# What do we do with this bed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 22, 2009, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813 "2009-07-22T02:29:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LurkerInNJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ed655f/32.png) [@LurkerInNJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkerInNJ)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813/21 "2009-07-22T22:53:49Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > You’ve seen it plenty of times so that makes it ok? What happens to the ones that no one wants? Do the people who left them take them and drive them to the dump or does the City have to take care of it? Yeah the city takes care of it. You think people take the subway to the dump around here? The DOS provides free removal of up to six non-commercial bulk items (items that won’t fit in bags, like tv’s, furniture, mattresses) per residential address per trash collection. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813/22 "2009-07-22T23:32:54Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > You’ve seen it plenty of times so that makes it ok? What happens to the ones that no one wants? Do the people who left them take them and drive them to the dump or does the City have to take care of it? Uh, yeah. It’s perfectly legal here, so get off your high horse. > [@NYC.gov](#): > > The Department of Sanitation provides free curbside removal of large non-commercial “bulk” items (items that are too big to be discarded in a container or bag) from residential buildings. > > Regular Bulk - Large items that are neither 100 percent metal nor predominantly metal (such as mattresses, microwaves, televisions, sofas, EZ chairs, wood tables, etc.) > > Sanitation will collect up to six items from one address. Items must be placed on curbside between 5pm (4pm on Fridays from October to April) and midnight the night before your regular garbage collection day. > > [http://www.nyc.gov/html/dsny/html/collection/bulk.shtml](http://www.nyc.gov/html/dsny/html/collection/bulk.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813/23 "2009-07-22T23:52:53Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > We called both of these organizations and they won’t take mattresses and they won’t pick it up on their own. I think we are going to end up freecycling it. WTF? Why would a place in/around NYC not have pickup service? It’s not like everyone who lives there has an old truck in their driveway that they use for “haulin’”. No one even has driveways! Let us know if you do get rid of it on Freecycle. I can’t believe no one wants this bed! ---
**Author:** ![Jsb5391](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jsb5391](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jsb5391)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813/24 "2009-07-23T14:41:57Z")
My wife posts stuff like this on Craigslist all the time; if it’s listed as free, it goes quick. A couple months ago she put a mattress on there, and she had 3 calls within a half hour. A nice couple picked it up that morning, no effort needed on our part other than to post the ad and respond to a few calls. Similar experiences with bookshelves, teaching supplies (she’s a former teacher), and other things. ETA, or rather to clarify: all these things were posted as free. When she tries posting things as not free, the calls don’t come nearly as quick or as often. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813/25 "2009-07-23T15:28:53Z")
It looks like his mom is going to pay to have the bed shipped to her in CT instead of us getting rid of it for free. We were surprised that so many charities wouldn’t accept the mattress and wouldn’t pick up the bed at all, especially in NYC where it isn’t expected that people here own trucks for hauling stuff around the city. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813/26 "2009-07-23T15:44:13Z")
Bed bugs are such a huge issue here in NYC right now, it doesn’t surprise me very much that agencies won’t accept mattresses. It’s not worth the risk. If a buggy mattress got through, it could easily contaminate all the other upholstered furniture in their trucks and warehouse space. I’m glad you found a relative who wants to take it. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813/27 "2009-07-23T16:17:02Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Uh, yeah. It’s perfectly legal here, so get off your high horse. Well obviously that changes things. My apologies. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813/28 "2009-07-23T17:58:40Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > We were surprised that so many charities wouldn’t accept the mattress and wouldn’t pick up the bed at all, especially in NYC where it isn’t expected that people here own trucks for hauling stuff around the city. What you are forgetting is that, while your mattress sounds like it is in pristine condition, many people try to donate/get rid of mattresses that have had years of kids wetting the bed, plus many other stains of dubious origin. Mattresses used for years - with sweaty naked bodies doing all sorts of nasty things on them - are not something that many people (other than desperate homeless) would want to sleep on. For instance, no matter how clean; would you want to buy used underwear? They have even shown some disgusting examples of beds in good hotels that are anything but sanitary - and most of those have housekeepers changing the linens daily. So sorry - as well-meaning as you are, and I don’t doubt your bed is probably in excellent condition - there are simply some things that many people find “icky” when taking hand-me-downs. ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813/29 "2009-07-23T18:10:13Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > What you are forgetting is that, while your mattress sounds like it is in pristine condition, many people try to donate/get rid of mattresses that have had years of kids wetting the bed, plus many other stains of dubious origin. Mattresses used for years - with sweaty naked bodies doing all sorts of nasty things on them - are not something that many people (other than desperate homeless) would want to sleep on. For instance, no matter how clean; would you want to buy used underwear? > > They have even shown some disgusting examples of beds in good hotels that are anything but sanitary - and most of those have housekeepers changing the linens daily. > > So sorry - as well-meaning as you are, and I don’t doubt your bed is probably in excellent condition - there are simply some things that many people find “icky” when taking hand-me-downs. I hadn’t thought about that at all! I know that when my cat peed on my bed I threw out the mattress and bought a new one, no questions asked, and got a waterproof cover for the new mattress. If a child peed on the bed I would do the same. I can’t imagine someone trying to give away something soiled like that. The mattress we were trying to get rid of has never been exposed to children or animals so it is damn near perfect but no one else can be sure of that so I suppose it makes sense that they wouldn’t take it. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813/30 "2009-07-23T18:23:27Z")
Dunno what kind of neighborhood you live in, but anything we put out in the alley behind our house was gone by morning. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813/31 "2009-07-23T18:44:16Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > I hadn’t thought about that at all! I know that when my cat peed on my bed I threw out the mattress and bought a new one, no questions asked… I can’t imagine someone trying to give away something soiled like that. I think quite a few people have no clue how to get rid of big volume garbage like that. It takes some organization to know where you can dump such a matress, and a strong person to get it there. On the other hand, When I had a really old dirty matress, I mentioned it in the ad on freecycle. I got two reactions: one guy who wanted to know if any female young students had slept on it (I heard his breathing get deeper and deeper during the phone-conversation so I got off the phone as quick as I could) and another guy who needed a matress for tinkering with cars, so he could roll over car parts to get to the underside of them without them getting dented or damaged. He got my matress, and we were both happy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-we-do-with-this-bed/503813.md?page=1)