This is common practice for large retailers. When I was a (poor) child one of my early defining memories is of my mother attempting to retrieve a perfectly good discarded Big Wheel knock-off toy from a dumpster behind a large department store for her boys to play with, and being physically threatened, demeaned and chased off by an irate store manager, who then smashed the toy with a hammer in front of us.
Later, when I was a teen, every retail store I worked for had similar policies. Sad to see nothing’s changing.
Similarly, many groceries and supermarkets (and other eateries) will throw out unused food and lock it into a dumpster, leaving it to rot rather than let people “dive” and put it to use. Home Depot will also throw away things and lock their dumpster, I am told. Fuckers.
In highschool, I used to do Food Not Bombs and we would go out to local retailers and food providers to get the day olds and other food, still good but not fit for retail sale because of bruising or what not. Many local retailers donated and were happy to have less waste and therefore a lower trash bill. National chains on the other hand were a real bitch to get anything from. Some managers would get irate and quote policy at us, threatening us if we cam after hours. Some managers would be sympathetic, but would still not give out the still usable goods for fear of corporate retribution. It’s a paradox of waste that I will never, ever understand.
This summer a friend of mine was approached by an off duty police officer while dumpster diving at a Mark’s Work Warehouse (apparently he had nothing better to do than stake out trash bins behind retail outlets). He then called on duty officers, and the store managers while yelling at my friend in the parking lot. Naturally the police who arrived and the store managers didn’t care.
It never fails to amaze me how offended people get about this sort of thing. They’re not STEALING, it’s GARBAGE, and anyone who is in need of mittens with fingers deserves it a hell of a lot more than a fucking landfill does. I hardly have words for this…
