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Do you dumpster dive your local game store?

Little did I know that there is a league of poor people who enjoy taking cases, cover art and snot rags out of Gamestop's dumpsters.

I suppose if you REALLY want old marketing and standees it might be worth it to you but some of these people feel like they hit the jackpot with membership cards, old weekly ads and broken PS1 games..

Yay! A Red Bull can, old applications and PS1 games
Oh..you found a Triple Play 2002 case? Jealous.
A Gamestop's management booklet? TOP SECRET man.
I did need a hard DS case come to think of it.

Seriously, NONE of this shit is worth anything. "One man's trash is another man's treasure"..really is true I guess.
 

Gospel

Parmesan et Romano
The dumbster for my Gamestop is next to the place crackheads and prostitutes hang out.

I wouldn't want them to think i'm some kind of loser digging through the game store dumpster.
 

SapientWolf

Trucker Sexologist
You never know what you could find. Some of those used needles could even have some smack left in them. It's like a toy crane, only filthier.

I think all the good stuff ends up going to thrift stores. The Bookmans around here always has a stash of sealed big box PC games and new looking game guides.
 

B.K.

Member
What do they do with all the old magazines and strategy guides that don't sell? Do they throw them away or send them off to be recycled?
 

X26

Banned
Man are you ever bitter, must have really wanted that Triple Play 2002 case for yourself
 

angelfly

Member
When I was younger I'd dumpster dive a local mom and pop computer shop. It's always find something good. Ram, hard drives, keyboard, mice, etc. After a while though they stopped throwing good stuff away.
 
I used to dumpster dive the Blockbuster Video down the street. Once pulled a Virtual boy in a hardcase with three games. They used to toss out games at an alarming rate.
 

Wario64

works for Gamestop (lol)
Cause this isn't illegal...

Next you're gonna tell me I can save up money for video games by donating plasma.
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
one man's trash is another psychotic man's treasure

Next you're gonna tell me I can save up money for video games by donating plasma.

maybe someday Gamestop will actually let us trade our used plasma towards games and accessories
 

Colocho

Banned
Back the fuck up, is that the Hanna Montana DS case?!?!? AND IT EVEN HAS THE MOTHERFUCKING MANUAL?!?!? I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THAT SHIT FOR FUCKING AGES!!!

GODDAMMIT
 
I don't remember us ever throwing out any game cases or the like when I worked at a gamestop. The only things we would throw out were trash, cardboard, and so forth.


I love dumpster "gazing" around my neighborhood when I go home to visit. You never know if you're going to come across something really cool.
Just the other day I stopped to look in a dumpster because I saw a deep fryer and some american flag pants. Unfortunately, the fryer was busted and the pants were too big. Still cool though.
Don't judge me. : (


Also, dumpsters are a fantastic place to find cardboard for stuff. Just saying.
 

Alucrid

Banned
Typographenia said:
I don't remember us ever throwing out any game cases or the like when I worked at a gamestop. The only things we would throw out were trash, cardboard, and so forth.


I love dumpster "gazing" around my neighborhood when I go home to visit. You never know if you're going to come across something really cool.
Just the other day I stopped to look in a dumpster because I saw a deep fryer and some american flag pants. Unfortunately, the fryer was busted and the pants were too big. Still cool though.
Don't judge me. : (


Also, dumpsters are a fantastic place to find cardboard for stuff. Just saying.

See...why would you want a deep fryer OR American flag pants? Although if the fryer worked you could become more American by using it to enable yourself to fill the American flag pants.
 
Alucrid said:
See...why would you want a deep fryer OR American flag pants? Although if the fryer worked you could become more American by using it to enable yourself to fill the American flag pants.


So he can deep fry things patriotically.
 

Truespeed

Member
Colocho said:
Back the fuck up, is that the Hanna Montana DS case?!?!? AND IT EVEN HAS THE MOTHERFUCKING MANUAL?!?!? I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THAT SHIT FOR FUCKING AGES!!!

GODDAMMIT

You're in luck. I have a sealed original. Hit me up.
 

Nicktals

Banned
I am absolutely shocked by this thread.

Is it really this common for people to snoop into dumpsters? And by people, I mean ones who aren't looking for recyclable cans or food?
 
DeaconKnowledge said:
No they don't. The reps for the magazines take them back. Any mags with open bags are considered paid for.
I guess I should have specified I meant strategy guides. After enough time passes, old strategy guides get junked out at Gamestops, Wal-Marts, Best Buys, etc. Their value, when the UPC is scanned, shows up as a penny and they are intended to be junked out of the inventory. Sometimes clerks don't pull these when they should and customers can buy a bunch of old guides for a penny each.

Edit: beaten by Square Triangle
 

Slayven

Member
Dumpster diving is bush league. The cool cats do eviction diving, man when the marshals put people's shit on the front lawn. People go apeshit over it.
 

Ellis Kim

Banned
It depends on the store, doesn't it? I remember talking to a Waldenbooks clerk after waiting way to fucking long to pick up the PS3 Official Magazine issue that had the MGS3 demo disc, and asking what the hell they do with the magazines. He told me they just threw them away.

And when it comes to Gamestop and old games that they penny-out or don't sell, I believe they straight up smash them.

I totally thought the thread title was referring to digging through bargain bins until I came in here :S
 
Nicktals said:
I am absolutely shocked by this thread.

Is it really this common for people to snoop into dumpsters? And by people, I mean ones who aren't looking for recyclable cans or food?

Dumpster diving and exploring on bulk trash day can be really fruitful. My favorite dumpster to this day is the nearby frito lay distributor. It is filled with boxes of unopened chips, crackers, and cookies.

I once found a kickass mac and mac laptop in a dumpster. Both worked well and I flipped them for $600. The only bad thing about them was the terrible lesbian poetry on both.
 

Nicktals

Banned
outunderthestars said:
Dumpster diving and exploring on bulk trash day can be really fruitful. My favorite dumpster to this day is the nearby frito lay distributor. It is filled with boxes of unopened chips, crackers, and cookies.

I once found a kickass mac and mac laptop in a dumpster. Both worked well and I flipped them for $600. The only bad thing about them was the terrible lesbian poetry on both.

Is there a website/blog focusing on how to do this well? What to look for, typical business that yield results? I mean I'm shocked, but I'm also fascinated. There might be a few potential jackpots around me, but I'd want to learn more of the culture, legality, and practicality of this endeavor.
 
Just check a big business's dumpster every couple of nights. Grocery stores will shock you at the amount of unexpired food they throw out thats in perfectly good shape.
 

JABEE

Member
Slayven said:
Dumpster diving is bush league. The cool cats do eviction diving, man when the marshals put people's shit on the front lawn. People go apeshit over it.
That's terrible.
 

Persona7

Banned
Ellis Kim said:
It depends on the store, doesn't it? I remember talking to a Waldenbooks clerk after waiting way to fucking long to pick up the PS3 Official Magazine issue that had the MGS3 demo disc, and asking what the hell they do with the magazines. He told me they just threw them away.

And when it comes to Gamestop and old games that they penny-out or don't sell, I believe they straight up smash them.

I totally thought the thread title was referring to digging through bargain bins until I came in here :S
Most gamestop stores actually pull the guides the day they get clearanced out and thrash them so people can't buy them.
 

Dai101

Banned
outunderthestars said:
Dumpster diving and exploring on bulk trash day can be really fruitful.

It is. I used to roam in the local "flea market" or "fayuca" (in the San Juan de Dios market, my Mexican/Tapatio fellows should know) after they closed and sometimes we could find some useful things like busted controllers or non working systems (which we canibalized to fix another controller or console) cases and boxes with manuals and everything (they were useful if we have the game only and we wanted to trade it) and random stuff like games but only the CD or even in older systems the PCB alone, promo material and stuff like that.

Oh, and here are something related to dumpster diving http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumpster_diving#Notable_diving_events
 

KenOD

a kinder, gentler sort of Scrooge
No, no no no. The last thing I ever want to do is go through someone's rubbish bin.

I will however walk into a game story and ask if they are throwing out any posters, display cases, anything else and ask if I can have them. Works out sometimes.
 
I'm not gonna lie, when the Final Fantasy VII demo came out with Tobal #1, I asked the guy behind the counter if the demo came with the Tobal rental and he said they just threw it away.

After I started breathing again, I SERIOUSLY considered it, but if that dumpster wasn't 12 feet high, I would have been in it without a doubt.
 

dork

Banned
I used to dumpster dive at blockbuster. Since they used to take their dvds out of their cases and put the in blockbuster cases i got a huge garbage bag full of xbox/ps2/dvd cases. All perfectly clean and brand new.
 

Codeblue

Member
dork said:
I used to dumpster dive at blockbuster. Since they used to take their dvds out of their cases and put the in blockbuster cases i got a huge garbage bag full of xbox/ps2/dvd cases. All perfectly clean and brand new.

And then what?
 
KenOD said:
No, no no no. The last thing I ever want to do is go through someone's rubbish bin.

I will however walk into a game story and ask if they are throwing out any posters, display cases, anything else and ask if I can have them. Works out sometimes.
Same. Got a nice Darksiders standy thing once.
 
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