I’ve upgraded to flat screens and have 2-27" CRT televisions in my garage. I’m going to take them to the dump, but you would think that there is some poor family who would like to have them.
You would think wrong. I’ve called every charity in town, and the ones that do take them aren’t taking them anymore because their shelves are full of them. I remember paying $500 for these new.
Are they really so worthless that you can’t GIVE them away?
I thought Salvation Army would still take them. But why not just Freecycle or Craigslist Free them?
The charities may not want to deal with them, but I bet if you put them on craigslist for $10 or so each you will find someone willing to buy them. I sold a 18 year old, 13 inch set for $10 a couple months back. I needed to throw in a digital converter I no longer needed to sweeten the deal.
Last time I was in a Goodwill, they had shelves of 26"+ CRT televisions with prices like $5 and $9 on them. For five bucks, it doesn’t seem worth it to lug the thing across the store and put it on a shelf.
Around here, they’re so worthless that you have to PAY to get rid of them. Even the electronics recyclers want $5-$10 per set for a hazardous waste disposal fee.
Also, if they don’t have an ATSC tuner, they can’t receive digital signals, so the recipient would have to hook the TV up to cable, a VCR or a videogame.
Check with Habitat for Humanity. I just (Saturday) bought a 13" from thier store, here in TN. They had a limit one per customer on their TV’s, so they must be selling out. May be a regional difference, though.
put on craigslist for free. still used for playback devices. also those that use converter boxes to get digital tv use then when the tv set dies and the converter box still is good.
Knowlegeable arcade collectors can salvage the tubes (just the glass part) from the tv to match to an arcade chassis to fix a dead arcade machine, so it might be worth contacting a local group. But most of those guys check craigslist free section for them anyway. Yeah you will have a very hard time selling a tube but it shouldn’t be too difficult to give away.
Best Buy will take them - any screen under 32".
You will have to pay $10 apiece to have them recycled but they will hand you 2 $10 Best Buy gift cards on the spot.
You can recycle any other electronics there for free.
Here’s more info. You may find that your local Best Buy doesn’t run this program, I’m not sure how wide-spread it is. My pint-sized BB in my town does it, tho.
In my area there are electronics recycling events where you can get rid of CRT TVs for free. It may be your best bet if you can’t find a taker on craigslist.
+1
Was going to post same.
Best Buy details will vary by state, find your specific info.
We actually deal with a recycler thay pays us $0.15/pound for dead computers, monitors they do not pay for but they do take for no charge. They should be making a pickup tomorrow at our shop to pick up the 45 dead towers and about 40 dead laptops we have on hand.
You can try freecycle or put it on the curb with a sign ‘free’
But think about it, people are getting flat screens and that is just not a style issue, but the older sets have a lower quality of picture and also can’t tune in anything without a separate box. Also when one gets a flatscreen it’s pretty hard to go back to a CRT, so there is incentive to replace all your tv’s.
I don’t think there was anything like the pressure here to replace a well established technology, which results in a glut of still working but unwanted sets.
older set quality doesn’t always make a difference for picture quality. basic analog cable service will be mostly the same quality. people who used their tv set for analog over the air broadcast now get a better quality image using a digital converter box, with the old tv now being just a display. people will continue with that quality when they can replace the display for free or cheap. also many uses for a tv as a display device do no better than what the old crt sets will show.
Right. There are people for whom the choice of TVs is either a CRT for free/cheap or no TV at all. The 13-incher I mentioned above went to a woman’s mother in a nursing home. A year and a half ago I sold a 27-incher for $25 to a woman who didn’t appear like she had $200+ to spare for the equivalently-sized flat panel.
Rats. According to the linked web site, Best Buys in my state will take my old 24" CRT monitor, but there’s nothing about paying $10 and getting 2 $10 gift cards.
I listed my CRT TV free on Craigslist twice until I gave up. It really depends on the area. It’s often not worth the drive.
Thanks for the answers. I checked the Best Buy website in my area. Apparently, the state of WV has a law that prohibits any electronics from going to the landfill. But the same law also mandates that electronics resellers recycle them free of charge. So no charge, but no gift certificate.
I guess I’ll put them on the curb with “free” signs attached and if there are no takers, then off to Best Buy they go.
As an aside: It seems like a silly law. Most of WV is a long way from an electronics store. Since people are unable to take them to the dump, it seems like most of these old electronics will end up over a mountain/hillside slope somewhere…
ETA: I’m just surprised that there is ZERO demand for free ones. It seems like there are enough poor people in this state and in this economy that can’t afford a flat screen, but their old TV isn’t working. For them its a choice between a CRT and nothing, and my two that work perfectly will end up in the crusher…
while they may not go to the dump a local government body may still have collections where they get sent to recyclers, it might be limited to certain dates. it is cheaper for them to do that then have road crews pick up discards.