Ever pick through someone's weekly trash?

[4570Man]

The “recycling center” is about 1/2 a mile from work. I usually go every other day. Paying the trash man isn’t for me.

 

[Paddy]

Everybody has their reasons for throwing out good junk. Like moving or clearing a home that an elderly person is moving to a assisted living center. The kids come in from out of town and they can't take it or want it. We live in a university town and every May, the streets are lined with dorm frigs and furniture.

My wife volunteers at Restore where good junk is sold to raise $$ for Habitat for Humanity. They have free pick up, but many people just throw it out

Our county trash/recycle center has a "give-away barn".

 

[teejk]

Very astute posting. Even with people recycling items the items will still eventually hit the trash dumpster after the second or third go around. This is due in part to our society痴 excessive consumption. We are very materialistic. New this, new that. Do we really need all that we acquire as a society? Would our capitalism prosper if not? People need to spend money for the economy to move goods and services. My goal is to sit back and watch those that consume and drive the economy while using and paying for only what I need.

Part of the problem is that many goods are designed to not last long and the cost to repair exceeds the cost of new. I'll cite 3 of my biggest pet peeves...appliances (the days of the 30 year old Maytag are over), power tools (need a new battery for a cordless tool then look a few feet away and see a new tool with TWO batteries, a charger AND the tool for a few dollars more. The final one is new to me...my home boiler system is 7 years old. Six zones using Honeywell relays that I am told are good for about 7 years ($60/each).

 

[ultrarunner]

Speed Queen still offers a quality commercial style washer but it is about $800+

Often it is not the parts but the service call that determines the repair or not repair...

Had a bad TV... the part was less than $2...

Mom's old Kenmore Dryer circa 1960's stopped working, her friends said time for a new one... all it needed was a new belt for under $5 to be up and running... but a $200 service call might have dictated a different outcome.... same with the Amana Refrigerator... $22 Defrost Timer... after 30 years.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Some of the electronic stuff I have only goes into service five years old. You call for tech support and they can't believe you STILL have that! Of course they don't support it anymore. I can almost see the Girls eyes going up into her head when she says that.

Or the company has been sold or merged three times since you bought that product, and they are "Moving Forward" which usually means you're SOL!

 

[teejk]

Speed Queen still offers a quality commercial style washer but it is about $800+

Often it is not the parts but the service call that determines the repair or not repair...

Had a bad TV... the part was less than $2...

Mom's old Kenmore Dryer circa 1960's stopped working, her friends said time for a new one... all it needed was a new belt for under $5 to be up and running... but a $200 service call might have dictated a different outcome.... same with the Amana Refrigerator... $22 Defrost Timer... after 30 years.

So many of us are handy enough to fix stuff but we often have to rely on the internet to get parts where the shipping and handling will often exceed the cost of the part. I know a professional appliance guy that tells me that 10 years is about normal (less if SWMBO decides to re-do the kitchen after watching something on TV). Looking back I recall an old International Harvester (all the auto makers seem to have made appliances also) chest freezer that sat in our garage for almost 50 years. And btw...power tool replacement parts are obscene.

 

[Industrial Toys]

My Dad still has 60 year old GE fridge in his kitchen. Had to be converted from 25 cycles many moons ago.

Just the fact that the interior plastic has not cracked, back with 50s technology gives you some idea of the utter (intentional) crap they are manufacturing today.

 

[ultrarunner]

Some of the electronic stuff I have only goes into service five years old. You call for tech support and they can't believe you STILL have that! Of course they don't support it anymore. I can almost see the Girls eyes going up into her head when she says that.

Or the company has been sold or merged three times since you bought that product, and they are "Moving Forward" which usually means you're SOL!

Don't you just love getting those "End of Life" notifications?

 

[ultrarunner]

I managed a floor covering business for a while when the owner was battling brain cancer...

During that time I attended a trade show and it was interesting for me to learn just how much Americans buy because they simply want something different... often without regard to need in that the market is driven by desire.

I had never thought of it that way... if I needed to buy an appliance, car, etc it meant whatever we had no longer functioned or functioned the way I needed.

I scored a lot of perfectly good Washer/Dryer pairs for the rentals simply by offering to haul away as the home owners were buying Neptune Front Loaders... and similar.

Can't tell how many have said it sounded like a good idea at the time with more than a few feeling suckered...

To this day... not a one of the freebees has broke down... some are in property sold but I had zero issues with any of them.. and most were simply white in color... the universal color.

Asked Mom if she wanted to upgrade from Avocado and she said no... your father and I saved for a long time to buy and as long as they work they were not going anywhere.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I thought the best thing that ever happened in my life was when those rugs and runners over your hard wood floors were replaced by wall to wall carpet. Now that is not in vogue anymore and people live in places that have the creature comforts of a gym, if you ask me. But, I guess it matches the hard ugly plastic interiors of their $70,000 vehicles!