
I heard of people skip diving on various trading estates around Slough/Bracknell/Reading back in the dot-com boom times, as people were turfing out old mainframes at an alarming rate; and some of those had plenty of precious metals inside.. they weren't exactly light or mobile, though!
This reminds me of a story the plumber (the one responsible for the hot water tank in my drive

) told me - apparently he was on a job for an office maintenance company who'd ripped the insides out of an office to re-fit it. The skip they'd hired was piled high with office junk and they figured they were going to have to hire another skip so they could have a 'level load' for the skip hire company..
They all knocked off on Friday, came back on Monday to find...
Every single piece of metal gone from the skip - but not only that.. they'd emptied the skip, dismantled everything, and then refilled the skip with all the wood & crap they didn't want perfectly neatly so it was a level load.
Saved the fitters a job
