Dead Pens.

[bluebellrose]

Just thought I let folks know about the dead Pens recycling bin at staples. It is run in partnership with Papermate and it's parent company. According to their instructions it's any brand of pens. They have nothing about fountain pens but they are pens! Those disposable Bics and the like aren't that disposable. Papermate is taking them and recycling them. I have no clue if they are doing it in the US but it wouldn't hurt to check. I'm located in Canada and it's been there for a while.

 

I dropped off my dead Bics when I went in to buy some parker quink.

 

 

So no need to landfill that Bic of yours .Papermate will recycle them for you.

Edited January 3, 2018 by bluebellrose

[Charles Rice]

If I see a Parker Snake in the bin, can I take it?

[GoldenNibs]

Someone here is gonna start digging in those bins and someone is gonna find a Parker 51 or a Montblanc. It happened when they ran that cash for clunkers and people were handing over Porsches and Jaguars.

[aeba]

Hmph; here even those Energizer battery recycling bins are full of trash instead of batteries.

[Studio97]

Sort of related to the pen bin I saw one or two barrels of pens and pencils dumped from a hoarders house as shown on tv. Appeared to be thousands of pens and pencils. You know there was probably sought after items in there and not appearing to be a dirty mess. What a shame.

[MYU]

Sort of related to the pen bin I saw one or two barrels of pens and pencils dumped from a hoarders house as shown on tv. Appeared to be thousands of pens and pencils. You know there was probably sought after items in there and not appearing to be a dirty mess. What a shame.

 

Very sad indeed. Sometimes there's nothing we can do. My mother suddenly brought up the need to shed some old electronics in the garage. I didn't realize what she had. Turns out to be some very nice gear, including a vintage NAD amp and pre-amp. Not enough time to sell locally to someone for some cash and my mother is obsessively harping on "it has to go now, not keeping this around." So, it's going to the curb... all the while, the gear could fetch a few hundred $$. She doesn't care. And she won't allow it to hang around for my next visit where I might be able to list it on Craigslist. Oh well!

[pajaro]

After my father's death his Parker 51 disappeared, along with valuable paintings and some high quality furniture. I would have bought the things from them, but the new regime decided it all had to go right away, so it went to the curb, and the trash truck picked it up. Not even the patience to donate to Goodwill, etc.

[bluebellrose]

those recyclers will probably pick up vintage stuff a lot of the time

[Colourfingers]

I wouldn't go plunging my hands into a bin like that. It only takes one muppet to drop a needle in there and.......

[MYU]

those recyclers will probably pick up vintage stuff a lot of the time

For those who do curbside pickup, I'll bet a good many of them aren't even aware of value, unless it's obvious (like electronic devices that may still work, like an iPhone). Also, they operate on a tight schedule so there's no slack for them to "rummage". When stuff is collated at the recycling center, I expect higher value items like antique furniture are set aside. But there's always those items that aren't recognized, like an old pen that "doesn't write any more" (i.e. fountain pen) which may end up in the bin for destruction. I do wonder if they allow employees to rummage through a bin of such items to take before they're destroyed.

 

Someone I used to know who restores vintage stereo equipment said he would periodically prowl the streets of upscale neighborhoods in Florida (retirement capital of the USA) and would frequently find rare components that sometimes worked or didn't work but could be fixed. He funded a few hobbies from the sales of his functionally restored stereo equipment. I don't know if he still does it... times change.

 

Last year I made a concerted effort to visit a number of estate sales to see what I might find. I was absolutely amazed to discover how many "professional pickers" would show up with a van. They'd comb through the sales items and grab anything of value marked at low prices. ANYTHING. One time I was looking at a nice hand crafted wooden box that I was planning to buy, and I set it down for just a moment to look at something in the same spot. A hand suddenly appeared off from my left side and just grabbed the box. I told the person I was buying the box. "You put it back down and now it's in my hand -- *I* am buying it." A heated argument ensued and this guy started to shuffle off to just willfully take that item. Thankfully the home owner was there and saw/heard the whole thing, told the guy that I had first dibs. The nasty guy probably realized he was wasting time and had plenty more merchandise to survey and just casually tossed the box onto a table next to him, giving me a dirty look as he ambled off to look at other things. When you have these kinds of encounters, it really sours one's view of humanity.

[PAKMAN]

Our Staples has a phone recycle and battery and I think ink cartridge. I'll have to check to see if they have a pen recycle.

[inkstainedruth]

After my father's death his Parker 51 disappeared, along with valuable paintings and some high quality furniture. I would have bought the things from them, but the new regime decided it all had to go right away, so it went to the curb, and the trash truck picked it up. Not even the patience to donate to Goodwill, etc.

 

When my dad died, the estate attorney told me that there was nothing in the house worth even having a sale. What I didn't take went to Goodwill. We gave all my dad's ham radio equipment to a friend of mine -- which involved calling a friend to get me the phone # for another friend, to get the # of the person who the person we gave the stuff to. Then we had to drive from South Jersey to suburban Fredericksburg, MD, and attempt to find a place to eat dinner on a Saturday night that wasn't going to be a 45 minute wait.... After dinner, we went to her house, dropped off the stuff, and then she looked online for us to find a hotel in the area. When my husband went into see about getting a room, he took forever to get back to the car. Turned out there had been a FIGHT in the hallway outside the room they were *going* to give us.... And they had to scramble to find us a different room.

And the trip there had been just as crazy. We had trouble finding a hotel room the night before, since apparently there was something going on at Ft. Dix. We stopped at 3 places on Rt. 9 that couldn't guarantee us a non-smoking room. Then, we went to the diner across town from my dad's place. The waitress told us about a place on Rt. 88, which fortunately had something. We were supposed to meet my brother for breakfast, only he got lost trying to find the place he wanted to take us to. Then bailed on helping go through stuff (and we had to do it in daylight because all the utilities had been shut off).

It might have been worth it if there had been any fountain pens, but I knew there weren't.... The only person who would have been remotely interested was ME (and this was back before I really got into using them).

Even if there had been an estate sale, the retirement community where my dad was living prohibited putting up signs....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Zookie]

Whenever I go to a rummage, estate sale, or even the local thrift store, it doesn't matter how early I go, the dealers get there first. They do indeed just start grabbing! It drives me nuts!!

I have however, gone to more than one antique shop and asked if I could poke through their "pen cup" by the register. Found more than a few gems that way, sometimes free of charge

[Chrissy]

After my father's death his Parker 51 disappeared, along with valuable paintings and some high quality furniture. I would have bought the things from them, but the new regime decided it all had to go right away, so it went to the curb, and the trash truck picked it up. Not even the patience to donate to Goodwill, etc.

 

I feel really saddened by that.

[inkstainedruth]

Whenever I go to a rummage, estate sale, or even the local thrift store, it doesn't matter how early I go, the dealers get there first. They do indeed just start grabbing! It drives me nuts!!

I have however, gone to more than one antique shop and asked if I could poke through their "pen cup" by the register. Found more than a few gems that way, sometimes free of charge

 

I usually have no luck either. The Parker 41 was a fluke -- something just kept making me dig through the shoebox full of mostly ballpoints. The Cross Verve I found a few months ago at a thrift shop that specialized in arts and crafts supplies was also a fluke -- I hadn't been in the place for several years.

There was an estate sale around here the weekend before Christmas that supposedly had a bunch of pens in it. Someone in my local pen club posted about it to the mailing list but of course I was on the road by then. I'll find out at the next meeting whether anyone else checked the sale out. The last estate auction that specifically mentioned pens was several years ago -- it had a bunch of junkers, and I left before things got underway....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[vjones]

Sounds like a good thing. I have some ballpoints around here I'd like to toss in that bin since I don't use them much and they're all pretty old. Good to see the idea of "disposable" being disposed of.

[bluebellrose]

Sounds like a good thing. I have some ballpoints around here I'd like to toss in that bin since I don't use them much and they're all pretty old. Good to see the idea of "disposable" being disposed of.

only dump them if they are those bics or lookalikes! Anything else see if they can be sold for money!

[Mech-for-i]

Even Bic need not be recycled. AFAIK Bic do sell refill that you can then revive that Crystal or whatever model ..

[JakobS]

Looks like this is limited to Staples in Canada, though there are a good many towns and cities on the border with Staples if you find yourself nearby!

Edited January 16, 2018 by JakobS