111–120 of 120 posts
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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...
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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…
This is part of the reason I started off my comment by imagining what an idealized HN reader would donate. That's the kind of person you want to attract. But I genuinely wonder if there are enough of those people - the fact that you're paying them a pittance turns a gift of generosity (e.g., donating to a cancer charity) into a job.
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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?
> The cost of postage and the check along with all the processing costs are covered from the money generated from sales of valuable crap. Remember: one man’s crap is another man’s treasure. And yet, Goodwill doesn't hand out $10 checks for every donation. I suspect that the money earned from selling "another man's treasure" will rapidly decline. At first, you'll have the type of people we imagine other HN readers sen…
things that I'd send in - desk lamps that are 99% functional, but don't quite bend in the angle that you want. Paperbacks that have been dropped into a puddle one too many times. An old thermos. I find this strangely endearing.
I feel that feeling with every fucking object in my apartment, and if it weren't for my friends and my wife, I'd probably be one of those hoarders, sleeping in a 3x3 foot area surrounded by garbage.
I wish I could find a photo of my room as a teenager. I wasn't a Collyer, but you couldn't see my floor.
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 th…
WHEREAS, if I lived in a suburban area, which I assume you probably do, finding anyplace this would be substantially harder to achieve, and ideas like the OPs/amazons, would actually be pretty awesome.
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Agreed with all except that I'm making excuses. By that I mean it's great advice for most things in life that you want to do. My point is that in this instance I just don't care. Not enough anyway. I could do exactly as you describe to minimize the cost but the value gain is so minimal that it doesn't warrant the effort. Simple cost/benefit analysis with the result being that the cost is too high (even if it's really…
On the contrary, I think removing extraneous crap from your life is one of the highest value activities that you can possibly engage in.
One of the highest value activities for me is spending time with my kid. It's a hard sell that getting ridding of extraneous crap is worth it if it costs me even 10 minutes I could have instead been spending with my kid.
Why do you value getting rid of crap so highly?
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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 th…
It's times like this that I forget how lucky I am to live downtown in a major city. Within 15 minutes walking distance from my house, I have at least 4 used book stores, 2 record stores 1 vintage/thrift store, and another 2 vintage clothing stores, all of which accept trade ins for cash or merchandise. If none of those places give me moneys for my useless crap, then I can just leave stuff on my sidewalk and it'll be…
That being said, suburban problems are an often ignored market in the startup world, presumably because the major tech hubs are in large cities. How many startups focus on homeowners, for example? I would love a company that made taking care of my home effortless. It's so much more of an ongoing challenge than I had originally anticipated. Even if you decide to hire others to take care of the lawn, the repairs, and the general upkeep, it's a giant pain in the ass. You have to research, schedule, research again when the first handyman flakes on you, schedule, reschedule, reschedule again, negotiate, watch over them to make sure they do a good job, answer all their questions (especially true for landscaping), stand up for yourself when they try to rip you off, research some more and schedule someone else to finish what the first handyman started but failed to finish, negotiate again, watch over the new handyman, and hope you know enough to make sure they did what was promised.
I want a company that I pay a monthly fee to and everything is just taken care of. No scheduling. No negotiation. No questions interrupting my work day. They keep tally of what needs to be done and just do it. I'd pay 500/month for that - maybe more. That's assuming they take care of maintenance and repairs. If it's just maintenance, I'd pay 200/month.
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This is really helpful perspective, thank you! (the author)
Ah, well, since I have your attention, I'll give you the other side of the coin. The key to getting good stuff from people is how you make them feel about giving it to you. Most people think thrift stores sell the stuff people drop off there. That's far from true. They get their product from a lot of places -- retail seconds, charities, sometimes even new. Direct donations are the worst. It's still positive expected…
One solution that occurred to me: sharing X% of proceeds back with the donor. The idea being that this would encourage people to send more objectively valuable stuff (though as you point out people are terrible at estimating value).
I like really like the idea of donating to specific causes. Did the thrift shop pay the charities a portion of the proceeds in exchange for the boxes?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah, well, since I have your attention, I'll give you the other side of the coin. The key to getting good stuff from people is how you make them feel about giving it to you. Most people think thrift stores sell the stuff people drop off there. That's far from true. They get their product from a lot of places -- retail seconds, charities, sometimes even new. Direct donations are the worst. It's still positive expected…
Thank you! Again, very helpful. Clearly, the message/concept will need to be carefully crafted to encourage good behavior. One solution that occurred to me: sharing X% of proceeds back with the donor. The idea being that this would encourage people to send more objectively valuable stuff (though as you point out people are terrible at estimating value). I like really like the idea of donating to specific causes. Did…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah, well, since I have your attention, I'll give you the other side of the coin. The key to getting good stuff from people is how you make them feel about giving it to you. Most people think thrift stores sell the stuff people drop off there. That's far from true. They get their product from a lot of places -- retail seconds, charities, sometimes even new. Direct donations are the worst. It's still positive expected…
Thank you! Again, very helpful. Clearly, the message/concept will need to be carefully crafted to encourage good behavior. One solution that occurred to me: sharing X% of proceeds back with the donor. The idea being that this would encourage people to send more objectively valuable stuff (though as you point out people are terrible at estimating value). I like really like the idea of donating to specific causes. Did…
Sort of. It would have been impossible to track that, but corporate did have some idea what the average box (from a particular source) was worth, and paid them that amount. Or maybe the charity set the price. I don't know. I just know it was different for different sources, and well justified.