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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsTrying to get rid of an old TV set
Last edited Wed Jan 25, 2012, 07:22 PM - Edit history (1)
We got a new TV set - an LCD model. It was on sale. It weighs about thirty pounds. It required some assembly, but I was able to do that. I had no trouble setting it up.
Our old TV set weighs 200 pounds. I can't even lift one end of it. I called around, and nobody wanted it. I knew Good Will wouldn't touch it.
As a last resort, I tried the Salvation Army. They said they would take a look at it, but it was up to the truck driver to decide whether they would take it or not. I didn't think they would. They said the truck would arrive between 7AM and 5PM today. Oh great, a ten-hour window during which I had to be available.
I called them again this morning, and they said the truck would arrive between 8:30 and 11:30 AM. A three hour window. That would pretty much chew up the morning, but it was an improvement.
The truck arrived about 10AM. There were two guys on the truck. They looked dubious when they saw the TV set.
But then, Major Barbara smiled down on me. The Salvation Army guys took our old TV set! Hallefuckinglujah!
Duer 157099
(17,742 posts)Some people appreciate a working TV even if it is old school
Lionel Mandrake
(4,076 posts)Craigslist looks like a valuable resource for donors and sellers to find people who want whatever it is they have to offer.
Thanks for the tip.
pokerfan
(27,677 posts)Friend of mine picked one up for free.
hlthe2b
(102,379 posts)I was more than willing to give them away or junk them, though both were in working order and had been very top of the line tvs in their time. I found that no one would take them (Salvation Army, ARC, Goodwill, etc. and no pawn shop at all ) and my state and locale required you to pay to dispose at an approved landfill. Ignoring the fact I would have had to pay--to haul them out there and then $40-$60 for the right to dispose, this was pretty devastating.
Fortunately, these were in storage in a major university town and I found a couple of poor students that were happy to have a tv of any kind and they took them. So, craigslist (for free) might be your best option.
Lionel Mandrake
(4,076 posts)Either that, or someone up there likes me - which is unlikely since there's no-one up there.
UnrepentantLiberal
(11,700 posts)Poof. Gone by morning.
Response to UnrepentantLiberal (Reply #5)
Tesha This message was self-deleted by its author.
sinkingfeeling
(51,474 posts)A complete water bed, 3 or 4 broken TVs, a couple of vacuum cleaners, old stool, shelves, and end tables all have disappeared within hours. I think they end up at flea markets.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)It will be gone in an hour. Do NOT put "free" on the sign or people will think something's wrong with it and not steal it.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)She said to just put it out on the curb and someone would take it. Sure enough, about 30 minutes later two guys drove up in an old Honda. They put the couch on the roof of the car and didn't even bother to tie it down. They drove off with the two of them hanging their heads out the window to see. Funny as hell to watch.
Lydia Leftcoast
(48,217 posts)It's always gone by morning.
I've been known to do some "curb shopping" myself. I once snagged an office chair that way.
Thew
(162 posts)I had a similar problem a few months back and ended up finding a electronics recycler to come pick it up, as well as old computer parts, monitors etc... The computer stuff was free and a small fee for the giant tv
and I tipped the drivers (since they had to haul it down 3 flights)
Lionel Mandrake
(4,076 posts)if the Salvation Army had turned me down.
E-cycling is better than dumping a TV in a landfill, but it's even better to get the TV to someone who will use it.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)It's where I took my old CRT-type TV years ago (almost threw my back out getting it to my car!)
Alternately, there's also FreeCycle. It's amazing how many people there are out there that want your old, non-working junk!
Oh, one thing I learned a few years ago about organizations like Goodwill and the rest: they refuse to take metal desks. So, I've still got this old but solid workstation desk. And I'll probably keep it
Lionel Mandrake
(4,076 posts)The Salvation Army wasn't interested in a perfectly good two-drawer metal file cabinet. It's still in our garage, waiting for a home.
kentauros
(29,414 posts)Although I would think people would be more likely to be injured by wood furniture/equipment that's rotting and falling apart than the metal stuff.
Or, there's a glut of all things metal in office furniture.
Lionel Mandrake
(4,076 posts)Or maybe the charities don't want metal because wood is prettier.
Archae
(46,354 posts)I've never wanted one of those, I just don't have the room.
My TV before I got my 32" big-screen was a 20" CRT.
I still have it, it's in my bedroom as a spare.
Lionel Mandrake
(4,076 posts)I don't think there's much of a market for projection TV sets. The stores are filled with flat-panel (Plasma and LCD) TV's of all sizes.
The main problems I had in shopping for a new TV were:
1. The store would deliver the new TV, but they wouldn't take the old TV (because it weighed too much).
2. Most of the new TVs don't have the kind of audio output I can route to my stereo system. The new TVs have crappy little built-in speakers, and they have digital (optical) audio output, which only works with 5-channel "surround-sound" audio systems. What I needed, and finally got, was a TV with two RCA pin jacks labelled "audio out". Such sets are surprisingly hard to find.
I always thought monaural audio was just fine, and I resisted the pressure to buy stereo equipment as long as possible. I absolutely refuse to buy audio equipment with more than two channels.
Archae
(46,354 posts)My big-screen TV has really shitty speakers, makes everything sound hollow.
I have a DVD/speaker setup that the sound come through, and the TV's speakers are at zero.
I have two older computer speakers for my videogame sound.
So I have 7 speakers and a subwoofer.
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)Couldn't give it away. I have stuff piled on it in the garage.
Lionel Mandrake
(4,076 posts)was a big wooden console, with a beautiful finish. Underneath the picture tube was a pretty good speaker.
In those days, everything had vacuum tubes. The TV would keep the room warm. The sound was narrowband FM, which is no better than AM, so the fine speaker went to waste.
The next TV set they got went on top of the console. My dad was a professor, but he would watch the most godawful crap. I got to know all the advertising jingles and quite a few wrestlers. There were funny comics like Red Skelton and unfunny ones like Milton Berle.
There was also high drama, like the adventures of Joe McCarthy.
Ah, those were the days!
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Lionel Mandrake
(4,076 posts)the old and the new.
Rambis
(7,774 posts)The guy that helped me does triathalons and we could not carry this thing. We had to throw some straps on it and slide it down the stairs on planks of wood. It is gonna have to come out in pieces when it dies (years from now
Lionel Mandrake
(4,076 posts)One of the vacuum tubes may die, but it can be replaced. The picture tube will deteriorate, especially if it gets direct sunlight, but it probably won't die. Other problems are quite rare.