• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

A thrist store problem.

Also, don't forget posting a "wanted" on your local Freecycle, if it's an active list. I've picked up a couple of systems that I needed that way. The "wanted" sometimes jolts people into remembering that they've got an old piece of gear that they've forgotten about.
 
I second freecycle.org! Ask and you may receive(pick up):)
Great place to unload stuff too.

I breed fish as a hobby, gonna pick me up some hot tubs from freecycle this spring, seen at least 6 given away this fall so far. They make great outdoor tanks. :fish:
 
I just wanted to let y'all know about the policies of our local thrift store. Here we have "America's Thrift Store," formerly "Alabama Thrift Store." This place is run by a man named Buford Salmon who operates as a charity with "money and donations going to Hannah Home and King's Ranch." I used to work for one of their stores as an electronics technician, so I know form where I speak.

First, this place over charges on almost everything that they sell. I have seen used items there being sold for more than the same product brand new at Wal-Mart down the street.

That's not the immoral part - unethical maybe, but not immoral. I see where you of you mentioned "dumpster diving." One of my all time favorite pastimes I must say, but... When items are unfit for sale, they go in the dumpster behind the store. This includes clothing. No I know for a fact that there have been several homeless in need of clothing. They couldn't afford even the Thrift Stores so-called bargain prices, so they just took the clothing they needed from the dumpsters. Innocent enough you might think. I did. Until the management of these stores actually called the police and pressed charges for theft. Not very Christian or even moral, if you ask me.

The whole point of this, aside from just general ranting, was to point out that in my area, if anything electronic hits the dumpsters after being donated to one of these stores - it is gone for good. :(

As a side note, having said all of that, if any one in the Shelby or surrounding areas of Alabama are think about throwing anything out, I mean donating to the Alabama Thrift Store, you could always donate it to me!;)
 
A friend of mine went to the new goodwill and they told him that any kind of computer or video game goes immediately online for sale. Sounds like they are trying to maximize profits. Along that vein of thinking, shipping is going up again,


http://www.antiqueradios.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=100807

great. And GW's prices will go up accordingly to cover the overhead. So no more local computer sales in this town from GW :(
 
Yeah, I just got the annual Commercial Account pricing increases (which they call "price changes", although none of them actually went DOWN) for Canada Post the other day.

I believe when they say that "it is competitive with industry pricing" they are trying to say "when someone else raises their prices, we ALL do"

They sent it by Canada Post courier.
 
I wonder why they toss old computer stuff and keep old video game stuff? I just found a SNES with 20 games and 2 controllers for 20 dollars. A heck of a deal.

I'll have to check the dumpster more often...:D
 
Nice find. Ironically .. well .. maybe not ironic, I dunno but NES and SNES are both holding some value now. Guess enough closet vintage collectors are realizing they'd like to play their favorite games from the 80's again. It's an interesting thing that a lot of young adults are starting to get a little vintage bug in them now.
 
its not an vintage bug, the 80's are on its way back. ;)

and yeah i "rescued" alot of Nintendo and Commodore stuff from the local recycling station here, even saved a 1977's Atari Superbug ROMset (or what it is called, anyway the rest of the arcade cab was too big for me to sneak off with. :( ) luckily for me my neighbour is working there so he can set aside the more interesting stuff since one isnt allowed to take stuff from there (altough those employed can take whatever they want it seems...)
 
barythrin said:
Nice find. Ironically .. well .. maybe not ironic, I dunno but NES and SNES are both holding some value now. Guess enough closet vintage collectors are realizing they'd like to play their favorite games from the 80's again. It's an interesting thing that a lot of young adults are starting to get a little vintage bug in them now.
Click to expand...

As far as video games go, I have always had a NES and SNES. Well, I once traded in my NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, and Sega Dreamcast to EB Games for a discount off of a new XBOX, but that was a horrible idea and I obtained another NES and SNEs very soon afterwards (which I still play vs. the XBOX which is in storage).

However, I have been getting more interested into old computers solely because I am an electrical engineering student and a lot of things I learn (both with hardware and software) can be seen in the older computers easier than in the newer, more complex machines. It's a good way to learn outside of class. Nonetheless, I still get a good feeling when I get to tinker with old computers :cool:
 
I used to pick up computers at some local surplus sales before they contracted that all out. at one, I got a computer that had been used in a car sales office and had customer's information that included loan applications, and sales contracts. I notified the office the computer originally came from, but they thought the hard drive had been removed. When I returned the hard drive, they insisted on a reward that was more than I paid for the computer. They were so paranoid about liability for loss of customer's private data, they would have done almost anything to get the drive back.
 
Here's the thrift report from Everett WA this year....

Goodwill here seems to be cutting down on the amount of computer stuff they carry, as well as the age of the stuff seems to be getting younger. A few years ago, I stocked up on PILES of AT, AT/XT, and quality PS/2 keyboards, and even found an XT keyboard around that time as well, since then, I've started finding more and more modern cheap rubber dome PS/2 and USB keyboards, most of which are the same pack-in's found at Wal-Mart, and most of which are apparently also ditched brand new. I've also been hoarding all the Serial Mice I can find as well. The newer Goodwill is the worse of the two, the other one seems to still carry vintage video games far more often.

Value Village on the other hand, has been a golden epicenter this year and last year for finding older IBM compatible gear. Thus far, between 2006 and 2008 I have found......
- At least 10 AT keyboards
- IBM PS/2 Model 30
- IBM PS/2 Model 59 SL/2
- Holt Office Systems 486
- Macintosh SE FDHD
- Macintosh 6400/180
- AST Premium 386 SX
- Olympic Computers 486 tower
- Several generic AT towers with 486 era parts in them (despite being Pentium II level)

There's another place down near the DMV called "Liquidation Store", which still has an IBM PC 5150 Power Supply for $20.00. There have also been 486 VLB full sized AT EISA boards, Pentium boards of both Socket 5 and Socket 7 design, I also got an AMT 486 from there, and another generic 486 from that shop as well. Their prices however, are kind of steep at times for old hardware, but they tend to have the most interesting stuff including "build it yourself" memory SIMM modules (30 pin), lots of connectors, and various other hardware.

I have not checked out the Salvation Army in Lynnwood in a long time thus far, and usually they are not too good for vintage computer hardware. The oldest PC I saw there was a Packard Bell Legend Pentium I based system with Windows 95, however, they did have a redeeming quality in having Microsoft BASIC for the Macintosh on 800K Diskettes, and a whole slew of 5.25" 360K Floppy Diskettes for my Tandy 1000s both new and used, and some with interesting software on them.

My present haunt for vintage PC stuff is a place called Rich Man, Poor Man computers near the mall. They don't get AT class machines too often back there, but I do find them once in awhile, take them home, and cannibalize them for parts for my older AT class machines, since a lot of those Upgraded Pentiums and K-6's they get in were once 286-486 based machines at one time.
 
i never listened to WHAM!, i listened to Europe. maybe thats why i remember more from those years. :p
 
Never listened to Wham, only experimented with Hairspray once (and it did not do much), but I love the 80's, as if not already obvious by my wanton buying/collecting of old 80's Pea Seas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top