And your point was....?

[DeltaBladeX]

Ah, CRTs. I've been volunteering in a local thrift store, and we would get them all the time, despite signs saying we won't take them. Soaked, cut cables, etc. Very annoying. Even had someone who had been turned down for donating / dumping it wait until the counter people were busy before just dropping it at the door and leaving.

[MoonCat]

Quoth Seshat

If you wouldn't wear/use it yourself*, don't donate it.


* wrong colour, size, or out of fashion notwithstanding; of course.

This, exactly. I have a co-worker who will not wear something if it gets the tiniest little stain on it, a tiny hole, fabric worn through on a cuff, or whatever. One time she was wearing a chenille top and noticed the nap had kind of worn through. "Oh, well, time to donate to the needy!" I said, uh, if you wouldn't wear it like that, why would they?
"Oh, the needy won't care."

[bainsidhe]

Quoth MoonCat

I said, uh, if you wouldn't wear it like that, why would they?
"Oh, the needy won't care."

Well I must admit it also depends on the charity. Sis likes to donate to a local church that accepts stained or worn clothing in addition to any household goods, appliances, etc. A lot of their donations go to people who are low income and who can't afford clothing or (unused) makeup or a toaster, etc. Without transportation, they can't travel to other food banks either (her small city has a terrible transit system). For their charity it works, for others not so much.

As for donating junk to thrift stores? If no one would buy it at a garage sale, why the hell would they pay money for something that's damaged in a thrift store?

[Pixilated]

Quoth LillFilly

I believe the point was "Hey, free place to dump my crap!" I swear I can be out of my parking lot for an hour, come back and there will be several bags of trash and an old microwave sitting there!

Unfortunately, that's the mentality some people have. They don't want to deal with their own junk so they palm it off.

However, the thrift shop I work for does get some use out of certain types of stained/torn/worn clothing: T-shirts used to be cut along the seams to make large cleaning rags (bought by local industries -- when we still had local industries), and now a lot of this sort of thing goes into bags that are picked up for "recycling." Though to be perfectly honest, I've no idea what the "recycling" involves -- somebody told me that it ends up in carpeting which is why you so often see "100% unknown fibres" on many of today's carpets. No idea if this is true.

[wolfie]

I have occasionally donated shoes that had at most a couple months wear left on them, but they were CSA grade 1 safety shoes. For someone who gets a job that requires safety shoes, but can't afford the price of new ones before they get their first paycheque, it could mean the difference between gainful employment and continued unemployment - just hope they have big feet.

[dalesys]

Quoth wolfie

... just hope they have big feet.

Or a large understanding.

[DeltaSierra]

My Legion's Ladies Auxiliary runs a thrift shop and we had to stop accepting "dump drop off" donations (we had a big covered bin out back) because people started leaving stuff just so they could avoid the long drive to, and fee of taking it to the recycler or dump. We still get the occasional CRT or bag of stained/old clothing that can't even be used as rags, but for the most part its helped.

[raudf]

I was talking to my friend at one of the local charities and asked about the stained up stuff they get. What is in good shape, they sell in their thrift store to help fund part of the food bank. The stuff that is stained up gets sent to another charity that goes overseas to places like Ethiopia. If it's in real bad shape, it gets recycled.

Electronics, they try to repair (one of the local repair shops donates time/parts) or the county allows them to take it to the recycle place for a small fee, possibly free.

Appliances, they try to get repaired for the thrift store (a retired repair person does it), or they sell it to the scrap yard and put the funds toward the food pantry.

They had to finally fence in and lock their back dock area, because people were dumping stuff and others were going through it. This created a HUGE mess that the retirement age people running the place had to clean up.

[CaptainThrifty]

Quoth Pixilated

Unfortunately, that's the mentality some people have. They don't want to deal with their own junk so they palm it off.

However, the thrift shop I work for does get some use out of certain types of stained/torn/worn clothing: T-shirts used to be cut along the seams to make large cleaning rags (bought by local industries -- when we still had local industries), and now a lot of this sort of thing goes into bags that are picked up for "recycling." Though to be perfectly honest, I've no idea what the "recycling" involves -- somebody told me that it ends up in carpeting which is why you so often see "100% unknown fibres" on many of today's carpets. No idea if this is true.

We at least do have a lot of recycling programs. We send computer stuff, metal, books, accessories, shoes, stuffed animals, plastic, small appliances, and cardboard to our central processing and they either bale or put the stuff from all the stores into gaylords and then load them on to containers to go to recyclers who bid each quarter for them by the pound.

Quoth raudf

They had to finally fence in and lock their back dock area, because people were dumping stuff and others were going through it. This created a HUGE mess that the retirement age people running the place had to clean up.

I'm surprised they have just dumped it against the side of the fence.

Quoth DeltaBladeX

Ah, CRTs. I've been volunteering in a local thrift store, and we would get them all the time, despite signs saying we won't take them. Soaked, cut cables, etc. Very annoying. Even had someone who had been turned down for donating / dumping it wait until the counter people were busy before just dropping it at the door and leaving.

I used to live a few blocks away from the store. So when I was coming home from somewhere and would be passing near the store. I can't count the number of times I've caught someone either dumping crap off or worse tearing through the dumpster. And on top of that I would watch them drive off, and then I would drive off the the lot across the street and within 5 minutes they would drive back and try again!

[DeltaBladeX]

Quoth CaptainThrifty

I used to live a few blocks away from the store. So when I was coming home from somewhere and would be passing near the store. I can't count the number of times I've caught someone either dumping crap off or worse tearing through the dumpster. And on top of that I would watch them drive off, and then I would drive off the the lot across the street and within 5 minutes they would drive back and try again!

Yeah, my local store has those kinds of people to deal with as well. Doesn't help that one of the bunch that help themselves to anything good (and likely dump crap, but I haven't seen that myself) happens to be another thrift store in the area, though not part of the same group as the store I work in. Quite annoying.