Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The great junk transfer is coming

theglobeandmail.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 461 posts

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#21

Post by dehrmann »

FunnyBadger wrote: post #18

It will be handled the exact same way it always has: 90% of the time it's off-loaded at a garage sale, at Goodwill, on E-bay or otherwise sold - almost always below market value because the survivors can't be bothered - they just want it gone. This is the very basis of yard sales and antiquing. It's how I get a 1999 BMW Z3 with 20K miles back in 2008 for $5K bundled with a Mac Cube and several $K of other goodies fro…

This is all true, but "cheap" is a tricky term because you have to actively look for it. People picking over stuff to catalog and resell is a valuable service. Like you said, families just want it gone, but even if they wanted top dollar, parting out a collection take a lot of time.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#22

Post by Cerium »

bseidensticker wrote: post #17
djbusby wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. Well, this process takes months. Do you want the empty house to sell or use? Or would you rather wait 6+ months while stuff slowly clears out? Edit: for the replies: that works in populated areas. Rural MO, WS not so much. Edit2: also, arguing with kinfolk about stuff or waiting for probate (in the absence of a Will)

There are definitely people who will move every single thing out of a house in a weekend for free. That's how storage unit auctions are done, and buyers even pay for it.

Exactly, if you want a house empty you can make it empty just about as soon as you would like. The only question is who pays and how much. As you say - if it is junk you will pay some, if there are some things of obvious value you can come out ahead.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#23

Post by astrange »

flybrand wrote: post #8

When FiL passed away there were multiple buildings on their 50 acres full of stuff. Both he and MiL were only children. Everything over 200 yrs had flowed to them. “Priceless heirlooms” weren’t of interest to anyone. Auctions led to junk dealers. There is a hopelessness in realizing that lifetimes of activity were of little value, that nobody even knew what many objects were. I felt like the girl in the movie Labyrin…

> “Priceless heirlooms” weren’t of interest to anyone.

Well, it's true. They are priceless, as in worthless.

Those are usually things like furniture that could be valuable to someone in the area, but the cost of moving them is enough to make it worthless.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#24

Post by motohagiography »

My grandparents and great grandparents are dead, so they don't have to live with the embarrassment of having their descendent reduced to being "the sort of person who buys his own furniture," but that's progress. I am keeping some of it, and we all do a purge every few years just in case, but I find it's the photographs that are the hardest to destroy. Something that meant so much to someone else. Like tears in rain, I suppose.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#25

Post by irjustin »

FunnyBadger wrote: post #18

It will be handled the exact same way it always has: 90% of the time it's off-loaded at a garage sale, at Goodwill, on E-bay or otherwise sold - almost always below market value because the survivors can't be bothered - they just want it gone. This is the very basis of yard sales and antiquing. It's how I get a 1999 BMW Z3 with 20K miles back in 2008 for $5K bundled with a Mac Cube and several $K of other goodies fro…

My take is the population growth differences that accounts for the premise of the article.

The 1950's parents for the first time had extra stuff more so than previous generations with the rise of consumerism, but they also had larger families where the parents of the 1980's took stuff off their parents hands. Garage sales for sure.

Today, the trend is smaller families while the things of the 80's tend not to transfer as well.

This trend will likely continue to be even worse as fast consumerism + innovation makes many items not last more than a few years.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#26

Post by Scoundreller »

FunnyBadger wrote: post #18

It will be handled the exact same way it always has: 90% of the time it's off-loaded at a garage sale, at Goodwill, on E-bay or otherwise sold - almost always below market value because the survivors can't be bothered - they just want it gone. This is the very basis of yard sales and antiquing. It's how I get a 1999 BMW Z3 with 20K miles back in 2008 for $5K bundled with a Mac Cube and several $K of other goodies fro…

Oh man, stamps, for the past 10 years I’ve bought “discount” stamps off eBay. Basically buying 45cent or whatever stamps for 25 cents or less and plastering my packages like the… never mind.

Obviously this is the lossy side of stamp collecting, but man, to take a haircut like that after preserving something for 20 or 30 years.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#27

Post by laurieg »

I feel like these days, stuff is incredibly cheap and therefore it's very easy to accumulate a huge amount of it. Sure, we have out sentimental items and useful tools we use everyday. But a huge amount goes un-used, sitting in boxes, closets, attics and garages waiting to be thrown away.

I try to "live small". My apartment is relatively small. I'm still wearing clothes from high-school. I still the knife, fork and spoon I bought when I moved out on my own. When something breaks I mend it, replace it or turn it into something new. I'm not a hardcore minimalist, far from it. But there is great joy in having enough.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#28

Post by ars »

I've started doing this in my life: I take pictures of items that have emotional meaning to me, and then throw away the item.

I care about the meaning to me, what memories it gives me, not the physical item.

It's really really hard though. But my kids will just have a Google Photos album to keep rather than a house full of stuff.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#29

Post by olivermarks »

laurieg wrote: post #27

I feel like these days, stuff is incredibly cheap and therefore it's very easy to accumulate a huge amount of it. Sure, we have out sentimental items and useful tools we use everyday. But a huge amount goes un-used, sitting in boxes, closets, attics and garages waiting to be thrown away. I try to "live small". My apartment is relatively small. I'm still wearing clothes from high-school. I still the knife, fork and sp…

The difference here is that until recently things used to be well made and built to last. It's easy to buy a bunch of junky tools etc that might last a few years but it sometimes amazes me how people don't understand that owning a few good quality tools that will last forever is vastly preferable to giving them away.

Same is true with a lot of other things, but of course this is only relevant if you're going to use them.

Re: The great junk transfer is coming

#30

Post by ryandrake »

irrational wrote: post #12

I’ve already told my wife that when her parents die we are just going to burn the house down. I’m just half joking. I truly don’t understand people that fill up their homes with stuff. You can’t take it with you. And I have no intention of sorting through it. It’s all going straight to the landfill.

> I truly don’t understand people that fill up their homes with stuff.

I almost replied this way, too, but then I remember the junk drawer I have full of DB9 serial cables, Firewire cables, PCI SCSI cards, 256MB RAM chips, 2GB spinning hard disk drives, three prong computer power cables, mice, webcams, power strips, power bricks, and a fully functional Dell OptiPlex GX620 with a screaming Pentium D 3.2GHz CPU. I keep all these things out of some insane sense that "One Day I Might Need It And Will Be Glad I Kept It."

Same reason I keep scrap wood, extra floor tiles, and 1/4 full paint cans in my shed.

Post reply on HN