We have a local plant nursery who pitches annuals in July. They have often told me to pick up whatever I wanted out of the discard pile. Of course I took them up on their offer :)

Hmmmmm..........dumpster diving sounds exciting...hehehe

Everything in the dumpster is property of the store until the trashman picks it up and dumps it into his truck. I had a slightly different problem when I worked for Joann's (Fabricland)...we had to do a walk around the store to check the locks, and that all the tables were folded, ready for the next day. I was supposed to have a different clerk do it every night...well, I always went behind them and checked the doors myself...would find upholstery fabric, nails, tools, thread, all kinds of trims ...all laid out at the back door...sometimes already stashed behind the dumpster. We had two girls who were related...their hubbys were in the auto upholstery business...and these two girls were supplying the goods. I told the manager ...she said thanks, and didn't say anything to the girls...another employee said the manager knew, but liked the girls...and that they had good sales. Sheesh! Needless to say...when I was working and we had to send someone home...it was always one or both of these girls. Told the manager to work them on her shift, not mine.

Back to the disposal of good items...happens in all stores...it's crazy...don't know how many times we gave Lowes & other stores destroy authorization, only to have a customer call the next week for parts...we would ask if the box was taped or had a mark on it...yep it had a number (the destroy authorization number)...the stores resold the items and told customers to call for parts.

You just can't win...no matter if you are the store or the supplier...that's why prices are so high in this country.

Just more examples of the "throw away society" we live in.

Please forgive me if am posting this twice. One reason they do what they do is because some people were returning the items back to the store for cash. Another is that the company's don't give them credit for or accept the products back. The resturants do the same thing. Because if they gave you food and you say it made you sick they get sued. It is not a good way to do but these are their reasons. They won't donate them to a school, senior home or anything.
Icee

A friend asked her husband/attorney about the dumpster diving and the law says that if the container is on public property (ie: the trash barrel on the sidewalk in front of your house) it's not illegal. If the barrel is on your lawn (we have nothing between the grass and road here and no curbs) it's considered private property. And retail stores are not on public property so their dumpsters are not fair game. I guess it's all a matter of where and when? Too many things to blame on lawyers these days. Even the homeless aren't supposed to take recycleable cans from the trash bin at the gas station.

just had this conversation yesterday at our quilt group. stores have to destroy these things to get a tax break on them when they can't sell them. if they donate them they don't get the tax write off. that's why that person was unrolling them. apparently there was a recent case where a wedding dress outfit was painting the dresses with red spray paint to keep people from dumpster diving for them. seems so unfair but it is all about money.

Many years ago a friend worked for Dillards, we learned that many returns (clothing) were slashed with scissors and sent back to headquarters for disposal. My friend said that all department stores did it rather than donating the items, which could wind up back on the market with their name/tags/brand on it, when it was taken off of their inventory.
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Basically, they did not want anyone making a profit on their inventory write off.
I don't quite understand the JoAnns position, when there couldn't be a market for selling damaged craft products....

My husband used to work for Lowe's warehouse and it woud make him sick the amount of stuff they threw away. for e4x. if a pallet of decorative pots came in and one was broken they would throw the entire pallet away and give orders to the employee to break all of the others. Therefore they could write off or get credit for the entire thing. I worked in a craft store called Little America, back in the day...LOL and we had to put spray paint on the things that went to the trash barrels. Personally, I have found some awesome paperback Magazines and books behinds Barnes and Nobles. With the economy the way it is and so many people on fixed incomes or lliving below the proverty line, don't you think that retailers could come up with a better way of handling things? Grocery Stores are another one that throws lots of things out--even meat, if they say it is freshly ground and they don't sell it that day, they will mark the price down the next and if they still have t will trow it away on the third day. Guess I had better get off my soap box--Everyone: Have a terrific day!!

I have to sadly say it is true. I have to say I have had the unfortunate displeasure of overhearing a group talk about how another group got items donated to them and were sold to raise money for cancer, and it "left them in an unfair disadvantage" in a race to get the most money. It was something I was shocked to hear. Sort of disappointing to hear.
However, I went to a dumpster once and got a perfect good scrapbooking stuff, before I started quilting.