I happened upon a great pile of rich people trash a couple weeks ago. In fact, this pile was probably one of my best spots of all time. It sat out front of a house that I’d guess is worth around 3-4 million dollars, and it was pretty clear that the (previous?) occupants weren’t afraid to spend their money.
At one point while I was picking a guy walked down the driveway with more trash in tow. I anticipated an awkward situation but he was actually pretty cool. He told me that there was lots of good stuff in the bags and didn’t seem to mind me looking through them. I didn’t quite grasp his relationship to the garbage (my French still sucks) but I don’t think the stuff was his. My guess is that the house recently sold, and these might have been things left behind by the previous owners (some landscaper guy actually dropped by at some point and asked if I was the new owner… I wish!).
Anyways, I’ll share my finds here over a few different posts. This one will feature the glasses & sunglasses, watches, phones, and cash.
The Oakley’s are actually pretty low-quality fakes, but the Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, and Armani frames look legit.
I’m more excited by the folding Christian Dior and Silhouette frames in this pic. I figure I can get around 100$ for each. I should be able to get something for the Mercedes frames as well.
These Julbo mountaineering sunglasses might be the best of the bunch. They’re pretty cool and in good condition too. I have them listed for 135$ on eBay, and I expect they’ll sell for around that.
I saved a whole bunch of watches. The Hublots and the Bvlgari are fakes unfortunately, otherwise I’d be rich. I’m most excited by the Krieger third from the left. Krieger isn’t particularly well known but they make some high quality specialty watches. This one tracks the tides somehow, and maybe the moon phases as well. A similar one, not working and in poor cosmetic condition sold recently for 115$, so I expect I can get at least that.
The Ironmans are good watches as well. On the far right, hidden by glare is a nice looking Cheval. The Lorus moon phase watch might be interesting, I’ve had a hard time tracking down similar models online.
All these phones are junk (well, the portables might not be but unfortunately I didn’t find any of their bases). I took them to add to my e-waste recycling pile. This constitutes 850 grams of diverted waste!
Otherwise, I found a bit of cash. Most inexplicable was a ziplock bag containing 9.75$ in change, including two toonies, five loonies and three quarters. I guess that’s chump change when you’re a millionaire!
I’ll share more from this spot soon. Otherwise, I’ve been doing more trash picking than usual in hopes that I can profit from the July 1st moving day. No luck thus far really, though I have been doing well with regular old non-moving related garbage. I suspect most of the best moving day garbage will emerge on the 29th, 30th, and 1st. Here’s hoping it doesn’t rain too much!
