Could You Sell It?

During these unprecedented times, we take our role as an essential service provider seriously and we remain open to service our customers. We understand that everyone is very concerned with the potential spread of the Coronavirus. We’re following the guidelines put in place by the federal government, local governments and the CDC.

Below are some of the safety precautions we’ve implemented to protect our team and our clients:

We’re offering discounts for our customers who are able to stage their items outside of their property for pickup
We’re vetting our customers before scheduling appointments and while en-route to make sure they’re not showing signs and symptoms of illness
If the customer has access to masks or face covers, we ask that they wear them (if masks are unavailable, please maintain a safe distance of 6 feet at all times)
We are sending home any staff member exhibiting any symptoms of illness for the recommended period of time established by the CDC
All team members have been assigned masks and gloves
We are not assigning more than two team members to a truck
Our trucks and equipment are being disinfected daily
We’ve shut down our office from outside visitors and anybody who can work virtually is being encouraged to work from home
The company continues to hold regular team-wide virtual meetings to emphasize transparency and keep the lines of communication open
The decision to come to work remains 100% voluntary

I really think, with a little bit of TLC, someone could fix it up and use it for a long time. If you operated the phones at 123Junk for a week, you might hear it a dozen times. The phrasing may change, but the sentiment is always the same.

Even though “junk” is in the name of our business, people sometimes have very high expectations about what we can do with a used piece of furniture. Maybe it is because we tell our customers that we make every effort to donate items (we do), or that about half of the items we collect as a company are either recycled or donated to charity (they are).

There are several reasons why an item may not be acceptable for donation. Sometimes local charities are overstocked with certain types of items, and they simply cannot accept any more inventory in a particular category. Other times a customer may have a valuable item that simply doesn’t appeal to a wide enough range of people for a charity to justify trying to resell it.

The most common reason, though, is that a particular item simply isn’t in good enough condition. It’s practically a daily occurrence for us to field a call from someone who has something that they would like to have donated because, well, “someone” could use it. Can you blame them? Almost invariably the item is usable. Unfortunately (or fortunately, for some people), at this point in time, many charities are inundated with high-quality, like-new pieces. A lot of items that would have been accepted by charities just a few years ago are no longer being accepted.

A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself “Could I sell it myself,” or, more importantly, “Is it worth the time and effort it would take for me to sell it?” After all—if it wasn’t valuable enough to keep, it may not be valuable enough to donate either.