The stuff people throw out!

[Zonda_]

We have a Facebook page in town where people can advertise stuff they want rid of for free. A couple of days ago a guy put a brand new Mountfield electric lawnmower. He’d run over the cable. I asked for it, bought a cable connector from Amazon and now I have a brand new lawnmower for a fiver!

[DaveE]

It's mad isn't it

Picked up a really good (i.e. old) 'professional' black and decker workbench and a load of kids books that people were throwing away at a tip a while back

I mean, what kind of ignorant person just throws out a bunch of kids books rather than (say) dropping them into a charity shop so the charity and someone else can benefit from them?

[Beany]

Someone who doesn't, for a moment, think about charity shops.

[Zonda_]

Charity shops here are becoming very picky. I took a load of books cs and dvds after my dad passes and they said they didn’t take them!

[Rich B]

If you took the books, then you are a local person who has kids who are going to read them (and you are the sort of person to encourage your kids to read). what better community spirit is there than that? Not everything has to go via charity shops.

It’s a million times better than what a lot of people would do (chucking them out,) and there’s nothing to stop you taking them to the charity shop after your kids have enjoyed them.

[Rich B]

On the original topic, people are “time poor”, they have to choose between pretty fundamental choices because nowadays it takes (in general) 2 salaries to pay for a family home and lifestyle, so the time spent not at work is far less .

you’re then faced with the decision between spending your time doing stuff properly (listing stuff for sale, waiting in for people to collect/posting, timewasters, etc…) or spending time with your family (or taking turns to let the other half sleep if you have young kids).

It’s just not worth the hassle for smaller stuff - stick it out for free and let someone else enjoy the good deed.

[Gavster]

I agree with Rich, it’s way easier to list stuff for free and it’ll be gone within a few hours rather than travelling to a charity shop or attempting to sell

[Sundayjumper]

Similar here. We’ve given away quite a few things on the local Facebook “don’t dump it” page.

I’m not surprised nobody wants DVDs though !

[Rich B]

i don’t think i even have the ability to play dvds any more? i’d have to dig out an old xbox or something if i did.

[Gavster]

I actually know a guy who takes DVDs lol

[Rich B]

i always wondered what the business model of places like music magpie was.. is there really a market in CDs and DVDs still (in this country?) or is there some sort of deal with the copyrights that enable them to sell the info again or something?

[Sundayjumper]

I still buy CDs occasionally if it’s something I particularly like or can’t download.

@gavster - does he collect ?? I’ve got 100+ DVDs here that are going in the bin soon. Tidying up the dining room after the organ transplant.

[integrale_evo]

Same, I’ve bought a few classics on cd which I missed back in the day, or to replace copies.

Never sold to them, I assume they offer pennies.

[DeskJockey]

I've used Freecycle a few times for things that are too good to throw away but either not good enough for charity shops or that they don't want (e.g. chairs, moving boxes, etc.).

For the hassle of selling it online for a pittance, it is so much easier, and usually gone within a day.

[Jobbo]

I’ve bought more CDs in the last year than the whole previous decade. It’s all very well having everything available on a streaming service until suddenly it isn’t.