Sunday, April 19, 2009

Scavenging in the News

Greetings, fellow scavengers. It's been a quiet week for me. Mostly, I've been trying to get caught up with all the work that piled up while I was on vacation. It hasn't left me with a lot of time to research and write today's SSC, so I thought I would share with you some scavenging news.

If you live anywhere near US 50, which cuts through the heartland from Maryland to California, May 15-17 is the Tenth Annual "Great US 50 Yard Sale".
The tenth annual Great U.S. 50 Yard Sale will be held Friday-Sunday, May 15-17, 2009. The yard sale started in 2000, stretching across most of Indiana. The goal is for it to grow into a Coast-to-Coast event held each year on the weekend before the Memorial Day weekend. The Great U.S. 50 Yard Sale also serves to promote tourism along U.S. 50, to unite the many diverse communities, to provide opportunities for fund raising by civic organizations, to aid the environment through recycling, and to serve as an opportunity for individuals to enjoy a great weekend of sales.

While promoted as a yard sale, the actual sales are limited only by the imagination and law. Individual communities and businesses along U.S. 50 are encouraged to have special promotions during this weekend. Vendors, especially antique and craft dealers, from all over the U.S. are welcome to join us.

This is a non-sponsored event, meaning that it is not promoted by any particular organization, but represents the efforts of volunteers and those who wish to promote their communities. As such, the nature of the sale will vary along the route. U.S. 50 is Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC. It is Wyatt Earp Blvd in Dodge City, Kansas. It crosses mountains and deserts, as well as farm land. In some communities U.S. 50 is now a super highway and the sale route might follow Old 50. With such diversity, many decisions will have to be made at the local level. The best source for specific and up-to-date information is to follow the Connect-to-County links.

The official yard sale is over three days. There are no set hours. (If you have ever had a yard sale, you know that advertising set hours never works). Also, given the nature of yard sales (and the history of last year), it is probable that many individual households will not decide to participate until just a day or two before the sale dates. The best option for buyers is to locate a participating county and then just head down the road.

IMPORTANT: Please note that all sales are subject to local laws. Also, no one is to set-up, sell, nor park on the state right-of-way at any time. U.S. 50 is both the Loneliest Road in America and an extremely busy highway. Safety is a primary concern. All sellers should allow for parking and everyone should avoid being on the state right-of-way.


I wish I lived closer because this I think this is the coolest thing evah! I hope they expand this to a full week or longer so the hardcore among us can do coast-to-coast yard saleing. As somebody who just did 1000 miles on I-10 two weekends in a row, if I'm going to drive cross-country AND stop at yard sales, I'll need a lot more than 3 days. Of course, I may be the only one crazy enough to want to attempt it!

SFGate.com had a good article yesterday about the authors of a new book called The Scavengers Manifesto.
Scavenging, defined by Rufus as "any legal means of getting stuff without paying full price," takes many forms. From simply shopping at thrift stores, to picking up free furniture from street corners, to swapping clothing, to going to salvage yards to fishing food out of garbage bins, there are different levels of the lifestyle. Rufus and Lawson don't personally do much Dumpster-diving for food but do frequently pick up "lightly dinged" produce at a discount.

"Mostly, what we do is find stuff," Lawson says. "We don't drive a car, on general principle, so we're always on foot. The possibilities for finding stuff expand exponentially on foot."

It's certainly a timely subject. Between the bad economy provoking a collective frugality, and the "free culture" movement gaining steam, with the Freegans of New York City advocating Dumpster-diving as a way of living off capitalist excess, scavenging is a viable way of life for many people.


I think the Freegans are making a legitimate political statement but I hope the goal would be to reduce spoilage and get more food to the hungry. It's a shame that Dumpsters are full while Food Banks are empty.

Please let me know in comments if there are particular subjects you'd like me to cover, or if you have expertise in a particular area of scavenging and would like to share it on the Scavengers Club, that would be great.

So, what's your deal this week?

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