Columns May 22, 2013 at 4:00 am

Chute Confession

Comments

1
We already knew that, but we don't care.
2
I didn't know that! Although, I've never donated anything via Chute, as my local Value Village donation center is very convenient. Thanks chute!
3
Costs money to collect all those donations, maintain the chutes, package the clothes, ship overseas or drive it to where it is needed in bulk.

Typical anti-business young liberal who doesn't take the time to dig deep to report the details of anything before declaring it evil.

You may be right, this company might be making millions of dollars off of used clothing donations or they could be charging a nominal per-pound fee to cover the costs of business plus (Oh My!) some profit to incentivize further expansion and investment.

Isn't it more important, fellow American consumer, that you have so many choices on where to bring your barely-used mall clothing when it goes out of style?
4
Most of the time when I donate things I care most about getting rid of them and not really where they end up.
5
@3:Sounds like you're the one that needs to dig deeper. The problem of for-profit donation bins has been on the increase in recent years. Often they have deceiving signs or looks. In some cases they don't even have permission to place the bin where they put it.

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michi…

http://parkhowell.com/green-advertising-…

etc.

6
You are a very sucky donation chute.

Why can't you be more like the outdoor lending library of paperbacks I find when I walk from Fremont to the UW thru Wallingford?

Take take take. It's better to give.
7
That's it, I'm totally not returning these library books!

Also, what @3 said. Salvation Army has some dickhead policies, but they're also right by my house, and it's either them or the trash.
8
Many of those chutes (retexnorthwest.com, etc.) do things with your old clothing that local donations aren't equipped for, like provide used clothes to third-world people who need them, provide jobs and income via textile reclamation processes, and recycling old clothing and fabric into paper, rags or insulation.

Local donation is great for still-good clothing, but old t-shirts, raggy pants, worn-out jackets (and shoes, too) are a little tougher for the local places to handle, and these bins are a great way to avoid having those things just end up in the local landfill.
9
#3 Typical Republican ass: no research, no thought, only knee jerk accusations.
10
So, our old clothes could be funding the consumption of large quantities of Malt Liquor and Cocaine?
11
I appreciate the chute for those times when I'm getting rid of clothes that I can't imagine anyone wanting to resell. I imagined they were going to be made into furniture filling.
12
Lamest I Anonymous EVER!
13
@3 - What I'm getting from this I, Anon is that it's better to thoughtfully research your charity donations than to blindly dump your clothes in a box in the parking lot and congratulate yourself for your philanthropy. If you have no problem giving freely to a for-profit entity, good on ya', but the bins in question are often deceptive in what and whom they represent.
14
I somehow expected "donation chute" to be a fetish.
15
GAH can there be an app for this please? A chute tattler? Just kidding, I just go to Goodwill.
16
@14 I thought it was a euphemism that I didn't know about yet.
17
Somebody is just asking for bedbugs.
18
Also, overseas donations of clothing from the West is destroying poor countries' own clothing businesses. Tom's Shoes is destroying the Global South's footwear industry.
19
I know someone who used to live in a donation chute!
20
Chile receives these "donations" by the ton. (It is definitely a business.) People buy 100 kilo bales of clothes shipped in from the US and resell them on the street. I can go to thrift stores here and peruse racks and racks of unworn t-shirts from charity races, christian summer camps, and family reunions being sold at higher prices than in the US. Seriously, people in the US need to stop making t-shirts for every event.
21
Duh.

I don't dump my old and ill-fitting clothes into the for-profit "donation" bin because it gives me warm fuzzies. I do it to get rid of what is basically garbage.

Also I don't feel bad about dumping obviously worn-out clothes in those bins with the rest of it. Saves room in my trash can.
22
@2 Value Village is essentially the same as most chutes. They pay a very nominal per pound fee to non-profits who collect clothing. They pocket the rest. They are a for profit company based in Bellevue with hundreds of stores across North America. Their stores are usually called Savers or Value Village.
Goodwill and DESC's thrift store are the only secular non-profit thrift stores in the city of Seattle, that I know of. Deseret (mormon) and Salvation Army (Salvation Army) are non-profit thrift stores, with religious aims.
23
I put really ratty old clothes in dog beds. There are zipper covers and its all washable inside because it's clothes not polyfill.
24
Hey it's still better than throwing them away.. recycling good.. landfill bad.

I sometimes will use for rags in the garage.. or I like the suggestion to use in the dog bed!!
26
I piss in every "for profit" donation chute I know of. I suppose there's a market somehwere for American urine-stained attire. We are the best country in the world after all!
27
wth? just because you're non-profit doesn't mean you are noble. check some pay rates for GW executives.
28
Because profits are bad.
29
So what goes down at gas stations besides routine pumping?
30
99 cent breakfast burritos (?)
31
I think this rant is a shill, seriously. google Goodwill Executive pay,, it'll floor you. I'd rather give to an industrious soul, even if his business has to - God forbid - pay taxes.
32
I was wondering why I hadn't seen any homeless people wearing my polyester three-piece suit around town.
33
@5 I made no claim to be an expert on the subject and conceded that the author "may be right". Read again and you'll see I'm challenging Anon on their anti-business stance. A cheesy emotional appeal with 'for-profit' as the reason the chute is sad deserves to be questioned, so I questioned.

@9 Nice try, sis, but wrong. My liberal credentials are legit.
34
Don't chute chute chute that thing at me.
35
I thought a "chute" was where you thought you were going to fart, but ended up unloading a torrent of vile soupy fiscal matter, in a public place often while drinking. No?

But seriously, sure I like to give my garbage to non-profit / not-for-profit folks who more directly help the disadvantaged, but ultimately if it keeps it out of a landfill, why shouldn’t somebody profit from it? If the question is honesty is the issue, if these people donate even 2% or 5% to charity, it’s still a bonus over filling up a hole with it.
36
I'm with #21. I don't use the chutes because I feel it makes me morally superior, I use the chutes because my Mom died in February and her apartment is full of clothes she never wore. They don't fit me and no one else in the house wants them, so I'd they be used by somebody then rotting in landfill.
37
So what? How many places do you donate used clothes to give them away for free? Almost none is the correct answer. If I want to give away my garbage so someone else can wear it, I don't really care what happens with it at that point. Especially since I probably bought the stuff used in the first place.
38
msanonymous said:
I use the chutes because my Mom died in February and her apartment is full of clothes she never wore. They don't fit me and no one else in the house wants them, so I'd they be used by somebody then rotting in landfill.
Wow, money must grow on trees in your family. Many people would take *new* clothes and sell them to a resale shop. If there is a lot of clothes from, for example, an estate, many shops will come and see them in situ and make a bid, than haul them away, leaving you with cash.
39
@ 2: Value Village is for-profit. Their small % that is earmarked for "charity" is the only charitable thing about them. And, although I don't know much about american tax law, it probably amounts to a write-off.
40
Value Village (or Savers if you live outside the Pacific Northwest or Canada) has contractual agreements with local non-profit partners. These non-profits are paid a set price per pound for any clothing delivered to a Value Village store. Please note that Value Village pays for ALL the product delivered to them but per average only puts several items per 20-30 received on the sales floor.
41
Thank you, Anon! @3, if these for profits are so great, what's wrong with telling people that these donation chutes really are for profit? What's wrong with Anon telling people the truth? Do these businesses have something to hide?
42
@38 My Mom was a hoarder also I just don't care about the clothes, or getting money for the clothes. I figure as long as someone is getting some use out them that's fine.

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