# What do I do with my old cell phones?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 21, 2002, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738 "2002-04-21T01:15:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2002, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/1 "2002-04-21T01:15:56Z")
I changed cell phone carriers recently. What do I do with my old phones? The old carrier store won’t buy them back. I can’t imagine a lucrative deal at a pawn shop. So what?
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### Author:  [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/2 "2002-04-21T01:23:06Z")
I know there are some charities, particularly shelters for abused women, who take them as donations. In the US, even an inactive cell phone can be used to dial 9-1-1 in an emergency.
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### Author:  [@jmpride62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmpride62)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2002, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/3 "2002-04-21T01:23:24Z")
If you’re interested in donating them to charity, you can contact a local battered spouses organization. Many of them will give the phones confidentially to a spouse in an abusive relationship so that they can call for help if the need arises before they are able/willing to leave the relationship. Of course they will provide the celluar phone service. Other groups may provide similar services such as to isolated elderly people etc.
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### Author:  [@jmpride62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmpride62)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/4 "2002-04-21T01:24:27Z")
Sorry, Lsura and I most have been posting at the same time 🙂
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/5 "2002-04-21T01:24:37Z")
Here’s a [place](http://www.wirelessfoundation.org/) that takes any phone (w/charger) and provides them to battered or stalked women who can use them to call 9-1-1.
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### Author:  [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2002, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/6 "2002-04-21T01:38:46Z")
You could sell them on ebay. Pre paid cellular plans let you use just about any phone, so people buy used phones for that.
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### Author:  [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2002, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/7 "2002-04-21T05:15:27Z")
As a sidenote, I read of a company in Japan that makes a living recyling the tiny amount of gold inside old phones. Apparently, Japan has a huge stockpile of old cell phones - some of which were obsolete even before making it to shops - so there’s money to be made extracting the itsy bit of gold on their circuit boards.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2002, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/8 "2002-04-21T19:16:30Z")
My old cellphone is not reliable enough to donate it for use **as a cell phone**.
Our local Catholic school takes them as donations- they must be selling them for salvage.
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### Author:  [@white-tigeress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/white-tigeress)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2002, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/9 "2002-04-21T19:19:31Z")
Put it up for sale on ebay??
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### Author:  [@Cio\_Cio\_San](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cio_Cio_San)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/10 "2002-04-22T07:50:43Z")
Well if you have kids or something you could always put it on a pay as you go type plan where you buy those cards with minutes on them. It’s a good thing to have for an emergency phone. Or you can just smash it and take out all your anger for all the times it didn’t work or dropped a call
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### Author:  [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/11 "2002-04-22T10:25:48Z")
Give it to someone who would like to be able to call 911 from anywhere.
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/12 "2002-04-22T16:31:35Z")
Most of them have codes or key cards you must input so you can’t use them if they are used.
I found that out since I work for thrift shops & people donate them. People don’t buy them, even priced
for $7-10 US. I don’t know how they womens’ centers handle the card/key code issue.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/13 "2002-04-22T19:20:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by handy \*
> \*\*Most of them have codes or key cards you must input so you can’t use them if they are used.
> I found that out since I work for thrift shops & people donate them. People don’t buy them, even priced
> for $7-10 US. I don’t know how they womens’ centers handle the card/key code issue. \*\*
They simply call the cell phone company or the manufacturer of the cell phone and get the codes/key cards from them. The cell phone company I work for currently has a push on to collect their old phones for use by charities and the like, and I imagine that the other companies have something similar going on. Its good publicity for them, and a tax write-off as well.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/14 "2002-04-22T20:35:35Z")
Does anyone have a website for donating used phones to the elderly?
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### Author:  [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)
#### Post date: [April 22, 2002, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-i-do-with-my-old-cell-phones/104738/15 "2002-04-22T22:16:17Z")
I held on to an old one, and it came in very handy when my new one was stolen. The only place I had several phone numbers was on that old one. Bad planning, but saved my ass.