# --Downsizing--  donation pickup



## boliverchadsworth (May 14, 2020)

What charitable agencies will pick up all donations in one trip. curbside-Once Commerce returns --agencies reopen of course. 

Downsizing - clothes,  electronic accessories, shoes, household items. the usual accumulation and clutter-
I live in a medium-sized college town there are Goodwill and Salvation Army here but they won't pick up 
 Thank you, the trick is to wait till everything opens back up-
 Vietnam vet’s site says they'll do it but they're not open of course, and I don't know that there's is a local facility-
surely some folks on this forum have run into this and have a solution- no hurry thankfully.

 thank you for your help- no kissing- stay safe


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## C'est Moi (May 14, 2020)

You'll just need to call around to various charities; they all have different rules about stuff.   (I know that none of them will accept mattresses, for instance.)  In our area, GoodWill has stopped taking donations temporarily because they are inundated.  They never did pickups in any case.


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## Myquest55 (May 14, 2020)

NO ONE is taking donations right now.  I have stuff stacking up to donate too but it will have to wait.  I guess you will have to decide if it is worth storing or discarding altogether.


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## Geezerette (May 14, 2020)

Of course have to wait till things reopen again, but maybe in a college town, they might have some dept like student affairs or housing that might know of students needing household goods. Or maybe advertise for some students or others with a pickup truck, for a fee,  to come get it, keep what they could use and transport the rest to an agency. Vietnam vets might have some 
one answering their phone, or a useful recorded  message. And I think yard sales are still being discouraged or prohibited.


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## hollydolly (May 14, 2020)

Can you place them for free on Facebook Market place or similar?... Place the advert as a non contact collection only..  so you can leave the items in the garden or out front at a designated time for the person to come and collect


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## In The Sticks (May 14, 2020)

hollydolly said:


> Can you place them for free on Facebook Market place or similar?... Place the advert as a non contact collection only..  so you can leave the items in the garden or out front at a designated time for the person to come and collect


Yup.

Free Curbside Pickup.

Select a string of rain-free days, then collect what's remaining to deal with later.


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## CarolfromTX (May 14, 2020)

Lots of places won't take electronics, and I'd be loath to give someone an old computer for fear of what they could glean from it -- SSN, credit card info, stuff like that. Your best bet is to call around and ask, or maybe do-it-yourself and put it in a drobox, if those are still available. One of the charities here is picky about what they'll take. So I call and ask. The person on the phone says, "Yes, we'll take those." Then when I go to drop it off, the guys in the receiving line say, "Oh, we don't take those." Argh! I suspect that many of this particular charity's workers are doing community service as part of their parole.

You can also advertise them as FREE on Craigslist. I've come to learn people will take just about  anything if it's free. Curbside pickup.


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## Pinky (May 14, 2020)

When getting rid of an old computer, _always _remove the mother-board .. or at the very least, wipe the hard drive.


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## Keesha (May 14, 2020)

They aren’t collecting Goodwill donations in our are either so people are just using the bins as a garbage dump. Bags of things are being left there out in the rain; for pests to get at etc. I doubt it’s going to be useful for anyone which is a shame for those in need and for all those volunteers that need to deal with this but it’s at least a step above dumping it at the side of the road.


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## hollydolly (May 14, 2020)

I  know several people who work in Charity shops.. a very good friend is the manager of one, and she's informs me that there's doubt that they'll be able to take donations of clothing  for a long time  once they've opened again. They've not had any direction on it from their head office as of yet because they're epected to be some of the last places to be allowed to re-open. , but it's almost certain that they will be inundated with items once they do  re-open, most of which will have to be disposed of unopened , in case of  covid-19 contamination. 

They simply don't have the ability to clean items..apart from steam  pressing...  and certainly won't be able to clean childrens' toys or clothing. In fact _any_ clothing, so just a word to the wise, if you have a lot of very good items waiting to be donated to a charity just be aware that much of it , due to sheer volume of donations when they first open again..., their lack of space to store everything that's donated , lack of  volunteers, and the inability to ensure the items are not contaminated may mean your items will not be sold on behalf of the charity but end up in the skip (Dumpster)


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## StarSong (May 15, 2020)

I think there will be a lot of pent up shopping demand when places finally do open up.  With so many out of work and low on money, thrift stores might do a banner business.  How they'll manage donations is an open question, but they will surely find a way.    

We have several filled up boxes in the garage, slated for donation. They might sit there until autumn, but we'd much rather store them than add perfectly good items to the landfill out of impatience for thrift stores to reopen.


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## hollydolly (May 15, 2020)

StarSong said:


> I think there will be a lot of pent up shopping demand when places finally do open up.  With so many out of work and low on money, thrift stores might do a banner business.  How they'll manage donations is an open question, but they will surely find a way.
> 
> *We have several filled up boxes in the garage, slated for donation. They might sit there until autumn, but we'd much rather store them than add perfectly good items to the landfill out of impatience for thrift stores to reopen.*



That's exactly my thoughts too. frustrating as it is to not be able to get stuff cleared out, I'd rather hold onto them than give perfectly good items to landfill


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## Manatee (May 15, 2020)

Check out Craig's List.


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