scavengers
 

Every now and again I place items out on the driveway to recycle only to find them gone before the recycle truck comes to pick them up. It seems that we have someone coming by picking up stuff for purposes other than recycling. I just wonder if anyone else has this happening. I do not really care if people pick up this stuff but not so sure that I want them driving around my neighborhood looking for things to take.

I put an old television out at the end of my drive for the recycler. It was taken by persons unknown in less than one hour.

These are public streets and open to all. In a true gated community, the streets are not public. We are a community with gates and not a gated community.

Makes no difference to me if someone other than the recycle truck takes things I put out for hauling away.

These people call themselves "Scrappers", not scavengers.

If it's at the curb, it's up for grabs. Not that rare. Happens everywhere.

Once a year we used to clean out our homes completely and everyone put things they couldn't use anymore (not garbage), at the end of their driveway. All the neighbors citywide would go curb cruising and pick up what they liked, no charge of course. You would see furniture, appliances, clothing on hanging racks and small items. It benefitted everyone including those less fortunate. When we came here I thought people must regularly be used to this because anything good on recycle day disAppeared quickly.

I like that someone gets use out of an item rather than trashing it and as long as curb cruisers don't get more aggressive and come up the driveway, I'm okay with this along with putting some items in classified for free.

Good idea. :thumbup:

At home it was called "dumpster diving".

We called it the magic spot. We were also happy someone else could use what we no longer wanted.

Curbside
 

My understanding about this is that once it is at the curb it is no longer on your property and free for the taking. In most areas the property line is set back a few feet from the curb so it is now on public right of way.

About ten years ago we were renting a house in Key Largo for three months and we got a giant and nicely done oil painting of a bird off someone's curb, and later on a perfectly good office chair. We asked the landlord if we could hang the painting in his hallway and he loved it. I still have that office chair. Sheldon is sitting on it right now. I've also put things on the curb and loved how they magically disappeared.

I don't care if somebody take stuff we do not need anymore but I don't like when they bring it back if it's not working - that was happen once with a small TV.

During a sleepless night recently I heard what sounded like a truck slowing on the street out front. It was about 2:30 a.m. I peeked out through the blinds to see a pickup truck, hauling one of those long, mesh-type landscaping trailers, stuffed full of an assortment of items. A couple of guys and a woman leapt out and began going through the trash that was out across the street from us. There were lots of boxes from obvious online shopping (UPS and Fedex stop there several times a week) and maybe they thought there was something in them? This seemed to be a very organized group who knew what they were after.

My brother refers to it as "roadmart"!!!

It happens in our Village every Monday night and we have had a local church group who helps find homes for homeless people knock on our door and ask if they could take the stuff. We found more to give them!!!...if you don't like them going through the garbage then call Habitat for Humanity to pick up or drop off at the local Goodwill store......................there are many in need, be grateful your not one of them......

Where I'm from, we call this "curb crawling", but beware that "curb crawling" in the UK
takes on a very different meaning. It's my understanding that there it means, "Gentlemen" of the night creep along the streets in search of "ladies" for frolicking for a fee.

Put a gas grill out there a couple of weeks ago with a sign, broken regular. My husband took the regulator off so no one would try to use the grill without fixing it. It was gone the next day.

We put our very first sailboat of our married life on the curb in Pittsburgh. It was $80, foam-type fiberglass, and had a green and white sail with the Kool cigarettes logo on it. I had spilled wood stain on it and ate a hole through the styrofoam. A couple of kids knocked on the door and asked for it.

I'm okay with that kind of stuff.