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Thread: Great way to declutter/donate

  1. #1
    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    Great way to declutter/donate

    I thought this was "fake news" when I read about it, but it seems to be true, and is really really handy for those of us who live in the middle of nowhere and rely on Amazon Prime and other by-mail suppliers:

    http://givebackbox.com/


    Way it works is simple: You receive your shipment of whatever you ordered. Save the box. Put stuff that Goodwill takes into the box. Print out a shipping label from the URL above. Slap it on the box. Send the box - off to Goodwill it goes, they process it, you even get a tax receipt.

    Doesn't even have to be any special vendor's box!

    It's sure a lot easier to declutter one wee cardboard shipping box at a time, it's basically no effort, and it recycles the box too :-)

    http://givebackbox.com/works

  2. #2
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    Thanks, bae, how cool, and I will give it a shot. Tired of those empty boxes, too, so this will force me to declutter at the same time.

  3. #3
    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    I've sent out a dozen so far, it's kind of fun - no longer do I have to wait until there's enough to fill up a truck/carload to make it worth our while to take the materials somewhere useful.

  4. #4
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    I just recycled a load of boxes, darn. This is a great idea.

  5. #5
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    I'm having a really hard time understanding how this can work - I just mailed my parents some Christmas gifts. The retail value of the gift was under $25, but they were heavy, so I used a flatrate box and paid about $13 shipping. If I send the same box to goodwill, they would sell the items for at MOST $6. They have to pay someone to unpack the box and send a reciept? They have to pay someone to price and shelve the items.

    even if they paid vastly less shipping (so I am now underwriting shipping costs for goodwill when I use the post office?) they are still likely to lose money on the transaction.

    And it seems like people would be more likely to donate low value/worthless items if they could just stuff them in a box and send them away at no cost to themselves and not have to look an attendant in the face when they did it.

    also, does goodwill recycle cardboard boxes?

  6. #6
    Senior Member Simplemind's Avatar
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    I love this! Thank you BAE.

  7. #7
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    I have heard about this, seems great! I live in a city so I can drop off things every week without going out of my way. But in a more rural area or if you had a hard time getting out I would think things go in the landfill when it is too inconvenient to make a goodwill run.

    My son's girlfriend was working for a company that got bulk items from goodwill and then pulled out all the really nice clothing and sold it on ebay. The company went under but they sold her everything she needed super cheap so now she does this from our apartment. She has a good eye and I am good at mending and ironing.

  8. #8
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    CL: I agree with you about GW will end up losing $ on the deal. I live in a city so will still just take my donations but for rural areas it will be helpful.

  9. #9
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Teacher Terry View Post
    CL: I agree with you about GW will end up losing $ on the deal. I live in a city so will still just take my donations but for rural areas it will be helpful.
    Agreed, I cant see hw GW will make money on this. People donate the crappiest crap to GW along with good things and mediocre things, assuming they are paying postage.

    That reminds me, then"Scholar Shops" are closing here in St. louis. They sold donated clothing, jewelry, personal items. Due to a variety of market factors they are no longer making a profit even though their objects cost them nothing and some of their labor is volunteer. Overhead is a real cost.

    Scholarshop items were the creme de la creme of goodwill items. I bought some th Ngs there and prices were 2x to 3x that of GW, but still inexpensive.

  10. #10
    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    Bump - this has been working wonderfully, allowing a slow-but-steady decluttering of the house.

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