Originally Posted by
wrk101
As far as tossing the bike, I have a lot of neighbors like that. They are too lazy to even take decent stuff to the nearby thrift store (1 mile away). Come garbage pickup day, I regularly pick up items, take them straight to the local GW. My neighbors need to be taken to the local landfill. The recycle-able stuff in that landfill, along with the terrible smell, might just make them think twice about curbing good, reusable stuff. They talk about being green, then turn around and curb just about anything.
+5 Definitely the case in NJ. Yet the crap they try to sell at a garage sale is exactly that, crap. Who the hell wants vintage Xmas crap in July, used X Box/Playstation controls, a vcr player, vcr tapes, tschotskes from the 60's and 70's, used Hampton Bay ceiling fans, obsolete baby cribs and carseats, mini stereo stacks, handicap toilet seats, cordless house phones from the 80's, and homeowner grade power tools?
The best items I've picked up on trash day in NJ have included a Kennedy tool box, a Schwinn Traveler road bike, a wooden kiddie train set (might fetch $75 on fleabay), Rubbermaid wire shelving, large three way stereo speakers.
In Ann Arbor, for the most part, except for students, everything gets recycled. The local Salvation Army is like a Wallyworld. At the local recycler, the best purchase I made was a hinged mid-century Lane Boomerang table for $15 ($600 on ebay) and a Puch road bike. At the Habitat Restore I scored a brand new Thermador SS wok, 30,000 BTU for $300, $2400 at retail.
What students used to throw out prior to move out is legendary. But with the poor economy, a lot of it now ends up on craigslist.