When we immigrated to the US, my siblings and I used to dumpster dive as kids and we were surprised how much stuff Americans were throwing out. Our first year, we managed to get a couple TVs, old game consoles, old computers. All still very usable. We obviously cleaned them up and took them home and managed to get a couple more years of use out of them.
I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students
311–320 of 341 posts
Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students
#312Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a little mind-boggling when you compare a decent $5K car to a $60K one, and realize you could have a 12-car fleet for that one car.
Is such a thing even to be had these days? I certainly own a decent $6k car, so I know it used to be possible. But I bought that car 14 years ago now, and it would surprise me if you can still get a decent car for that price after 14 years of inflation.
Yes, I think the private party seller comment is right.
I had to sell a decent 15 year old car due to upgrading two years ago for less than $4K. It was a decently reliable car and I think they got a deal. With these, I think you can good deals if you don't mind the downsides. Reliable-ish, with one bigger problem (e.g. AC doesn't work, or has some crash damage), and no guarantee of how long it'll run or when it'll need bigger work (could be years and 50K+ miles, or sooner).
Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students
#313The true value of these luxury goods is likely closer to that appraised by those undergrads than by the author - i.e trash. Literally billions of dollars of unsold inventory are burnt and destroyed by Luxury brands to avoid marking them down to their correct market value. Cartier's parent company alone destroyed "400 million GBP" of watches in 2 years[1]. Why would you destroy billions of dollars of merchandise if th…
> The true value of these luxury goods is likely closer to that appraised by those undergrads than by the author - i.e trash.
The explanation might be simpler than this: as the students are moving out, taking this stuff with them might be prohibitively expensive. They might have liquidated their belongings and, as they have a hard deadline to get out, they need to get rid of things.
Also, it seems the author might have inflated some of the value. The article mentions things like $980 Valentino sneakers, but it also mentions they were worn but wearable. What's the real value of used shoes? Would someone who spends $1k on shoes bother with getting tens of dollars back by selling used sneakers?
Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students
#314Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's more wasteful, throwing away mass produced items that still have 50% of their life left that you won't actually use (but are rationalizing that you will because 'free')? Or heating a 4,000 sq foot home for 60 years to store said items in unused piles and then having your children eventually throw those items away anyways when you die? Realistically it's going to be 1 of those 2 scenarios.
This is the rationalization that I've used successfully before. Every item takes space, and space costs money. Space often costs quite a bit of money. If I'm paying $2000/m for a 750sqft apartment (not unreasonable for many metros), then every square foot costs me ~$3/month minimum (often quite a bit more because I also have to heat, clean, and organize it as well). How many months of storage does it take to mean you…
> Mentally shifting the equation to a more realistic "opportunity cost" model for items is healthy.
There is usually no opportunity cost though. Those shoes you keep around have no margin cost for the apartment until you need a bigger place.
Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students
#315I remember that my school rented out mini-fridges to students. It was about $150 to rent a dingy, used fridge for the year. The cost to buy a similar fridge was about $100. So of course, students would buy fridges, then discard them at the end of the year. Piles and piles of mini-fridges.
That sounds like a terrible plan on your school’s part (which is your point, I know). Rent them for $95 for the year and the school probably makes more money and definitely creates less waste and less inconvenience for students.
Honestly I don’t remember the exact price so I may be exaggerating the cost disparity… but I am not exaggerating the pile of fridges so the disparity was certainly there.
Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
You said the word "Valentino", which is meaningless, way too many times for it to be healthy.
It's not meaningless, people have whole PhDs in this stuff and it's a component of the concentration of social cultural anthropology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentino_(fashion_house)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentino_(fashion_designer)
But within the houses system, Valentino sits somewhere specific. Hence I am being specific about The House of Valentino.
Valentino = Warhol.
Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students
#317The true value of these luxury goods is likely closer to that appraised by those undergrads than by the author - i.e trash. Literally billions of dollars of unsold inventory are burnt and destroyed by Luxury brands to avoid marking them down to their correct market value. Cartier's parent company alone destroyed "400 million GBP" of watches in 2 years[1]. Why would you destroy billions of dollars of merchandise if th…
> The true value of these luxury goods is likely closer to that appraised by those undergrads than by the author - i.e trash. The explanation might be simpler than this: as the students are moving out, taking this stuff with them might be prohibitively expensive. They might have liquidated their belongings and, as they have a hard deadline to get out, they need to get rid of things. Also, it seems the author might ha…
> https://www.thepoke.com/2019/09/29/americans-cant-believe-ka...
Punchline: This is a great idea. It sure would save me a lot of money on coats.
I'm gonna bet used Valentinos, in my size, are still gonna be at least 200$. I'm not a shoes guy, but I know they are worth something.
Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students
#318Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem here is that a good amount of perfectly serviceable items went into the trash instead of being donated. That is just straight up wasteful.
Go volunteer at an organization that will accept this stuff as donations. I think you're going to be in for a shock... 2/3rds of the donations go right in the trash (they will optimistically call it salvage/recycling).
Source?
Re: I salvaged $6k of luxury items discarded by Duke students
#319Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 24hrs after your last fina Generous. When I was taking part in student exchange I had to be gone from the dorms a week before one of my finals.
How does that even work, you just travel back for the exam? I could stay I think up to 12 months after graduating. And it was entirely up to you when you wanted to graduate after fulfilling the criteria. I myself took the papers half a year after finishing my master's thesis, and then left the student apartment half a year after that.
I have also traveled before finals, only to show up for the last day final. Finals aren't all scheduled in the same day for every class. It can be spread out over weeks across a campus in the USA.