Tip shops can appear to be pretty ordinary places.
A plethora of old pieces of furniture, rusty mechanical items and assorted oddities.
But if you know what you are looking for, many a bargain is to be had. Even treasures may be found.
At the Karratha tip shop in the PIlbara region of Western Australia, one local even bought a coffin.
Another fossicker once found £400 in a $2 book — suffice to say books have been a popular tip shop buy ever since.
Peter Skinner has been working at the waste facility for more than 11 years and is now its waste services team leader.
With a staff of some 14 people, his job is to run the day-to-day operations at the site.
A big part of his job is running the tip shop.
Closed during the week, Peter and his team organise the various wares at the site in preparation for the treasure hunters who arrive on weekends looking for a deal.
He says people drive by when the shop is closed to spy on what is available before the gates open on Saturdays.
City Services manager Steve Wacher said Saturday mornings were akin to a Black Friday sale and customers were often three deep at the gate champing at the bit to get in.
The shop does not reserve items and operates on a first-come-first-served basis.
"When they come in, it's no running, so whoever walks fastest gets it … and if you get in quickly enough, then you'll get what you're looking for," Mr Wacher said.
Tip shop regular Andrew Wilson said he went to the tip shop most weeks looking for anything that caught his eye.
Over the years Mr Wilson said he had bought some great stuff.
One buy that sprung to mind was a leather marine seat he bought for $30 and reckoned he could sell for thousands of dollars.
You never know what you might find
Most items at the shop sell for less than $10, from outdoor six-seater tables to books, cassettes and appliances.
Flashier items may carry a higher price tag, but are still priced well-below commercial value.
In Mr Skinner's opinion it is always a good deal.
"We've had boats in here that we've sold for $100, we've had spas, you name it," he said.
While scouting out treasures, arriving early and power walking are all excellent strategies. He said luck also played an important part where treasure-hunting was concerned.
"One that sticks out in my mind is the person that bought a $2 book here and there was £400 in it," he said.
"It was a very good deal. So now I think everybody's looking through the books."
All about reusing, not profit
The tip shop has been running since 2014 with the simple goal of encouraging people to reuse and buy second-hand items instead of spending lots of money on new products.
Mr Wacher said city workers would go through items before they were sent to landfill to see what they could save.
"We take what we can, anything we think will sell and we've get a very good turnover of people buying this stuff," he said.
Money raised from the sales goes back into running the tip shop.
