How can I advertise locally besides craigslist? Collecting electronics waste...

[PaperclipGod]

I like to tinker with electronics crap. Give me a capacitor and a battery and I'll entertain myself for hours (yes, I might be mildly retarded). In pursuit of my hobby, I collect peoples junk electronics for free, just to have more stuff to mess around with. However, it's almost impossible to find stuff on craigslist, because almost any free electronics that are posted immediately get snapped up by local resellers. There's one local computer store that tries to sell the most antiquated hardware for ridiculous prices... and they must be finding suckers, too, because they've been in business for years.

Ironically, every time I post something on craigslist about avoiding those people, my post gets flagged immediately. :/

 

[BKLounger]

if you are collecting junk electronics craigslist can be a pain. Most of the stuff is gone within minutes of posting. To be honest your best bet to find electronics getting tossed is go near colleges when students are moving out or drive around on trash night. When i was at MIT i would come across 2-3 desktops a week people just put next to the trash bins. Needless to say every single person in my family (and extended family) has a desktop now.

 

[lxskllr]

Nail papers to phone poles. Newspapers are dead, you'd have a better return going door to door.

 

[PaperclipGod]

Originally posted by: BKLounger
if you are collecting junk electronics craigslist can be a pain. Most of the stuff is gone within minutes of posting. To be honest your best bet to find electronics getting tossed is go near colleges when students are moving out or drive around on trash night. When i was at MIT i would come across 2-3 desktops a week people just put next to the trash bins. Needless to say every single person in my family (and extended family) has a desktop now.

Wow, really?? MIT kids throw out that much stuff?? I figured MIT would be the last place you'd find a computer getting tossed in the garbage... :/

I'm right near Amherst, MA which is home to a bunch of colleges, so I'll give that a shot.

 

[nestlewater]

Originally posted by: PaperclipGod

Originally posted by: BKLounger
if you are collecting junk electronics craigslist can be a pain. Most of the stuff is gone within minutes of posting. To be honest your best bet to find electronics getting tossed is go near colleges when students are moving out or drive around on trash night. When i was at MIT i would come across 2-3 desktops a week people just put next to the trash bins. Needless to say every single person in my family (and extended family) has a desktop now.

Wow, really?? MIT kids throw out that much stuff?? I figured MIT would be the last place you'd find a computer getting tossed in the garbage... :/

I'm right near Amherst, MA which is home to a bunch of colleges, so I'll give that a shot.

Capacitor and a battery? HOURS?? HOW sir,, how,, teach me

 

[BKLounger]

Originally posted by: PaperclipGod

Originally posted by: BKLounger
if you are collecting junk electronics craigslist can be a pain. Most of the stuff is gone within minutes of posting. To be honest your best bet to find electronics getting tossed is go near colleges when students are moving out or drive around on trash night. When i was at MIT i would come across 2-3 desktops a week people just put next to the trash bins. Needless to say every single person in my family (and extended family) has a desktop now.

Wow, really?? MIT kids throw out that much stuff?? I figured MIT would be the last place you'd find a computer getting tossed in the garbage... :/

I'm right near Amherst, MA which is home to a bunch of colleges, so I'll give that a shot.

Hell one day I saw what looked like a pile of laptop lcd's in the trash. So i grabbed the box and brought it up stairs. Turns out it was 4 whole laptops just in a thousand pieces. So I took a couple hours and re-assembled them all and gave them out to friends. I was amazed at how much got thrown out. Also the fact that people never wiped drives before throwing it out. That's another story though. By the time i left i had about 20 machines stacked in a closet running as a server farm. It took me about 2 weeks to even find people to give them to because i refused to return them to the trash.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: BKLounger
if you are collecting junk electronics craigslist can be a pain. Most of the stuff is gone within minutes of posting. To be honest your best bet to find electronics getting tossed is go near colleges when students are moving out or drive around on trash night. When i was at MIT i would come across 2-3 desktops a week people just put next to the trash bins. Needless to say every single person in my family (and extended family) has a desktop now.

There was a story in the local paper here in Nashville about a guy who did this near Vanderbilt university. He always found some nice electronics (pc, tv, stereos) that a lot of the richer kids thought was easier to get new rather than haul out of the dorm. I bet he regrets blabbing to the paper nad probably has a lot more competition now.

 

[Elbryn]

could always give freecycle.org a shot

 

[rudeguy]

freecycle is a good idea. As far as local papers, I don't read mine but I do check their website. I believe most papers have their classifieds online as well as in print.

 

[PaperclipGod]

I tried freecycle, but the local group leader is a highly incompetent elderly woman who must have trained under Goebbels. I stopped trying the day after I signed up.