Are you that guy???

[toolchaser]

Well, I work for a credit union. If we ever decide to dump a bunch of those rectangular pieces of paper from the vault I'd love to bring home a load!!

As the Roy Rogers song said " My uncle got fired from his bank job for taking samples home..."

Am I a dumpster diver? as I've said before "this place throws away better stuff than I buy!

 

[toytech40]

Yea i am that guy and I got it from my dad, he did it the whole time I was growing up, hauling home stuff from work or from auctions, all the $1 or $.50 piles of stuf that no one wanted when they were selling off a trailer load of misc. Where I work now doesn't throw away much but empty barrels and buckets. I did score some stainless tubing that accumulated when we had a flush line on a pump with an issue of springing leaks due to turbulance of the fluid flow inside. Yea there are some small holes in it but find the hole and cut it out and still have a 4 to 6 piece. One of the other guys here took home a new scaffold that the contractor ordered when the built the place and left before it arrived, and never came back for it, been taking up space in the warehouse for 5 years. Wished I would have snagged that but know where it is if I need to borrow it.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I have dumpster dove before. . . . :tard:

 

[2K4CE]

Strict 'no scrap' policy here. :|

 

[igota66]

Hell yes, from bits of stainless steel to compressors, the machine shop at work don’t throw anything out without seeing if I want it, I have them well trained.

 

[evil_twin]

I'd love to be 'that guy' but I can't because of my job... But good picking you guys!

 

[Doug B]

I pick all kinds of steel out of our dumpster at work.Make lots of small parts,brackets etc. for my model A project. Got a nice piece of stainless that will be the dash insert someday.Lots of competition though.Several guys are on the look out where I work.On guy has been crowned the dumpster diver champion...Boss put a fork lift(small LP powered indoor unit)in the scrap meatal bin,this guy grabs it and takes it home,spent about $200 fixing it,and sold it for 5k !

 

[Auzivision]

I can't help myself. I have a garage full of filing cabinets (many are Steelcase):

Now I have a Steelcase desk I want to convert into a work bench taking up the space where my car belongs.

 

[robertgreen79]

No dumpster diving for me (I work for the Federal Government). Everything is properly excessed. If we do decide that it goes into the dumpster, it becomes the property of the trash collector.

x2 Drives me nuts how much goes out

 

[Cobra4B]

My garage remodel/reorganization over the past year all started when our facilities manager asked if I wanted the cabinets and counter top they were taking out during a remodel. I scored 3 36" base cabinets with doors/drawers, 10' of laminate counter top, and one large 3-door wall cabinet.

This:

Became This:

 

[shotgunfatcat]

My dad used to bring home stuff all the time, you name it, Lista workbench with back (which is now mine). Full steel workbench with stainless top (3' x 6'). Wooden workbenches, shelves, cabinets (the first aid cabinets on walls 3' x 3'), all of our florescent lights, I could go on, if the barn wasn't such a mess right now (he brings home too much) I would take some pics. All nice quality items. There is a bunch of snap-on single wide cabs there, just sitting, but he can't get passes anymore, they throw away so much more.

 

[vlpronj]

I can't help myself. I have a garage full of filing cabinets (many are Steelcase)

I'm doing this gradually by watching the free section of Craiglist, and making multiple runs to the dump on weekends. I like 'em for power tools, especially. I can even use the sturdy dividers in some of them to make a separate section for blades, or wheels, etc.

Eventually, I'll probably try to standardize sizes, but for now anything's better than the mess I've got.

 

[StarWolve]

Freebie table from the scrap metal dumpster:

Some paint:

More paint and boards for shelves (I still need to paint the boards):

A bunch of stickers, some aluminum trim, and plexi:

I also added some casters to roll it around, and plan on trimming the front of each shelf with the turned aluminum trim, and adding a garbage basket to one side. It will end up a pretty nice work table for a dumpster diving special!

 

[robertgreen79]

If any of you guys know of an office trying to get rid of those cubicle overhead shelves, let me know. I work for the Federal Government and cant get anything here

 

[Painter123]

I've got the sickness too,

All the 8' flor lights in my old shop came out of an old Wallgreens (20 of them) we remodeled
the workbench was all new/throw away lumber
I got all the drywall as an overstock (Just get it out of here)

But you guys are talking about garage stuff only...

I use to work for a large Drywall contractor in CO. I was a forman for 30 different housing projects. So I got to be around houses at all different stages of finish.

I got 80% or the supplies for my remodel for free, from the new plumbing n electrical, plywood, 2x4, 2x6, decrative exterior posts, down to the paint n trim.
One contractor use to throw away 300sqft of antique hickory hard wood floor on every house he built, it took 2 years but I had enough to do all the floors in my house.

It's just ridiculous what builders n subs throw away. Here in Vegas I try to take as much as I can home (it's almost unreal how much gets thrown away) for the remodel I'm working on now, but it's Casino Property and really frowned on unless you know the right people.

 

[BigMike782]

I worked 13 yrs in a hardware store.......just imagine my shop
and yes,I have purged many times just to be able to have room to work.

New job(well 5 yrs ago) and I expect I will never have to buy weld wire or sheilding gas again.

 

[70Chevy]

It's not what you make, but what you take home that's important!

I've gotten plenty of things designated for the trash. Sometimes OSHA helps with new rules. Maybe not allowed in the shop, but it's okay for my garage.

 

[drmoonshine]

Free stuff hell yeah it's the other half of the fun to get a bargain on something you have to figure what to do with it.

 

[StarWolve]

Another freebie just fell into my lap.

I was just talking to my buddy Brian about how I wanted to build a motorcycle table for the garage, and then this arrived on our loading docks:

It's a full height server rack, all welded joints and very sturdy. We don't have a use for it at work, as it is an older model, but when turned on it's side, would make a hell of a bike table. The boss said to take it home, since it was headed for the metal dumpster anyways. I'm going to add a plywood top, some additional bracing, storage underneath, heavy duty casters, a wheel chock and tie downs. I'll try to make it match the other table I built, pictured a few posts above.

It should make a pretty nice bike table once I'm through with it. Someday I'll upgrade to a real bike lift, but with my bike ramp for the truck, this will work just fine. And I didn't even have to dumpster dive for this one, I just backed my truck up to the loading dock.

 

[Jazz]

The shop at the plant where I work was throwing out an industrial band saw and several new replacement blades for it because they wanted - "a newer smaller one". They cut the plug off and put it by the dumpster. When I asked if I could have it they said sure, its junk now. I took it home, replaced the plug and now have a really nice band saw.

 

[Falcon67]

Yes, that guy. Have been for a LONG time. My usual motto is that if it's offered or the chance+permission is there, take it. No eval, just get. If later I decide it's not for me, I'll do my best to pass it on to somebody else for the same deal. Only fair. Unless it's something I can make one hell of a score on...

But probably the BEST item I got from work was a Clausing Lathe 5900 - complete with 6 jaw buck chuck - they made me buy that one - price?? a paltry 100 skins!!! It took a weeks work to fix the VS pulley and repair the goobered up motor shaft, but today it works perfectly!!! They replaced it with a new Sum Flung Dung POS - man did I make out on that one!!!!

You **** in ways that can't adequately be described in print

 

[lupinsea]

I work in an architectural office.

I think it'd be noticeable if the 30" cinema screen monitors were suddenly not there one morning.

Besides, they wouldn't work too well as shelves.

 

[koditten]

Yep, I'm that guy as well. With that being said I often cringe at what I see put out to the road on trash day. There is no waay I could work for the trash company. My garage would be full in less than a week

 

[Kev442]

I once took the passenger seat out of my Daytona so that my wife could bring me a mountain of Gorilla type racks from her work. A hatchback car can swallow a heck of a lot of stuff when the seat is out! I haven't paid for a fluorescent fixture or bulb in over 25 years, there is always a steady supply of 8' T12 stuff arriving from somewhere. 4 drawer files, rolling benches, blower motors, I've scored pretty well over the years for $0.00

 

[ratdoggy]

I'm that guy.
I work in a scrapyard (I'm the manger so I get first pickin's ). Scored a craftsman lawn tractor and all the attachments trailer roller spreader etc for scrap price. I have a soda machine sitting at work too, plus my cabinets in the garage and a lot of my decorations in the garage

 

[Test Tech]

I like to dumpster dive, when I've worked in places that would'nt fire you for it. I got a nice hydraulic die cart from one place.

 

[bmxr4life87]

my boss is a realist so he wont throw away much of anything that is "useable" or even "salvageable" but a guy took a workbench off his service truck and my boss wanted it cut up for scrap. I told him i wanted it so he even brought it over to my house for me and helped me load it it is nice sturdy with 3/4" frp and a new smallish wilton vise on it! ive got more scrap steel than i will use any time soon from cutting up old display racks for hitches... we luck out sometimes and sometimes just disappointment

 

[jabberwoki]

Oh hell yeah i`ve found a good cabnet and a huge roll of underlay on the side of the road so dumpsters would be an upgrade for me!