What is the Ideal Curbside Scrapping Territory Like?

I usually try to drive by at least 1,000 houses (sometimes 1,500+) on Saturdays or Sundays late at night just before the brush pickup begins. I figure we all have our own opinions about what is good or not-so-good territory (for lack of a better term) for scrapping. Here are my thoughts- please add your own thoughts and comments too...

1) I generally like streets laid out on a simple grid type system- all north/south and east/west. Last night I got stuck in a new neighborhood and it took me 15-20 minutes to get out of it. All the twists and turns and cul-de-sacs can be a real waste of time IMHO.
2) I prefer detached single family homes. I don't really care for $200-300k type homes on small lots that all look alike. Many of them seem to have homeowner's associations that have rules about putting trash out. As a result, I don't see too much curbside, even just before brush pickup.
3) If you have a neighborhood of, say 100 houses and 10-15 put stuff out by the curb, I like that type of territory. Even if all the stuff is brush this time, I will go back there again next time. To me that is better than a neighborhood of 100 houses with only 1-2 that have stuff by the curb.
4) It seems like neighborhoods with lots of For Sale signs are generally pretty good.
5) I don't have any way of getting into gated communities, but for someone who has access to gate codes (maybe from a good friend who lives there) I'd be curious to hear how well these work out.
6) Also I'm curious if anyone has any experience working areas that have just had storm damage. How have these worked out?
7) If you know of an area where there are parties, sometimes there will be lots of beer cans to be picked up. Any place with lots of underage drinking could be good because those kids need to get rid of the "evidence". If you live near a "Lovers' Lane", that could be prime territory for aluminum cans. I ran into remnants from two parties last night- not sure what they are celebrating in mid-July...

I imagine there is lots that I am forgetting here or haven't discovered yet. What else can you add?

Gated communities and apartments that need a code to get into are easy. Just wait for one of the residents to access the entrance and follow them in. Many times I hold the door for them after they insert their key or punch in the code. If you look presentable and drive a reasonable vehicle for the area, few will question you. If you have business cards take them with you as a reason for accessing the area. I have only done this in Denver, CO and Omaha, NE and have not been given a trespassing warning.

Where I live, there is no curbco. We have about three company's that supply each homeowner 1 rolling trash bin and it costs 20 dollars a month. They pickup every Monday. My trash has to be in a garbage bag and in the bin. You cannot leave anything beside or on top of the bin. If I have anything larger it is up to me to haul it to the dump which is about a 30 minute drive.

I rarely troll the streets and allies for scrap - I sometimes do so on the way back from a pickup if I am headed home or to the yard.

I do well on long dead end streets. I guess nobody like turning around, I dont like it eather but there is usually something behind the trash cans you cant see unless you actually go down there.

I pretty much follow the same guidelines you outlined in your first post. I don't usually make special trips to areas on trash day unless I know there have been yard sales and stuff like that. Sales in that category seem to yield better curbside pickup material than regular trash day pickups. I sometimes walk around my neighborhood on trash day to gather boxes for eBay shipping, and maybe even some aluminum or steel. Rarely find copper, and occasionally find brass. That's just my two cents on the matter. :)

Neighborhoods with off campus student housing. College kids throw all kinds of stuff away especially at the end of semester

My day job has me driving a route to 30-50 homes to scoop up dog poop. That's my ideal route: one that I'm being paid to drive anyway, and which is loaded with people who by definition have more $$ than sense!

Some of my neighborhood are VERY high end... today I scooped the house next door to the house next door to Mark Cuban. Today I also scooped Don Henley's house. (he has a Cadillac SUV, but no there's deadhead sticker on it...:& ) I scooped a couple doors down from Ross Perot and I drove past Troy Aikman's house as well as Jerry Jones' house.

All this to say that those neighborhoods aren't worth DIDDLY to a scrapper. Every once in a great while they'll put out a discard r two that is something that I couldn't afford to buy new: a $2600 exercise bike that only needed a loose wire reconnected, a VERY nice brass fireplace set that I use in my house.

The best hoods are the young busy yuppies with debt up the yingyang and too much junk that they're trying to keep up with the Joneses. Those people throw away EVERYTHING!

The best hoods in DFW, though are the slightly upper middle class workaday folks just like me. THey don't know about scrap. They just leave broken appliances & water heaters & such in the alley.

And as JJinLV just said: when SMU lets out for the summer it's a FIELD DAY on everything and anything!

Where I live the best neighborhoods, are the middle class because they have money to buy new, but no time to fix the simple stuff. For instance, I picked up a washer/dryer combo, last week. Only thing wrong was it was leaking water. $8 hose and it is working great.

.. My dream... every curbco scrapper in town falls under a mysterious spell and passes out so they sleep through the night....
I head out and every single curb.. as far as the eye can see has small mountains of copper pipe lying on the curb..
I leisurely pots along loading the vehicle I'm driving with as much as it will hold..
I go home... I drop off, and head out again.. more and more and MORE copper....
By daybreak.. My garage is filled to the ceiling with copper pipe... I lock the door.. and go to sleep..
Ahh.. Perfection!

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Originally Posted by auminer

My day job has me driving a route to 30-50 homes to scoop up dog poop. That's my ideal route: one that I'm being paid to drive anyway, and which is loaded with people who by definition have more $$ than sense!

Some of my neighborhood are VERY high end... today I scooped the house next door to the house next door to Mark Cuban. Today I also scooped Don Henley's house. (he has a Cadillac SUV, but no there's deadhead sticker on it...:& ) I scooped a couple doors down from Ross Perot and I drove past Troy Aikman's house as well as Jerry Jones' house.

All this to say that those neighborhoods aren't worth DIDDLY to a scrapper. Every once in a great while they'll put out a discard r two that is something that I couldn't afford to buy new: a $2600 exercise bike that only needed a loose wire reconnected, a VERY nice brass fireplace set that I use in my house.

The best hoods are the young busy yuppies with debt up the yingyang and too much junk that they're trying to keep up with the Joneses. Those people throw away EVERYTHING!

The best hoods in DFW, though are the slightly upper middle class workaday folks just like me. THey don't know about scrap. They just leave broken appliances & water heaters & such in the alley.

And as JJinLV just said: when SMU lets out for the summer it's a FIELD DAY on everything and anything!

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I wonder how much Don Henley's dog poop would go for on ebay.

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Originally Posted by jimicrk

I wonder how much Don Henley's dog poop would go for on ebay.

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:))

HAHAHA. I never thought of that.

You should see that doghouse. 175 square feet. Concrete slab, stone veneer, shale roof (with copper guttering). Heat pump. running water.

Pounds of dog/square footage, they're at about 2 square feet per pound. I'd wager that 90% of humanity doesn't live that well. I just did the math: me & my wife are the only two residents at our house and we're at 3.38 sqft per pound.

He's an allright dude. I've been scooping his house for almost 10 years. The only time I've ever referenced that I know who he is was when Glenn Frey died. I offered my condolences. He said, Thanks man. That was it. We just talk about his dogs the occasions I see him.


One of these days I may ask him why he doesn't have a deadhead sticker on his Cadillac. Seems like a missed opportunity., ;)

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Originally Posted by auminer

:))
One of these days I may ask him why he doesn't have a deadhead sticker on his Cadillac. Seems like a missed opportunity., ;)

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I believe that is a reference to The Boys of Summer- one of the very best Eagles songs. And, of course, Henley wrote that song.

To put it simply; Ideal curbside scrapping would be zero competition! Seriously, one would find literally tons of scrap / other great items if it weren't for the 50 other scrappers in the area (or more), well at least I would, so many people doing it. That said, I only hit areas where general trash can be set out every week, meaning washers, dryers, fridges, household trash, lone bags of trash, etc. My neighborhood for example issues a single trash can, and you can fill that up, once it is full, you are out of luck until the following week. But we have a bulk collection service you have to schedule to pick up trash, meaning it is hard to gauge when you'll see appliances or cleanouts, so not worth the time wasting gas around here. I then of course aim for neighborhoods that steadily yield decent pickups, learn this over a bit of time, and yes there are specific areas I find better than others.