it's sooo gosh darn easy to fix!

Some fave examples: my atomic wall clock, found in a bin. I retrieved it, washed it up, replaced the battery, programmed it, and it's like new except for the (minor) rash it got from having other crap thrown on top of it. Who throws away a perfectly good clock? My theory is, a doof that thought "atomic" meant it never needed batteries. Oh, get this: one of my neighbors must have an atomic clock too, with the outside temp sender... cuz mine reads the outside temp off their signal! LOL I was all set to order a temp sender then discovered I don't have to.

A come-along (winch), same bin, missing a rivet for one of the pulleys, thing looked like brand new except for that missing rivet, probably was a manufacturing defect. Took me about 2 minutes to find a nut and bolt in my junk drawer to replace said rivet. Now, why wouldn't the tard that tossed it simply do that... or even return for warranty?

Electric space heater, same bin, not scratched like the clock. Blew the lint out of it with compressed air, turned it on, works and looks like brand new. Wow, took a mechanical genius to fix that one!

Toaster oven, nearly new, didn't sell at a yard sale cuz they had overpriced it, I guess throwing it in the bin was a better idea than lowering the price??? It be mine now!

DVD player, "door" was unhinged and it was filthy from the bin. Cleaned it up, put the door back together (SO lucked out by finding the little spring inside with the innards!!!), plugged it in, works perfectly. It's the exact mate to the one I actually went out and bought. Yes, it's true, I WENT OUT AND BOUGHT SOMETHING. New. From a store. Anyway, only downer is I didn't find the remote that goes with it. My remote from the other one works it. Spose a universal one could work it too; haven't tried.

Push mower, sitting curbside with sticker but lacking wheels and throttle cable, snagged it, cleaned carb, ran like a champ, nice new B&S engine. Scavenged wheels and cable, was out mowing with it when previous owner strolled by giving me the evil eye. Thanks buddy! Enjoy your wheels and cable!

Mountain bike, full suspension, on junk pile, missing a wheel and rear spring/shock unit. Scooped it up, made it my mission to scavenge whatever it needed. Scavenged all except for some new slick tires. Love that bike!

Oh Man, I could go on. Basically I profit so handsomely by idiot's inability to fix anything. Old School and proud of it!

If I really had the space to do it, I could do the same thing as the guy in my above post. I'd have to live in an area that didn't advocate burning trash, though.