Any body ever go to "The Dump"? Find anything? 2 2

[Robot Man]

Back when I was a kid, my dad would make semi regular trips to "the dump" to get rid of junk. My little brother and I would always happily accompany him on his trips. It was a magical place for a kid. We would always, dig around and explore. Sometimes we would find stuff. My dad would usually tell us to put it back but sometimes he would let us take home a score or two. 

Memorable finds... A few old working lawn mower motors that we would turn into home made mini bikes or go carts. My friend's dad was a welder so he would make us frames and we would scrounge parts. Found a couple of very old and pretty un broken stained glass windows that we put into our tree house. Also some old metal advertising signs that also went into the tree house. *wish I grabbed more of them now)... Once I got 3 1920's Buddy L pressed steel large toy trucks. Comics? Yeah, once in a while a small box of oldies. And plenty of "men's magazines" which we would sneak into the back seat untill we could get them into the fort or tree house.

About 20 years ago I got a call from a friend who worked at a dump in NO CA. He said he found a couple hundred old comics and pulled them aside for me. I made the drive up a few weeks later and was rewarded with about 200 1946-1955 atomic age comics. Many had light water damage and or rusted staples but nice otherwise. Was told they came out of an old house in San Francisco. My heart sank though when he took me out to the "chipper". In front of it was a large pile of shredded, colorful paper. Probably a bunch of the comics before he rescued the others. The two I remember the most were a Phantom Lady #17 and A Startling #49. Great load!

Anybody else got any "dump" stories???

[ADAMANTIUM]

Went to the dump in an el camino to unload shingles when I was 15-16 and helping do the roof on my parents place. Didn't think to look around but did step on a nail.  I promised myself if I survived that trip, I'd have to have a good reason to go back! COMICS!!!

 

Edited May 22, 2018 by ADAMANTIUM

[TheFifthHorseman]

25 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

The two I remember the most were a Phantom Lady #17 and A Startling #49. Great load!

Anybody else got any "dump" stories???

Those two would make it worthwhile!

My stepdad used to dumpster dive Took me a few times. Found a carhartt jacket (brand new) once. That's about it

[ADAMANTIUM]

As Far As "dumpster diving"

ALSO when I was a teenager....

Marlboro Cigs used to have this thing on the sides of the pack called "Marlboro Miles", I think that each pack was worth like 5 miles, kind of like a proof of purchase something or other.

Me and a friend would go on our bicycles and look for discarded packs, essentially dumpster diving. You could trade in these said "miles" for Marlboro swag.... made great Christmas gifts. T-shirts, lighters, ashtrays, iron on patches. Made going to high-school a kick...... Ah if we could do things over..... 

[jools&jim]

Back in the late '70s, a couple of guys in my neighborhood would ride their bikes to the local dump once or twice a month.  I went with them at least once, but my parents found out about it and that was that. 

Don't know about comics, but they scored plenty of porno mags, and--on one trip--two large cardboard boxes full of 8mm & 16mm stag films...

[ADAMANTIUM]

In my mind, I wouldn't think that "the" dump is that accessible anymore.  not sure though. 

Also I think you can get away with it as a kid, but not so much anymore as an adult. 

[shadroch]

I have not been to a dump in years, but they used to encourage people to come window shopping.

[electricprune]

Not comic related, but when I was 8 or 9 my friend and I went to a dump in un undeveloped field across from his house. I don't think it was a legal dumping area, but I'm not sure. We found several envelopes that contained old stamps in the heaps of trash. We didn't know anything about them, but we kept all we could find. I took them home and showed my dad. He was 100% sure I had stolen them from someone, so he took them and I got in trouble. I have no idea if they even had value.

My advice is, don't show your parents what you find in the dump.

[iggy]

Not "the dump" much, but as a teen, dad used to drive me and maybe a cousin or fellow collecting friend out on excursions in the country looking for old farm dumps (they were usually around creeks). We were beer can collectors looking for old flat top and cone top cans. We'd bring loads of them home, clean them up with the outside water faucet, then dip them in a bath of oxalic acid in the garage. A completely rusted can would come out of the acid bath revealing it's label. 

[kav]

13 minutes ago, electricprune said:

Not comic related, but when I was 8 or 9 my friend and I went to a dump in un undeveloped field across from his house. I don't think it was a legal dumping area, but I'm not sure. We found several envelopes that contained old stamps in the heaps of trash. We didn't know anything about them, but we kept all we could find. I took them home and showed my dad. He was 100% sure I had stolen them from someone, so he took them and I got in trouble. I have no idea if they even had value.

My advice is, don't show your parents what you find in the dump.

I picked up some old glasses off the ground at the dump and put them in my pocket.  Later I started walking around wearing the glasses and told my neighbor lady that yeah I had to start wearing glasses now.  She told my parents and then began a long punishing grilling period of where I got the glasses.  They were sure there was some old man out there without his glasses.  I kept saying I found them out in the field.  It culminated in my dad putting all my comic books in the bath tub.  He didnt realize that merely destroying one comic book would have been more punishment than I could handle.

[Black_Adam]

One summer in the 1970s we made weekly trips (they were like a family outing) to the dump because my mom and her boyfriend at the time knew a local magazine distributor would dump all of their book returns with only the front cover torn off. They were both voracious readers and loved getting free books and, of course, I was happy because the discarded books included tons of coverless comics. I ended up with stacks of them which I shared with family and friends and read throughout the summer, though I do remember feeling ripped off when I went to the corner store with my allowance and bought a new Richie Rich only to realize when I got home it was one I already owned a coverless copy of. I also remember finding a huge lot of O-pee-chee hockey cards from the early seventies which I promptly lost shooting stand-ups at school and a sweet goalie stick. Unfortunately, after about a half dozen trips to the dump the powers that be decided all the scroungers were a safety risk and barred us from going in. Though I do remember making a few forays back during my teenage years at the break of dawn (before the workers arrived), but by that time I was mainly hunting for discarded dirty magazines.

 

[ADAMANTIUM]

24 minutes ago, kav said:

I picked up some old glasses off the ground at the dump and put them in my pocket.  Later I started walking around wearing the glasses and told my neighbor lady that yeah I had to start wearing glasses now.  She told my parents and then began a long punishing grilling period of where I got the glasses.  They were sure there was some old man out there without his glasses.  I kept saying I found them out in the field.  It culminated in my dad putting all my comic books in the bath tub.  He didnt realize that merely destroying one comic book would have been more punishment than I could handle.

if not for the cat in your sig line, that would have been more than I could handle.... yikes

Edited May 22, 2018 by ADAMANTIUM

[lizards2]

I used to take my main squeeze to the dump on Friday nights to shoot skunks. 

You don't want to be looking around for salvageable stuff after a couple those are popped.

[Robot Man]

23 minutes ago, lizards2 said:

I used to take my main squeeze to the dump on Friday nights to shoot skunks. 

You don't want to be looking around for salvageable stuff after a couple those are popped.

How romantic!  

[shadroch]

Was camping out at Montauk Point one year and when I unrolled my air mattress ,I discovered it was missing the cap for the air tube. I couldn't find anything to plug it properly so for two nites I slept on the ground. Been in worse situations but none recently. That Saturday, we swung by the Southampton Town dump and within two minutes I found a discarded air mattress with just the cap I needed. Saved the trip.

[Robot Man]

1 hour ago, iggy said:

Not "the dump" much, but as a teen, dad used to drive me and maybe a cousin or fellow collecting friend out on excursions in the country looking for old farm dumps (they were usually around creeks). We were beer can collectors looking for old flat top and cone top cans. We'd bring loads of them home, clean them up with the outside water faucet, then dip them in a bath of oxalic acid in the garage. A completely rusted can would come out of the acid bath revealing it's label. 

Reminds me of a friend that lives on the east coast. He used to dig old outhouses looking for bottles and such. He would find old coins that slipped out of people's pockets once in a while too. He would often find very rare old bottles. Not many outhouses on the west coast...

[DeadOne]

I was a residential recycle truck driver/loader for 18 years before my injury.
I was never much of a scavenger, but I did find some comics now and then but nothing to write home about. My top three scores were a very nice Absolute Watchman with slipcase, a huge bin full of 70's Archie comics, and a haul of approximately 100 mid 70's to late 80's Mad Magazines.
I did collect up Box Tops For Education and sell those in lots of 50 - 100 on eBay for a really long time. I could easily pull an extra $1200 a year doing that. 

However, the guys that drove the trash trucks (which I did whenever guys would call off or need help... which was a lot) were huge scavengers. They would take anything and everything that they could sell. Lots of scrap metal and copper wiring.

[electricprune]

1 hour ago, kav said:

I picked up some old glasses off the ground at the dump and put them in my pocket.  Later I started walking around wearing the glasses and told my neighbor lady that yeah I had to start wearing glasses now.  She told my parents and then began a long punishing grilling period of where I got the glasses.  They were sure there was some old man out there without his glasses.  I kept saying I found them out in the field.  It culminated in my dad putting all my comic books in the bath tub.  He didnt realize that merely destroying one comic book would have been more punishment than I could handle.

Yep, it just doesn't pay to pick up stuff.

[Badger]

Not really a dump story but when I was little my dad would take me out looking for cans to recycle. This was back in the 70s and you could still find steel cans which he said were junk.  We would search in fields and along roads just looking to see what we could find and take to recycle.  We were walking through an empty lot and dad had just finished telling me how to easily tell a valuable aluminum can from a steel can, the secret is in the weight!, when I tried to pick up the worlds heaviest can.  

I bent down and grabbed the can as I was walking by and the thing would not budge.  Just about took me off my feet!  My dad laughed, said steel cans are not THAT heavy, came over, and bent down to pry it out of the ground.  It did not budge.  Frustrated, he kicked it with his steel toed boot.  That knocked the can only a few feet but it certainly pissed off the hornet nest that had taken up residence inside.  Those angry yellow bastards came roaring out of that can heading straight for me.  I still remember my dad jumping between me and the swarm to push me away.  His sacrifice worked; I did not get stung and somehow my dad only got stung once.

I learned that trash is dangerous that day and that I should stay away from discarded junk.  It was a lesson that stayed with me until I saw a couple of older kids burying a box in a culvert.  Lying low, I snuck down after they left, and found a huge cache of hooter magazines!  Funny how so many of our stories degrade into fond memories of dirty magazines.

[october]

I don't have any dump stories, but this thread is awesome.