I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students • Hacker News Board

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#141

Post by SoftTalker » Tue, May 27, 2025, 9:15 PM UTC

dml2135 wrote: post #53

dekhn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents did (and still do this) at a little ivy in the northeast. I got some good stuff including an introductory Grateful Dead CD (this was ~35 years ago). My dad would joke that all the graduates would throw away their tie-dye shirts and go to work on wall street (not completely a joke). Now we have an entire closet filled to the brim with used water bottles and I have to periodically clean through tons of stuff…

> My dad would joke that all the graduates would throw away their tie-dye shirts and go to work on wall street (not completely a joke). I had a friend in college that did literally this. Guy sold weed throughout his time there. While he was a senior, his supplier who had graduated a year earlier hooked him up with an internship at his company's trading desk. Went to work on Wall St after graduation. I was always amus…

Well, a big part of the university value proposition is to start building your network. Sounds like he did that.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#142

Post by freetime2 » Tue, May 27, 2025, 9:15 PM UTC

the__alchemist wrote: post #124

I wonder what we need to do to make buying and selling used items convenient. My experience has been that the bid/ask spread is too large, and liquidity too low to be practical. And if you're giving something away, no one will take it. No explanation; just observations. I want to not throw things out and buy new, but haven't found a workflow that works. (I'm in an apt building near the one listed in the article; more…

In Japan “recycle shops” are ubiquitous. There’s a chain called “Off House” that will buy just about anything, and also operates branches that specialize in used books, electronics, outdoor goods, etc. There’s another chain called “2nd Street” with a few branches nearby. They’ll appraise your items on the spot - usually takes 15 minutes or so during which I’ll browse the store - and pay cash. They typically buy for about 50% of what they intend to sell for, which is quite fair IMO.

I can think of about 10 locations off the top of my head in my city, and there are probably more than that. I never throw away things that are in a usable condition - better to get a little money back and it feels better knowing someone else might use it. I’ve also bought quite a bit of 2nd hand stuff - bikes and skis for the kids, clothing, etc.

When living in the US I used to make use of a local consignment shop. Pawn shops are also pretty ubiquitous, although I never actually tried selling anything there. And there’s always Goodwill and Salvation Army if you just want to conveniently get rid of stuff and avoid waste. Goodwill (and other charities as well, I assume) can write you a donation receipt that you can use to claim a tax deduction (although I never bothered).

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#143

Post by SoftTalker » Tue, May 27, 2025, 9:16 PM UTC

jccalhoun wrote: post #106

jrochkind1 wrote: post #35

There are more rich people in the US than when some of us middle-aged people were younger, the distribution of wealth has gotten much more uneven, while the numbers of rich have gotten larger. So, yeah, a lot more just really rich students than there used to be, rich enough to think nothing of throwing out luxury goods, finding it more convenient than doing something else with them. Then the increase of wealthy inter…

I definitely remember walking through the dorm parking lot when I was in grad school and noticing that at least half of the cars were much nicer than the car I was driving.

That is still the case for me, and has been throughout my life. I've never thought spending a lot of money on a car made any sense at all.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#144

Post by nkrisc » Tue, May 27, 2025, 9:16 PM UTC

elif wrote: post #138

the__alchemist wrote: post #124

I wonder what we need to do to make buying and selling used items convenient. My experience has been that the bid/ask spread is too large, and liquidity too low to be practical. And if you're giving something away, no one will take it. No explanation; just observations. I want to not throw things out and buy new, but haven't found a workflow that works. (I'm in an apt building near the one listed in the article; more…

Look into "buy nothing" groups. We have given away about a dozen things we once cared about with like an 80%+ certainty it's not going to a landfill. Even if someone is breaking the rules and just refinishing furniture to resell, to be honest that benefits me because they are motivated to come get things fast, and my goal of not making trash is not only satisfied, but there is surplus enjoyment from being part of cre…

I do the same. We list it for free pickup on Freecycle or similar sites. If someone is just reselling it I honestly don’t care. All I care is that it’s not in my house, I didn’t spend any time or money, and someone is likely using it.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#145

Post by fmstephe » Tue, May 27, 2025, 9:19 PM UTC

the__alchemist wrote: post #124

I wonder what we need to do to make buying and selling used items convenient. My experience has been that the bid/ask spread is too large, and liquidity too low to be practical. And if you're giving something away, no one will take it. No explanation; just observations. I want to not throw things out and buy new, but haven't found a workflow that works. (I'm in an apt building near the one listed in the article; more…

In New Zealand, where I live, the Salvation Army (charity second hand shop) offers a service where they will come and clear out a house for you. They will take everything and dispose of the trash and keep and resell anything of value.

This is really used to clear out houses of deceased relatives etc.

This doesn't resolve your problem of generally selling your used goods conveniently. But I always found it to be a really interesting service. Because it identifies that there is real practical difficulty in simply giving away a lot of goods, and the solution is to provide this complete service to make it easier.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#146

Post by [deleted] » Tue, May 27, 2025, 9:19 PM UTC

matthewowen wrote: post #68

I live near UPenn. Some locals call the end of the academic year "Penn Christmas". I definitely see some resentment, but having made an international move in my life I have sympathy for it. You need to buy things to live, shipping that stuff when you move away is often very expensive and time consuming, so you condense your life down to a few suitcases and do the best you can.

[deleted]

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#147

Post by bobthepanda » Tue, May 27, 2025, 9:21 PM UTC

elif wrote: post #138

the__alchemist wrote: post #124

I wonder what we need to do to make buying and selling used items convenient. My experience has been that the bid/ask spread is too large, and liquidity too low to be practical. And if you're giving something away, no one will take it. No explanation; just observations. I want to not throw things out and buy new, but haven't found a workflow that works. (I'm in an apt building near the one listed in the article; more…

Look into "buy nothing" groups. We have given away about a dozen things we once cared about with like an 80%+ certainty it's not going to a landfill. Even if someone is breaking the rules and just refinishing furniture to resell, to be honest that benefits me because they are motivated to come get things fast, and my goal of not making trash is not only satisfied, but there is surplus enjoyment from being part of cre…

also, the dump is not free, and dump pickup especially is not free.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#148

Post by HeyLaughingBoy » Tue, May 27, 2025, 9:21 PM UTC

lesuorac wrote: post #50

ty6853 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it is cheaper to buy a new one than pay someone to fix most of those. A fairly significant minority of wealthy people got that way because they have no free time to do those things themselves.

It's also often cheaper to treat many durable items as disposable. i.e. buy a power washer each-ish time you need it compared to hiring somebody.

It's mainly this, and the comfort level with tools.

My riding mower is 19 years old. It's approaching Ship of Theseus levels at this point, but since the Kawasaki motor shows no signs of giving up the ghost, I'm hard pressed to spend the $2k+ it would take to replace it. If it costs me $75 each year in replacement parts, I could have it for another 10 years.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#149

Post by in_cahoots » Tue, May 27, 2025, 9:21 PM UTC

tdeck wrote: post #37

knowitnone wrote: post #23

I live in a uni town and when graduation comes around(pretty soon), there are all kinds of goodies on the sidewalk and trashbins. LCD TVs, clothing, furniture, food, bikes, etc. Everybody talks about evironmentalism execept they don't actually practice it.

> Everybody talks about evironmentalism execept they don't actually practice it. I think this is just a lack of planning and options for many students. Think about it - it's the end of the year, you've got a pile of exams to study for, and then a week or two later you've got to be out of the dorms. Many students don't have a car to haul things to Goodwill or sell them further afield, and nobody on campus wants to buy…

Do colleges not store stuff for students who will be back in the fall? My undergraduate school did this (and had a large contingent of students doing research over the summer), so graduation day just meant that furniture was mostly moved around and snatched up by other students, or even stayed in place as the students changed dorm rooms.

Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students

#150

Post by dkga » Tue, May 27, 2025, 9:21 PM UTC

A few „anthropological“ impressions from this text.

First, why do people throw away tennis shoes, unopened food etc? Why not take with them on to their next destination?

Second, why not just put on the street so that other people can come and collect items? This is very common for example here in Switzerland - you put unwanted things ranging from old kid toys to books to furniture on the sidewalk with a sign saying „gratis - zum mitnehmen“ (free to take with you) and people who want/need come and collect them. Only if anything is really unwanted, you take back and throw away.

Third, I was surprised the author felt bad. A sign that there is unfortunately some stigma in re-using things. She is actually doing very nice work by collecting them and trying to give them a new lease of life for herself or others (she mention she donated some of the items)