Tonight on GeekNights, we consider how to get rid of stuff (as opposed to buying stuff). In the news, the news is dire and it feels like a lot of things are on a precipice of disaster. But at least we're getting rid of our stuff.
Things of the Day
Episode Links
Funny you mention Stephen Paul Taylor as he’s a friend of mine here in Berlin, and performed that song in my living room show.
Do you not have Savers around where you live? Sure the stuff you donate isn’t sufficiently aiding charity, but you’re at least ensuring it doesn’t end up as straight trash. The biggest issue with them I’ve found is they don’t take holiday items, but so far my wife has had amazing luck posting it on Facebook groups or Freecycle.
We do not have savers, but we have other thrift shop sort of things.
The problem is that even if you have one of these places you have to
a) Move your stuff there. Huge pain in the ass.
b) Hope they will accept the shit you want to get rid of. They often have all kinds of limits and rules.
The stuff you are getting rid of is invariably, the stuff nobody will accept.
Also, I said, Facebook Marketplace is actually legit.
Growing up in MA, I saw a handful of these donation boxes pop up near my family home. Only now am I learning they are owned by some multi-million dollar Danish political cult involved in transnational financial fraud.
Yes, that is the cult one. The thing is, when I researched any of the other bins, they all seemed to have something shady going on. The least shady one I found was a for-profit company that openly let you know it was going to make money from the stuff. None of the ones I found were charitable donations unless you went to the actual place. Like Goodwill has bins, but only AT the Goodwill, not at the gas station.
TL;DR: Don’t put anything in a free-standing bin that’s just lying around town.
If you’re still looking out for any errors, this episode wouldn’t download in iTunes for me (Windows 10). I could still listen to it through iTunes without downloading it, but I wasn’t able to add it to my iPod.
I am still looking out for errors, but this episode downloaded and played just fine for me on several platforms, including podcast app on iPhone. This might be a you problem.