C/D: Leaving rubbish on the sidewalk but pacifying your guilt by putting a "Free!" sign on it...

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Come on... who really wants your nasty ass bedbug box spring? Your busted up futon frame? You're dumping on the streets, no matter how you try to disguise it as a humanitarian gesture!

― andy --, Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:27 (twenty-one years ago)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I've had lots of things I've put out taken this way, sometimes in a manner of minutes.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I've done this 2 or 3 times and had my nasty-ass stuff scooped up immediately by people whose stuff I presume was nastier and assier.

― Curious George Rides a Republican (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I was certain that somebody from the East Bay had started this thread. It's like a junkyard some days!

― .ada.m. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

go back to scotland

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:40 (twenty-one years ago)

classic. it's a whole sidewalk economy in new york.

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I'm gonna say classic too (although putting couches and mattress out when it is raining is kind of stupid.) People grab whatever I put out almost immediately though. I makes me feel like my old pots are wanted.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

go back to scotland

I am tired of this game!

― .ada.m. (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

As an foreigner, you should not have such a relentlessly myopic worldview.

― mayahee, mayahoo, mayaha, mayahaha (deangulberry), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:48 (twenty-one years ago)

in nyc where to get stuff picked up by salvation army you have to make an appointment MONTHS IN ADVANCE this is the only choice. also consider: this is where homeless people acquire clothes/goods to sell. certainly helping them more directly than through salvation army, etc. also also consider: there are furniture dealers whose entire income comes from prowling the streets (especially in the upper west side) looking for stuff thrown out, which they then renovate and resell. it's fascinating.

― Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:48 (twenty-one years ago)

who isn't?

crosspost crosspost

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 21:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I heard on the news of a big resurgence of bloodsucking bedbugs in Williamsburg etc because of people picking up old sofas and whatnot! Bloodsucking BEDBUGS!

― andy --, Wednesday, 26 January 2005 22:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Haha that's fucking great!

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 22:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I feel self-conscious about leaving my old shit in the wind, so i threw out a big bag of worn sweaters without putting a free sign on it. Then a month later noticed the superintendant wearing my old clothes. Felt kinda bad about that. That and the Brook Brothers labels he's sure to have noticed.

― Snappy (sexyDancer), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 22:21 (twenty-one years ago)

come back adam!

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 26 January 2005 22:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Do they not have council hard rubbish days in NY or SF then? We do here, though now I think they've changed it so you have to call to get it picked up instead of a monthly collection like it used to be. Hard rubbish day is great! Theres always tons of stuff out. Though why people toss out working monitors and PCs in the rain gets me.

Once I found a perfectly good working projection screen up the street from me. Its only problem was it'd been outside so long mould had got onto the white of the screen cloth, so I didnt take it. Now I think about it I suppose I could have Exit-Moulded it off.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

In the US, we're lucky if they pick our trash up.

― Site Admistrator (deangulberry), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Leaving stuff out in my neighborhood is a sure way to see it disappear, regardless of its quality or cleanliness.

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

there are certain days in most cities when you can do this. there definitely is in SF; I'm not sure if it's a codified thing but culturally, I believe there is one day a month when people put their stuff out for other people to take. I might be imagining this.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Isn't there a day every month or so where you can leave large shit, like couches and fridges and the garbage people or DPW or someone will take them?

― Michael White (Hereward), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

My neighborhood is still littered with Christmas trees.

― Site Admistrator (deangulberry), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, it's called Wednesday. Also Thursday.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Its dud if your lame neighbors in the upstairs apartment leave an ugly couch on your front yard for a week and nobody's ever going to pick it up. (its also raining today)

― Dude, are you a 15 year old asian chick? (jingleberries), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

how do you think i got rid of the last of my shit before i left michigan?!

see also: "freecycle"

― kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I live near a cemetary, so one side of the street, up the road aways, is just cemetary wall, no homes. It seems everyone thinks this is some kind of public dump, and there are constantly whole rooms full of furniture strewn all over the gravel path against the wall.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

esp. dud when your roommates leave stuff out front and tell the landlord that it will be gone in 30 minutes and all of this happens without your knowledge so you're like WTF?!?! when the landlord calls you at work threatening to fine you for it OH HEY THERE STILL BEVINS

― Site Admistrator (deangulberry), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I was trying to find my pic of a whole wardrobe sitting by the wall, but I cant find it.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:51 (twenty-one years ago)

the man was dead when I got there, I swear!

― Dude, are you a 15 year old asian chick? (jingleberries), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:52 (twenty-one years ago)

"Can you believe Flanders threw out this perfectly good toothbrush?!
*brush brush brush*
....eww."

― kingfish (Kingfish), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:55 (twenty-one years ago)

my neighborhood is especially known for 5-10 year old pcs.

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 27 January 2005 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the "free" sign does more than alleviate the guilt of the dumper. I think it helps justify the actions of the rubbish-taker.

I know I feel better taking something home from the sidewalk if it had a sign on it that said "free."

― martin m. (mushrush), Thursday, 27 January 2005 01:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Leaving rubbish out on the sidewalk with a sign saying 'Please do not take'

Goes even quicker.

― Sasha (sgh), Thursday, 27 January 2005 01:43 (twenty-one years ago)

SOmeone told me it is tecnically illegal to nick hard rubbish from the front of homes because the council/salvos are meant to. Is that nonsense?

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 27 January 2005 01:45 (twenty-one years ago)

In my state the council encourages it.

― papa november (papa november), Thursday, 27 January 2005 01:51 (twenty-one years ago)

When my boyfriend's uncle died, and we cleared out the old family home, (where we had lived) it was amazing what would be taken off of the street. We got rid of a washer tub from the early part of the last century - I really thought that would be the last thing anyone would want. But it dissappeared. Sometimes I would watch through the windows to see people picking through the stuff.
I have collected religious icons for many years, and in the spirit of getting rid of stuff, decided to purge my collection. Jesus and Mary were swooped up in a blink of an eye.
Sometimes cars would pull over as we were putting stuff out. And the drivers would just sit there, in the car. I would, of course, wave madly and basically blow kisses at them.
We all knew when we were putting out GOOD stuff, and just hoped the mediocre and bad stuff would be taken as well.
Everything got taken. Thank fucking God for the green strip free stuff concept. I don't know what we would have done if not for this concept.

― aimurchie, Thursday, 27 January 2005 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)

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