Some people are so disrespectful!
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
United States
May 4, 2010 4:04pm CST
I see these giant yellow bins all over the place in my town. They are Planet Aid bins (planetaid.org). Right on these bins in giant black letters it says Clothes and Shoes. Basically you drop off your used clothing and shoes and they recycle them by giving them to the needy, or selling them to support other programs.. either way it's helping someone less fortunate. I myself have deposited a few bags of unwanted clothes and shoes, mostly because of the ease of it. There are 2 yellow bins right up the road from my house which I pass by every time I go anywhere!
The problem is many times I see things that are not clothing or shoes sitting around these bins. I've seen vaccuum cleaners, baby car seats, toys, etc etc. Now I suppose they can find uses for these, but I'm pretty certain that the bins are strictly for clothes and shoes!
Today while passing by the bins I saw a BROKEN sofa! This sofa had no back on it.. just seats. Well seeing that just ticked me right off. I mean it's bad enough to ignore the "Clothes and Shoes" sign.. but to leave something that's basically unusable?? The worst of it is someone had to load this piece of cr@p into their car to bring it to the bins... was it really that hard to bring it to a garbage dump? Basically now this broken sofa is somebody else's problem, and the Planet Aid people are probably going to have to waste their own time, money, and resources to dispose of this useless sofa. Arg! That's so frustrating!
Thanks for letting me rant! Does it bug you when people donate useless items like this? Have you seen anything worth sharing here? Do you have Planet Aid bins in your town?
4 people like this
16 responses
@WANDALIE44 (888)
• United States
4 May 10
i can agree with you that is very disrecptful, those people have no home training and prolly dont even know what morals are! we herein springfield have the same thing but for goodwill and they are built in the shape of houses, the other day i was walking buy and this guy was tryning to force a small t.v into the slot, i am so sorry but i had to tell him it was for clotches and shoes and he just shrugged his shoulders and said i just want to get rid of the damn thing, thank god thier was an officer passing by, and he gave up and took the tv with him. but these people have no brains and clearly cnt read or have anything understanding about that these orginizations are trying to do.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
4 May 10
There are lots of ways to get rid of unwanted things, like putting it out on your own curb! If someone wants it they'll most likely come pick it up, or at the least the trash man will take it away if it's a small item. Now granted with a sofa it's a bit more difficult because the trash man will not just grab that and throw it in the truck, I think you'd have to pay extra to dispose of it.. but as I said, if you're going to go through the trouble of loading it into your car, the least you can do is drive it to a dump.. and I know for a fact there is a dump no more than 15 minutes drive from here.. it's really not that difficult!
@WANDALIE44 (888)
• United States
4 May 10
ys you are right,th ity o sprinfield has these stickers for bulk items, that you can purchase at city hall or big y supermarkets, and you have to schedule for them to come out and pick these iteam up, also i hav found tru craigslist that some times people re looking for items just for spare parts, and if such items like t.vs and sofa are in mint condition you can also call salvation army truck and they can get it off your hands, their is so many ways of getting rid of these things, i agree it's nothat difficult but that's hat you call a lazy person with no self respect!!
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
5 May 10
I have not seen Planet Aid bins, but they have red ones for donations around. What totally ticks me off is seeing trash all over the place driving around. The busier streets around here have garbage cans on almost every block yet you see trash all over the block or things thrown on the ground next to the trash can. Bus stops are the worst. There is one bus stop I drive by every morning taking Jeremy to school that the person who lives in the house that the bus stop is in front of has chained a garbage can to the trash can just to avoid trash being thrown in their yard. Sadly it does not help much because there is still trash all over the ground around it.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 May 10
Before we moved here we had a large corner lot right up the road from the middle school. Most of the middle schoolers walked past our corner on their way to and from school.. and we'd find all sorts of trash on our yard. It also ticked me off that the kids would cut through our backyard instead of walking around the corner on the sidewalk. I realize that house was empty for awhile before we moved in, but it was obvious we lived there, and I got sick of everyone treating my house like it was community property. Though it isn't much better where I am now.. but right in front of me is the community office so at least nobody puts trash in my yard. I do have the problem with people and kids hanging out on my property though, grr.
1 person likes this
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
5 May 10
Hi Kats,
Yes, it irritates me to no end. We have those boxes here as well. They are so handy and they help so many people. Whenever I see junk piled up by them I think , "great, when will they decide that it isn't worth having these boxes placed out here." It is not just disrespectful, Kats. It is also inconsiderate and selfish etc. Those people spend money to dispose of those items that are useless which takes away from the very people they are trying to help. Poor people do care about their surroundings and their clothes. It is insulting to donate useless items or clothes that are torn and stained or out-dated. If you have a decent car seat or vacumm or something to donate then it can easily be donated to a local thrift shop or salvation army. By putting them outside of those boxes, you are risking them being ruined in the weather being useless to anyone.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 May 10
Yes, that's true too. The vaccuum cleaner may have been usable, but you don't know when the truck comes to pick up the contents of the bin, so it could be ruined by the time the truck comes to get it. That's just laziness and not thinking. There's a Salvation Army about 15 minutes away that is open 6 days a week, it's not hard to bring the stuff there, and they'll actually sell any useful item, not just clothes. Though this sofa was still trash and should have been brought to the dump!
@cbjones (1147)
• United States
4 May 10
I haven't seen any Planet Aid bins anywhere in my town. I'll be on the lookout for them though, I've got some old clothes that I don't wear anymore that are just going to waste sitting in my closet.
There are times when I question just how much some people really care about their fellow man. People who donate cans of beets to a food drive should really get smacked in the head. beggars can't be choosers, but beets can't be considered as a welcome donation if you have working taste buds either.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
4 May 10
OMG you're funny! There've been a few times my family has needed help from a food pantry, and some of the stuff they give us ends up being given right back because there's no way I'd ever use it. Actually my local food pantry gives fresh ground beef, chicken, and milk, and the last couple times I've gotten food from them was ONLY for those fresh items. All the canned and boxed goods went back because they're useless to us. The worst is I need 3 boxes of hamburger helper for my family (I have 5 kids) but they only give us 1 box of some generic stuff. I'm not complaining that it's generic, but I did say we're a family of 7 and the box says it serves like 3 or 4 people or something like that.. hello!
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
4 May 10
Well, I think part of it is being disrespectful for sure. However, I think another part of it is lack of reading comprehension. That can lead to a lot of the problems. Not saying that it is an excuse. However, it is a potential reason. Still, it can be troublesome when people do not put the proper items in something, regardless of the reasoning.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
4 May 10
Whether they can read or not does not explain for the fact that the sofa was broken. Who in their right mind would assume you can donate a broken sofa?
@kedralynn (980)
• United States
4 May 10
We have similar bins at some of the stores here. They're for donating canned food. But I often go to put something inside and find garbage! Empty cups and dirty napkins and stuff. These aren't garbage cans and they're clearly labeled for donations. That kind of disrespect really upsets me.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (92794)
• United States
5 May 10
Stuff like that gets on my nerves too. Our church used to have one of those big green and yellow bins for people to put paper in, to be recycled. I don't know how many times I would go to put old newspapers in the bin, only to see a bunch of garbage in the bin as well. I caught someone in that neighborhood taking their garbage to our church and dumping in the recycler. And it isn't like they didn't know what it was for. The bin says clearly what it is, and what it is not.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 May 10
Some people are just lazy jerks! If everyone had just a little bit more common decency our world would be a much nicer place to live in.
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
5 May 10
Our boyscouts locally collect cans to raise money for the kids to go to camp. Well some people drop their trash in it...for a while they removed the containers because of the problem. They are back now and hopefully people will have some respect. I also a few years ago had to get a dumpster when someone repaired my garage. Well people felt free to throw their trash in it! I was not pleased!
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
6 May 10
Years ago we got a dumpster so we could clean out our basement, and the little old lady next door came over to ask if she could throw in some piece of plywood she'd had sitting around for awhile. It was nice that she asked because any other neighbor probably just would have thrown it in at night while we were asleep. We let her of course.
@skysuccess (8858)
• Singapore
5 May 10
katsmeow1213,
People are always taking the easy way out and could be so disgusting at times like these.
I do not know just how these people can be living in total oblivion and illiteracy to put a totally unusable sofa around these bins. And I have seen worst where people just dispose garbage and trash into these bins.
In some countries, I see these bins being ransacked by people in the middle of the night for plastics, to make some extra money by selling these harvested polyurethane bottles and what have yous to the local recycling collection centers.
In my place, we have recycling bins, but at some vicinities they are being treated like trash bins. I just feel disgusted when I see these people literally dumping away.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 May 10
Around here a lot of people dump stuff at the Goodwill stores in the middle of the night, and I'll also see others going through the stuff.. not necessarily to sell.. but that's still technically stealing from the Goodwill store.
@dawnald (85146)
• Shingle Springs, California
5 May 10
I was expecting you to say that people were using them like trash cans and dumping their soda cups and things in there. But just as bad dumping stuff that absolutely can't be used as a way to avoid having to get rid of it yourself. some people are just idiots...
And nope, I've never seen a Planet Aid bin. We did use to have a Goodwill truck stationed pretty near my work, but they're not there any more. We have to schlep down to the thrift store or somewhere now if we want to donate, or schedule a Salvation Army pickup.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 May 10
Well I'm sure that happens too, but the bins are enclosed.. sort of like a very large mail box, so we cannot see inside it. I would not be surprised if there were trash inside as well.
@4ofmyown (1119)
• United States
8 May 10
I have never heard of Planet Aid bins but we have something similar that I see here and there. For the most part the ones around here are over-loaded with bags (I am hoping they are full of clothes and shoes), which is a good thing! Every once in a while I will see something like you mentioned and I agree, that is pathetic. It amazes me how some people think that just because someone might need a little help that it is okay to give them crap! I usually donate all my kids clothes to a local shelter but I never give them stuff that is stained or torn. It sounds like people use those drop of sites as their personal dumping grounds!
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
8 May 10
I will donate stained and torn clothing.. as long as it's not so torn it's unusable, just because you never know what someone could use it for. Someone could repair the small tears and the clothes would be good as new, or they could use the stained clothes as an art smock or something. I prefer not to throw things away if it could be used or repaired by someone else...but like I said, there's a difference between possibly usable and complete garbage... garbage should not be donated!
@redhotpogo (4401)
• United States
5 May 10
hmmm. I don't see the big deal. They started off, by collecting clothes for people, and now they're getting other things. Maybe they should set up more bins. Nothing is useless.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 May 10
A broken sofa IS useless.. it's trash, and now a not for profit organization has to waste precious money and resources to dispose of it. It's extremely rude of the jerks who left it there.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
5 May 10
There is no back attatched to the sofa.. it's 3 seats and nothing more. I do not see how it's worth anyone's time or money to repair this. There are places that sell used sofas in decent enough condition for much cheaper than it would cost to fix this half a sofa.
@redhotpogo (4401)
• United States
5 May 10
A broken sofa can be fixed, recycled. It doesn't cost much money. Its cheaper than buying a new one. I've done it myself.
@alexzizi123 (307)
• United States
4 May 10
That does sound frustrating, but I would like to ask which level of society you occupy or have occupied that would lead to an event like this eliciting a reaction like that in you. I am not trying to cast aspersions on your personality, but it is interesting to note that many of the people I know would never give something like this a second thought.
1 person likes this
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
4 May 10
I think anyone with common courtesy, respect, and morals would also find this extremely disrespectful. People who leave TRASH where it doesn't belong, are TRASH themselves!
@jap468 (106)
• United States
5 May 10
Well in my town we don't have any planet aid bins, but I started a donating drive and successfully get a lot of food and clothes to donate. I think it is terrible for people to just donate random stuff. Things like that would make me angry as people are like being ignorant and stuff.
1 person likes this
