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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

#61

Post by saulrh »

lostmsu wrote: post #57
saulrh wrote: post #31

Works even if you're not in a college town. I once pulled a $4000 set of speakers out of my building's trash room - Boston Dynamics floor speakers, Polk Audio subwoofer - and I was just in a random apartment building in the bay area. Turned out the tweeter on one of the speakers needed replacing but that was like a $40 part on eBay and ten minutes of work with a screwdriver, didn't even need a soldering iron. You can…

> Turned out the tweeter on one of the speakers needed replacing How much time it took to figure that out, and what is the chance the thing would turn out unsalvageable?

I had those speakers for a few years before someone else noticed it, lol. The other tweeter worked just fine, and the speakers as a whole were so good that even without the dedicated hardware for higher frequencies it was still better in those ranges than what I'd been using.

I don't know how likely it'd be for something like that to turn out unsalvageable. I think that essentially everything at that level uses wooden enclosures, so it'd come down to whether the speaker bit is set into the wooden enclosure with screws or adhesive, and I don't know about the industry enough to know what the ratio is on that. Probably mostly screws. Then getting a compatible driver is probably guaranteed, at worst you have to replace both sides to keep them balanced.

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

#63

Post by alnwlsn »

dkarl wrote: post #60
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.

Often, when something breaks, I think I might enjoy tinkering with it and trying to fix it, but it feels like a luxury I can't afford. Hiring someone to fix it is a luxury that I can sometimes afford. It's one of those things that feels right, but you're also aware that it's a flex because you're embodying moral values celebrated by your social class, which people below your social class happen to not be able to affo…

That, and that you have to have tools on hand to fix something, which most people don't. For the majority of people, it's probably limited to three of the lowest quality screwdrivers you've ever seen, a pair of scissors, and one or two of those allen wrenches that come with IKEA furniture.

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

#65

Post by mrguyorama »

suzzer99 wrote: post #43
gotoeleven wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You will learn to think different like everyone else.

I went through several pairs of crappy wireless headphones until I gave in and got airpods, which just work.

For a year, and then the internal battery is useless.

They are engineered like consumables. Utter insanity. For over $100.

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

#66

Post by ujkhsjkdhf234 »

alnwlsn wrote: post #39

It's not just students. Where I live (admittedly wealthy) people throw away everything they can't be bothered to do the slightest bit of maintenance on. I have found, and made functional: - a snow blower - various weed eaters - vacuum cleaners - a generator (higher capacity than the one I already had) - a log splitter - pressure washers (nozzles usually clogged with dirt) - a chainsaw - multiple typewriters (the Sele…

A co-worker was telling about a student he knew who would never do laundry and just constantly buy new clothes while getting rid of the worn ones.

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

#67

Post by tantalor »

nancyminusone wrote: post #25

>it also feels mildly wrong to take it I never feel any guilt about taking things from the trash. About trespassing to somewhere you're not supposed to be? Sure. But if it's something that's 100% clear is in the trash and will be going to the landfill and not going to some charity reuse place or something, and I want it, I'm taking it.

It is a feeling of disgust, not guilt.

You're rooting around in the trash. Humans know, or learn pretty quick, that trash is yucky.

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

#68

Post by matthewowen »

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.

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

#69

Post by fortran77 »

dml2135 wrote: post #48
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. My impression is that only about half the population, at most, even pretends to care about environmentalism.

But most likely that half is well-represented in college undergraduates.

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

#70

Post by bee_rider »

xivzgrev wrote: post #5

I did this once. I was a RA, and there must've been at least 6 mini fridges left behind. I was staying for the summer, so I cleaned the ones that were salvageable and sold them on Craigslist. Earned some easy beer money.

Did you keep one? (To hold the beer)
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