What a Trashy Way to die!

I don’t think that’s a necklace, OP. Looks like a real lizard on her shoulder (and it’s a gorgeous one btw.)

I bet it's a closed trash bag service.

Lots of supermarkets throw out tons of perfectly good food and other brand new items each day. Being dumpsters that only supermarkets use, I wouldnt expect them to be very dirty.

I've never dumpster dived myself, but lots of students do it here, and it isn't particularly frowned upon since it minimizes food waste.

I don't understand how she was unable to get out of the dumpster, they aren't that big.

R4 Yeah! I want more details. Was she trapped? Drunk? Passed out?

Was it too sudden and loud for her to know it was coming, or do anything, and they instantly compacted the contents after dumping her in the truck?

What a horrible way to go if she was aware.

She was dumpster diving at a Five Below store. Meaning that everything they sell is $5 or less. 🙄

My 80-year-old friend accidentally threw the creamer to her families 185 years old silver service in a dumpster.

Yep, I went in for it.

"[Stephanie] had the best sense of humor..."

I'll say!

I knew people who were into this when I used to party with what I will refer to as “highly energetic yet poor drug addicts”. They made excursions of this shit, I swear!

I was invited to go along several times, and refused, not on principle, but because WTF could I find in a trash dumpster, that I did not either already own, or couldn’t just go out and buy? Another huge deterrent: the word DUMPSTER.

What a horrible story. Just totally out there and senseless. She could have bought all of the trash she sought from Ali-Express, and lived a long, consumer driven life.

A few years ago, a running store on Lexington Avenue went out of business. They were throwing away fixtures and signage and shoes! Some nice guy went into the dumpster and was offering them to passers-by. Sure as hell I accepted. Got three pairs of Brooks running shoes, one pair in my size. The only thing wrong with them is the inner insole was missing. A pair of Dr. Scholls from CVS and they were all good.

I gave the others away. They were all unworn and had been in a dry dumpster for maybe an hour. I’m not turning my nose up at that.

Lots of clothing stores that sell cheap clothing throw things away that fail to sell or are old returns. She was probably getting lots of stuff and reselling it online.

I also take things off the street here, too. Usually people are nice enough to put their books and magazines out nicely. I am STILL kicking myself for not grabbing that pair of ugly MCM lamps. They were legit, with the old cords and plugs and original jute shades. Goddammit.

Yeah, no.

Absolutely nothing wrong with purchasing used clothing from thrift shops, etc. The shoes R10 ended up with came about from a unique situation and opportunity, and there’s nothing wrong with that situation either.

But actually allotting time out of my schedule to get on my car and climb into a dumpster in the middle of the night? Nope. No. Nyet.

Why would I expose myself to rodents, bacteria, human waste, rotted foods, and even the possibility of hypodermic syringes? Even wearing a hazmat like suit didn’t save this poor kid from her death, because she either became unconscious while in the dumpster, hence was unable to get out before she was compacted and disposed into a landfill, or she was completely conscious, yet had no resistance to getting picked up by a mechanical force, designed to quickly, efficiently, and economically, pick up, compact trash from multiple locations, and dispose of those contents, in landfills.

This girl had every possible thing that could possibly go wrong, go wrong. And wanna know what’s worse? It was completely avoidable by her, because it was actually SCHEDULED to happen. Not her death, but the disposal of the trash in the dumpster in which she physically placed herself.

Wanna know what else is probably even worse? The chances that she knew that the dumpster was being emptied that evening, are really damn good, hence, her being in it. She went in, when it was at it’s optimal capacity, potentially yielding her the most in volume or number of items, right before disposal of contents, rendering the dumpster empty, by daylight.

Not every risk looks fatal, but one must understand that there are already dozens of risks that one exposes oneself to, by jumping in a commercial size trash receptacle, AND, you really have no way of mitigating that exposure, because shit happens unexpectedly, or when it’s supposed to happen, and you either know and are cutting shit very close, or don’t know, and that ignorance should not have been what would have made you reconsider that risk, because there were already dozens of other potential risks, that while not necessarily resulting in death, are inconvenient as fuck, and could result in unnecessary medical bills and treatment for stepping on rusty nails, a rodent bite with the saliva of the rodent positive for Hunta Virus, or a needle used by an IV drug user, who is HIV poz, or has Hep-C.

Chances are, that if you’re trolling dumpsters, you may not have health insurance, so you do the cost/benefit analysis.

Not worth it. Poor girl. Fucking sad as fuck.

I have a genuine fear of dying in an embarrassing way, such as Elvis's death on the lav.

I would never do it but I can see dumpster diving in an upscale neighborhood or shopping center... a Five Below? The woman had issues.

OMG, R14, ME TOO! Every time I have “tummy” issues, that plop me upon a toilet for more than 5 minutes, I think of Elvis! Swear.

JFC! I guess I’m not the only one who thinks about this.

LMAO!

There are tons of Youtube videos of middle-class women who hit up dumpsters behind stores like Bed Bath Beyond and get new merchandise that they then sell on line or at garage sales. It's amazing to see what the stores toss out.

There is a young homeless guy who 'lives' at the dumpsters of a building near mine; he has a mattress and some discarded furniture sprawled around his little cove. I've seen him going into the dumpsters behind the pizza place nearby as well. It breaks my heart to think that everything he (and thousands of others) has, or will have today, comes from the trash.

I throw my cat’s shit in there.

So she died by being crushed? How awful. Poor girl.

....

There are garbage and recycling bins in the back of my apartment building. Occasionally I will come out to recycle some items, and I will see a pair of legs sticking out of the recycling bin - someone is looking for bottles. It's very strange.

Thrift shopping has become a huge business, even bigger than before, I think. I do 40% of my shopping in thrift stores - clothes, CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, books, electronics. I never thought of dumpster diving but I guess there are treasures to find.

I’d rather watch a video of Elvis taking a crap, than that video @ R21.

Lol! 😂

Where’s Chucky when you need him?

She broke one of the main rules for nightime diving, park the car in front of the dumpster so they can't get to it until you get out.

Personally, I like when the trash takes itself out. Bye Frau!

the word, bitchy queens, is “freegan.”

not only was she scrounging behind Five Below, but Alamance County is the thrift store capital of North Carolina.

girl was hard up.

Modern "garbage" trucks are rather like high powered trash compactors on wheels. Have seen them crush old metal (and heavy) appliances left on curb for collection as if they were made of tissue paper. Whole idea is to smash and compact garbage so have maximum capacity for rubbish.

If this poor unfortunate soul was alive when that container was dumped into truck, once compacting action began that was end of her.

She may have had a medical event and thus wasn't able to communicate (scream, yell, etc...) to trash truck drivers was in container. Or, maybe fearing discovery kept quiet but before she knew it dumpster was being emptied.....

As for balance of this thread, dumpster diving (aka Freegan) has become big. Mostly in response to transplants, millennials and other younger people who see it as some sort of green "cause". Sticking it to the Man by "rescuing" waste and or getting things for free instead of paying some big bad corporation.

Here in NYC prior to Freeganism only the homeless or truly destitute would be caught going through dumpsters/garbage. Everyone else would rather die than eat something that came from a trash bag, much less risk being seen being a garbage picker. That has all changed over past decade or so.

Whether out of necessity (working poor, or just poor), followers of "freegan movement", or whatever there isn't a garbage bag or dumpster at least on Manhattan streets that aren't molested nightly.

Supermarkets, grocery stores, Starbucks, bakeries, Rite Aid, Walgreen's... any place that sells food or anything of value you can see people going through their garbage bags/dumpsters every night of week.

Many of these people are not "poor", homeless or whatever, but live in apartments in or from surrounding areas where they forage. Ironically here in city nearly all of them are white young to middle aged and some seniors. Only minorities I've seen are the homeless or mentally ill, which is normal and or expected.

There are some pretty famous chain bakeries/shops in my part of Manhattan (Maison Kayser, Le Pain Quotidien , etc...) along with places like Starbucks that soon as places close (if not before) people from area converge with their shopping carts, plastic bags, and such then begin opening bags and diving for contents. A few supermarkets have what looks like something out of a Charles Dickens's novel with five, six, or more persons digging through garbage bags.

Duane Reade, Ulta, and other places have begun to fight back. Cosmetics, toiletries, and other shelf pulls/returns that once were simply binned, now are smashed, cords cut, containers opened and contents poured out into garbage bag.....

Know much of this from observation, and or also because know persons who engage in this behavior. One neighbor who was spied by a mutual friend when called out about his dumpster diving (mostly food places/supermarkets) replied "it saves me money...".

Personally feel if one is compelled to compete with rodents by digging through garbage for food in order to "afford" living in city, then something is very, very wrong.

But OTOH so much is simply thrown away, and if one is smart about things can live/eat rather well.

Meet Glenda Sully, a granny living on Social Security, who dumpster dives at Aldi (and elsewhere).

Never pay for food again!

If you hang around trash, you become trash.

I've done the whole someone put a coffee table near the dumpster kind of "diving" but dear god, getting inside of a dumpster is just vile.

R17

Yes, they do, but many places have gotten wise and are taking steps to prevent resale of "dumped" items.

Stores either mark outside of container in such a way to disfigure, conceal printing, or make thing have lower to nil resale value. This or simply smashing or otherwise destroying things to some extent thus making resale (or even use) impossible/difficult

What was on her iPod?

This, for sure

White Trash!

Honorable mention to this DSNY guy; his collection of stuff found while picking up trash on city streets is incredible.

Food, glorious food!

Even shops on Billionaries Row or near aren't immune.

R14

Suffering a cardiac event while on the toilet is more common than many believe. Our mothers were quite right about not straining and eating more fiber.

[quote] “[Stephanie] had the best sense of humor & was always there with positive encouragement when her friends needed her,” the friend wrote.

Yeah, I bet she just DIED laughing at her CRAZY situation!

Thrift store garbage is actually rather a good place to dumpster dive.

So much that is donated ends up surplus to requirements, so places must find ways of getting rid of things that don't sell. Tons of donated used or whatever clothing is sent by container loads to Africa, Middle East, South America and other places with "poor" populations. Did you ever wonder why all those poor people you see in news coverage of some place in Africa or whatever are wearing Motley Crue t-shirts?

Other things are simply packaged up and thrown out with garbage.

There was thrift store on Third avenue were nearly every evening around 5 to 7 in evening an African taxi cab driver would pull his car up; get out and set up a chair then begin diving through thrift store's garbage. Hauling away things that were donated but either not wanted, didn't sell or whatever. Store closed last year and am sure that guy misses it very much.

This woman was raiding a donation box. But she drived a Hummer and it was left running what a way to go

I remember an Architectural Digest story on Isabella Rossellini’s huge apartment. Everything was from the trash.

AND IT LOOKED GLORIOUS!

[quote] But she drived a Hummer and it was left running

Oh, dear.

She probably watched videos like this.

Laughing at link in r39 and thinking: "How pooping can kill you! Next on Sick Sad World!"

Slightly off topic, but I think the living jewelry is a leopard gecko.

I get that "trashy" is a pun but for the most part, I appreciate people who are reusing and upcycling items that would otherwise get thrown out.

Since she was apparently in the dumpster for nearly two hours before the truck arrived, I have to think she was incapacitated in some way, maybe falling in and hitting her head.

worse than her undignified death is they're paying for her funeral with a GOFUNDME.

R49

So what else is new?

Everyone's funeral is paid for by GoFundMe nowadays.

r50 where you come from they might be. No one I know who's died has a GOFUNDME funeral and I certainly won't be

There was a woman at a survey group I was in that told us that she was part of a facebook group that went around dumpster diving to different businesses at night.

I had no idea this was even a thing.

R51

Comment went over your head I suppose.

Implied that whenever there is a death that makes media coverage (other than famous or infamous person) generally a GoFundMe page soon follows for funeral expenses.

Now please come down off that cross; it's chilly tonight and we need the wood.

R44 Fuck you and your Eau Deer crap.

Do Everyone a favor; find a dumpster, jump in it and light it on fire 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Crushed Frau - Sad!