Swap Meets, Not Dumpsters

The thought has come to me recently (moments ago, actually), “Did Junk Creators invent dumpsters?”

My answer has got to be “No.”  Some of you may be surprised about this, considering I have posted before about the fun and profit (some probably have more fun and/or profit than others in a dumpster) of dumpster diving.  I ask that you hear out my brief explanation of my answer.

Junk Creators probably didn’t invent the dumpster, because the principle of the dumpster is to put things you don’t want into it and put them all someplace for a really long time, so that you don’t have to look at the stuff and it doesn’t clutter up the neighborhood.  Now, this is a good idea, because a clean place to live is good.  However, any junk creator that I have known has a stash somewhere that is continually added to of things he/she doesn’t need right now, but will definitely find a place for later. (I most emphatically insist that junk creators are not necessarily pack-rats–there is a line that must be crossed to go from junk creation to junk collection…)

This fact leads me to believe that junk creators probably did have a hand in the creation of such things as flea markets and swap meets.  For the reason that they can trade something they may not use for something they may use (sometimes they might even find something they will use).

There you have it, another deep thought.