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

The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 120 posts

Re: The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club

#81

Post by effbott »

tomkarlo wrote: post #72
Lewisham wrote: post #5

I do this all the time with Amazon's Trade-In Program. A couple of times a year, I look at my book shelf and video games. If I haven't read/played them within the last 6 months, and have no compelling reason to hold onto them for the foreseeable 6 months, into the box they go. Amazon then gives me a pre-paid shipping label. I find the whole process enjoyable. "How much will Amazon give me for this?" is an exciting ga…

I wish I could just bar code in media and books, accept / reject the prices en masse and then generate the shipping label to send it to Amazon. I'd be a lot more inclined to send in stuff if the process was a little more streamlined. Update: apparently there's an Android app for that: http://www.amazon.com/Cash4Books-net-Cash4Books-Scan-Sell-Bo... ... wonder if it does games too.

Something like that already exists: http://www.wired.com/business/2013/05/one-click-selling/

Re: The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club

#82

Post by wiml »

danielweber wrote: post #55
Dove wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work at a thrift store. The amount of value we could extract from the average box of stuff dropped off to donate . . . was nowhere near $10. In fact, a lot of it couldn't be sold at all -- it just got thrown away. Broken toys, clothes with holes, dirty shoes, smoke-damaged, water-damaged, and just plain damaged stuff. Ugly nick-nacks, beat up plastic cups, dated books no one wants to read. We got so many ti…

I have things that are slightly broken that are worth money if someone is willing to spend some time. I do not have that time. Does anyone?

A few people do... My neighborhood has a pretty good culture of leaving free stuff on the curb for a day or so. There's enough for traffic that stuff gets picked up pretty quickly if anyone actually wants it. I'm always surprised by which things go immediately and which things go into the trash after a day or so. But I feel much less wasteful throwing something out if the curb has already demonstrated its complete valuelessness.

Re: The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club

#83

Post by tomkarlo »

effbott wrote: post #81
tomkarlo wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I could just bar code in media and books, accept / reject the prices en masse and then generate the shipping label to send it to Amazon. I'd be a lot more inclined to send in stuff if the process was a little more streamlined. Update: apparently there's an Android app for that: http://www.amazon.com/Cash4Books-net-Cash4Books-Scan-Sell-Bo... ... wonder if it does games too.

Something like that already exists: http://www.wired.com/business/2013/05/one-click-selling/

Things like books and games are fluid enough markets that the difference in the price I'm going to get between Amazon and other outlets is going to be fairly small. I just want a faster way to scan in ISBN codes so I don't have to enter them manually.

Sold seems like it might be good for hard-to-price items like antiques, but for media it just seems like a way to end up paying two companies' fees instead of just one.

Re: The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club

#84

Post by tomkarlo »

kryten wrote: post #44
mixedbit wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice approach. I personally can't force myself to get rid of books that I've read, which is not very rational, because I very rarely reread books. But other stuff I try to get rid of, or not buy at all.

Never get rid of books. I got rid of a lot of mine and thoroughly regret it. Why? I now have children who want to read them.

It doesn't make sense to stockpile books on the chance that your children might one day want to read them when a used copy is generally a click away. (Not to mention that you may prefer to re-buy them in digital form.) Every square inch of space in your home has a carrying cost (I used to calculate $4 per net square foot per month in New York).

Having one less book shelf is effectively saving enough per year that you could probably pay for buying back all the books you'd ever re-read on that shelf. And if you ever move, the cost and annoyance of keeping books just skyrockets.

I have a lot of books I love, but 90% of books are essentially disposable vehicles for information of transient value.

Re: The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club

#85

Post by thaumaturgy »

akristofcak wrote: post #66
Dove wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to work at a thrift store. The amount of value we could extract from the average box of stuff dropped off to donate . . . was nowhere near $10. In fact, a lot of it couldn't be sold at all -- it just got thrown away. Broken toys, clothes with holes, dirty shoes, smoke-damaged, water-damaged, and just plain damaged stuff. Ugly nick-nacks, beat up plastic cups, dated books no one wants to read. We got so many ti…

This is really helpful perspective, thank you! (the author)

I still think your idea has merit. Thrift stores tend to attract a very specific market, and that doesn't need to be your market. Thrift stores operate by accepting "junk" from people and then trying to fob it off on to other people.

As a counter-anecdote, there is a place in my area that buys used tools & equipment from people and then sells them back. They're one of my favorite places -- I'd much rather buy a used Milwaukee than a brand new cheapie -- and they seem to do pretty good business. Lots of stuff coming and going all the time.

You might bake in some kind of tracking & rating system if you're concerned about resale value. If a particular user sends in too many boxes of stuff you can't get $15+ for, reduce their payment accordingly.

Re: The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club

#86

Post by wnissen »

digz wrote: post #64
pavel_lishin wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but that's not Goodwill giving you straight cash - the point being that any given box typically does not contain $10+ worth of stuff.

No, it's the government (or more specifically, taxpayers [today's or tomorrow's]) giving straight cash. It's also the only reason Goodwill exists.

70% of tax filers don't itemize and cannot take deductions. http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/publications/url.cfm?ID=10014...

Re: The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club

#87

Post by salgernon »

tomkarlo wrote: post #84
kryten wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Never get rid of books. I got rid of a lot of mine and thoroughly regret it. Why? I now have children who want to read them.

It doesn't make sense to stockpile books on the chance that your children might one day want to read them when a used copy is generally a click away. (Not to mention that you may prefer to re-buy them in digital form.) Every square inch of space in your home has a carrying cost (I used to calculate $4 per net square foot per month in New York). Having one less book shelf is effectively saving enough per year that you…

My kids can't browse books that are no longer on my shelves. I encourage them to pick up a random book and explore it. It's kind of like having a hard copy of the web without distractions, and I can see them making their own connections from the words, rather than following links prepared by someone else.

Re: The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club

#88

Post by avalaunch »

shva wrote: post #26

Or you could just walk over to your local thrift store every month and give them your shit. Or used book store. Or used clothing store. Or record store. Or... It's really not that hard.

It's surprisingly hard considering the low benefit derived. First you have to find or buy a suitable box, which might need to be taped up. Then you have to decide what stuff is actually useless. And if you want to get the most out of your potential tax deduction, you also need to itemize everything you're giving away. Then you have to find the local thrift store. I have no idea where mine is. Then you have to find the time to either walk or drive there. For me, that'd be at least a half hour round trip. With a full time job, a baby, and a rapidly shrinking social life (did I mention I have a baby?), it hardly seems worth it to trade my time for such a small gain.

Re: The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club

#89

Post by toasterlovin »

digz wrote: post #63
toasterlovin wrote: post #24

This treats the symptoms, not the cause. The ultimate solution is buying less shit and buying what you do need local and used (usually on Craigslist). If you do this, you get these great benefits: 1. You prevent all the waste included in manufacturing new shit 2. You can usually sell it later for about what you paid for it 3. Since you usually have to shop quite a bit to find what you need, it eliminates the highly a…

And then we enter into a massive deflationary recession, you lose your job, people go hungry, etc... all because there's been massive demand destruction for 'shit'. Doesn't sound so great. Or just let people decide what's worth buying for themselves. If they decide they'll get utility out of it, great. If not, then they don't have to buy it. No need to foist your desires on others.

Most people aren't deciding. They are in a consumption induced haze that begets more consumption. It's only by introducing and promoting ideas and memes other than consumption that people will wake up enough to actually make a decision. If they then decide to continue consuming at current rates, then so be it I guess, but right now they aren't actually making a decision.

Re: The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club

#90

Post by salgernon »

jack-r-abbit wrote: post #58
toasterlovin wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Craigslist the non-cheap stuff. It only takes a few minutes to post something there (less time than going to Goodwill, probably), and you'll get some cash. But yeah, the gifting culture drives me kind of bonkers too. I intend to establish Gift Truces with as many people in my life as possible come January 1st of 2014 (since, mathematically, I should be even with most people at that point). Or, if a person won't go fo…

But Craigslist can be a huge pain some times. It doesn't matter how low you price something, 5 people will try to get it for half that. I've had people arrange a time to come by & buy... and then never show up or respond again. Some times people really suck. lol

This came by a few weeks ago and it sounded like a brilliant idea.

http://www.nobenjam.in/ http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5849748

I imagine it could self fund through ads - if someone is on a waiting list but misses out, let them know with adword ads based on the product they failed to get for free.

Post reply on HN