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Any dumpster divers here? I drove to my shop today, on the way I see what looks like a big commercial shop fan sticking out of a neighbors dumpster. I stop by & look, it is buried under some trash. I pull out some boards & things pull out the fan (the huge base & pole is always handy for a shop duty if nothing else). Then I see a copier, same make & model as mine so I take it. I bring it back to shop, along with a garbage barrel on wheels WITH the lid!
I check out the fan first, it works! Three speed as well. Nothing wrong with the garbage can. I put the copier (Canon PC 600, $600.00 new) in my office next to my model, same thing only newer! I'll bet it just needs a toner cartridge!
My other shop neighbor demo'd a bunch of 2x4 framed wood & MDF shelves when he went to steel shelving.
I got 60 2x4x8 pine/spruce, nice straight lumber & a bunch of 2'x8' mdf!
My other neighbors are a trim carpenters, a custom furniture builder & a cabinet shop.
I've got all kinds of scraps for carving & even a peice of hardwood nobody has been able to identify!
In my condos dumpster were two totally good bikes, but they were buried to much to get to. Oh well the next dumpster is right down the road!
This could almost be a side biz!
-------------------- Rob Thomas 3410 Ketcham Ct Beautiful Springs FL 34134 Posts: 965 | From: Bonita Springs, Florida USA | Registered: Feb 2000
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sounds like some good scoring! ...Yep, I've been in & out of dumpsters for over 30 years now... my mom still has some furniture I scored in high school, 'cause it was too good to give up on even though she would have never thought of getting things that way herself.
I've traveled so much before finally settling here, that I've always sold off my possessions to lighten up for the road, so I forget many of my good scores, but I recall many days that felt like christmas when finding treasures. I also love flea markets, swap meets & garage sales.
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knew a man that worked on a garbage truck in atlanta opened a store in gainesville and sold only stuff he salvaged from other folks trash.
-------------------- Jimmy Chatham Chatham Signs 468 stark st Commerce, Ga 30529 Posts: 1766 | From: Commerce, GA, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I saw a news piece about Toronto street kids a couple of weeks ago. Some of the kids seemed well dressed. Interviewer asked them where the clothes came from. They go dumpster diving in the Salvation Army clothing collection boxes! Take all the good stuff.
-------------------- Chuck Churchill, It's A Good Sign Inc. 3245 Harvester Rd, U-12 Burlington, Ont. Phone: 905-681-8775 Fax: 905-681-8945 Posts: 633 | From: Burlington, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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My dad and uncle were rubbish movers in Chicago. The going joke always was thet my uncle had more in the cab with him than in the back. Dad said he made $5.00hr plus all he could eat. My first bike, a used Schwinn Sting Ray was a gift from my dad! (LOL)
[ March 20, 2004, 10:07 AM: Message edited by: Rick Beisiegel ]
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3485 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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My best Dumpster treasure was a bunch of furniture that was made for an aircraft. Very light aluminum with folding tops on the tables...mahogany tops...very strong furniture.
-------------------- Rove Gratz Gratz Signs 342 Walden Station Drive Macon, GA 31216 rovegratz@aol.com Home Page: http://rove-342.tripod.com Posts: 861 | From: Macon, GA 31216 | Registered: Jan 2004
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I believe many of us are always on the lookout for items in all kinds of places.
I was in a friends shop when he was getting rid of an old attic fan for his home and I asked him if I could have it.
I made a wood frame for it and wired it up with a four gang box so that when ever we are working in the middle of the shop and needed an outlet there would always be one near by.
The fan is 30" x 30" and works great and always having a plug close by really helps.
My friend stopped by the other day and saw the new fan all painted up and even pinstriped and asked if that was the same fan he gave me and when I said it was he asked if he could have it back!
He was only kidding but instead of always purchasing something new many times I like to rebuild things and there are many items in my shp which I have found and repainted and fixed and they all work just fine.
J. Hill
-------------------- Jim Hill Nostalgic Racing Decals Inc. 637 Sedgewick Way Palm Harbor, Florida. 34683 jimbo1734683@yahoo.com Posts: 22 | From: Palm Harbor, Florida | Registered: Jan 2004
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Robert, I can relate to your scores, the beauty of dumpster diving is "one mans trash, is anothers mans treasure!!" I found awhole lot of stuff, I think my last good find was an old neon clock from the 40's, I couldn't find the motor, so I took it to a clock shop and they set me up with an industrial battery operated movements. It works like a charm, and the "Ruby Red" neon works off an small mini transformer. It looks sweet! I'm also a union member of loco 85-4B in the flea market, yard sailin club
-------------------- aka:Cisco the "Traveling Millennium Sign Artist" http://www.franciscovargas.com Fresno, CA 93703 559 252-0935 "to live life, is to love life, a sign of no life, is a sign of no love"...Cisco 12'98 Posts: 3576 | From: Fresno, Ca, the great USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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I found a nickel plated .25 cal automatic in my shop dumpster not long ago. The trash had been picked up Friday afternoon and the gun was in the dumpster Monday morning. The sheriff's dept. ran a check on the number and nothing came back.
-------------------- Frisby Signs, Inc. El Dorado, Arkansas Posts: 902 | From: El Dorado, Arkansas, USA | Registered: Apr 1999
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Used to get sign material from a dumpster of a sign material supplier in NE Philadelphia-they have since gone out of business. They'd throw things away like a whole sheet of acryllic b/c of a crack or a nick in it (maybe that's why they went under).
-------------------- signs Posts: 535 | From: pa | Registered: Dec 1998
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...AND don't forget the dumpsters of (other) local signshops. I've found more expensive materials than I usually use! Not to mention lots of sign foam scraps.
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Check the dumpsters at big truck-freight terminals for variety, almost all new stuff. If some of the items on a pallet are damaged, the whole thing is often pitched.
-------------------- Bruce Williams Lexington KY Posts: 945 | From: Lexington, KY, USA | Registered: Mar 1999
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My first experience at the treasures of the "dive" was as an eighth grader. Looked in the dumpster behind the local post office. Must have been near the end of the fiscal quarter, they threw away everything that wasn't nailed down. Probably had to spend the rest of the proposed quarterly budget or lose it and get a reduction for the next qtr.
The local large bakery changed their attire. One of the guys threw away about 12 brand new shirts with button down collar. I wore them to work during the winter and covered the logo/name with a sweater. I still have 5 in the closet and that was about 10 years ago.
Two furnace fans have been rewired and I move them around as needed...also use them after we clean the carpet. Large mass of air movement with those puppies.
I could go on and on, the diving spans 50 years for me so that accounts for a lot of treasures.
Oh, one last one. A friend had a computer store and he threw away a lot of nifty stuff. I checked the dumpster and picked up a fairly heavy box. Ah, neat, could be a real treasure...then a box within a box...digging into that one...books maybe...nope,I found his expired cat. Can't judge a box by it's weight.
Wishing all of you a great weekend. March madness is in the air.
Dennis
-------------------- Dennis Davis Retired (Public Utility) Boise, Idaho denniso3@cableone.net Posts: 20 | From: Boise, Idaho | Registered: Mar 2004
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did anyone see the 20/20 or one of them....about the guy with a HORDING DISORDER??? WAS SCARY,,, this guy cant stay outa dumpsters....had over 300 golf clubs, 3-4 riding lawn mowers. almost got kicked outa his apt when the landlord saw all his crap......it was interesting.
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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LOL Robert, When my oldest daughter was a teen she would crouch down in the truck when I saw something put out on the side of the road or in a dumpster. She almost died of embarrassment,
"MOTHER!!! PLEASE WAIT TIL" I"M NOT IN HERE!!!!"Then she would say, "Your not puttin' THAT in MY room!" or, "I'm NOT usin that!!" She also refused to wear thrift store clothes.
You would'nt believe the furniture and stuff that we've happily lived with that needed only minimal repair or none at all!!
But the lil' girl grew up and got married....she dresses like an Armani model from thrift store buys mostly and guess what??
She calls every so often and says, "MOM!! Guess what we found!!.........."
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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When I was about 12 years old I was making a fortune (for a 12 year old) by collecting aluminum cans out of apartment dumpsters. One day on my searches I found a Browning Light 12 shotgun, a Remington Model 1100 12 gauge, two compound bows and a Marlin .22 rifle wrapped together with duct tape in the dumpster! I ripped open a bunch of garbage bags, wrapped the guns off and snuck them back to our fort in the woods. Just knew somebody would see me with them and take them. Couple of days later I showed them to my dad, who called the sheriff's office. They picked up the guns.
One year later we got a phone call from the Sheriff. Nobody had reported the guns missing or stolen in a year, and they were now ours if we wanted them back.
I've still got the three guns, traded the compund bows for my first Paasche VL.
-------------------- Pat Whatley Montgomery, AL (334) 262-7446 office (334) 324-8465 cell Posts: 1306 | From: Wetumpka, AL USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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Dont leave an open dumpster near me. Im in it. But just a little.
I just scored two really nice chrome display trees, a brass fire bell that polished into a like new condition, a set of steel display shelves for my storage shed, ,, well i could go ne but i wont..
-------------------- Leaper of Tall buildings.. If you find my posts divisive or otherwise snarky please ignore them. If you do not know how then PM me about it and I will demonstrate. Posts: 5274 | From: Im a nowhere man | Registered: Jul 2001
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SONGPAINTER Original Sign Music by Sign People NOW AVAILABLE on CD and the proceeds go to Letterville's favorite charity! Click Here for Sound Clips! Posts: 1974 | From: Orleans, MA, Cape Cod, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Dumptsters?Dumpsters? Did someone say dumpsters? Try a large portion of the city dump stuffed into a Packard Straight Eight. Back in late 40's or early fifties, I don't remember quite accurately. My Dad was a canary breeder. He would go to the local "city dump" to trap male Gold Finches to cross breed with his canaries.The area around the dump was heavily covered with thistle plants and the Gold Finches were numerous and easy to trap. He made the mistake of taking me on one of his sojourns to the dump. "Willy, you stay back here and keep an eye on the car." he says to me.Big, big mistake. There were so many wonderfull treasures surrounding me that I couldn't resist... By the time he returned, that old Packard 4 door was packed to the roof with "good stuff". I could not believe that he was so upset about getting all that "good stuff" for free. (Although that fine vehicle did have a little bit of an odor to it.)(For Weeks)(Even after I was forced to wash, clean and scrub it out about three times) Everything ent back to it's original resting place, except the three perfectly good bird cages I had found. Never thanked me for them either. Will never make my fortune as an Suto Detailer, but I still love a good dumpster/dump to this day.
-------------------- William "Irish" Holohan Resting...Read "Between Jobs." Marlboro, MA 01752 email: firemap1@aol.com Posts: 1110 | From: Marlboro, MA | Registered: Dec 2001
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I just got permission to take what I wanted from a rather old barn. It's in great condition, too bad it's going to br torn down.
Any way I got a horse (or mule) harness, a set of shavs in great condition (when you use a team, there's a tongue between the horses, when it's one horse, you use a set of shavs. They're long, curved pieces of hardwood with other hardware), a house jack, some wrenches, bales of hay, truck axle, 2x4's, shovel, piece of rail (substitute anvil) and hand tools. This is all stuff I've been wanting to get.
Up in the loft a big vulture has made her nest. There are two eggs up in the hay. I hate to see a creature lose it's nest and such. There's a place at the University of TN campus that takes and cares for injured wild animals. Maybe I'll call them. Sounds like a simply awful do at home project...let's see, need a blender, some roadkill, hmmm, what's their number?
I'm not makin' this up.
-------------------- James Donahue Donahue Sign Arts 1851 E. Union Valley Rd. Seymour TN. (865) 577-3365 brushman@nxs.net
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for lunch, Benjamin Franklin Posts: 2057 | From: 1033 W. Union Valley Rd. | Registered: Feb 2003
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Years ago when my kids were still doing Halloween, their costumes got accidentally thrown out. I used to hand make all their outfits so when I found out that my husband took out the black garbage bag that I had stored their costumes in, I called the garbage service and told them what happened. They told me what time that truck usually comes in to dump and that I could meet it there. I got there early and couldn't believe what people were throwing out. I found bags of clean clothes all folded, linens sheets that were all washed and ironed, and much more. I did eventually get my costumes back.
[ March 20, 2004, 10:00 PM: Message edited by: Laura Butler ]
-------------------- Laura Butler Vision Graphics & Sign 4479 Welch Rd Attica, Mi 48412 Posts: 2855 | From: Attica, Mi, USA | Registered: Nov 2000
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There is a dumpster diving website? Man am I in trouble! Now I need to rent a huge storage space for all of the stuff. Just kidding! I know what to look for. It is not a compultion, but I love scraps of exotic wood & anything that is useable. I can't beleive what winds up in the landfill. Isn't that why we have charities to donate the stuff to?
In the local paper, is an area in the classifieds that offers a catagory of free ads, no charge to run the ad. I am always to late because the early birds get it first.
Tip a good diving tool is a long handled gaff, the kind that is used for gaffing fish.
-------------------- Rob Thomas 3410 Ketcham Ct Beautiful Springs FL 34134 Posts: 965 | From: Bonita Springs, Florida USA | Registered: Feb 2000
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I once had a early morning job I gave myself when I lived in south Florida. I used a fishing gaff to save the bales as they used to float in the ocean and often washed up on shore. At that time they were sealed in a celophane type wrap so they were worth saving. A friend of mine was working in his yard one morning when a huge bale of cocaine fell from the sky and landed in his neighbors yard 10 foot from him. After the police arrived from the neighbors call and took it away, the papers said it weighed around 500 pounds. It ruined the neighbors lawn with a big hole, soon after, his neighbor lost his home due to back payments from his mortgage. Lifes a b-tch, huh!
-------------------- HotLines Joey Madden - pinstriping since 1952 'Perfection, its what I look for and what I live for'
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In about 1975 when I was working in the Slides, Transparencies and Duplicates section at Fort Ord, they had us throw out all kinds of good stuff into the dumpster. After work we went out and salvaged a bunch of it. My best find was one of those old wooden boxes with a clear plastic lid that was full of all those Speedball nibs. I gave most of them away to friends. One of my kids was managing an apartment complex up by Western Washington University and all the college kids at the end of the year would throw everything you could imagine in the dumpster-what the hell, Mom and Dad will buy them new ones next year! He got my other son a TI-85 calculator that worked perfect. It wasn't in the dumpster, but he had me haul off a 1984 Yamaha 180 Riva scooter with about 5,000 miles on it that had been abandoned there for about 5 years-still need to try and fire it up someday and see if it runs. It is amazing to me what people through away.
-------------------- Mike Duncan(from the left coast) Astoria, Oregon Posts: 367 | From: Astoria, Oregon 97103 | Registered: Nov 1998
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I'm a reformed dumpster diver, thrift store shopper, and garage saler. It's thrilling to find cool stuff for cheap ... or better yet, free!
I reached a point where "stuff" was becoming overwhelming, and, several years ago, I decided to incorporate the "less is more" theory to my life, in an effort to streamline and simplify things.
I've been unloading ever since! So now I'm the dumper! Everytime I do any major cleaning around here, I'm amazed at how much stuff I could still get rid of.
These days I still peek into dumpsters, scan garage sales, and visit thrift stores, but I restrain myself from getting anything unless there is a real need and a place for it. I'm more selective with my bargain shopping too.
I gotta say, it's quite liberating get free of "stuff".
Janette
-------------------- "When Love and Skill Work Together ... Expect a Masterpiece"
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We have a neighbor who drives out to two or three different dumps just about every day. His yard now looks like a dump too, lol. I think he needs therapy!
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Some other recent finds are a brand new condition fish landing net & one half of a broken two peice fishing rod, he broke the oppisite part of the rod I broke!
I checked out the Canon PC3 today that I "rescued" from a dumpster, as my other one would not copy.
I works! It all it needs is, some cleaning & a new cartridge. I got my old one to work as well. Copys, inlarges & reduces. About 3000 copies per cartridge.
-------------------- Rob Thomas 3410 Ketcham Ct Beautiful Springs FL 34134 Posts: 965 | From: Bonita Springs, Florida USA | Registered: Feb 2000
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Good post...I can't tell you how much stuff I have wanted to get rid of and I figured out the perfect way to do so:
I simply take it down to the end of the driveway and put a "free" sign on it. Doesn't matter if it works or not, is in good shape or not...it's always gone within a half hour.
Once I was walking down an old pitted, half rusted metal shelving unit. You know, the kind that you get a Menard's for $20. It was getting kind of nasty, and I was cleaning up the basement and just plain making more room by rearranging things.
Anyway, I was just setting it down by my mailbox with a "free" sign on it as an older lady was walking by on the street. She says, "Hey, are you getting rid of that?", to which I replied, "Yep".
She picked it up and took it with her.
My brother-in-law does the same and often jokes, "People will take anything if it's free. I bet if you stuck a free sign on a piece of dog poop, someone would take it." Hehehe
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
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Very true Todd. I have been remodeling my shop, and I haven't had to buy a dumpster! I just put old lumber, doors, desks outside with "free" on it and it just goes away within hours if not minutes. That's so cool!
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3485 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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our town has its own dump store! it's a hoot! i had a boyfriend years back that worked for UPS at night...if they had a package bust open they would throw it out even if what was inside was perfectly fine. he used to bring home cases of expensive salon shampoos and conditions, a box full of nike stuff..awesome windjacket, shorts etc...i still wear the windbraker to this day...14 years later he's history but the good stuff stayed. it kills me that they would rather toss this stuff than donate it to good will...i guess its all insurance bullsh!t....hey ron costa...you live close to twin mtn...ya ever go to the UPS dumpster???
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Funny about a "FREE" sign on anything...a few years ago when I moved I had on old big screen television. It was going to cost a fortune to fix so I tried to throw it out. The city would not pick it up so I put a sign on top of it. "FREE TV. TOO DAMN BIG TO MOVE". It was gone in 10 minutes. Over the course of the week I watched as that TV got picked up, someone tried it, put it back on the curb with the sign on it..over and over and over. It moved all over the neighborhood. I can still picture that TV out there somewhere...sitting on a curb waiting on the next sucker to come along.
-------------------- Pat Whatley Montgomery, AL (334) 262-7446 office (334) 324-8465 cell Posts: 1306 | From: Wetumpka, AL USA | Registered: Mar 2001
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My great one and I will pass this tip on...but want to keep it to myself is the dumpster behind any harley davidson dealer that has a service shop as they throw away all of the parts from a wreck and often times parts that there are two of like crash guards only one is bent or scratched, or one side of the gas tank which makes a AWESOME display for a sign shop or even a cooler outdoor plant pot. Also any original parts that they take off for a replacement or custom part that customers don't claim HAVE TO go in the dumpster as the employees fight over who gets them or that the shop may try to sell used parts when that would hurt the franchise IT ALL GOES IN THE DUMPSTER last year I pulled enough parts out of the dumpster to fill my F250 4 times to take all of the parts to the swap meet, sold $5000 and change worth of parts in one weekend EVERYTHING with the exception of 2 factory seats that came off of my bikes was from the dumpster (and I only hit one of the local dealerships) IT IS A gold mine...no a chrome mine. But that is the only dumpster diving i have ever thought to do (the service manager gave me the tip because he knew of a part that was in there that he wanted for his bike but couldnt risk getting caught...I;ve just never stopped going, but now I am thinking of all of the options and businesses with dumpsters....you guys have just created a monster....I have to get this damn cast off so I can go "shopping"
-------------------- Dan Streicher Slidell, LA Posts: 445 | From: Slidell, LA | Registered: Feb 2004
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When we bought new recliners, we put my favorite recliner that I bought brand new a long time ago out to pasture. It was an overcast morning, by early afternoon it was raining, yup, you guessed it, some person wanted it bad enough to bring a "slightly" wet recliner! To each their own I suppose!!
And when we want to get rid of a piece of junk, it goes to the end of the driveway with a FREE sign on it, it has not failed yet!
-------------------- Mike Berry New England Posts: 534 | From: New England | Registered: Jan 2002
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A competitive sign shop here in town made 5 or 6 4 x 8 foot light sign cabinates for State Farm Insurance. One day he got a call from them and they asked if he would buy them back as they were not going to use them.
"If you don't want them, were going to toss them in the dumster." He told them to toss them in HIS dumpster and they would save dumster dumping money...so they did! He has resold them all, and only had to change out the faces.
Big corporations are so wasteful. Stuff gets lost in storage, new people on the job toss perfectly good stuff just because no one remembers why they bougth it in the first place.
I remeber the time when Signmakers and Sprints were new, and one company threw one out because the guy that ran it quit, and after 4 months, no one knew what it did...so they trashed it.
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I am working with a local resort on replacing thier old worn out picnic tables with new ones. In the bid, I offer to recycle the old ones for scrap. Haul away, no cost to them. I sell about 1/2 of of the old ones, cheap, $20-50. Win-win! The ones that are beyond repair, I sell for the scrap aluminum!
-------------------- Rob Thomas 3410 Ketcham Ct Beautiful Springs FL 34134 Posts: 965 | From: Bonita Springs, Florida USA | Registered: Feb 2000
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For several years, I have gone to custom cabinet shops and gone thru their throw away stuff. You can find some good, expensive wood that's great for use in a woodshop.
-------------------- Robert Richards Southern Ad Specialties Carrollton, GA 770-830-1501 sasga2000@a0l.com Posts: 138 | From: Carrollton, GA | Registered: Sep 2002
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My first bike, a used Schwinn Sting Ray was a gift from my dad! (LOL)
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