Our definitions of "used" are different I guess

[An Haddock]

Just had some guy come in - not sure if he was a druggie or just a weirdo. Seemed fairly well-dressed and groomed, but you never know.

First off, when he first spoke to me his voice was so soft I couldn't hear a thing he said so I had to ask him to repeat himself. Then I got this conversation:


Weird Guy: Do you buy accessories? (we sometimes buy used laptops or recent desktops)
Me: Accessories? Not usually.
WG: Like, a mouse?
Me: No, no one's going to buy a used mouse.
WG: (seems slightly offended) It's new!
Me: Even a new mouse... (I was about to say we just got a shipment of them in, which was true)
WG: It's less than 30 days old.
Me: We still can't buy anything that's open-box.

Guy just silently turns and leaves. Good riddance.


A mouse that's been opened up is not "new" any more, bro.


I didn't even get to the part where I tell him that people just dump their old "accessories" here to get rid of them. That probably would have really cheesed him off. And it's true. I've shown up in the morning and found a box of mice, keyboards, cables, etc. on my front step. Sometimes we can salvage some of it for shop use, sometimes it's actually resellable, anything else goes to my recycling guy.


We're not a fucking trading post.

[icmedia]

I get people in my cellphone shop all of the time trying to sell me their used phones, cases, etc. They're never happy when I pull up our trade-in program and quote them the $20 or even $0 it says their LG G2 or 7 year-old flip phone are worth...or that it's only good for store credit and not cash.

What's that? You could probably get, like, $50 on Craigslist!? Then do that. Really...Do that.

[An Haddock]

I get people in my cellphone shop all of the time trying to sell me their used phones, cases, etc. They're never happy when I pull up our trade-in program and quote them the $20 or even $0 it says their LG G2 or 7 year-old flip phone are worth...or that it's only good for store credit and not cash.

What's that? You could probably get, like, $50 on Craigslist!? Then do that. Really...Do that.

My favorites are the ones with old desktop computers.

"How old is it?"
"It's only a couple of years old."
"What operating system?"
"Windows XP."


I must admit I get a certain glee out of telling people not only is their stuff worthless but other people dump similar stuff here to recycle it.

They really thought their 8 year old XP eMachine desktop had value to it.

[protege]

I must admit I get a certain glee out of telling people not only is their stuff worthless but other people dump similar stuff here to recycle it.

Until my boss kept an eye on our office equipment, he thought that everything had some sort of value. For example, was it really necessary to keep the laptop with a broken screen? Rather than scrap it, he had me hook up a CRT-style monitor to it and a keyboard and mouse. Needless to say, when the office moved the last time...that piece of crap didn't come with us. It "disappeared in transit." That is...I took it home and smashed it with a hammer

But seriously, years ago, you could get some trade-in value for an old computer. They were expensive as hell, so they had some residual value. Now, you can't even give the damn things away. At work, when our machines fail or can't handle our software, I scrap them. They get taken apart--the metal cases go to the scrapyard; the wire, boards, and some bits go to the "arts and crafts center" (insert plug for the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse. I look at it this way: they get a steady stream of bits that artists and other creative minds can use while I get rid of things that would be otherwise scrapped.

[Monterey Jack]

Few things lose their value as quickly as technology like laptops, phones, etc. Even movies and video games might gain some value over time if they fall out of print, but even then you'd have to sell those to a collector direct on the internet, as you'd still get pennies on the dollar if you tried to unload them in a pawn shop. I've read incredible stories about people walking into pawn shops and picking up extremely OOP and valuable titles on DVD and Blu-Ray for a few bucks, and it always makes me grind my teeth when I go into a pawn shop and see used stuff that's selling for more than the same titles I can get brand-new and sealed at Best Buy.

[EricKei]

I can see well-made, clean cases being re-usable/resellable, just not for a whole lot -- and MAYBE re-using power supplies and RAM, depending on how old they are. Anything else...? eh.

[Minflick]

When DH died last year, and I got to clean out his mess, I ended up with 12 old towers... I had a HUGE pile of towers, monitors, cables, etc out in the driveway. I loaded up my car and went to the dump, because I was - furious that he'd left all this shit for me to deal with; sad that he'd hoarded so much shit in the first place (computer bits and bobs were not the only thing...); stressed beyond belief by all the stuff I had to deal with. Our local dump is quite comprehensive, with many 'buckets' to sort things out in. Drugs went one place, e-waste another, old manuals etc.... I was teary but relieved as I drove away...

[Catwoman2965]

I hate people who also try and tell you that the stuff you are either donating or trashing, maybe worth something. I have been regularly "de-crapifying" and a couple years ago, I went through all my CDS; took them out of the cases, and put them in wallets. they take up so much less room that way. I also got rid of a bunch I really didn't listen to much anymore, or those I didn't care for, due to change in taste. I think i donated most, but may have chucked some too. Don't really remember, but NONE them were rare or valuable. And my aim was to declutter.

My one friend gets so twitchy when i tell her I've donated, or worse, thrown things out. She immediately wants to know what it was, and also then tells me i should have sold them. right, i'm going to waste my time and effort to sell some random CDs? I think not.

My downstairs neighbor passed away in Oct, at the ripe old age of 90, and her kids had to clean out her apt, and get rid of all her stuff, in a short time frame. BOth had their own, FULLY FURNISHED ETC. homes, and most of my neighbor's stuff, dishes, glasses, etc. weren't worth squat. They took what was valuable, tv, etc. and simply chucked the rest into the dumpsters.

My friend had a fit! She just couldn't fathom why they wouldn't try and donate, or sell the stuff. I kept trying to tell her, well, they don't have time, and there's a LOT of stuff. And her dishes? the stoneware you got at the grocery store 25+ years ago! It drove her nuts, but I totally got where her kids were coming from. Add to that, many places now are quite picky about donations! It drove her nuts! Until i said, well, i'm sure if YOU volunteered to take all her stuff into your apt, and try and sell it, i'm SURE they'd be very grateful. I thnk then she finally got the point.

[notalwaysright]

I hate people who also try and tell you that the stuff you are either donating or trashing, maybe worth something.

I was dropping of a really old laptop to be recycled (GW offers this) and damned if the guy doesn't start looking at the laptop to see what's wrong. First, the screen was dead. Second, although I had wiped the hd, I had also slightly sabotaged the thing, just to make sure. The guy inspects it and says "here's the problem!" Please just take it, I promise it's super dead.

My mom gets really upset when she knows I got rid of something. I think it's some kind of compulsion. She doesn't hoard, not seriously. But... She has those tenancies. You know what helps? We have a friend who is a hoarder, which started when her husband died. When my mom goes to that friend's house she can see from an objective standpoint how silly it is to keep everything. I mean, this friend has stacks of old soda cups from fast food joints. She rinses them and saves them. I know that my mom's boarder line hoarding started when my grandma died.

[icmedia]

I used to keep every computer component for parts...when they were still fairly expensive to replace and 256Mb of RAM was a decent amount. Nowadays? It's obsolete before you get it home, much less 3 years later when it finally craps out on you.

[An Haddock]

My one friend gets so twitchy when i tell her I've donated, or worse, thrown things out. She immediately wants to know what it was, and also then tells me i should have sold them. right, i'm going to waste my time and effort to sell some random CDs? I think not.

Same mentality... people who think something has value but are clueless.

"You could have sold that CD to someone!"
"Okay - who?"
"Well, err.... EBAY!"
"I don't have an Ebay account. You want to do it for me?"
"Craigslist!"
"No one's going to buy a copy of Windows 98 from Craigslist."
"But... MONEY!"
"If you think it's so valuable YOU buy it."


Ugh... I used to watch Hoarders and it inspired me to keep my apartment clean and to actually throw out a bunch of old junk... but these days I can't even watch any more. I just want to slap some of the people on there. I don't even care so much if they live in their own filth - if it's not affecting anyone else, then live your life how you want. But the people who have children or pets - they need a swift kick in the ass.

[KellyHabersham]

Add to that, many places now are quite picky about donations! It drove her nuts! Until i said, well, i'm sure if YOU volunteered to take all her stuff into your apt, and try and sell it, i'm SURE they'd be very grateful. I thnk then she finally got the point.

I wish we were allowed to be more picky about donations at the library. Not that I would say any book should be considered "worthless", but to give an idea of things which people donate that we cannot really use:

30+ year-old Encyclopedia sets
outdated medical books
30+ year-old magazines (National Geographic in particular)
Harlequin Romance paperbacks
paperbacks that are in poor condition (dirty, or tattered covers)

Our "Library Friends" volunteers are the ones who actually handle/go through donations though, so I'm not sure what they do with the stuff that they can't either put up in our "Library Friends Sale corner", or send to the main "Library Friends" group in the system's main library branch.

[Slave to the Phone]

My sweetie cannot stand getting rid of old tech toys. Currently, he has an old tower in his cave that came loaded with Vista along with a bunch of other junk. After a while, he gets tired of tripping over it and puts it in the shed. I wait a couple of months, then figure "out of sight, out of mind" and load it up and take it to the recycling center. So far, he's never called me on it, but its worthless and I'm certainly not going to donate it to a thrift store so they can pay to have it hauled away.

[Kanalah]

Mom is a serious hoarder. She has a 2,000 sq.ft 4 bedroom house (that sis lives in) that is full floor to ceiling (goat trails through the mess). Garage is full of stuff, dining room completely packed, 3 bedrooms full. What's worse is that she had 7 cats in the house, so everything is soaked in cat piss.

Mom moved out and now lives with grandma in an 1,800 sq.ft 3 bedroom house. In 4 years she had it full floor to ceiling, goat trails through the mess. Grandma uses a walker and there's no way she can get through the house. Oh and mom got more cats and a dog, so there's poop on the floor and everything smells like pee.

She's insanely lucky that CPS didn't take us away, and that APS doesn't take grandma. (if only that if moocher Uncle is taking care of gma he'll let her wander into traffic to get his inheritance that much faster.) I just think she likes to be surrounded by filth. I just refuse to have her live with me, I don't want a house full of trash.

Edit: Mom insists that I am the reason the house is messy. When I was younger I used to clean, and haul out bags of garbage. Mom would scream at me for throwing away "her stuff", then pull the bag out of the trash can and bring it back into the house.

[Crai]

Mom is a serious hoarder. She has a 2,000 sq.ft 4 bedroom house (that sis lives in) that is full floor to ceiling (goat trails through the mess). Garage is full of stuff, dining room completely packed, 3 bedrooms full. What's worse is that she had 7 cats in the house, so everything is soaked in cat piss.

Mom moved out and now lives with grandma in an 1,800 sq.ft 3 bedroom house. In 4 years she had it full floor to ceiling, goat trails through the mess.


Edit: Mom insists that I am the reason the house is messy. When I was younger I used to clean, and haul out bags of garbage. Mom would scream at me for throwing away "her stuff", then pull the bag out of the trash can and bring it back into the house.

So what your saying is she filled up two houses and wants to start on a third?

This is the definition of mental disorder. Stay strong don't open the door for her.

My GF thinks I have to much stuff (I don't) I have 5000 Pounds of goods. I Know because i'm told every 3 years when I move how much my goods weigh lol. She how ever has 2 conex box's full of stuff.... (I know right!!!)