![]() ![]() NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. I think - I would just use Bon Ami or something like that.Ĭopyright © 2008 NPR. SMITH: Tovia Smith, NPR News, at the dump in Wellesley.ĭo you think I can get that stain off the top, where it's sort of scrubbed out? SMITH: I think this is about where I should sign off. SMITH: Like, I got my eye on a table there. SMITH: I can see that once you get in here, you just start seeing stuff you can't resist. SMITH: There's dump fever and then there's dump remorse, and the great part is that you just lug it back to the dump. SMITH: Sometimes, back home from the hunt, Mei-Mei Ellerman's family gives her second thoughts. U: I'm not sure what to think about that. SMITH: Did you see my bird, Mei-Ling(ph)? They should do it themselves in their own towns. SMITH: You don't want outsiders taking your stuff. SMITH: The in-town people are the ones who pay the taxes, they provide the materials and the in-town people should have first choice of taking the materials. SMITH: Jim Olson is the volunteer coordinator of what he calls Wellesley's Take It or Leave It. SMITH: Daniela Silva(ph) does, she's a live-in housekeeper in town but she says she gets asked all the time to prove it. SMITH: Sometime I have a problem because some people sometimes look at me and they ask, "Do you live in Wellesley?" Today, upper crust dumps like these are becoming so popular, some are hiring police to keep out the carpetbaggers. SMITH: For some dump devotees, it's about lightening the load in landfills, and for sure eBay and Craigslist have made used stuff more hip. SMITH: That's just the fun of it and we love it. SMITH: Half of the time we get it coming right out of the car. SMITH: Experienced shoppers like Arlene Baker Wan(ph) swarm the fully-loaded Mercedes and BMWs that pull up to the Jersey barriers. SMITH: You know, most of the stuff here is fairly expensive. SMITH: Jeff Layman owns several vacation properties that he's fully furnished at the dump. SMITH: You know in this town, people throw out stuff that, you know, that's pretty valuable. SMITH: The real prize was a lovely Waterford Crystal Marquis bowl, perfect condition. ![]() SMITH: An almost brand new bicycle, and it came with a bike helmet and training wheels. SMITH: A flat screen monitor for my computer. SMITH: We found a gigantic Rescue Heroes, that's like a $70 toy. SMITH: You'll never know what you can find. SMITH: You'll never know what you're going to find. The point of it is, you know, the thrill of the chase, see what you can find here. SMITH: So you guys, I'm just guessing here, you guys probably could afford to go somewhere else and buy this stuff new. SMITH: Lyn and Ralph Cassell(ph) and Karen Phrom have snatched up a plastic spice rack for their new granite kitchen. SMITH: Everything here goes for nothing, and at the dump they really do have everything. SMITH: These are Wedgwood, these cups and saucers. Regulars like Mei-Mei Ellerman(ph), an accomplished academic who's traveled the world, come here to drop as well as to shop. The town's got dozens of folding tables set up in departments - housewares, lighting, sports. SMITH: It's like a garage sale gone Gucci. SMITH: Welcome to the Wellesley town dump, where the trash is as high-end as the Beamers that bring it in. But there's one place at the edge of town where deal doesn't even begin to describe it. The town is full of boutiques that cater to the upper crust, not so good for bargains. TOVIA SMITH: Wellesley, Massachusetts is the kind of town where a Wal-Mart would never pass zoning. Shoppers in some of the nation's toniest suburbs are flocking to a surprising kind of bargain spot. The shaky economy has got many of us looking for ways to economize, even, it seems, folks who really don't have to. ![]()
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