From the “Why Didn’t I Think of That” Files: nycgarbage.com

I’m not trying to start a series of “Why Didn’t I Think of That” posts, but I couldn’t resist sharing nycgarbage.com. Justin Gignac is a 25-year old artist living in New York City who sells garbage he picks up around the city. Justin assembles his found garbage into a square plastic container with a sticker denoting the date he collected the garbage and signs the bottom. He has sold over 700 cubes at $50 a piece to people from 41 states and 19 countries. There are even limited edition cubes he has assembled from the Republican National Convention and the 2006 Yankee home opener, but those will set you back $100.

I love seeing people come up with the strangest concepts and successfully pull them off. Something like this (and onethousandpaintings.com) would have been nearly impossible to pull off prior to the Web. With little investment, I doubt either Justin or the onethousandpaintings.com guy created too many of their products until they knew it was going to work, any person can quickly build a site and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, you just try again. If 700 people are willing to spend $50 on garbage, just think of what you might be able to sell.