You could make six figures a year …as a dumpster diver! It sounds crazy —but it’s not— and it’s our featured “make more” segment of this podcast. The secret is choosing the right dumpsters and we’re going to tell you how to do that.
My guest is Matt Malone who stumbled across the buried treasure in dumpsters by accident and now makes big bucks selling his finds. Welcome to Easy Money, Matt.
In “real life” you’re an internet security guru. Explain how that led you to dumpster diving.
An old boss assigned me to dig through a company’s trash to show them how much sensitive information I could gather about their operation. While I was digging up their confidential information, I came across all sorts of nice —sometimes brand new— stuff that had been thrown away.
What kinds of dumpsters do you target primarily?
Mostly retailers’ dumpsters, but also apartment complexes near colleges and dumpsters inside storage facilities.
Describe some of the biggest finds you’ve come across in dumpsters?
Building materials, brand-new stereos, GPS devices, cameras, flatscreen TVs, power tools, HEPA filters, vacuums, power tools, furniture, carpeting, industrial machines, assorted electronics. Some of them need a little work, but many are brand new, in the box.
How do you convert this trash into cash?
I started by holding yard sales, but then realized I needed to go online to sell the big ticket items.
OK, Matt: The question everybody’s been waiting for: how much money do you make per year from dumpster diving?
$100,000 or so.
And you estimate you could make even more if quit your day job and did this full time?
Yes, I once did the math and I could bring in $600,000 year if I did this full time —WITH a month’s vacation every year.
Well, hearing that, some listeners are going to want to try this for themselves. So let’s give them some tips. I’ll state the tip and you explain it, alright? First, talk about the proper gear a dumpster diver needs.
Headlamp, gloves, boots, magnetized flashlight you can attach to the inside of the dumpster.
