I didn't want to mention this until I had a success, but I've been casually watching the dumpster at the Best Buy next door to my office for a while. Not the compacting one - nothing to see there - it's backed up against the store's loading dock, but they have a general dumpster where it appears the Geek Squad guys unload old TVs they've brought back from new installations. I've been watching this on-and-off, but never really saw anything worthwhile - mostly folks still giving up old CRTs and DLPs while I've been watching for LCDs and Plasmas.
Anyway, now I've been paying better attention, it just so happens that LCDs and Plasmas ARE starting to show up, and I've been able to get over there and recover 4 in the last month or so.
One was a commercial Toshiba plasma with washed out contrast that was also a bit "old school" on the connectivity front (no HDMI). I took that one right back over and dumped it again (however, somebody thought it had more value than I did - it was gone again by the next morning). The other three - one was a 40" Sony and the other two were both Samsung, in 46" and 52" sizes - it turned out they (all with Samsung LCD panels) had tab-bond separation (Google it) between the driver boards and the panel. Not "fixable", per-se, without replacing the panel entirely (far too expensive!). In addition, the 46" Samsung had a bad PSU (which obviously stopped me from seeing that it also had a tab-bond problem until it was fixed). The Sony and the 46" Samsung were, unfortunately, too far gone, but I was able to shim the defective tabs in the 52" and it now works great!
Unfortunately, since the Geek Squad guys consider these trash they don't take a great deal of care when it comes to getting them in and out of their trucks. They don't throw them (or at least I've not seen that yet), but they do tend to drag them around on the concrete rather than pick them up, which obviously isn't that great for the plastic bezels. The 46" Samsung was in the best shape, since the Geek Squad guy in that instance actually put it into the box from the new TV. The 52" Samsung was probably in the worst shape due to it's heft and size, but I was able to make it look reasonable with my car polisher and a bit of rubbing compound. We're going to put it in my wife's sewing room instead of the 13" CRT she has in there right now. It's far too big for a (bed)room that size, but what the heck!
That sort of brings me around to what I plan on doing with these as I find and "fix" them. The tab-bond sets I can't in good conscience sell - the shimming can only be considered a temporary fix (though some have reported success that has lasted a couple of years!). Since I can't guarantee the longevity to a potential buyer, I'll simply offer them to family and friends in need with the warning that it may not last forever. The sets that are too far gone...I've stripped them of everything with resale value and should be able to realize a couple of hundred bucks from each, selling the parts on eBay.
But I'm not doing this for the money. It's cool to fix something that's broke and thought of as having little value by the person discarding it; and it's cool to keep stuff out of landfills. Anything else is a bonus. And, yes, any I find that are in reasonable condition and do only need a circuit board repair, I'll consider selling cheap on Craigslist.
Here are before and after pics of the Samsung I "fixed" and we'll keep (at least until something better/nicer comes along):