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Are there any good options for shedding books, clothes, and other goods that one doesn't need anymore before or after a move in NYC? I am about to move and have a lot of books, clothes, CD's, and other items that I'd like to sell or donate. The problem with the Salvation Army in NYC is that it doesn't pick up, and transporting boxes of heavy goods to their office is difficult. I know of Craigslist, but are there other options?
We actually have had Salvation Army pick up items we wanted to donate when we lived in Astoria. To arrange a pick up of donations, call 1-800-95TRUCK. One thing to keep in mind, however, is there is really no guarantee with them. When we lived in East Flatbush, they didn't have a driver anymore for that area so we were stuck. If you have time, you can try to spread it out over a few weekends of making trips to the donation centers. Or rent a car for a day. Perhaps you can attend to other errands at the same time, or find other people in your same situation that would be willing to chip in to cover rental costs.
Other options are to have a sidewalk sale and coordinate with your neighbors who are also looking to shed some unwanted things. You can try a swapping party, where people can bring their unwanted stuff and it can be traded amongst the party-goers. At the end, you'll have lots of able bodies to help transport the rest to a donation site. We have never tried out Freecycle, but it looks like a great way to hook up unwanted goods with new owners.
The NYCWastele$$ web site gives a listing of other opportunities for making donations in the city.
Any other creative solutions to shedding bulk in NYC?
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Look into making donations of books to hospitals. They find much more use there than they would at a bigotted and homophobic religious institution.
http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2005/09/06/where_can_i_donate_clothes.php
I live on the Upper West side and i put clothers and other donation items next to my garbage cans out front of the building. Within hours the items are gone, picked up and used by the homeless. I call it cutting out the middle man. Donating directly to those in need.
I think people know that good stuff gets thrown away on the UWS so the needy are constantly patroling the neighborhood.
I have had bad luck with Salvation Army as well...
Materials For The Arts is a wonderful place to donate home and office goods (furniture, appliances, etc). They have a huge warehouse in LIC where 3,500 of the city's arts groups (and groups that have arts programs like NYC public schools & senior centers). The items are used from everything as props, to make art, and in the offices of these organizations.
I've volunteered there and they are a wonderful organization that helps a lot of people. They have a website: http://www.mfta.org
They don't accept clothes or shoes, but they do accept:
Furniture
Office Supplies
Home Appliances
CDs
Books
Chairs, especially office chairs
Computers (no more than 4 years old)
Computer related items like scanners, printers, and fax machines
Household items like irons, dishes, silverware, vases, and lamps
Frames
Office supplies
Paper, and posterboard
Projectors and screens
Video equipment
Wallpaper and home decorating supplies
Miscellaneous - ladders, telephones, answering machines, etc.
If you have other stuff they won't accept, click on over to this list: http://members.mfta.org/donor_resources/
It's a list of a bunch of other organizations that accept donations of various things.
"If you are able to drop your donation off at our conveniently located Long Island City facility, you can do so on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There are certain items that we do not accept so please call in advance to discuss your donation with our staff – 718.729.3001 ext. 207."
I'm pretty sure they also do pickups if you have a good amount of stuff. Just call 'em.
You can also get rid of your stuff via freecycle (google it). You can also join bookcrossing.com and release your books in public spots and track them, which is fun. Or, try selling them at Strand, Alabaster Bookshop, or 7th Avenue Books in Park Slope.
Look into media trading at www.zunafish.com. Trade your once-read books for other people's once-read books.
Freecycle works great--especially for items that are actually worth something like gently-worn clothes or furniture. For books & CDs, make a visit to the Strand &/or Sounds with items still in good shape--you'll make a few bucks. For the rest, have a stoop sale.
seriously, throw it curbside. someone will always take it.
Another book swapping site like the one Chococat mentioned is Paperbackswap.com. It's free and one of the biggest (they have about 750,000 books available right now). I've swapped about 100 books on there and have had no problems.
You can also leave books at your local coffee shop. I always leave a bunch at the free bookshelf at Ozzy's on 5th in Park Slope.
I literally just today got a flyer in the mail about a city-run event on the 24th of this month - I don't have it with me right now and I can't remember the exact details, but they're accepting "gently used" clothes, and I would imagine the information is somewhere online.
I literally just today got a flyer in the mail about a city-run event on the 24th of this month - I don't have it with me right now and I can't remember the exact details, but they're accepting "gently used" clothes, and I would imagine the information is somewhere online.
How can you ignore Craigslist? I've used it many times to give things away that I no longer want/need - there's even a special section for it!
We used City Opera Thrift Shop when we moved and they were great: 212.684.5344. Just give them 3-5 business days to pick up your stuff.
I've had great luck with the UJA Federation of New York- very easy to schedule a pick-up. Call 212.836.1424 or e-mail thriftshop2@ujafedny.org.
http://www.ujafedny.org/site/PageServer?pagename=thriftshop
Just got a piece in the mail from the Dept. of Sanitation.This Sunday, at the North end of Union Square, they are accepting donations of gently used clothing and linens (towels, blankets, sheets, curtains). They'll give you a receipt (for taxes)--just ask. ALSO- unwanted or broken electronics; ONLY accepting the following: Computers (ALL), monitors, printers, scanners, mice, keyboards, TVs, cell phines. For these theyare not giving receipts. THe first 100 people get a $5 Best Buy gift card.
A friend of mine organizes a clothing swap once or twice a year - she invites all of her friends, who each bring a few bags of gently-used clothing and/or accessories to her apartment, along with a couple of empty bags for good finds. The clothes are sorted into categories and it's a polite free-for-all. Almost everyone goes home with something "new". Anything not taken gets donated to a nearby thrift shop (Housing Works, I believe?). It works out great.
My friend was talking about doing the same for books; I imagine it would work well.
Housing Works, definitely for books. They'll give you a receipt and everything. I recently got rid of all my VHS tapes at this place on 14th right on the NW corner of 6th Avenue, Entertainment somethingorother. They'll give you a quarter for each movie, and since I had so many I got about $8. Not bad.
I used to put everything on the street, nice things I just no longer wanted, then I got a $350 ticket form the sanitation department. Now I feel paranoid about putting anything out there that is not in a black garbage bag, and I feel really wasteful putting perfectly usable things in the trash like that, but I really have no time for picky donation centers.
When I moved a few months ago, I contacted Catholic Charities, who routed me to the St. Vincent de Paul Society. They do pickups in each borough, I think, but you need to give them a few weeks advance notice. At least it gives you a deadline by which you need everything boxed up or bagged. See their phone #s at http://www.catholiccharitiesny.org/directory_alpha.cfm?alphachar=s.