The young couple across the street from us (middle 20’s) replaced their non working washer and dryer and didn’t know how to get rid of them, so just left them in their driveway for over a year. One day I suggested they drag them to the road for a scrapper to take and they had never heard of doing such a thing.
They didn’t take much convincing to try it, and were very happy when someone in a pick up grabbed them up. They came from San Diego and weren’t raised in apartments, so I have no clue why they wouldn’t know that solution to scrap metal.
Nice kids, and a great source of entertainment. I was never that young and dumb!
It can be a huge hassle to get rid of nearly anything on Craigslist, or via the various freecycle-type groups, but I do feel better about the potential to rehome something versus taking it to the dump.
I did have a recent success story on Craigslist, though it wasn’t selling anything… I’d brought up a couple of pieces of heavy furniture (TV/stereo stand - had no luck giving it away here) to my daughter in Vermont. We quickly realized that the two of us together could NOT have gotten it up the narrow, steep stairs to her apartment: I’ve got a bum wrist and her back isn’t the greatest. So I posted an ad on Craigslist for “need two people to carry some stuff upstairs, less than an hour, bring a buddy and 50 bucks for each of you”. I actually had to pay a fee to do that - help-wanted ads are evidently not free.
I had a taker within an hour. Set up a time for the following morning… and they showed up, only 10 minutes late. They got an envelope of cash, my daughter got some furniture, and I got rid of about 150 pounds of weight from the minivan.
I was honestly shocked that it worked out that well.
I have a 12 string guitar for sale and I have an ad on Reverb.com, but I also, against by judgement, put it on Craigslist because if I could sell it locally it would be easier. This is a $500 guitar like new.
Well , I got an offer today. I can trade it for an electric cement mixer OR a 10" table saw. I looked them up and they are both worth about $180 new. The guy was careful to put “OR” in capital letters in his email.
I’ve always had decent luck on Craigslist. Once you learn how to spot the scammers, it goes fairly well. I sold at least three cars on CL in the past, and just the other day got rid of a day bed for $400. I’m starting to list my woodworking tools now and I hope to get some interest.
I’m sure everyone had been dying for an update to the price of cardboard. Those same cardboard bales that used to get $20 each, then went down to a few cents each are now up to about $75 each. These days I’m bringing cardboard from home instead of my own recycling bin. Might as well get paid for it instead of giving it to the city like a chump.
As I reread that, I realize it’s kinda funny that people steal pallets so they can sell them for two or three dollars when they could be stealing cardboard bales and get enough money to actually make all that work and the risk worthwhile. Stealing pallets is a lot of work for not a lot of money.
There’s a public radio program called Marketplace that did a story on Friday about a Los Angeles-area company that warehouses containers and how the current supply chain issues are affecting it. During the story, they mentioned that pallets are going for $12-20 each now.
It’s not like your typical thief is known for their smarts. My condo was broken into and besides your typical electronic gear, they stole a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream leaving behind the Johnnie Walker Black right next to it. I pointed this out to the cop who came to take the complaint and he said, “No accounting for taste, I guess.”
I suppose a large van could easily hold 100 pallets (they are easy to stack and pack tightly). At <20 bucks a piece, that’s a 2 000-dollar loot right there.
I’ve used Freecycle, FB Marketplace, NextDoor, and Craigslist, to both buy and sell, and to pick up and give away free stuff. I do it all the time.
I don’t find much difference in behavior in any of those – flakes abound everywhere. NextDoor is the best of the lot, because those people really are my neighbors and and around here that means something. It hardly matters that all my posts are well-photographed, filled with all the pertinent details, etc. It is just the nature of the interaction that at least most of the questions will be stupid and 50% of your contacts will vaporize. Last spring when I was raising chicks, I caught and boxed up young hens for several sets of people who had a firm appointment who just never showed. I just don’t believe anyone until the cash is in my hand. Ever.