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[tommydski]

There is a general rule of thumb that if something has been on the curb for more than an hour, there is probably something drastically wrong with it.

Maybe they are too pricey.

[RedLion]

Vaguely relevant Elliot Spitzer joke!

[jhocking]

Why the hell would a DVD store throw away a perfectly usable DVD or computer game? It doesn't make sense to me.

If it sucks and is taking up space? Heck, even if it doesn't suck and is simply their millionth copy of a title that is no longer a new release. Notice how stores will have a huge display of the latest release, and then a month later there's just one copy of that game on the normal shelves?

[thewayigroove]

i've got a dumpster diving freegan friend here in boston who describes himself as 'hobosexual'
his dates consist of dumpster stir-fry and patch making.

[Lines]

Why the hell would a DVD store throw away a perfectly usable DVD or computer game? It doesn't make sense to me.

If it sucks and is taking up space? Heck, even if it doesn't suck and is simply their millionth copy of a title that is no longer a new release. Notice how stores will have a huge display of the latest release, and then a month later there's just one copy of that game on the normal shelves?

Also, some stores MAKE you throw away product if you work there. I worked at Michaels and anytime something was out of season or slightly damaged, we HAD to throw it away. Usually the manager would do it or watch a non-manager do it, but if we were lucky and didn't have a neurotic manager, we'd just hide it and take it home instead of throwing it away. We had to pitch a magnet toy thing, but luckily one manager let us play with it before a few days before the head guy found it and tossed it.

[öde]

Here they just sell old rentals really cheaply.

[Jimmy the Squid]

Yeah but actual videogame or dvd stores will have boxes and boxes of certain titles when they first come out. After awhile they have to go somewhere so I'm not surprised that some of them get thrown out.

[redglasscurls]

I'm pretty sure it is Michaels policy all over to require you to pitch stuff... I can see it kind of making sense, so employees aren't tempted to damage stuff they want so that they can take it, but it's terribly wasteful. We would usually sneak broken things to the classroom for the teachers to use, since they never had enough supplies.

[Lines]

Yeah, it is policy. At the store I worked at, just about everyone I can think of would never damage anything, but there were people who got fired for stealing before I was hired that I was told to keep an eye on if they came in. But I'd think that'd be a problem anywhere. But it was really annoying to have to throw so much stuff away instead of letting us buy it, but supposedly the company lost money after a certain point to sell stuff than it was to just toss it, which I didn't really get, but whatever.

[axerton]

Ok, on the subject of sketchiness, recently I got off a train and walked past someone who had just bought a ticket from the machine and was running to get to the train, as I walk past the machine I hear the distinctive clatter of coins being dropped into the change return box. I didn't take it because I was also in a hurry to get to a bus, but would it have been fair game for me to do so if I had time?

[redglasscurls]

If you are a broke student, yes. They are on a train to somewhere, certainly not coming back for it. If you're not broke, you could pick it up and drop it in the nearest hobo cup, good karma all around.

[Jimmy the Squid]

That reminds me of the time I found $100 in the atm at a pub one night. And not a note but I went to the atm like twice and both times there was $50 just sitting there. It was a good night.

[Switchblade]

Thing is, I used to work at a GAME store - so I know where they keep their bins. It's a pokey little dul-de-sac alleyway behind the shop that nobody ever even notices. The gate's usually closed, but it's never locked.

So it wouldn't have mattered to me if we'd been forced to throw damaged product away - I could have snuck round the back after my shift was up, fished it out of the bin and been gone.

It never came up, sadly. GAME .plc company policy is to return damaged product to head office.

[peacetokengy]

There is never anything wrong with a freegan!

[idiolect]

Just as a rule of thumb, if there's food in a bag, and there's nothing else bad in the bag, it is safe.

This.  Also, personally I probably wouldn't mess with any meat or dairy or whatever, even if it is by itself -- that huge bag of extremely tasty bread and bagels and such that Panera throws out every night, though?  Totally fair game.

There is never anything wrong with a freegan!

Manifestly untrue.  I've known freegans with some very notable things wrong with them.  I think they might have been weird before they became freegans, though 

[richardsdm]

On a plus side for grocery stores, I know many small/exotic animal rescue groups have convinced even large chain grocery stores to donate fruits and vegetables that are being thrown away.  Sometimes even the pre-mixed salad bags.  The trick is to get a sympathetic manager, be willing to pick it up yourself, and be willing to sort through large bags of starting to rot vegetables to get the ones you are looking for.   One group I worked with saved a ton of money this way.  Not really dumpster diving, but still a nice community service.

[Nodaisho]

I wouldn't take food dumpsterdiving, but I got my 23" monitor thanks to a dumpster diver. They were throwing out some monitors, so he grabbed one out of the dumpster, since he knew there had to be someone that needed it.

Maybe I should try the dumpsters out back of the best buy, in case they throw away stuff. Course, I need a car to get there first.

[redglasscurls]

Richardsdm, I had friends in high school who interned with a farm animal rescue farm! This mostly entailed picking up giant boxes of squooshy cantaloupes and semi-liquid carrots for the pigs, and picking out the bits of rusty metal that some psycho worker there had a habit of slipping into the boxes now and then.   

[ruyi]

If you want to risk illness or general gross-ity, go ahead and dumpster dive. I think its really cheap (if you can afford food) but not immoral or anything.

I don't understand this distinction. Isn't being cheap a kind of immorality?

[Sox]

Some would argue that being cheap is being smart. I can't imagine why anybody who claims to be a rational and tolerant person would be opposed to dumpster diving, whatever the circumstances. Whatever you're doing it for, it's far better than letting the stuff end up in a landfill.

I would argue that being 'cheap' is wise, rather than immoral.

[Sox]

It all depends on your definition of a 'date'. If you expect a fancy meal at a nice restaurant, and that not happening makes you not want to see this person again, perhaps agreeing to go on the date was maybe a bad idea?
When I take girls on a date, I make them walk until their legs hurt, then lie down on the grass with them and just say a whole bunch of charming stuff. Maybe do a magic trick and produce food/drink from thin air. At this point, we're usually pretty far from the urban environment. It works best on clear days, but the best result happened when it was pouring down with rain. We had to go somewhere to dry out together, if you know what I'm saying.

I enjoy dumpster diving. I think it's a brilliant idea. Infact, I think that in a peaceful environment, it could even be a good date. It's the urban equivalent of picking an apple from a tree in a beautiful meadow, and that kind of shit gets you major points with your date.

[Lines]

I wouldn't go dumpster diving for food on a date. Though I can't afford to eat out much, I have food at home I'm more than willing to cook for someone. But then again, I am easily grossed out by sometimes ridiculous things, so I wouldn't enjoy anything that makes me squeamish. This is why I can go for furniture and things (non-upholstered things, mostly, because who knows why it's in a dumpster in the first place) but not for food. But if people have the stomach to do it, power to them, because that's pretty gutsy.

(Edit for missing a word!)

[Boro_Bandito]

I'm more than willing to cook someone.

Note to Self: Do not ever go on a date with Linds!

Edit: What contribute something to a conversation? Fine. I'm not sure if I would ever dumpster dive, unless the food was like, well packaged or obviousy separated out from something else, or if it was like just slightly overripe fruit or something that you can peel. I mean, I eat strange food, but getting it from a dumpster is not a good idea to me. Of course, I don't have to at the moment to get stuff like free taco Bell, because my older brother works there and keeps bringing home bag of empanadas, rice, beans, chalupa shells and stuff they really otherwise would've thrown out. I say a pre-emptive food grab is in order.

[Lines]

Whoops. I am not Hannibal Lecter, I promise!

[Rizzo]

I find it odd how many of you are concerned about illness from dumpstering but not from tabletopping... You do realise half eaten food is going to be covered in other peoples slobber etc etc. I wouldn't table top because I get ill easily but I do dumpster cause it's a total waste not to.
I can afford to buy food but if I dumpster I have more money to do useful things with. I donate to charities so why should I feel bad about taking this food? It's not like I'm preventing anyone else from getting it. The homeless people around here don't dumpster, god only knows why. And the only people who are losing out are the supermarket corporations who quite frankly have more than enough money.
So dumpstering makes economic sense to me.
I only take things that are sealed, washable or sepparated. That way there's little to no danger of contamination. Or so I see it, I've yet to get sick from dumpstered food.

[LucyStag]

I am a dirty capitalist of a libertarian, but I see nothing at all wrong with dumpster diving. More power to you -- to use an annoying expression -- and someday I hope my grimy middle classs punk friends will teach me their dumpster diving ways.