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

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

#221

Post by neom »

dkga wrote: post #150

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 „…

The missing part is... those are Valentino's, those are not "Tennis shoes". Now, why did someone throw out those Valentino's? Because nobody who goes to college and wears Valentino would wear those Valentino's, those particular Valentino's pictured, to someone who likes Valentino: are garbage. To your second point, why not give them to someone with less? I would suspect that a young person who is attending Duke University, one of the most exclusive universities in the world, wearing Valentino, a luxury brand that even people who love luxury brands laugh at, gives oh about...mmm.. zero shits for someone who has less than them. Third, you referenced a society that has a sense of egalitarianism, I'd hazard: that society is far removed from the above realities.

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

#223

Post by micromacrofoot »

stego-tech wrote: post #177
dkga wrote: post #150

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 „…

> Second, why not just put on the street so that other people can come and collect items? Boston does this! The locals refer to it as “Allston Christmas”, it takes place every September 1st, and it’s a great time to scavenge furniture and appliances, even computers and electronics. My big concern remains bedbugs, personally. As a renter myself, I don’t have the facilities to disinfect and kill off any pests that migh…

this is also just where the trash goes for pickup though, and indeed they have extra garbage pickups on moving day

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

#224

Post by cardamomo »

atonse wrote: post #204
monocasa wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First, why do people throw away tennis shoes, unopened food etc? Why not take with them on to their next destination? At my wife's alma mater, the way move out in the dorms worked was that you had 24hrs after your last final and then had to be gone. That didn't really leave a lot of time for a lot of people that had maybe two checked bags and a carry on to work with, and had spent the previous time focused on study…

So the solution could be top down: - give 2-3 extra days for students to move out. - maybe partner with a few moving/freight companies? you’d bring them a lot of customers and they could provide a good rate.

Better yet, offer to store a reasonable amount of students' belongings over the summer. My college offered this my first couple years but stopped by the time I graduated in 2010.

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

#225

Post by zem »

amalcon wrote: post #160
dkga wrote: post #150

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 „…

> First, why do people throw away tennis shoes, unopened food etc? Why not take with them on to their next destination? It's very possible for the cost of transport to exceed the value of the goods, especially if one is flying to one's next destination. > Second, why not just put on the street so that other people can come and collect items? This I can't help with. As far as I have seen, this is a common practice eve…

common practice in san francisco too. i always feel good when i see something that was just taking up space in my house and not being used has been picked up and rehomed.

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

#226

Post by wffurr »

creer wrote: post #216
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Thrift store pricing: It's disappointing. When I read things like this, I laugh when people think that it's possible to bring much manufacturing back to the US. The thrift store I volunteered at was for an animal charity. After paying rent and some salaries, the general rule of thumb was that we were able to convert volunteer hours to profit at about minimum wage rates (and I mean ~$8/hr rates, not "living wage" ra…

> The issue is that crap is produced incredibly cheaply Not all of this is crap, far from it. I am selective - and get good results buying online (no choice - brick-and-mortar stock is sad and too uniform.) But thing is, "incredibly cheaply" is the reality of the world. We can ignore it or we can live with it. To reconcile with you: more freedom in pricing by whoever does that task might make sense. And some sections…

>> "incredibly cheaply" is the reality of the world

We, via our government, could also insist on trading partners having and enforcing environmental standards and fair trade practices. But that means higher prices for which people will vote against, environment be damned.

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

#227

Post by phil21 »

freetime2 wrote: post #142
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 a…

I wish this existed in the US. I have plenty of somewhat esoteric stuff that a generalized post to FMB or CL may take weeks or months to even give away to someone who knows what it is/has a use for it. And the cost of shipping + eBay marketplace fees make it just totally not worth the hassle for the wider market.

Right now I have an antique deli slicer with a brand new blade that needs a little TLC but should operate at least another 100 years once fixed up a bit. A dental clinic autoclave I just don't have room for, a bunch of old IBM model M keyboards, and a slew of various mid-range electronic items that still have plenty of use in them but not a lot of monetary value. I'd give them all away to a decent home - but I don't really have the time to spend on packaging them up and/or the items are too bulky to consider shipping. This is just a few things that have been sitting around my house collecting dust for at least a year.

Pawn shops here are pretty useless and Goodwill/SA are simply not interested in the vast majority of the items I have to get rid of. I'd love to de-clutter, but can't really bring myself to toss perfectly good stuff so it's down to pestering every guest I have over to take things if they have a use.

I can set it out for trash collection in the alley here and 9 times out of 10 someone will take it if it's a mainstream and obviously decent item. That or has value as scrap metal. But for the weirder stuff it's not a great method to ensure it won't just be scrapped and/or trashed as soon as a scrapper decides it's not worth their trouble.

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

#228

Post by gizmo686 »

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…

It probably depends on location, but around here, giving stuff away is easy. There are several for profit thrift stores in the area, some of which will let you just drop stuff off for them. There are also several non-profits that will accept donations and write you a receipt you can use for tax purposes. I've also seen collection receptacles in various parking lots (as well as the county dump).

I've been able to get the local branch of Habitat for Humanity to come to me with a truck to pick up some old furniture free of charge. The only downside was that they are not allowed to come into houses, so I was responsible for moving the furniture to the yard.

For buying stuff, the local thrift stores are good, and offer very low prices on everything. The only downside is you actually need to show up, and are limited to the items they have, so it is not an option if you have a specific thing in mind.

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

#229

Post by pembrook »

atonse wrote: post #204
monocasa wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> First, why do people throw away tennis shoes, unopened food etc? Why not take with them on to their next destination? At my wife's alma mater, the way move out in the dorms worked was that you had 24hrs after your last final and then had to be gone. That didn't really leave a lot of time for a lot of people that had maybe two checked bags and a carry on to work with, and had spent the previous time focused on study…

So the solution could be top down: - give 2-3 extra days for students to move out. - maybe partner with a few moving/freight companies? you’d bring them a lot of customers and they could provide a good rate.

But it’s a “solution” to a nonexistent problem. The vast majority of stuff people own sits unused for decades but gets moved around to whatever home you’re living in out of irrational loss aversion.

This is human, and fine. But I’m 100% certain this author is grossly overestimating the value of the junk they believe they are “saving” and how much of it they will actually use. This is the rationalizing of a budding hoarder.

The time pressure does these kids a huge service by forcing them to clear out stuff that doesn’t actually matter so they don’t feel the need to buy a 4,000 sq ft McMansion to store their college bean bag chair and every other piece of junk they’ve ever owned.

Ultimately, the authors children will run across these “salvaged goods” in a decades-untouched pile in her basement upon her death in about 66 years.

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

#230

Post by gosub100 »

neom wrote: post #221
dkga wrote: post #150

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 „…

The missing part is... those are Valentino's, those are not "Tennis shoes". Now, why did someone throw out those Valentino's? Because nobody who goes to college and wears Valentino would wear those Valentino's, those particular Valentino's pictured, to someone who likes Valentino: are garbage. To your second point, why not give them to someone with less? I would suspect that a young person who is attending Duke Unive…

using stereotypes about the rich is about as ignorant as making them about the poor.
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