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There's a recycling center here with that I've had similar experiences with. They are attached to a dump. The idea being that people come in with their loads of rubbish and the staff seperate out anything that they think is worth saving for resale or scrap value. On several occasions I got in trouble with some of the staff for dragging stuff out of the bins, or going through piles of stuff they hadn't sorted through yet. For a while I had a good relationship going with some of the staff and they'd let me get away with it. The turnover was pretty high though and eventually they all left (I think it operates as some kind of training program for long term unemployed and peolple with disabilities, once someone is good enough for a "normal" job they move on).
I stopped going for a while after I got into a big argument with some of the new staff.
I went back for the first time in ages a while back and the staff had all changed again. The new staff seemed reasonable, but they were sticking to the rules. There wasn't really much left there except for overpriced used furniture and garden/building materials. I thought of making an offer to take "everything" TV/electronic/audio that they got in, but I don't really have the space and I doubt they get enough good stuff to make up for all the crap.
I used to get some interesting stuff there, but it just isn't worth the effort anymore.
Blame occupational health and safety regulations and law suites for this kind of crap. In the old days I used to be able to roam freely around scrap yards and pick out what I wanted and pay per kilogram at the gate. I tore up my clothes and sometimes my arms reaching into piles of metal to drag something out, but I never complained about it. I took the risk and was my own fault, but I guess others didn't see it this way.
I seems that a lot of places don't want to deal with any secondhand electronics anymore due to potential liability issues. I've seen a couple of them close down shortly after making this decision. I used to see several other regulars when I'd make my rounds going to the some places sometimes daily buying up all the electronics/computer/audio gear they could find. We'd usually pick through the vinyl and other stuff while we were there, but it isn't worth going for that stuff alone. I did notice that some of these places raised the prices on their other stock after they stopped accepting electronics/computers, so they obviously noticed a down turn in sales, but it wasn't enough for them to reconsider.
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