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Not surprising. I remember being an undergrad when my BA was ending. I was out-of-state, my nearest relative was several hours away, and I basically only had en

Not surprising. I remember being an undergrad when my BA was ending. I was out-of-state, my nearest relative was several hours away, and I basically only had enough space to pack up from my room whatever could fit in my car. I don't think I threw out much, but there were definitely some things that were resigned to the bin because I simply didn't have anywhere else to put them. For example, I'm pretty sure I threw out a cheap but perfectly functional blender (maybe in the $40 range). The reason being: what was I going to do with it? My parents had a blender; whoever I was staying with in the short-term had a blender; if I wanted to mail it back home I'd probably pay more in shipping costs than the cost of the blender; so what purpose was there to hang onto it? It was also a surprising PITA to get someone to take my gently-used mattress. Most places (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc) didn't want it, which I can understand. I know several of my roommates ended up just dumping theirs. I called around some churches and they finally put me in touch with a family that lived in a trailer park nearby who were happy to come and collect it. I let them survey pretty much everything else in my room that I hadn't already packed up at that point as well and take what they wanted--the bed frame, some lamps, etc.

UncleOxidant 1y ago
maybe the Uni could arrange with thrift stores to come in around the end of the Spring semester and collect used items they think they can sell to the incoming students in the fall?
- neilv 1y ago
  Some universities (or student groups) run stores or donation centers just to pass furniture from one class to the next.
bityard 1y ago
The reason you can't give away a mattress is bedbugs. If you know what to look for, a bedbug-ridden mattress can easily be avoided. And you can also buy protective breathable covers that keep the bedbugs either in or out. But most people don't know what to look for, or don't want the liability of being wrong.
- bcrosby95 1y ago
  We gave away our mattress to a non profit. They sent some people out to inspect it ahead of time. They said needed it ASAP for someone who was moving away from an abusive relationship - it was supposedly going directly from our house to the place she was being put up.
hn_throwaway_99 1y ago
> It was also a surprising PITA to get someone to take my gently-used mattress. Is it really that surprising? Places don't take a used mattress for the same reason they don't take used underwear - you may say it's "lightly used", but once it's out of the box, that guarantee is gone, and a used mattress is something that hardly anyone would be willing to buy. That is especially true since you can now buy a brand new mattress incredibly cheaply. I used to do a lot of volunteering at a thrift store, and it was really eye opening to see which things had residual value. Some examples: 1. Unless it was a desirable higher-end piece (think something like a known midcentury modern company), we usually hated getting furniture. It's big, bulky, and unless it's like a showpiece, most people go to Ikea to buy cheap furniture. 2. You can barely give away china these days. We would get beautiful, perfect condition full sets of china, mark it down to like $30 for an entire 12-place set, and it would just sit there. 3. Most fast fashion is worthless (though I don't know, maybe the demise of Temu and Shein will change this). Nobody is going to pay even like $6 for a piece of clothing (which is essentially like the cost just to store/sort/sell stuff) when new it's like $10. 4. Electronics/small home appliances also depreciate especially quickly. Our biggest money makers were mid-to-high end clothes, jewelry and bags, quality shoes, and artwork/home decorations. It was also eye opening to see how many people donated plain garbage to assuage their guilt. Like I used the "people don't take used underwear" as an example, but yes, people would still donate it (which sucks - all that does is add to the costs of the charity you're donating to).
- creer 1y ago
  Thrift store pricing: It's disappointing. > You can barely give away china these days. [...] it would just sit there. Most times I look, it's overpriced. Very much so. Price lower. Obviously? > Most fast fashion is worthless [$6 for a piece that's new for $10] Well duh? Price lower? Obviously? Around here it feels like thrift stores have not noticed the revolution in pricing for online, delivered, made-in-china-but-not-only. What's happening? They seem desperate for the occasional buy by someone who doesn't know any better? Not cool. And a completely self-inflicted defeat. I see local stores receive floods of donations, have significant foot traffic - and priced to make soooo few sales. Do they really make more money by shipping most donations to other countries - that they can ignore the reality of online, mass market, fast fashion pricing? How come these other countries can pay more money still - to compensate for the shipping cost? What's going on? Are these stores a front for something else? Some other way to pay the lease and employees?

UncleOxidant 1y ago

maybe the Uni could arrange with thrift stores to come in around the end of the Spring semester and collect used items they think they can sell to the incoming students in the fall?

neilv 1y ago
Some universities (or student groups) run stores or donation centers just to pass furniture from one class to the next.

bityard 1y ago

The reason you can't give away a mattress is bedbugs. If you know what to look for, a bedbug-ridden mattress can easily be avoided. And you can also buy protective breathable covers that keep the bedbugs either in or out. But most people don't know what to look for, or don't want the liability of being wrong.

bcrosby95 1y ago
We gave away our mattress to a non profit. They sent some people out to inspect it ahead of time. They said needed it ASAP for someone who was moving away from an abusive relationship - it was supposedly going directly from our house to the place she was being put up.

hn_throwaway_99 1y ago

> It was also a surprising PITA to get someone to take my gently-used mattress. Is it really that surprising? Places don't take a used mattress for the same reason they don't take used underwear - you may say it's "lightly used", but once it's out of the box, that guarantee is gone, and a used mattress is something that hardly anyone would be willing to buy. That is especially true since you can now buy a brand new mattress incredibly cheaply. I used to do a lot of volunteering at a thrift store, and it was really eye opening to see which things had residual value. Some examples: 1. Unless it was a desirable higher-end piece (think something like a known midcentury modern company), we usually hated getting furniture. It's big, bulky, and unless it's like a showpiece, most people go to Ikea to buy cheap furniture. 2. You can barely give away china these days. We would get beautiful, perfect condition full sets of china, mark it down to like $30 for an entire 12-place set, and it would just sit there. 3. Most fast fashion is worthless (though I don't know, maybe the demise of Temu and Shein will change this). Nobody is going to pay even like $6 for a piece of clothing (which is essentially like the cost just to store/sort/sell stuff) when new it's like $10. 4. Electronics/small home appliances also depreciate especially quickly. Our biggest money makers were mid-to-high end clothes, jewelry and bags, quality shoes, and artwork/home decorations. It was also eye opening to see how many people donated plain garbage to assuage their guilt. Like I used the "people don't take used underwear" as an example, but yes, people would still donate it (which sucks - all that does is add to the costs of the charity you're donating to).

creer 1y ago
Thrift store pricing: It's disappointing. > You can barely give away china these days. [...] it would just sit there. Most times I look, it's overpriced. Very much so. Price lower. Obviously? > Most fast fashion is worthless [$6 for a piece that's new for $10] Well duh? Price lower? Obviously? Around here it feels like thrift stores have not noticed the revolution in pricing for online, delivered, made-in-china-but-not-only. What's happening? They seem desperate for the occasional buy by someone who doesn't know any better? Not cool. And a completely self-inflicted defeat. I see local stores receive floods of donations, have significant foot traffic - and priced to make soooo few sales. Do they really make more money by shipping most donations to other countries - that they can ignore the reality of online, mass market, fast fashion pricing? How come these other countries can pay more money still - to compensate for the shipping cost? What's going on? Are these stores a front for something else? Some other way to pay the lease and employees?