The joys of scavenging

[ríomhaire]

So there was a skip outside the back door of our science building on campus this week. The stuff left behind from when the computer science department was being moved and was thrown out and the physics department was throwing out any old stuff they didn't want any longer as well.

Here's KiplingsCat, one of my classmates and one of my lecturers root through it:

Kiplings decided she wanted an old CRT TV that was there:

So we loaded it up into the car:

And it actually works (there's no aerial or anything plugged in)

Here's my own stuff I looted:

A satchel, some ethernet cables, an extension cable for a PC power supply and, for the laugh, a floppy drive.



I also saw a harddrive with "DESTROY" written across it in black marker. I decided it would be best to leave it.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

I also saw a harddrive with "DESTROY" written across it in black marker. I decided it would be best to leave it.

That probably would've been the best bit. What size?

That TV is too retro for words...

 

[FrostedxB]

That probably would've been the best bit. What size?

Could've been nothing more then a harddrive with a virus on it.

Most I ever "scavenge" is the occasional 5 dollar bill on the ground.

 

[Edeslash]

In Finland grocery stores throw away food way too early. It's very common among poor people to scavenge the stores' trash and find a lot of perfectly fine food.

 

[Stylo]

In Finland grocery stores throw away food way too early.

Why in the hell would they do that? D:

 

[Remus]

I don't even understand why she picked up that tv. For interior decoration? It wouldn't be good for anything else that's for sure.

As for me, no I don't "scavenge", but I do dump electronics. Dumped the crt monitor and tower from my previous PC for others to scavenge.

 

[Warped Dan]

at work I scavenge some items here and there they're throwing out. Seriously sometimes they throw out computers and expensive shit they don't realize can be useful. I also only scavenge items that can be concealed. As of recently found a 32GB microSD drive someone tossed. WTF is wrong with people and throwing shit out anyway. You can decorate your entire mancave with items people throw out

 

[YROC]

You better hook a nintendo up to that tv.

 

[ríomhaire]

I don't even understand why she picked up that tv. For interior decoration?

That was the original idea. She just thought it was pretty. We had no idea if it'd actually work. I suggested that if it doesn't work/one just wanted it for design you could gut out the electrics and convert it into a cabinet. Or we could just hook up a Megadrive to it.

 

[Tacoeaterguy]

In the spirit of scavenging, I decided to do some while I was taking out the trash.

I think it's safe to say that I found some jewels.

Spoiler

There was more in there, but this was the coolest stuff I found. This whole scavenge thing has really piqued my interest, so I'll be trying to find more goodies later.

 

[Vegeta897]

Best post I've ever seen you make, Taco.

 

[Edeslash]

Why in the hell would they do that? D:

EU, man... EU.

 

[Dog--]

In Finland grocery stores throw away food way too early. It's very common among poor people to scavenge the stores' trash and find a lot of perfectly fine food.

I work at a grocery store and we do that too. Problem is we throw it into locked garbage compactors so you can't steal it.

I'm NOT poor and I'd gladly steal food like that if I could. Grocery stores are stupid. So much good shit gets thrown away. If you actually knew it'd make your head spin.

We just threw out a whole SKID of packs of 6 paper towels yesterday - good brand name ones. Why? We didn't have room in the back room for them. A WHOLE FREAKING SKID. Although it's not food, it gives you an idea of the kind of shit they do. I've reluctantly thrown bags and bags of raw chicken wings away that were a week away from going bad. I've thrown out HD TV's because 'the packaging is too badly damaged'.

Makes me wanna go on a shooting spree with some of the shit we throw away. And it's illegal (like you can get jail time/fine for theft) to take these things.

 

[Stylo]

Goddamn, that is depressing.

 

[sinkoman]

I work at a grocery store and we do that too. Problem is we throw it into locked garbage compactors so you can't steal it.

I'm NOT poor and I'd gladly steal food like that if I could. Grocery stores are stupid. So much good shit gets thrown away. If you actually knew it'd make your head spin.

We just threw out a whole SKID of packs of 6 paper towels yesterday - good brand name ones. Why? We didn't have room in the back room for them. A WHOLE FREAKING SKID. Although it's not food, it gives you an idea of the kind of shit they do. I've reluctantly thrown bags and bags of raw chicken wings away that were a week away from going bad. I've thrown out HD TV's because 'the packaging is too badly damaged'.

Makes me wanna go on a shooting spree with some of the shit we throw away. And it's illegal (like you can get jail time/fine for theft) to take these things.

Weird. When I worked the Dairy Department at my local Safeway, I was always instructed to leave dairy product on the shelf up until the very last day. Then once it had expired, I was to load it all into a shopping cart and relocate it into the backstock fridge, where it would be given to the local foodbank, as apparently the industry standard is to brand the expiration date a good 2+ weeks earlier than the effective expiration date.

 

[Dog--]

Weird. When I worked the Dairy Department at my local Safeway, I was always instructed to leave dairy product on the shelf up until the very last day. Then once it had expired, I was to load it all into a shopping cart and relocate it into the backstock fridge, where it would be given to the local foodbank, as apparently the industry standard is to brand the expiration date a good 2+ weeks earlier than the effective expiration date.

Generally we leave stuff on until its expiry date (reduce to 50% off if it's within a certain number of days, depends on the item), but we throw TONS of stuff away because 'we don't have room for it' or some other such bullshit reason.. Or, like I said, the packaging is too bad. Even that crap can be reduced, it's unreal.. I hate grocery stores because all the managers and district managers and stuff only got there because they do 2 things: 1) Kiss ass like there's no tomorrow and 2) Say yes to everything their bosses tell them and don't back talk. None of them have a spine. I'm lucky where I'm in a union so I can pretty much tell all my non-unionized bosses to **** right off most of the time, but I still have to do these things like throw away TVs n shit.

But anyways, this is off topic.

Should have checked that DESTROY drive. Probably some cool stuff on it. If it was a virus oh well, just chuck it.

 

[YROC]

Is that pepsi can from the 80s or something?

 

[sinkoman]

but we throw TONS of stuff away because 'we don't have room for it' or some other such bullshit reason.. Or, like I said, the packaging is too bad

See, this is where you swoop in and find a "mid-shift-snack", or possibly even your entire lunch. This is also where the 50% off guns come in handy

EDIT: What store do you work for? At slaveway, we at least had a "return to vendor" section for items that were just barely damaged enough not to sell, and anything overstock (which was rare because we our ordering was done by tracking register sales) would be left on the truck till either the next day, or just forwarded to the next store.

On topic though, I keep paying a visit to the local e-waste dump at my work to hopefully come across enough decent parts to rebuild my old gaming PC, but so far, no luck. I think the best "scavenging" i've ever done, was when a coworker at my last job procured a 23" LG brand TFT monitor with wall mount that the company was throwing out. He knew I was the resident dork, so he figured I might have fun fixing it up, but when I plugged it in and fired it up, there really was nothing wrong (other than a little backlight bleeding at the bottom of the screen). Scored a 200 USD monitor that day, yee !

I was particularly stoked too, because prior to that, i'd been playing games on a pathetic ass 15" television that my grandpa had bought for me back in 1998.

 

[Viperidae]

I volunteer at and have worked for the only private electronics recycler in Vancouver.

You have no effing idea, not even an inch, in fathoming the things people throw out. The amount of free/$5 stuff I've got there is astonishing. Unopened 120mm Scythe fans, barely used wireless keyboards, a $200 headphone amp, an unopened wireless home phone system with fax, more Antec P180 cases than I can count, mini-ITX cases, $1000 server racks, 2.1, 5.1 speakers, vintage Roland multitrack recorders, Nintendo DSs (old ones, to be sure), cables, cables, cables. $2 for any cable in the store.

My best grab has always been a pair of these, which some studio threw out because the foams were crumbling. Perfect working condition. Paid my boss $5 for them, paid another $10 for new foams from China. Bam, better headphones than 95% of what anyone on this site has (bad viper bad, elitism no).

 

[sinkoman]

I volunteer at and have worked for the only private electronics recycler in Vancouver.

You have no effing idea, not even an inch, in fathoming the things people throw out. The amount of free/$5 stuff I've got there is astonishing. Unopened 120mm Scythe fans, barely used wireless keyboards, a $200 headphone amp, an unopened wireless home phone system with fax, more Antec P180 cases than I can count, mini-ITX cases, $1000 server racks, 2.1, 5.1 speakers, vintage Roland multitrack recorders, Nintendo DSs (old ones, to be sure), cables, cables, cables. $2 for any cable in the store.

My best grab has always been a pair of these, which some studio threw out because the foams were crumbling. Perfect working condition. Paid my boss $5 for them, paid another $10 for new foams from China. Bam, better headphones than 95% of what anyone on this site has (bad viper bad, elitism no).

Hey, do you think you could help a brotha out with finding cheap computer components? I will pay good money.

 

[MJ12]

Kiplings is cute.

 

[Dog--]

See, this is where you swoop in and find a "mid-shift-snack", or possibly even your entire lunch. This is also where the 50% off guns come in handy

EDIT: What store do you work for? At slaveway, we at least had a "return to vendor" section for items that were just barely damaged enough not to sell, and anything overstock (which was rare because we our ordering was done by tracking register sales) would be left on the truck till either the next day, or just forwarded to the next store.

It's a Canadian company named Loblaws that owns a whole bunch of chains of stores, the one I work for in particular is called Zehrs. And oh yea do I ever get free food. I currently (and have been for 2 years now) work in the Produce section so I get fresh fruit err day, but I've done shifts in Grocery dept, Dairy, pretty much all of them and while eating/drinking stuff is cool (Rolo milk in dairy was best), I still can't save it all. And yea we got the return to vendor thing too, but we have like one little dinky shelf that gets full in a day, and the shit gets sent out weekly, so the overstock gets chucked.

 

[KiplingsCat]

I don't even understand why she picked up that tv. For interior decoration? It wouldn't be good for anything else that's for sure.

But it actually works! It can pick up a signal even without an aerial connected to it (I live on a hill). And even if I don't end up using it as a tv, it's pretty. And vintage. I'll find something to do with it.

 

[sixteenth]

The medical school that's part of my university did the same thing. Except, they forgot the clear all of the data on hundreds of harddrives that were inside the computers. Some dude picked out a few and was able to download thousands of charts and general medical history from patients going back 60 years. Yea. My school got in some trouble for that.

 

[KiplingsCat]

Kiplings is cute.

You should see me when I'm not sitting on garbage

 

[dfc05]

That's cool. My parents used to scavenge through the neighbors' garbage sometimes (not regular garbage, like spring clean-out garbage). We got an aquarium once. Nothing fancy but at least it was water-tight. That tv is a pretty good find.

The last time I personally scavenged was getting limestone chunks and concrete pavers from a big concrete recycling dump, if that counts. Used it for a garden. Took some effort to figure out where to get it, so even now when it's not relevant anymore, sometimes I'm walking around and will see unused rock/concrete lying around and think "I wonder if they still want that!"

Last month I almost dug some nice-looking heavy cloth or brocades out of the dumpster behind my apartment. Considered cutting it up and throwing it in a laundry machine. Use it for crafts and whatnot. But it started snowing heavily before I got back home so I didn't get it.

 

[Dog--]

Any poor person knows how awesome it is when someone throws out a couch. I've been through many-a-couch picking them off the side of the road. I wash the **** out of them and sanitize of course, but sometimes people throw away some DAMN good furniture you wonder why they didn't sell it instead.. I got a whole sectional and coffee table and recliner once form the side of the road once. No stains, no smell. It was literally perfect.

 

[Stylo]

Any poor person knows how awesome it is when someone throws out a couch. I've been through many-a-couch picking them off the side of the road. I wash the **** out of them and sanitize of course, but sometimes people throw away some DAMN good furniture you wonder why they didn't sell it instead.. I got a whole sectional and coffee table and recliner once form the side of the road once. No stains, no smell. It was literally perfect.

Ha! My housemates once nabbed a pair of couches from a skip and put them outside of the house we used to live in. It was quite nice to sit on them in summer. Then it rained and they were pretty much ruined forever. Stuuuuuuuuuudents!

 

[dfc05]

Oh man I want a couch but there's no way I could get it up my apartment steps. Craigslist is amazing for that kind of thing. You can also see if there's a Freecycle group in your city, but you have to purge as well as hoard to be a good member. Half my stuff came off Craigslist for free or small amounts ($5-$10): keyboard with a slightly screwy middle E key, chest of drawers with some girl's name stamped inside it, desk that I picked up as some dude was hauling it out to his lawn (3rd owner! heck yeah). There are also a surprising number of free pianos that people just want to clear out for space. One of my friends offered a truck if I ever want one, and I was like, "That'd be awesome, but I'd need a crane to lift it up through my patio window."

 

[Dog--]

Electric organs go for so damn cheap too. Always see them in the paper or the Smart Shopper (just a book with local ads in it with pics) for around $50. A whole electric organ!

 

[Bad^Hat]

A friend used to scavenge old seatbelts and crap to make harnesses that we abseiled with.

Yeah I nearly died once.

 

[Stylo]

Relevant to the subject of stores being wasteful - MPs in my Nation seem to want to do something about it recently.

 

[Krynn72]

A friend used to scavenge old seatbelts and crap to make harnesses that we abseiled with.

I learned a new word today.

 

[ríomhaire]

Accidently deleted a bunch of the photos from the OP (and a bunch of other stuff I put on Imgur) but here's an update with the thing finally set up:

 

[Remus]

It actually works, and it's in colour too. I'm impressed.

If you're going to play a retro game might as well have a retro TV to go with it, heh.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Never thought I'd get nostalgic over scanlines.

 

[Vegeta897]

Never thought I'd get nostalgic over scanlines.

I will now use this as an excuse to post a 5 year old video of mine

 

[Bad^Hat]

I feel less nerdy now thankyou.

 

[Krynn72]

Your excited voice hasn't changed at all over the years Veg. Things that get you excited haven't changed much either.

 

[morgs]

Always whit the Dr. Pepper.