

The Get-Rid-Of-Crap-Every-Month Club - akristofcak
https://medium.com/p/2a7de6627c07

======
Lewisham
I do this all the time with Amazon's Trade-In Program. A couple of times a
year, I look at my book shelf and video games. If I haven't read/played them
within the last 6 months, and have no compelling reason to hold onto them for
the foreseeable 6 months, into the box they go.

Amazon then gives me a pre-paid shipping label.

I find the whole process enjoyable. "How much will Amazon give me for this?"
is an exciting game. Then things go in the box, and you can visibly see the
consumer weight you're lifting off your shoulders. Then you get to see the
fruits of your labors with a newly empty bookshelf.

The money they give me for it is only a small part of the benefits I feel from
doing it. I _try_ to do the same with Goodwill donations of old clothes, but I
have to admit some laziness in actually getting down to the Goodwill (which is
essentially zero difference from driving the box to the UPS Store.
Procrastination is a weird and wonderful thing.)

~~~
mixedbit
Nice approach. I personally can't force myself to get rid of books that I've
read, which is not very rational, because I very rarely reread books. But
other stuff I try to get rid of, or not buy at all.

~~~
kryten
Never get rid of books. I got rid of a lot of mine and thoroughly regret it.
Why?

I now have children who want to read them.

~~~
tomkarlo
It doesn't make sense to stockpile books on the chance that your children
might one day want to read them when a used copy is generally a click away.
(Not to mention that you may prefer to re-buy them in digital form.) Every
square inch of space in your home has a carrying cost (I used to calculate $4
per net square foot per month in New York).

Having one less book shelf is effectively saving enough per year that you
could probably pay for buying back all the books you'd ever re-read on that
shelf. And if you ever move, the cost and annoyance of keeping books just
skyrockets.

I have a lot of books I love, but 90% of books are essentially disposable
vehicles for information of transient value.

~~~
smackay
I wouldn't under-estimate the value of this as an experience for kids. I
discovered a copy of "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" by Alan Sillitoe in a
pile of old books my parent had. It was like discovering a small nugget of
gold.

~~~
tomkarlo
My parents were a book household too. But back then, there was no Internet, no
e-books. The only place to wander onto a book was your shelf or the local
bookstore. Times change.

------
toasterlovin
This treats the symptoms, not the cause. The ultimate solution is buying less
shit and buying what you _do_ need local and used (usually on Craigslist). If
you do this, you get these great benefits:

1\. You prevent all the waste included in manufacturing new shit 2\. You can
usually sell it later for about what you paid for it 3\. Since you usually
have to shop quite a bit to find what you need, it eliminates the highly
addictive, instant gratification feedback loop that comes from buying online
or in a store and ultimately leads to less buying.

Mr. Money Mustache has a great post on getting started with the religion that
is Craigslist: [http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/08/11/get-rich-with-
crai...](http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/08/11/get-rich-with-craigslist/)

A couple of choice quotes:

"You can also use it as a free way to “store” your unused goods. I didn’t
hesitate to sell my papasan chairs today, because I know if I ever need them
back, I can open up Craigslist and find plenty more just like them at any
point in the future."

and

"So I view Craigslist not just as an Environment Saver – by preventing the
unnecessary manufacturing of a bunch of new stuff – but also a Community
Machine – connecting millions of people to do real activities together, as
opposed to the soul sucking model of big corporations stamping out stores
across the world, staffing them with minimum wage workers, connecting them to
a stream of wasteful products flowing straight from China, and having us all
drive into the big boxes every day to bring home SUV-loads of it which will
soon end up buried in a landfill."

~~~
colanderman
_The ultimate solution is buying less shit_

Unfortunately some of us have relatives who insist on gifting us shit,
regardless of how tactfully we try to ask them not to. I'd love to join a club
like this. (Right now Goodwill suffices, but there's definitely non-cheap
stuff we give away just because we don't have time to deal with it.)

~~~
toasterlovin
Craigslist the non-cheap stuff. It only takes a few minutes to post something
there (less time than going to Goodwill, probably), and you'll get some cash.

But yeah, the gifting culture drives me kind of bonkers too. I intend to
establish Gift Truces with as many people in my life as possible come January
1st of 2014 (since, mathematically, I should be even with most people at that
point). Or, if a person won't go for that, I'll ask them to donate to charity
in my name instead of give me a gift.

~~~
jack-r-abbit
But Craigslist can be a huge pain some times. It doesn't matter how low you
price something, 5 people will try to get it for half that. I've had people
arrange a time to come by & buy... and then never show up or respond again.
Some times people really suck. lol

~~~
salgernon
This came by a few weeks ago and it sounded like a brilliant idea.

[http://www.nobenjam.in/](http://www.nobenjam.in/)
[http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5849748](http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5849748)

I imagine it could self fund through ads - if someone is on a waiting list but
misses out, let them know with adword ads based on the product they failed to
get for free.

------
pavel_lishin
> _The cost of postage and the check along with all the processing costs are
> covered from the money generated from sales of valuable crap. Remember: one
> man’s crap is another man’s treasure._

And yet, Goodwill doesn't hand out $10 checks for every donation.

I suspect that the money earned from selling "another man's treasure" will
rapidly decline.

At first, you'll have the type of people we imagine other HN readers sending
things in - nice books, perhaps art, a few desktop toys and things like that.
But after a few months, you'll start receiving things that _I 'd_ send in -
desk lamps that are 99% functional, but don't quite bend in the angle that you
want. Paperbacks that have been dropped into a puddle one too many times. An
old thermos.

~~~
Dove
I used to work at a thrift store. The amount of value we could extract from
the average box of stuff dropped off to donate . . . was nowhere near $10. In
fact, a lot of it couldn't be sold at all -- it just got thrown away.

Broken toys, clothes with holes, dirty shoes, smoke-damaged, water-damaged,
and just plain damaged stuff. Ugly nick-nacks, beat up plastic cups, dated
books no one wants to read. We got so many tins and baskets! Everyone gets
them full of cookies or gifts, no one wants to throw them away, and no one
actually has a _use_ for them.

My co-worker and I did the master sorting -- sending stuff to different
departments or to the trash. I saw it all. Her summary? "People send us their
garbage!"

And that's the stuff that people could be bothered to drive to the store, look
a person in the eye, and drop off without too much embarrassment. _This was
stuff they genuinely thought was valuable._

A box you can fill with crap from your garage?

Well.

Paying $1 for that sight unseen is probably too much. $10 plus postage is . .
. endearingly naive.

~~~
akristofcak
This is really helpful perspective, thank you! (the author)

~~~
thaumaturgy
I still think your idea has merit. Thrift stores tend to attract a very
specific market, and that doesn't need to be your market. Thrift stores
operate by accepting "junk" from people and then trying to fob it off on to
other people.

As a counter-anecdote, there is a place in my area that buys used tools &
equipment from people and then sells them back. They're one of my favorite
places -- I'd much rather buy a used Milwaukee than a brand new cheapie -- and
they seem to do pretty good business. Lots of stuff coming and going all the
time.

You might bake in some kind of tracking & rating system if you're concerned
about resale value. If a particular user sends in too many boxes of stuff you
can't get $15+ for, reduce their payment accordingly.

~~~
pavel_lishin
> _Thrift stores tend to attract a very specific market, and that doesn 't
> need to be your market._

This is part of the reason I started off my comment by imagining what an
idealized HN reader would donate. That's the kind of person you want to
attract. But I genuinely wonder if there are enough of those people - the fact
that you're paying them a pittance turns a gift of generosity (e.g., donating
to a cancer charity) into a job.

------
amoore
Finally, a way to get rid of my old, hazardous, household chemicals and get
paid at the same time!

~~~
akristofcak
Haha, no one said it would be risk-free :))

------
lancewiggs
71 comments as I read this, and no mention of eBay. That says to me that eBay
itself is broken, as time was that the only logical answer was to sell this
sort of thing there. In New Zealand we have Trade Me, which is much larger
than eBay in population adjusted terms. They didn't court the larger sellers,
but instead maintained focus on helping people sell to people. They are also,
in my mind, not making it easy enough to list and sell ones goods. The bar has
raised.

~~~
tharax
Trade Me has been gamed though, by importers and people using it as a virtual
store for selling or trading their niche. I'm not sure what the answer is, but
a way to filter out the high-volume sellers would be nice.

------
_fs
Can we have a get-rid-of-medium-link-bait club?

~~~
sp332
What's wrong with medium vs any other blogging platform?

~~~
fallse7en
I'm wondering the same thing. I mostly enjoy articles from Medium, except that
they seem to frequently present foreign-language articles that I can't read.

------
rythie
I think to make this stick you need to stop net accumulating stuff, for
example:

\- Have a one-in-one out policy on gadgets, clothes, toys, games etc.

\- Don't buy DVD/BluRays (only rent or stream), CDs (Spotify/iTunes) or Books
(Kindle) etc. (or use one in one out)

\- Go paperless with your bills

~~~
akristofcak
one-in-one-out is a good one; we already implemented this in our household.
still a lot of unimportant stuff hanging around getting moved from one
apartment to the next... ;)

------
tijs
Would it not save everybody time and money if you simply drive to the thrift
store every month. A recurring calender reminder will do... They do have
thrift stores in the US as far as i know right?

------
brightsize
Another getting-rid-of-shit option:
[http://www.freecycle.org/](http://www.freecycle.org/) Of course, it's also a
getting-new-shit-for-free source which may be irresistible for some people.

~~~
drharris
> Of course, it's also a getting-new-shit-for-free source which may be
> irresistible for some people

I unsubscribed for this reason after I just couldn't pass up 60 free mason
quart jars. Right before we moved. Want to know how many lacerations I got
from cleaning them? But, I did sell them for $30 on craigslist when it was all
said and done, so there's that.

------
ddedden
I think that this is a great idea and it kind of reminds me of
[http://usesold.com/](http://usesold.com/) with an expanded scope. I'm
constantly packing up things into bags for AMVETS, but having a box sent to me
that automatically gets picked up would be awesome.

------
stephengillie
I use Goodwill for this. I take things there when I don't need them anymore,
and I go there looking for things I do need. Sometimes it feels like I'm just
renting from them, when I donate something there, buy it later, then donate it
again when I no longer need it.

------
weinzierl
I doubt the money generated from sales of _valuable crap_ will cover the cost
of your expenses.

The problem is that there is no such thing as "valuable crap". But let's
assume people won't send you crap but only boxes they consider themselves
worth more than $10. You will have a hard time find a buyer that pays $10 . In
reality it's more like "one man’s treasure is every one else's crap"

The scientific explanation is _Endowment effect_.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endowment_effect](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endowment_effect)

------
nmullaney
<shameless_plug> I actually just built an iPhone app to help people get rid of
stuff they don't need called Give or Take:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/give-or-take-bay-
area/id6517...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/give-or-take-bay-
area/id651730017?ls=1&mt=8). Everything on it is free, so you won't make any
money off it. But sometimes giving stuff away can be faster and less
stressful. </shameless_plug>

~~~
salgernon
There's a similar app called "myfreestuff" that automates posting to freecycle
mailing lists. Freecycle can be a pain due to latencies and no-shows. Liking
forward to trying this one out.

[edit] oops, it requires a facebook login. As a Facebook Luddite, I'll have to
ask my wife to check it out for me.

------
jsvaughan
If you want to get rid of stuff, for practically zero effort (ok, yes, without
the $10) then stick it on
[http://www.freelywheely.com](http://www.freelywheely.com), my site.

Everything that gets posted gets more than a handful of people requesting it.
Someone will come to get it, when it suits you, and take it away.

You get the warm fuzzy feeling of making someone else happy, and you also get
the things out from under your feet.

~~~
akristofcak
Have to check this out - thank you!

------
jasallen
I think its a nice idea, the core problem is what others have identified:
people will send crap.

What about charging people $120 / year to sign up? and then they get their $10
/month back. No one will make money, but if you're motivated by helping out,
and by relieving yourself of crap, it still could be worthwhile. And there's
still tax write-offs (if it's made as a charitable org).

~~~
akristofcak
Interesting twist to the idea!

------
tenpoundhammer
My problem is trying to cull the wheat from the chaff. I have so much crap and
so many things mixed in with it that I don't have time to make sure I'm not
throwing out my children’s baby pictures with my junk.

But this could definitely solve part of the problem, and provide some well
needed motivation.

~~~
toasterlovin
You will feel so much better if you get junk and useless shit out of your
life. Its a huge life improvement that requires no expenditure of money and
may actually net you some.

------
tkt
I really like this idea. I agree there's a big activation energy to getting
rid of stuff. Often I have things that are for specific tasks or activities,
where it wouldn't make sense to donate them to Goodwill. Having something like
this would help, because you would know it would get used, but you don't have
to figure out where to send it. At the receiving point, you could even
coordinate with different charities - like the ones that want eyeglasses or
old cell phones. So, some could get sold and some could get donated.

I didn't know about the Amazon trade-in program. That sounds great for books
and games.

------
shva
Or you could just walk over to your local thrift store every month and give
them your shit. Or used book store. Or used clothing store. Or record store.
Or...

It's really not that hard.

~~~
avalaunch
It's surprisingly hard considering the low benefit derived. First you have to
find or buy a suitable box, which might need to be taped up. Then you have to
decide what stuff is actually useless. And if you want to get the most out of
your potential tax deduction, you also need to itemize everything you're
giving away. Then you have to find the local thrift store. I have no idea
where mine is. Then you have to find the time to either walk or drive there.
For me, that'd be at least a half hour round trip. With a full time job, a
baby, and a rapidly shrinking social life (did I mention I have a baby?), it
hardly seems worth it to trade my time for such a small gain.

~~~
shva
It's times like this that I forget how lucky I am to live downtown in a major
city. Within 15 minutes walking distance from my house, I have at least 4 used
book stores, 2 record stores 1 vintage/thrift store, and another 2 vintage
clothing stores, all of which accept trade ins for cash or merchandise. If
none of those places give me moneys for my useless crap, then I can just leave
stuff on my sidewalk and it'll be gone in less than a day.

WHEREAS, if I lived in a suburban area, which I assume you probably do,
finding anyplace this would be substantially harder to achieve, and ideas like
the OPs/amazons, would actually be pretty awesome.

~~~
avalaunch
You're right that it's harder to get to places where I live but the OP's idea
is still not great for me because I have so much extra space that it doesn't
bother me having a bunch of extra crap. I can just toss it in the basement
storage area and forget about it.

That being said, suburban problems are an often ignored market in the startup
world, presumably because the major tech hubs are in large cities. How many
startups focus on homeowners, for example? I would love a company that made
taking care of my home effortless. It's so much more of an ongoing challenge
than I had originally anticipated. Even if you decide to hire others to take
care of the lawn, the repairs, and the general upkeep, it's a giant pain in
the ass. You have to research, schedule, research again when the first
handyman flakes on you, schedule, reschedule, reschedule again, negotiate,
watch over them to make sure they do a good job, answer all their questions
(especially true for landscaping), stand up for yourself when they try to rip
you off, research some more and schedule someone else to finish what the first
handyman started but failed to finish, negotiate again, watch over the new
handyman, and hope you know enough to make sure they did what was promised.

I want a company that I pay a monthly fee to and everything is just taken care
of. No scheduling. No negotiation. No questions interrupting my work day. They
keep tally of what needs to be done and just do it. I'd pay 500/month for that
- maybe more. That's assuming they take care of maintenance and repairs. If
it's just maintenance, I'd pay 200/month.

------
bluetshirt
If only it was as simple to make a business out of a cockamamie idea as it is
to come up with the cockamamie idea in the first place.

~~~
akristofcak
A man can dream :)

------
aaronsnoswell
Didn't a group of MIT-ers just launch a product like this a few weeks ago? I
can't remember the name - they had an iOS app, and you get one of three
different sized boxes in the mail, then they sell your item for you, giving
you some of the profit. It was on HN a few weeks ago.

~~~
kuyan
Yep - Sold. [http://usesold.com/](http://usesold.com/)

------
jaggederest
The average value of a box of stuff is below the cost of shipping it
somewhere, unfortunately.

------
panzagl
I think this could work if you kept a focus on hobby-type items. I think most
of us with too many hobbies would be glad to send stuff if we thought it was
going to an appreciative audience, and you'd get stuff worth selling.

------
jasallen
Also, Am I the only one who now has Macklemore stuck in his head?

------
astangl
Better idea -- stop acquiring crap in the first place. Where did all this crap
come from, and was it crap when you acquired it, or did it morph into crap?

------
will_work4tears
I'd do it, not sure how many months I'd be able to do it, as I often get rid
of crap regularly.

------
fluxon
I am totally in, if I get $10, _and_ UPS or USPS picks up the packed box!

------
mjfl
reading this is kind of funny as I have a bed, sheets, 4 outfits, a towel,
toothpaste, toothbrush, detergent, and deodorant all in my apartment (just
moved out of parents home).

~~~
MattiasE
I experienced something similar a while ago as I was moving from Sweden to
Japan. I could only ship a few things. Once moved, while waiting for those few
shipped things to arrive, and living on yet fewer things in the meantime, I
realized how few things we really need and how many things just tie us down
and consume space. It's liberating to have just a few things.

