The US Postal Service wants your useless junk

The US Postal Service may soon become very relevant to a generation which seems increasingly disinterested in physical mail. The USPS is launching a pilot program in ten cities and 1,500 post offices which hopes to aid in the fight against electronic waste. Come rain, sleet, snow, or any other violent natural occurrence, the post office will now allow you to mail used printer ink cartridges, PDAs, MP3 players, and other small electronics to Clover -- a company which recycles the castoff hunks of metal and plastic -- free of charge. You can feel pretty good about utilizing the new service too, as Clover is a "zero landfill" company, which means they do everything they can to avoid making more waste. Now, if the postal service can just do something about these old TVs that need hauling...

[Joe @ Mar 19th 2008 2:55AM]

I'm more interested in knowing where one could buy crap people just throw out. One man's garbage is another man's treasure!

[zzz @ Mar 19th 2008 5:10AM]

Umm, that place's called a junkyard and the proper activity is not "buying" rather "rummaging".

[Eric @ Mar 19th 2008 6:35AM]

I used to live in a college town. They had a salvage depot they used to get rid of stuff no one wanted. When I first moved there, it was open to the public on Friday. There was a lot of interesting lab equipment and occasionally some good video gear, and always a bunch of old desks and other furniture, much of it from the 1970s. My home office looked like the set of the Bob Newhart show for years.

Unfortunately it got outsourced. They opened every day. Then the guy running it started comparing everything to the Ebay price and it was all downhill from there. Still could find a good deal if they didn't know what they were looking at (got a video switcher for $20 once), but you had to go all the time, which got to be a big pain.

Some hamfests are still good places to find stuff, although ebay has really ruined a lot of them. The Northern VA/DC/Maryland area has a lot of good ones.

I know the government/Pentagon used to have pallet auctions, but that can be a pain too. I would imagine, like everything else, someone decided to make money on it, and drove up the costs for everyone.

[dziban303 @ Mar 19th 2008 12:33PM]

I came in to say that in every college I've attended/worked for (and the list is mighty long...screw the real world, I'll stay in academia) there's a big bin down in the catacombs somewhere where all the junk electronics end up. Chances are nil that you'll walk away with much in working order, but you can harvest all kinda of doodads from the various PCBs one can find. Free resistors and coils, if that's your thing.

[Wisam @ Mar 19th 2008 6:30PM]

That place is called eBay

[kyle allen @ Mar 19th 2008 3:05AM]

ooooh! im guna start an organization to recycle unwanted electronics, you may begin pacageing your palm foleos and SSDs to me, the shipping isnt free but in return, you will recieve my eternal gratitude...

[kyle allen @ Mar 19th 2008 4:05AM]

packageing and sending them to me... sorry its midnight and im studying for finals, oh! wait its 1am already, i need a monster...

[Bobs @ Mar 19th 2008 5:58AM]

Can Ron Jeremy (porn star) in a mario costume be your monster?

[kyle allen @ Mar 19th 2008 5:08PM]

heck no but carbonated water, sucrose, glucose, citric acid, natural flavors, taurine, sodium cytrate, collor added, panax ginseng rood extract, l-carnitine , caffine, sorbic acid, benzotic acid, nacinamide, sodium chloride, glucuronolactone, inositol, buarana seed extract, pyridoxine, hydrochloride, sucralose, riboflavin, maltodextrin, and cyanocobalamin most certainly can

[Austin @ Mar 19th 2008 3:10AM]

Disinterested in physical mail? Bah! Since mail is even more of a rarity for young people, getting mail is awesome! having something like a check in the mail is more day-brightening than getting some paypal verification, for instance. and since something costs 50 cents to mail, you get less spam and more political spam. and letters. You can't spray cologne on your facebook note to woo someone a continent away. And how is Ken Burns going to make documentaries?

[kyle allen @ Mar 19th 2008 3:23AM]

nice pic, someone should ask strong bad if he gets any real mail.... ima go do that right now

[EricC @ Mar 19th 2008 9:40AM]

@ kyle: Strong Bad checks his snail mail on Tuesdays =)

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail111.html

[roflercopterer @ Mar 19th 2008 3:42AM]

USPS -- contributing to toxic electronic waste dumps overseas!

[Tech^Cellfish @ Mar 19th 2008 3:45AM]

Not so environmental. Open up the devices and selling the the PCB connectors and processors on eBay as gold scrap :)

Good initiative from USPS! Hope other countries follow.

[dzhiurgis @ Mar 19th 2008 3:54AM]

I recently discovered a guy on eBay who tries to save the planet by wrapping his goods into any waste papers, etc. :) smart :)

[Fred Thompson @ Mar 19th 2008 4:53AM]

Eeewwwww!

I flush my waste papers.

[Michael LaFramboise @ Mar 19th 2008 4:07AM]

everyone wants something :p

[webmonkees @ Mar 19th 2008 4:23AM]

I do retrofits of new equipment in retail stores, and it's unbelievable the things that are considered 'trash'; computers, displays.. the only thing that gets set aside for secure disposal are the hard drives, sometimes not even those. Just pile them into a big box and prep them for UPS pickup. Of course a few things have been forgotten.. But at one store's recycle bin there was a 18'' Dell LCD screen in the pile. I snuck that out, put in a $4 chip and it's good as new.
Recycling is a good thing, but repairs are even more 'green'.
Maybe a 'last chance' service; $5 donation and take something away from the pile, on the obligation if you can't fix it, bring it back for the final meltdown..

[Fred Thompson @ Mar 19th 2008 4:58AM]

That's not really "unbelievable." Displays are created to serve a purpose, not to last forever. They're tools, not ends in themselves. Methinks you misunderestimate the cost to the stores to piddle around with onesies and twosies. If the displays are being sent out via UPS, they're probably going to some type of reconditioning service. That's where factory refurbishments come from. You stole their property.

[kempcross @ Mar 19th 2008 10:55AM]

whoa, chill out Fred.

[tekdroid @ Mar 19th 2008 6:12AM]

"It was this philosophy that won Clover the contract with the Postal Service, besting 19 other companies, said Anita Bizzotto, chief marketing officer and executive vice president for the Postal Service."
---
Call me cynical, but why would the USPS do this unless they got something out of it?

Further down in the article it says they saved a shedload of money by reducing waste. I'm assuming this 'contract' will benefit their bottom line too? Not that it's bad news, but it would be interesting to know more about the finances of this deal and how it's really paying off for them. I highly doubt it's a charity thing.

Still, if it does what they say (reduce waste), it's a win-win.

[Tyke Lamont @ Mar 19th 2008 6:38AM]

First poster is right.
In some countries such as Eastern Europe, Africa, etc. people actually pay money for what electronics other people throw in their junk. Not that these people are too poor - I mean, even middle class professionals prefer to relieve their gizmo obession by ebay and second cand imports. Since I started paying for second hand, refurbished, etc. electronics I have everything I ever wanted. Getting cheap old tech as expendable gizmos such as memory, mp3s, etc... would be great. Bad, this won't happen. US wants landfills of tech...

[kempcross @ Mar 19th 2008 10:56AM]

hey tyke, when you read "'zero landfill' company," what does that mean to you? cause to me it of course means "US wants landfills of tech."

[FThorn @ Mar 19th 2008 7:33AM]

They should just focus on delivering the mail. Nothing else. Offer mail screening/junk lists/preferred&allowed senders and such.

[Thursday @ Mar 19th 2008 8:56AM]

They do offer "Do not mail list" service. Go to your local post office and ask to fill out the form. After this is on record no standard mail will be delivered to your house, it will all be thrown out at your local PO. Your name then gets added to the Direct Marketing Association's Do not mail list. I then purge your name from any mailing I do by comparing the mailing list and the DNM list and suppressing records found on both. This saves my clients money, prevents waste, and saves me time.
If you want to ensure you don't get any "junk mail" (Junk mail is just a great offer sent to the wrong person) be it standard rate or first-class, you have two options: 1) take out a restraining order on someone (this removes your name from the National Change of Address database, and deletes your record from any list compared to it), or 2) Become a mob informant and get into the witness protection program (this does the same thing, but is more fun)

Well, that's all for me you friendly interweb "USPS Certified Mail Quality Control Specialist" I hope you've enjoyed this learning experience as much as I have.
~G

[Graham @ Mar 19th 2008 8:31AM]

Its about time they start offering some services of some kind. With the price of stamps rising over two cents per year, they have more than enough profit. Its time they gave back.

[Thursday @ Mar 19th 2008 9:01AM]

They posted a $5,000,000,000.00 loss for the last year. . .
And the price will go up $0.01/year for Single-piece 1st class postage for the forceable future.
Tell the government to pay the post office the $500,000,000.00ish they owe the PO for sending non-profit mail at below cost rates, offering free mail for the blind, and sending all election materials for free.
Also, stop sending those stupid square greeting cards.
Square= non-machinable i.e. sorted by hand. Do you really think the extra $0.20 covers sorting it?

[coolflip @ Mar 19th 2008 8:33AM]

I thought that's what Ebay is for. LOL

[UncoolJohn @ Mar 19th 2008 9:01AM]

We've got to install microwave ovens. Custom kitchen deliveray-ay-ay

[Pip @ Mar 19th 2008 10:03AM]

I wish they'd take the 40 or so phone books no one wants piled up in the doorway of my apartment complex. There are only 8 apartments in it, it's ridiculous.

[Pingmeister @ Mar 19th 2008 10:59AM]

I'd be interested to find out what actually happens to this e-waste by this company.

Many companies sell this waste to developing countries where the items are taken apart by hand in deplorable conditions. The workers are filled with puncture wounds from the components and the components are then stripped for metals.

Beware where you dump your old electronics. Screwing over poor people in other countries who have not been educated on the dangers of that work is not the way I want to be "green".

[Dave @ Mar 19th 2008 11:24AM]

I think you mean "uninterested" rather than "disinterested." Look it up.

[Ransom @ Mar 19th 2008 1:38PM]

"Now, if the postal service can just do something about these old TVs that need hauling"

We've got to move these... refrigerators
We've got to move these color tee veeeees....

[james.engadget @ Mar 20th 2008 12:34AM]

How about they just stop allowing companies to send me junk mail in the first place?

[Casey @ Mar 21st 2008 4:34AM]

how small is small? smaller than vcr small or what? i could see me filling that mail truck pictured in one stop.