Last night was cold, but I went outside around 3 AM and immediately found an antique Sterling Silver bracelet and a 14K gold earring back at the first spot. I also found a Tiger Games Wrist Racer set from 1985, which had 4 of the 5 cars still in the original packaging (yet all cars and wrist holder present). This is rare as I can't even find a single example on the web. This spot also had a tremendous amount of stuff littered on the sidewalk from a prior picker tossing it everywhere, so I tediously gathered it and bagged it up for the good karma. The person who tossed this stuff did it very irresponsibly late at night after the maintenance people pt the bags out. It was all just overflowing loose in drawers and bins without tops. Normally I don't blink to fix spills like this, but it was cold and I had to suck it up with my hands exposed.
The night took a turn up shortly after when I visited the usual spot of the late NHL hall of Famer. There have been bags of their personal stuff at a corner for weeks now and I seem to have the bagging style down to hone right in on the goods.
Here's a shot of what I found from the spot, all brand new stuff, many even factory sealed. This includes perfumes and luxury candles/beauty products. The stuff in the white bag was a top brand, and I had a wrapped gift to open later! On top of a sealed new famous golf tournament shirt from 2000, there was a special new polo of my local sports team. I've been pulling good stuff for weeks. Boom!
All saved. All free. I also left a baseball team t-shirt and book about a famous HOF player prominently on a railing for someone to take in the AM. A haul from one pile like this reminds me that I'm on the right track. There were also signed letters from executives from other local major league sports franchises, but I left them.
Oh yea, its going to be cold again tonight as the entire city is asleep, but I'll be heading out in about 90 minutes to hunt for more. No hustle, no gain, no crypto buys. Enjoy your warm beds for me.
On the sales side, see more recent free items I passed along from the curbs to new owners:
This is the second piece of sterling silver David Yurman jewelry I've found this year. This went for $220 cash. I found this Onyx men's bracelet in an open shoebox with a bunch of meditation stuff plainly out on the sidewalk on a Saturday afternoon for all to see. Am I lucky? Nope. I'm actually just aware and make the effort to look at what most don't even notice. I'm a value homing missile while others are spending their time on their phones on the sidewalk. This weighed about half an ounce, but hey, it's is a great find for its value.
Want proof?
I always have it.
I sold this Miele vacuum for $135 cash. It took about a month to sell. It worked perfectly and I combined a powerhead from a prior find to increase its value. This is probably the 5th of the same exact vacuum I've found and sold over the years. I found another last week, but my hands were too full to take it. The total weight was 13 pounds and 4 ounces.
Vacuum parts are money! This Dyson part was tested and sold online for $73. It's weight with recycled packaging was 2 pounds and 8 ounces. I often keep these and sell them for cash with complete units, but I found this loose and didn't have an extra matching motorhead since I already had a complete set to sell for cash.
This tiny little guy was a component I removed from a broken scanner. It's a sensor for the paper that was about the size of a US nickel. I wasn't able to test it, but sold it online for $40. I've found this same scanner model a few times and had great success selling many parts from it, which always yield more than I'd have gotten if the scanners were working and sold as a whole. Weight with recycled packaging was 4 ounces.
I forgot to take a picture of the batch the guy bought for $50 cash today, but here's a shot of part of the LEGO Duplos left from the 21 garbage bags of them from the curbs, just before he arrived. They were for his 4 year old son. I have buyers cherry pick what they want from this start batch and then go inside to pluck suggestions and additions for them based on their preferences. Ironically, my landlord came up to my apartment while he was browsing through the bricks, and it was awkward. After a few years of giving me grief, he finally accepts what I do and supports it. It was nice to turn that corner since his office is in my building and the Super also tended to chirp about the stuff I brought in, before he also converted to believing in my cause. They see the hustle and determination. Can't hate it anymore. This batch weighed about 7 pounds.
Summary:
- 5 items sold for $518 revenue = $103.60 each.
- 78% received as cash. BOOM!!
- Total weight of salvaged items and recycled packaging of 22+ pounds.
- No repair or parts costs.
- I have a pickup tomorrow afternoon for an Amazon Kindle just in time for their Christmas.
The Usual:
As those who know me over the years can appreciate, the value in my post isn't in the entertainment from the handful of items I post about. It's about the passion and hustle I consistently exhibit off-chain to produce the posts, and goal of motivating others to address this problem. Hive is not the answer for me. It's a platform to promote a good cause. Actions in the real world are the answer in my book.
Thanks as always for your interest and support.
Please reuse, repurpose and recycle.
