'Tis the season to do my post consumer capitalist holiday shopping.

Several years ago I quit one of my favorite and lucrative hobbies.  I was trying to fight the greed of capitalism and the over consumption of Capitalist consumers by dumpster diving.  As it turns out I was fairly adept at getting in and out of those large green or blue bins.

Anyway, tonight is going to mark my return to the practice in a brand new town.  I have never dived this town so it will be a learning experience here but, once you have the lay of the land and know the stores it becomes second nature.  That said I expect to have no problem finding good stores.  Time for me to explain why I dumpster dive.

As I said in the precedent paragraphs, I began dumpster diving to fight the greed of capitalism.  In todays society we are subjected to a flurry of advertizements at every turn.  Each one begging you to buy this or try that.  Capitalism, it seems cannot work properly if you are not buying more than you need or want.  And so media companies, big box multinationals and advertizing agencies all dedicate millions of dollars to convince you that you need their products.  The only problem is that those products that "you can't live without" are being thrown out when they don't sell or are returned. The overproduction of capitalism finds its way to the dumpster.  I find my way to the dumpster as well.  There I plunder it for the riches thrown away by the capitalist society.  I live off societys refuse, sometimes I even re-sell it according to the capitalist way in an effort to get something else that I need that has not or will not be thrown away.

I do not mean to say that you should stop what you are doing and start dumpster diving but I only seek to inform you of the excessive waste generated by the Capitalist system and give you yet another reason to seek socialist reforms in our government and economy.

Today as I venture out it is to expose yet more waste generated by the system.  Christmas sees many purchases made for the purpose of gifting it to another.  The day after Christmas sees those gifts being returned for various reasons.  Many find themselves thrown away at the close of the day.  I am in search of those poor lost disposable products of Capitalism...

How much longer before we say enough is enough.

 

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Tags: Advertizing, Capitalism, Consumerism, Diving, Dumpster, Multinationals, Shopping, agencies, companies., hobbies, More…media

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Comment by Patrick Maloney on January 1, 2012 at 3:08pm

Update... Sadly I had no luck. It seems that there is a moritorium on Dumpster Diving in the town of Missoula.  No one throws anything out to keep people like me from gaining anything worth using.... No worries though I'm going out again in the next week on a different date.  You must always check multiple days before you find the great stuff.

Comment by Nathan Boorom on December 27, 2011 at 9:32pm

I agree with how pathetic this country has become with its need to overindulge in consumer goods. Most of what my family and I have is either a hand down from friends and and family or had been a gift. My computer and my books I purchase but of course most the books are second hand books. I do not see the need to pay full price for what cost pennies to make. Perfect example is the recent stream of crime associated with the new Jordan shoes. Capitalism practically creates and promotes crime. The garbage will continue to rise until there is no place left to put it, just watch Wall-e. Pretty much the point of the movie is to show us where we are headed and what we will face if we don't take action now. Unfortunately I don't think Americans would return to earth, not if they could be lazy all the time.

Comment by Timothy Platt on December 27, 2011 at 6:31pm

Good essay Pat. Keep up the good work. I hope you had success in your hunt. We have three families on our block that make a living staying one step ahead of the garbage truck.

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