Late model Sony Trinitron Spotted outside a Goodwill dropbox...
 

Hello Everyone Today I was at the local supermarket visiting my bank's atm to make a deposit which also happens to have a Goodwill Dropbox outside of it (the supermarket not the atm) and outside the Goodwill dropbox I see a mid to late 1990s Sony Trinitron TV set (about a 19" set) sitting outside the dropbox (which not only is it a bad thing to leave stuff outside of the dropbox but since they don't take tvs anymore its a double whammy there).

Anyways I was wondering if since Goodwill doesn't even take TVs anymore if it would be OK for me to pick up the TV and take it home with me?
That way it would save the TV from going to the landfill or wherever Goodwill takes their TVs that people Donate through their dropboxes that they aren't willing to take anymore.

They'll just recycle it. Take it. They won't resell it.

The Goodwill here does sell some CRT sets, technically you would be stealing it no matter what Goodwill would ultimately do with it so bear in mind you could get arrested for taking it.

I kind of doubt it seeing as NONE of the Goodwills my area sell or take TVs anymore period, they don't take CRT sets or LCD sets, I know this for a fact because I tried to take an old rear projection TV to them to see if they would recycle it and they refused it. So I'm going to guess that its not going to be considered stealing it if its something that they don't even want to begin with.

take it ,they wont care . only thing you have to watch out for is some person see you do it, and call in thinking he is a crime fighter . even if there a sign on the drop box stating no tv's.

That's what I've figured, I'll probably go back over there when the store is closed when there's no one around (probably around 10:30 or so tonight and pick it up) because it would make a good TV for my vintage Video games because of it being a Trinitron and plus it has a nice Jack Pack on the back.

They'd probably be surprised someone took it whole rather than leaving it in pieces minus the yoke and mains cord.

Yeah, that would be MY thought, as well.

If you grab that Trinitron, be aware that it's going to be HEAVY! You're gonna have a *FUN* time dragging that sonofabitch home.

And ever after you muscle it into place, then soak in the tub for an hour to relieve your aching muscles, you may discover a couple horizontal lines in the screen. This is normal for Trinitrons. It's part of the aperture grille design they use.

BTW that aperture grille design is what makes the bastard so heavy.

Well I'll take the thing whole because if it works, I'd be saving the set from an untimely fate that the TV doesn't deserve.

Well Its a 19" set so it shouldn't be too bad weight wise, at least not compared to the 25" and bigger sets, I was once given a 25" Sony Trinitron set to monkey around with when I was younger (the color went out on it for some reason and wasn't able to get it going so I had to throw it out) and that sucker WAS heavy. I would imagine a 19" set would be much lighter than a 25" set or even a 32" set.

True... I stopped lugging home Trinitrons a long time ago. Let me tall you the tale of the 32" trinitron I lugged home...

By myself.

I pulled my truck up as close as I could to it, and sort of "walked" it to the tailgate, which I lowered beforehand. Using all my strength I lifted that sonofabitch up about 6 inches...

Nope that wasn't happening.

I squatted down and lifted it using both my knees and back and had just enough strength to set it on the tailgate. I got it secured, then, panting and sweating I made the drive back home.

Then I had to get it into the house... This meant getting it up steps.

A hand truck helped, but getting it up the steps was a slow, exhausting process. Once I got it into the living room, I was done for the night. I took a hot bath and didn't move much for the rest of the night. I was too tired to even plug the damn thing in.

It had some power supply issue or something, which meant I'd need to put it on a bench to fix it. Nope that wasn't happening. I took what i wanted from it, it sat in the middle of my living room for a week until trash day, then I wrestled the sonofabitch out to the curb.

Wow! That's quite a story indeed! :yikes: Thankfully I don't have any steps in my house except to get to the basement, Which is where the TV is going for my video games, but like i said thankfully its only a 19" set so it should be a little lighter weight than its bigger brethren that I often see set out to the curb or sometimes see at the Salvation Army thrifts (which SA still takes TVs yet surprisingly enough, just haven't seen any interesting models there recently except for a 9" Zenith Cube TV from 1986 that I paid $5 for and it still works perfectly yet).

Then there's the time I found a 36" trinitron.

I made a cursory attempt to lift it, then said "fuck it" and drove away.


Going back to that 32" one, part of the problem I had with it was not so much that it was heavy. I mean it was, it easily weighed as much as a full grown man. However it didn't have carrying handles which meant I used more strength trying to keep a good grip on it then actually lifting it.

Well I picked it up without getting caught (there was a cleaning truck going around cleaning the parking lot which kind of surprised me, but I'm thinking he was more concerned about driving the truck around than watching whether or not someone was taking stuff from the drop box, and then there was someone dropping off recycling at the recycling center that was next to the dropbox but they were parked far enough down that I don't think they saw me. anyways you were right that TV was a heavy sucker even for a 19", when I got it home I just left it in the back of my car and just figured I would have a friend of mine help me carry it in tomorrow morning.

Common Craigslist ad:

FREE Sony Trinitron!

You must move it out of the basement. Owner cannot help you move it due to a back/heart condition.

I responded in your other thread, but I'll repeat part of it here.

Taking that TV, no matter how you try to justify it, is still theft.

It's not yours, it was not given to you by the donor, leave it alone.

.

And again, I'm going to explain it to you, It can't be donated because goodwill stopped accepting TVs of any type earlier this year! If you don't believe me, try taking one of your TVs to the local good will to donate, and you'll get turned down right on the spot! So actually that TV belongs to no one, it doesn't belong to goodwill and it doesn't belong to the previous owner! Its just trash. And just like what you and others on here like to do, I was picking through "trash" and saving something that was still usable yet.

Again, when you use your line of reasoning, how can you justify digging through people's trash for TVs and VCRs or old Stereo Equipment to take home with you to fix up, when technically in some states picking through other people's garbage is illegal when you're caught, but of course we all know that its not enforceable so people do it anyways! So I think you're being the proberbial pot that called the kettle black!

Personally, I would have probably left that set there. I know how funny some of these thrift stores can be and even though they may dumpster it or recycle it, they won't give you permission to take it. If I were to take something like that, it would be my luck that I'd get caught on camera or someone would see me. Fortunately, BPC TV's are not hard to find and if I wanted one, it wouldn't take long to find one that would be less likely to get me in trouble.

If the set was sitting on the curb for the garbage truck, I'd consider it fair game and the only way I wouldn't take it would be if the owner came out and told me not to. Over the years, I've found that most people are all too happy for you to haul off their junk.

Concerning heavy Sony's. Several years ago, someone gave me a silver 36" WEGA HD Trinitron and it was all me and my friend could do to load it. We managed to get it into my basement and I discovered that it had an intermittent power supply problem. My plan was to fix it and make a dollar off of it; but, I never managed to make enough space in my shop and I couldn't lift it up on my bench by myself. So, it sat on my basement floor until a few months ago. During a cleanout, I decided that I couldn't give the thing away if my life depended on it; so, I managed to get it to the curb on my handtruck and the garbage truck too care of the rest. I hated to trash that set because it was a very expensive model when it came out; but, like I said, I'd have a hard time giving it away today and I didn't feel like wrestling that beast and not get anything in return for it.

I don't agree.

There are a few donation bins here in my town down here. I see TVs end up by them frequently. I've never taken one from it mind you because I have not yet seen a vintage set.

They always end up behind the fire department in the eWaste pile, which I've taken a set or two from.

I stopped and asked the people who pick the stuff up if they think it's "stealing" taking a TV set next to the bin, and I was told "No. It saves us work. We have to lug them to an eWaste station. We don't take them"

I am also on friendly terms with several thrift stores in my area, one of them said if I ever see a TV out back at the drop off, feel free to take them if I want.

If anything, dumping a TV next to one of these bins is littering. Some poor schmo has to lug it to a recycle pile later. It's not going to be resold for someone else to enjoy, it's going to be recycled as waste.

You can't sit there and tell me, if you drove past one of those donation bins, and a CTC5, or ANY color roundy was sitting next to it, that you'd not make that set teleport in to the back of your car.

Excellent choice on saving it. I would gladly lug a Trinitron into my house over one of those stupid flat-panel abominations.

And on the "Heavy Sony" front...

I have a 36" WEGA Trinitron living in my closet, on a rack with my Laser Disc player, PS2, DreamCast, and Nintendo64 all hooked too.

I found the set while I was out driving one day. It was sitting at the end of someones driveway with the original remote taped to the top. I remember when they were brand new back in 2002-2004 era and that they were very expensive TV sets. The guy was in the garage so I waked up and asked, they replaced it with an HDTV, and it was only ever a bedroom set. He helped me load it in my truck.

When I got it home, I carried it 25 feet on my own, and I got a hernia from it. Only positive thing I took from it, the set is insanely low hours. It was only a bedroom TV and rarely watched for long, and it works perfectly with zero issues. I'm watching Star Wars on it as I type this. It's my movie watcher and retro gaming set. I plan to hold on to it, even if it'll break me in half to move it again.

If nothing else, you could call their number, and ask. if they don't take TVs they will appreciate not having to deal with it. I got a Sony Wega 32" HD set at Goodwill for $10, just before they stopped accepting Tvs, not many people wanted them, but it was a good upgrade from my 24" Wega (free if anyone wants it! ) had a hard time moving it with 2 people, I cant imagine moving the 36" version by myself!

I'm lucky. No hernia for me. The following morning I felt like I was 90 years old, and I was sore for a few days but that was the worst of it.

Just pray that 36" doesn't fail on you any time soon, requiring you to move it in order to work on it.

Well either way I did pick up that trinitron, and no I didn't get caught and no none of the goodwill dropboxes have cameras in my area unless its one that's at the Goodwill store itself, but in that case they usually keep the dropboxes locked during the day while the store's open and encourage people to use the drive-up donation area. The one I found the trinitron tv in was a remotely located dropbox that was located in a store parking lot and I nabbed it when there wasn't anyone around to see me do it, which was after the store closed at 10 pm this evening.

And yes Arcanine I understand where you're coming from but I figured it was worth the risk to save this TV considering that the Sony Trinitrons are getting harder and harder to find in decent shape anymore, because i know in my area at least most of the CRT sets old and new ended up either in the landfill or recycled once the DTV transistion took place in 2009 and usually if people kept any CRT sets around their house it was usually a 19" or smaller set that they kept around for the kids to use for their video games and that was it.

Anyways like I said the way goodwill works is that anything in the dropbox is considered theirs and anything outside of their dropbox is considered "trash" because it falls under their "no dumping policy" and because of that usually anything that's dumped outside of their dropbox they usually don't sell that in the store and usually trash it, because that's their policy, at least that's the way their policy is where I live.

I might drop by one of the stores and ask them about their TV Policy and if they say they are absolutely not taking TVs whatsoever then I'll ask them the hypothetical question of "what if I saw a TV sitting outside of one of your donation bins, would it be ok if I took it with me since you guys aren't taking TVs anymore so that the TV could get some more use out of it and so you guys wouldn't have to deal with it?"

I'd not sweat it. Goodwill managers are schmucks. I can't stand asking them anything; Talk about talking to an air head. They'll probably spout some flack about liability, or recycling for the good of the community, stuff no one even cares about hearing.

That's kind of interesting you say that, because I even tried to send an old TV to them to recycle it once (it was a 50" Mitsubishi Rear Projection TV that the convergence circuit went bad on it and I tried fixing it but I ended up losing some surface mount capacitors off the board when I was in the middle of replacing the convergence chip) and they said they didn't recycle TVs anymore... :scratch2:

i found the salvation army donation store in south bend on Ireland road ,there not afraid to sell crt tv's and electronics that donated . if the lady in the back were they check in everything is still there ,talk to her . i bought stuff that was home made electronic projects someone donate, she sells as [ unknown and as is ] cheap ,and old test equipment . i havent been there in a year or so but its worth a look if your in Elkhart your not to far .

I'll have to have a look there sometime, because I know for sure that the Salvation Army store here in Elkhart certainly hasn't had anything in the way of vintage electronics in at least 3 months, in fact they've had the same stock on there housewares shelves for the past month and a half so far and its mostly stuff you couldn't give away at yard sales type stuff. :sigh: And ever since the Giant Salvation Army store that was in Goshen closed its doors nearly 2 years ago the only Salvation Army Store in Elkhart County is the one in Elkhart and its barely the size of a Wal-Greens and very poorly organized, maintained and stocked, whereas the one that used to be in Goshen was a huge mega center compared to the one in Elkhart and they always had something interesting in there electronics wise.
Like I said I'll definitely give the one in South Bend a look sometime and see if I can find something interesting in there. :yes: :thmbsp:

When I picked up my 1976 Electrohome, the seller tried to talk me into buying a 32" Trinitron CONSOLE. Imagine trying to wrestle with that thing, even with a hand truck. The curved staircase coming from around the back of the house made it difficult to get the 25" Electrohome out of there.

Interestingly enough my aunt and uncle had at their house in Culver, Indiana (the town which is famouse the world over for Culver Military Academy), had an old Sony Trinitron Console TV in their Basement, and as far as I know they just left it there instead of Moving it with them to their home in Bloomington, Indiana (the city that's known the world over for Indiana University which has a famous music school and art school) and as far as I know the TV still works and it had a really nifty feature which was that the remote would hide-away inside the front of the TV's cabinet.

The fact that you mentioned that you would take it at 10:30 at night when no one was around and that "you didn't get caught", tells me you knew it wasn't right.

If you come on my property and take something from my yard without my permission, that's theft pure and simple.

You can justify taking the set with all you said, but the best thing would have been to ask permission first.

I had to say that because obviously there's more than likely going to be some folks out there that aren't going to realize that Goodwill isn't taking TVs anymore (as demonstated by the fact that someone had dumped the TV outside of the Goodwill dropbox thinking that Goodwill still took TVs yet) and that there could of been that one person out there that might of seen me taking the TV and called the police not knowing that the Goodwill wasn't taking TVs anymore and that I was trying to do Goodwill a favor by taking that TV so that they didn't have to deal with it themselves.

Haters gonna hate.

Yep, As I was trying to explain it had nothing to do with wanting to steal the TV, I was just wanting to give that TV another chance at life considering that it wouldn't of seen another chance at life in the hands of Goodwill.

Why didn't you ask permission first?

I know what you're doing so you can just drop it ok! You don't need to be trying to start arguments with me.

I have a Sony hernia as well.
One of my usual haunts, is the SVDP store.
Someone dropped off some cheap hollow core flush doors. The narrow ones, I use as shelves. They're strong enough to hold my TV and other electronics, collection, plus they're a lot cheaper than plywood or OSB. Buck a piece, basically a donation!
They don't take TV sets anymore, either. Someone dropped off a 36" Toshiba, after hours. They asked me, if I wanted to buy it. I replied, I don't buy anything, I can't lift myself. :no:

Interesting moral dilemma. A few thoughts...

Anything outside the box is probably NOT Good Wills
property. Probably technically litter or hazardous waste in the
case of a TV. Also its illegal dumping.
Our Good Will & other boxes say " do not put items outside
of box", that says they did NOT accept them.
At my old dump ANYTHING outside the box was fair picking
game per the GW, town workers & the PD. At the end of the
day if full a loader picked up all the stuff outside & took it
away to the transfer area to be burned.
So IMHO a favor was done for GW & the property owner.
So maybe do this. Since you benefited from the TV next time
you are in GW drop them a $5 cash donation. Win-win for all.

Last thing is a police interaction. Good chance BEFORE you state
your case you will be shaken down. Then have to ID yourself.
go with the flow ! After that you will just be warned away.
If the cop is cool ( an older cop) about it he may leave &
tell you he wont see you take it.

73 Zeno:smoke: