So, its trash Day. There Is a lady going through my trash out front

[matcom]

its wierd.

trash day here in the neighborhood. we have pickup every wednesday. this lady is quite normal looking. pulls up in a nice looking minivan. she is going through everyone's trash looking for (i assume) recycleables.

this is a nice middle class neighborhood. she isn't some bag lady. looks like she could have just dropped her kids off at school.

i feel wierd about it. not sure why. we only recycle every other week and its not our week. she is next door now, opening up the neighbors trash bags and sifting through all the cans and bottles.

i know its good she is gonna recycle them and collect the $$ but i don't like the idea that she is sifting through my garbage.

how would YOU feel about it?

[flvegan]

1. Due to the rash of identity theft

I'd not let anyone sift through my trash, nicely dressed mini-van mom or otherwise.

[BlondieK143]

4. That's why you shred everything.

I've heard so many horror stories that anything and everything that has my name on it gets shredded then trashed.

I'd feel weird about someone going through my trash as well. Could you just ask her to stop? She probably thinks it's harmless, but it's not worth you being uncomfortable over and she'll probably do it the next time as well.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Remarkable what...

The real effects of this economy are, and what they are making people do, no?

[notadmblnd]

3. go talk to her

if she is collecting recycleables, maybe you could make arrangements to separate it and she could come once a month and pick it up from you. We used to have what I'd called a bottle boy. My husband and I hated taking bottles back to the store. A young man knocked on our door one day and asked if we had any bottles. We made arrangements with his\m to stop by every couple of weeks. He did this for years until he went off to college.

[sniffa]

5. i have a few pickers

who forage, so i started keeping my bottLes and cans seperate for them.

it's a great economy.

-----

one of the weirdest scenes i occasionaLLy witness happens on beacon hiLL the night before trash days - hundreds of foragers race back and forth through the streets, tearing through garbage and snearing at each other (they're very territoriaL). it's Like watching discovery channeL.

[liberal N proud]

6. Happens in my neighborhood all the time

I replaced an aluminum storm door 2 weeks ago, when I put the old door out by the curb with the rest of the trash, it lasted 30 minutes before some one came by in a pick up and hauled it away.
I assume they were after the aluminum.

[DoctorMyEyes]

7. As a former "dumpster diver"

I spent more hours than I care to remember sifting through the garbage at a former employers while we were involved in a union drive and several NLRB lawsuits. I can tell you that it's not illegal.

Once you put the trash out, it's not yours any more.

But, I'd still find it creepy and disturbing to have someone going thru my garbage. I can only tell you from my own experience (and my former employers) get and use a shredder.

[curse10]

8. It happens to us twice a week

but we don't get such nicely dressed customers. It does bother me because they dump shit out all over the sidewalk! It makes a mess and then the garbage men don't pick it up.

[DoctorMyEyes]

9. Now see, that IS illegal

That's bullshit. You want the trash, you take the trash - you don't tear it up and leave it all over like a damn wild dog.

Since I shred everything that would worry me I don't care who sifts through looking for recycleables, and I'm glad when someone picks up a household item that they might have use for, instead of it going into a landfill - but, if someone made a mess on my sidewalk or driveway....well, it wouldn't be pretty.

[curse10]

11. We've had to yell at a few of the pickers

it wasn't nice. We even separate all our recyclables because Boston has a recycling program- they are all in a very nice blue box. But they think we must be hiding more soda cans somewhere! :eyes:

[sniffa]

10. see my report on beacon hiLL

:o

[curse10]

13. LoL- I saw that- and it's so true!

We should go get lawn chairs, set 'em up in the street, crack a beer, and totally watch the show :D

[sniffa]

15. that seems kinda crueL

i was just gonna set up some cameras to fiLm it. that documentary wouLd be goLd!!

[DS1]

18. speed it up to the Benny Hill music

[SoCalDem]

12. Invite her in for coffee & donuts?

We give our cans & papers to the next door neighbors.. Too lazy to recycle them ourselves :)

[Spinzonner]

14. It is possible for people to be asset rich and cash poor

and try and avoid liquidating assets (selling or pawning).

That may not apply to her, of course.

You don't even know that she has her own home just because she has good clothes and a decent vehicle.

[rhino47]

16. I have been guilty of trash picking

I have picked up a wonderful 1920s stove in jadite and ivory that matches my sellers cabinet.I also have found an oak washstand,a matching pair of Aladdin lamps ,a roseville funeral vase (someone had painted it white) and tons of other good stuff.
I would never tear open bags though.If someone is home I always ask if its ok if I take the items.

[Demit]

17. Happens all the time in my downtown neighborhood

On my street we separate out the cans for the retired neighbor to take. If we have something we don't want to take to the Goodwill, we leave it out for the neighborhood salvagers who cruise by the night before collection. I got a nice chair and lamp this way, myself. Also some books. (If I put out something that isn't trashpicked, I always feel a little insulted, lol.)

But yes, when people tear through closed bags that's not good form. That's why I don't put out my true trash until the morning of pickup, just in case.

[Bridget Burke]

23. Heavy Trash Day is once a month in my neighborhood....

It's on a Monday, so you're allowed to put stuff on the curb any time during the weekend. Things I've put out are usually picked up before the City can get there. Good recycling.

I agree that going through garbage bags is something else. However, the City gives us big plastic bins that the trucks can empty manually--so the bags are not just sitting there....

[Cobalt Violet]

19. Once you discard it , it's not your anymore.

Otherwise it would be stealing. Try calling the police and saying that someone is stealing your trash. Get use to it. It only going to increase.

[babylonsister]

20. Garage sale/flea market time. Lots

of people make a living this way.

[shesemsmom]

21. I would worry if I didn't shred EVERYTHING

You might try doing the recyclables in a separate bag to keep her out of stuff. This on goes to show how strange people are.

[Midlodemocrat]

22. Well, speaking as a middle class mom,

I do know a few folks who go through other people's recycling looking for cans, newspapers, because the middle school requires as part of a project that each child contribute so much.

We resorted to the paper because the year we did cans, we had bugs in the garage because we don't drink enough stuff in cans, so we had to start really early.

Maybe that is why she is going through the recycling.

[artfan]

24. love it

i shred anything important,put out interesting/potentially useful items early and in clear view,and use freecycle on yahoo.

of course I am an art student and we tend to find other peoples junk interesting/useful.

[jukes]

25. DEA

you're fucked, dude.

[SPQR]

26. When I was a kid, back in the late '60's

there was this woman (actually back then it was "a lady"), who'd go through our trash every garbage day. She'd drive around in this old, beat-up white station wagon and go through everyone's trash, picking out the newspapers. We had no idea who she was, and if we happened to spot her in front of our house, we'd say something like "Oops, there she is again" and sort of giggle about her. Then one day she came driving up in this brand-new, big ol' truck. After we picked our jaws up off the floor, we realized that Cat-Eye Glasses Trash Lady knew something we didn't.

[MissMillie]

27. I know of some people

who go looking for bottles and cans so they can collect the deposit and then they donate that money to charity.

I wouldn't feel too strange about it.... I just hope you own a shredder.

[progmom]

28. There was a woman in my old neighborhood who used to do that every week.

If my walk out to my car happened to coincide with her rummaging, I'd slip her a few bucks. "There but for the grace" and all that, you know?

[underpants]

29. Ummmmm "identity theft"?

Heard of it? I hate to be paranoid but it happens all the time.

[yellowcanine]

31. Identity thieves aren't picking through trash, they are using computers.

If you are worried about it, tear up or shred your junk mail and any other paper that has personal information on it but know that this fear is mostly not very rational.

[yellowcanine]

30. I got a lot of my furniture off the curb. Anything wrong with that? If

you threw it out, why should you care if somebody decides they can use it? Look at it this way - something was saved from the landfill. Your trash fee is going to go up ig the landfill gets full and the trash has to be hauled to another state for disposal. Of course trash "pickers" should put the trash back into the containers after they are finished.

[Hugin]

32. Darn, she's getting all the good stuff.

Before I can get there.

People would be really disappointed with my garbage.

The missus is even thriftier than I am.

[redqueen]

33. I wouldn't mind because I don't put out anything with any pertinent info.

No worries of identity theft.

Our bulk trash is always well picked over by the time the city comes around.