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!

 

[ultrarunner]

Wall to Wall was the Cat's meow was a phrase I often heard.

Not managing rentals there is a distinct dividing line...

I simply cannot rent a low income property with hardwood... and I cannot rent a higher end property with wall to wall... go figure.

At least the older homes have great hardwood to refinish...

I managed a nicer home in a higher end area that happened to have 10k of new carpet put in by the previous homeowners...

The 30 something tenants asked if they could remove it from the Master Bedroom... I said OK but they need to store it...

They took it out in cut strips and never refinished the floor as they had promised having a uncle in the business... they also later complained the room was cold and noisy... just what the originals owners said after living with the hardwood for 25 years before putting in the premium carpet...

 

[goeduck]

Wall to Wall was the Cat's meow was a phrase I often heard.

Not managing rentals there is a distinct dividing line...

I simply cannot rent a low income property with hardwood... and I cannot rent a higher end property with wall to wall... go figure.

At least the older homes have great hardwood to refinish...

I managed a nicer home in a higher end area that happened to have 10k of new carpet put in by the previous homeowners...

The 30 something tenants asked if they could remove it from the Master Bedroom... I said OK but they need to store it...

They took it out in cut strips and never refinished the floor as they had promised having a uncle in the business... they also later complained the room was cold and noisy... just what the originals owners said after living with the hardwood for 25 years before putting in the premium carpet...

I do not understand anyone that does not like hardwood floors. Maybe that is just me and I am okay with that. My previous house had beautiful floors and moving to my current house we had 2000sq ft of new carpet pulled up (not in strips,, but whole room) and given free to Habitat for Humanity. We put down solid mahogany and cherry flooring. See pictures old house, then new house. Could not duplicate the old floors we loved, but still like the new floors. New floors in this pic not quite done.

 

[4570Man]

I’ve got hickory hardwood throughout my house except for the bathrooms which are tile. How much cleaner it is enough for me.

 

[Paddy]

It's one thing that its often lower cost to replace vs. repair, but when they make the item non serviceable intentionally it makes me mad. For example; I had/have a Craftsmen belt sander that had a loud bearing needing replaced. When I disassembled it, I saw the bearing was not intended to be removed. They had crimped the arbor creating a stop. I was not to be detoured, used a dremal and ground down the hump so I could slide off the bearing. A $3.00 bearing later, center punch to make my own "hump", back up and running.

I must have spent 2+ hours out of principle! I should note, I don't use belt sanders much and didn't want to spend $100

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Love the hardwood. I have carpet in my house, except rooms i finished over my garage, i put down the fake wood.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

And i ordered a new treadmill yesterday, because old one has a bad circuit board that cant be replaced. What a waste.

 

[Oaktree]

My town slowed up on recycling after they had trouble getting someone to pick up the accumulated plastic. Cardboard they still like. Not interested in cans anymore. Glass is ok because they use a sledge to break the bottles in the steel barrels

Yeah. Other than type 1 & 2 (and for some reason not all type 1) there is apparently no demand for other types of plastic. From what the attendant told me at our transfer station, the only type 1 that's acceptable are bottles and jars, no deli containers, or other packaging even though it says type 1 on it. He didn't know why.
Cans are still acceptable here, as is cardboard, newspaper and "mixed paper", he didn't know how much longer mixed paper would still be taken.

Part of the problem is well-meaning but clueless government officials enact mandatory recycling laws without making sure there's a market for any of this stuff leaving individual towns as well as trash haulers holding the bag.

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.

Not a good excuse IMHO. All that furniture, etc. in those dorm rooms came from somewhere at the beginning of the school year.

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?

Certainly the over-packaging is a big contributor to this. Does everything need to come sealed in a plastic shell that you need a chain saw to open?

 

[flyerdan]

And i ordered a new treadmill yesterday, because old one has a bad circuit board that cant be replaced. What a waste.

Too bad you couldn't wait for about a month and a half, could probably pick up at least one on a neighborhood cruise on trash morning.

 

[teejk]

Part of the problem is well-meaning but clueless government officials enact mandatory recycling laws without making sure there's a market for any of this stuff leaving individual towns as well as trash haulers holding the bag.

Certainly the over-packaging is a big contributor to this. Does everything need to come sealed in a plastic shell that you need a chain saw to open?

As to your first part, granted they are clueless but figure the stuff was destined to a landfill before their efforts so if part of what they can't use ends up there anyway I think the result's the same (other than a little more work on the part of the user which might be a good thing...raise awareness?). As for the last part, never thought about the chainsaw. As it is I keep band-aids handy anytime I have to open many things today. Sadly that might be more about theft/tampering deterrence than anything.

 

[ultrarunner]

I do not understand anyone that does not like hardwood floors. Maybe that is just me and I am okay with that. My previous house had beautiful floors and moving to my current house we had 2000sq ft of new carpet pulled up (not in strips,, but whole room) and given free to Habitat for Humanity. We put down solid mahogany and cherry flooring. See pictures old house, then new house. Could not duplicate the old floors we loved, but still like the new floors. New floors in this pic not quite done.
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As a property manager I have to provide what the market demands or suffer the consequences...

Home owners have a much different taste than renters... only said as a generalization in my market...

I can also demonstrate if anyone is interested?

I took over the management of a 1930's 4-plex about 20 years ago... the units had just been redone and the original 1930's "Matchstick" hardwood with accent inlay really looked sharp...

First problem I had was 9 out of 10 renters simply wanted no part of hardwood... almost all said they would be interested if I would carpet... not something the owner was going to do... the living rooms also had mini-blinds which were very popular at the time.

Eventually get the upstairs rented just as the bottom units were ready to rent. I rent one of the bottom units and the first day the tenant is very unhappy... saying they are moving because the noise is unbearable...

I drive over and listen... overhead has two toddlers in the two bedroom unit... and it was one crash/noise after another... the kids had blocks and other normal toys... I swear it was bad... not only load but the crashes were jarring from the downstairs apartment vantage.

To make a long story short... I went with quality wall to wall over premium commercial pad and full length floor to ceiling drapes upstairs... the difference it made was dramatic... could no longer hear anything downstairs... the sound transmission was effectively cut to zero through by the carpet and drapes... and the upstairs tenants thanked me too...

I could keep the gorgeous hardwood and battle noise issues and turnovers or mitigate the most efficient way I could and that was wall to wall carpet.

No one would have stayed had I not taken action... years later I met someone that had lived in the building... she said it was awful until the Landlord put in carpet in the upstairs units...