I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students • Hacker News Board

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#21

Post by pavel_lishin » Tue, May 27, 2025, 5:25 PM UTC

> You don’t really have to do any digging—most of the stuff I’ve gotten was sitting on top of discarded furniture. But you do have to rush. After I took the Lululemon haul upstairs, I returned to find city waste workers loading things into a garbage truck, off to a landfill.

I'm frankly surprised other dumpster divers didn't get there first. I used to cruise around my university's campus during the end of the semester - got quite a bit of stuff that way, although none of it quite as pricey as what Duke students are apparently tossing.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#22

Post by duffyjp » Tue, May 27, 2025, 5:26 PM UTC

NoImmatureAdHom wrote: post #7

In Boston move in / out day (Sept. 1) is called "Allston Christmas". The students leave TONS of stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_Day_(Boston)

Hippie Christmas at UW Madison. I used to snag all kinds of stuff as a student.

https://uwalumni.com/news/hippie-christmas/

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#23

Post by knowitnone » Tue, May 27, 2025, 5:26 PM UTC

I live in a uni town and when graduation comes around(pretty soon), there are all kinds of goodies on the sidewalk and trashbins. LCD TVs, clothing, furniture, food, bikes, etc. Everybody talks about evironmentalism execept they don't actually practice it.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#24

Post by cmontella » Tue, May 27, 2025, 5:29 PM UTC

Lol this was my favorite thing to do at CMU. Except it wasn't luxury goods, it was all the textbooks and computer equipment they would leave behind.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#25

Post by nancyminusone » Tue, May 27, 2025, 5:29 PM UTC

>it also feels mildly wrong to take it

I never feel any guilt about taking things from the trash. About trespassing to somewhere you're not supposed to be? Sure. But if it's something that's 100% clear is in the trash and will be going to the landfill and not going to some charity reuse place or something, and I want it, I'm taking it.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#26

Post by timewizard » Tue, May 27, 2025, 5:32 PM UTC

nancyminusone wrote: post #25

>it also feels mildly wrong to take it I never feel any guilt about taking things from the trash. About trespassing to somewhere you're not supposed to be? Sure. But if it's something that's 100% clear is in the trash and will be going to the landfill and not going to some charity reuse place or something, and I want it, I'm taking it.

When I find people recycling out of our trash bins I just remind them that I have to ask them to leave because it's a liability issue. Then I let them know what our office hours actually are.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#27

Post by timewizard » Tue, May 27, 2025, 5:33 PM UTC

FuriouslyAdrift wrote: post #12

Kon-Peki wrote: post #2

> Looking at the data, Duke’s per-undergraduate donation rate (about 4.9 pounds) is comparable to that at other wealthy private universities like Princeton (7.6 pounds) and Georgetown (6.1 pounds). Duke actually outperforms some schools with similar student demographics like the University of Chicago (0.8 pounds) and Northwestern (0.9 pounds). Most large public universities hover around one pound per student. This se…

"UChicago is not known for being a party school"... lol The unofficial motto is "where fun goes to die"

Why does fun go there to die?

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#28

Post by dm03514 » Tue, May 27, 2025, 5:34 PM UTC

cmontella wrote: post #24

Lol this was my favorite thing to do at CMU. Except it wasn't luxury goods, it was all the textbooks and computer equipment they would leave behind.

Me too :) - state university in early 2000s , would take the textbooks from the trash walk them over to the textbook exchange and pocket ~$100 for ~3 hours of work

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#29

Post by ben1040 » Tue, May 27, 2025, 5:34 PM UTC

When I graduated 20+ years ago I scoured trash rooms on campus before my card access got shut off. I paid probably six months of rent by taking what I found and selling it on ebay.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#30

Post by dm03514 » Tue, May 27, 2025, 5:38 PM UTC

Looked forward to move out day at state university in early 2000s. The university would rent dumpsters and place in the common outdoor areas. The dumpsters had the end door that would open so it was easy to walk inside of them without climbing.

I’d Spend all morning in the dumpster with some friends. Name brand clothes were good finds, also pretty much all the textbooks carried a trade in value. Lots of sealed food snacks as well.

I don’t know if the kids that threw them away were lazy or they just didn’t know about buy back, but the books easily brought me $100 for a couple hours of morning dumpster diving.