To be honest, these "Bin Stores" are really a bit strange, like treasure hunting, but also like endless consumption. I went there once last weekend, and curiosity drove me in. To be honest, the feeling of rummaging through boxes and cabinets in the hope of finding good things is really exciting, like a modern version of "scavenger". I found an almost new coffee grinder for only 5 yuan (the original price may be 50), but I also saw a lot of plastic garbage, which looked like rummaging through a garbage dump.
Interestingly, some stores seem to deliberately mix some valuable things into the boxes. For example, I found a brand new mobile phone case in the pile of cables that time. It is probably this mentality of "maybe I will find treasure next time" that makes people go back again and again.
Seven Days at the Bin Store
81–90 of 116 posts
Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store
#82Am I the only one that feels uncomfortable returning stuff? Took me years to get to get over, and yet I'd still prefer to forego buying something rather than returning it..
When I return something, I feel I'm contributing to the tragedy of the commons - I know I'm still paying for this return, it's just baked into the price. I wish I could get 8% off or something if I promised I wouldn't return it just because I didn't want it.
If it helps you feel better, the "tragedy of the commons" isn't a natural law, it's a highly debated topic that was somewhat re-invented by an economist and then coined in the modern era by an ecologist discussing the pamphlet by the economist, in which it's argued that unfettered access to "the commons" will lead to the common being destroyed.
What's missing from the regular usage of the term is the fact the pamphlet was written immediately the enclosure movement had subdivided the literal Commons - common land - that had functioned perfectly fine for centuries without over exploitation... until the enclosure movement subdivided them and landowners began over-exploiting them.
The lesson isn't that people can't be entrusted with unfettered access to common goods, it's that giving decision making power over the distribution of a common good to an owner (capitalist) will result in over-exploitation. In the case of returns, the price of the good has way more to do with the seller just getting the price up as high as they can get it and still profit, and far less to do with labor costs, manufacturing costs, shipping costs etc. A simple question: if they could sell it for more and make more money, why wouldn't they? If they could sell it for less and make less money, why would they? Hence why the cost of goods stayed up after the chip crisis despite the chip crisis ending.
Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
The tech is the saddest/weirdest part. I have a bunch of tech in my house, being used, that I wouldn't pick up from the side of the road for free. It's just waiting to die and be replaced with something newer.
I have a mother-in-law who has 30-year old electronic gadgets she has no idea what they are for... Image-search turns up no results... (A few are in their original packaging - those are identifiable - but typically useless) Her box of random cables and "wall-wart" power supplies is huge - puts my old bin to shame... (well, I have since organized my "collection", labelled and sorted everything into many smaller storag…
I resigned myself to re-buying things, though of course I love USB-C is a common charging cable.
Instead of a drawer full of wall warts, I have a drawer with a little baggie full of the ends of warts, which I connect via twisted wire if I have to to a few of the wall warts I have.
Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store
#84[dead]
Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store
#85[dead]
Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store
#86So it's like the Middle of Lidl without the Lidl?
Lidl has their own outlets now where they offer their unsold inventory for very cheap.
But the shopping experience there is probably not very pleasant - way too many people hunting for deals.
Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a mother-in-law who has 30-year old electronic gadgets she has no idea what they are for... Image-search turns up no results... (A few are in their original packaging - those are identifiable - but typically useless) Her box of random cables and "wall-wart" power supplies is huge - puts my old bin to shame... (well, I have since organized my "collection", labelled and sorted everything into many smaller storag…
I resigned myself to re-buying things, though of course I love USB-C is a common charging cable. Instead of a drawer full of wall warts, I have a drawer with a little baggie full of the ends of warts, which I connect via twisted wire if I have to to a few of the wall warts I have.
So true! I just recently found an old bag full of ancient phone and other device chargers and charging cables and let me tell you, it felt so weird. I have mostly forgotten that there used to be so many variations - every brand had their own version of what mostly is a simple power connector.
Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's still mostly junk. The issue is do you really want to spend time returning a $5 junk purchase? For most people the answer is no. This is just the stuff that was returned or didn't sell, imagine how much of the stuff is thrown away by the buyers. Some things are just made to cheaply, to hit a price point people will pay. When people then buy the item and realise that it's garbage, it gets tossed. Just maybe you c…
I can see your argument in relation to minimizing waste and the fact that many low-price items should not exist because they are not sustainable. But I'm confused by the first part of your comment because first you said > It's still mostly junk. But then you go on to say > do you really want to spend time returning a $5 junk purchase? For most people the answer is no. This is just the stuff that was returned or didn'…
It's not garbage as in it's not thrown in the trash bin. Perhaps I'm a little to happy to use the word "junk", I mean it as in terms of quality.
Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store
#89> “You can buy stuff from here and then you can resell it,” Ahmed tells me. “Through eBay or Amazon. You can sell on Facebook market. You will get your money back in less than one day if you wanna resell it. Which is a good thing for everybody right now, for the public. A lot of people need to work.” I'd guess that probably the store itself is picking out some of the more valuable items from pallets they source, to d…
There's certainly bin stores that sort through for the best stuff and either offload to friends that'll pay up or price it higher in "vip" section like the article says. The bigger issue is the bin stores that sell mystery boxes which is just the trash that doesn't sell at dollar day.
Huh, meatspace lootboxes
Re: Seven Days at the Bin Store
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Apparently, I'm wrong enough that there's hundreds of these stores in business. The stuff in the bins is from amazon returns. Its not a business of its own supply choices. The people that run the stores go to amazon pallet auctions where they buy the stuff unseen and hope to turn a profit on the arbitrage of what they pay vs the worth of the pallet.
It's still mostly junk. The issue is do you really want to spend time returning a $5 junk purchase? For most people the answer is no. This is just the stuff that was returned or didn't sell, imagine how much of the stuff is thrown away by the buyers. Some things are just made to cheaply, to hit a price point people will pay. When people then buy the item and realise that it's garbage, it gets tossed. Just maybe you c…
If only there was some way for a country to make importing junk not worth it, as a way to help both the planet and its people.
Oh well, we can dream.