I agree with you, I think the scavenging is cool, since so much is wasted in our society, but I’d draw the line at actually eating from trash (it’d be ok to receive day-old donuts from the store itself) and stealing.

I installed the comment email plugin again so you can subscribe to the comments for each post. I had this installed before but I don’t know what happened to it.

Items stores throw out generally fall into three major categories: Returns, goods that are not selling and and items where the packaging has been damaged. When a customer returns an item there are a few possibilities.

1) The customer doesn’t want it, but it works fine and the packaging is perfect. The item goes back on the shelf.

2) The customer damaged the packaging. Generally, it goes in the bin or is returned to the manufacturer for exchange. However, the latter option involves a lot of paperwork and time. If it’s a busy time like just after a holiday, it goes in the bin.

3) The customer says the item doesn’t work. See (2). However, I have found that about 50% (yes, half) of the time, this is not true. For example (actual examples of things I’ve found, not made up): A printer where “the software CD doesn’t work” but it did. An IKEA desk that is “missing hardware” but only three screws were missing and cost me 4c at a hardware store.

Packaging can be damaged in the store, during shipping, during handling by employees, etc. Generally, these items go in the bin. If the store is too busy to handle returns, it all goes in the bin. I have heard that the stores can apparently declare these items as a loss for tax reasons, and they can declare the full value.

As an example of goods not selling, if a set of green and red candles is just not selling in early January, even at 50% off, they’ll get binned. “Why wouldn’t they mark them down to 90% off?” you might ask. Good question, and I asked the same thing. The reasons I’ve come up with are that if they did that, 1) customers who bought at full price would (rightly) feel scammed, 2) customers would go for the 90% off candles rather than other full price candles, thus reducing profit, and 3) at 90% off the store is losing money, so they do better declaring it at full value as a loss.

It really is truly appalling that it’s cheaper for the store to throw something out than to exchange it with the manufacturer or sell it at a huge discount, but it is what it is.

In the dozen or so times I’ve gone, I have unfortuntely never found a big screen TV. My guess is that with really big ticket items, it IS worth returning them to the manufacturer for exchange. But I did find a $500 colour laser printer that worked (software CD missing so I downloaded the drivers). Mostly the items I found were under $100, possibly for the reason I listed for the big screen TV.

Hope I answered your questions. I wish I got an email when this page updated. Feel free to email me if you wish.

It started with walking the neighbourhood streets and seeing all the perfect furniture people were throwing out. I’m NOT speaking about 15 year old ratty couches. I’m a strong environmentalist and frugal to boot. I live in a wealthy city and I had an empty new house. This seemed too good to be true. Today, most of the furniture in my home has been reclaimed from the trash.

One night, after reading blog posts for weeks, I decided to try actual dumpster diving. To my absolute SHOCK, it was all true. Big box stores in my area (Best Buy, Future Shop, Toys-r-Us, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc.) were throwing out perfect items in their original boxes. Even after diving a dozen times, I was still shocked at the items I found. The items I did not need (most since I live a pretty spartan lifetyle) ended up being sold on Craigslist or at garage sales. I never tried to return an item. I made over $1000 from a few nights of diving.

I have dumpster dived for food only a handful of times, but it’s not easy. Most grocery stores use locked compactors, at least in my area. Contrary to what you may think, this does NOT, in my experience, involve digging through waste and filth. Maybe you are picturing something like out of that trashcan scene in GI Jane. No, nothing like that. Grocery stores throw out items in a very orderly fashion. It’s all ‘tagged and bagged’, and clean! Imagine a bag entirely filled with wrapped brocolli and nothing else.

For me, the motivation is environmental. I like the idea of keeping things out of the trash. I don’t need the stuff, I don’t need the money, and I can afford the food. Oh, it’s also LOTS of fun! It’s like a treasure hunt!