Advice Needed

[joelippard]

Hey guys I wanted to get different opinions on how I would go about collecting here in my area. I'm thinking in terms of the places we have that sell new stuff (and haul off the old) such as Lowes, Home Depot and Best Buy. We also have a few other private owned appliance dealers. I'm just thinking that fine vintage machines could be on their way to the dump and I'd like to know where the "graveyard" is.

Could you all suggest some ideas about how I would search these things out, and how some of you have gone about it in the past.

Thanks for the help,
Joe

 

[turquoisedude]

Joe, I've always wondered about how to get in touch with those 'haul-away' services, but retailers don't like to give out that kind of information! One source of vintage appliances that has worked for me is in vacation home areas - people sometimes buy a cabin or lake house full of all kinds of vintage appliances and they just wind up scrapping them! The upside is that there are often second-hand stores in those areas that will pick up vintage appliances and re-sell them. It's worth a try!

 

[panthera]

One modest suggestion

I make a point of being genuinely nice (faking it doesn't work with people in these professions, they can smell it a mile away) to the folks who work at the Salvation Army, Savers, Arc and - at those stores where they permit employee/customer contact, Goodwill.
I volunteer at the Salvation Army, move heavy stuff for the ax-murderesses at St. Vincent de Paul's...
Drive the guy with cataracts to his doctor's office who runs the warehouse for one thrift store in town...

But it has to be real. If you are only in it for you, they won't help you.

Of course, it also helps that when I want something specific, I 'to insure performance' in advance with clear details on what I want. Got me a few things which I thought otherwise impossible to find. Just, the more morally upright the management pretends to be, the more subtle you have to be...

And I share. Hell, I even try to help the blue-rinsed ladies who hate my guts.

In the collector's game, what goes around comes around.

Good luck!

 

[laundromat]

I worked at both Lowe's and Homo Depot.Both companies refuse to let anybody take anything from their used lot.It's a legal issue.Evidently,others who either took and used themselves or rebuilt and sold used had issues with injuries so severe that the folks who got them and were injured in some way got information and were able to pin point the origin of the appliance's location prior to it being in their possession and sued The Home Depot,Lowe's and Sears for allowing faulty equipment to be rebuilt and resold.Henceforth,none of these companies are allowed to let any used,broken,dented or dead appliances go anywhere but the dump.They themselves choose who it is to pick them up. The Home Depot I worked had a dumpster that would crush anything and everything. We'd have a dented GE Profile JBP85 and after getting approval from our GE Rep.,we'd remove all tags with the model and serial number,place it in a GE book and slide that range down the shoot and had to stay there until the crusher went through the entire cycle being sure no parts of any kind could be taken. Very strict.Anyone caught taking even an ice tray would be permanently terminated.Corporate usually recommended the company to take the old ones away just before the new store opened.

 

[goatfarmer]

If I see something behind a dealer I'm interested in, I'll go inside, and say "I'm interested in the (fill in the blank) out back. Is it available?". If they ask why, I say I have one like it, and need another one for parts
They will either give it to me, sell it to me, or tell me so and so is picking them up, it can't be had. Then I decide if I want it bad enough to contact so and so. Tell the same story to them.

Places around here like Lowes, are sewed up, so to speak, by used dealers, and it's almost impossible to get anything from them.

 

[laundromat]

I worked at both Lowe's and Homo Depot.Both companies refuse to let anybody take anything from their used lot.It's a legal issue.Evidently,others who either took and used themselves or rebuilt and sold used had issues with injuries so severe that the folks who got them and were injured in some way got information and were able to pin point the origin of the appliance's location prior to it being in their possession and sued The Home Depot,Lowe's and Sears for allowing faulty equipment to be rebuilt and resold.Henceforth,none of these companies are allowed to let any used,broken,dented or dead appliances go anywhere but the dump.They themselves choose who it is to pick them up. The Home Depot I worked had a dumpster that would crush anything and everything. We'd have a dented GE Profile JBP85 and after getting approval from our GE Rep.,we'd remove all tags with the model and serial number,place it in a GE book and slide that range down the shoot and had to stay there until the crusher went through the entire cycle being sure no parts of any kind could be taken. Very strict.Anyone caught taking even an ice tray would be permanently terminated.Corporate usually recommended the company to take the old ones away just before the new store opened.

 

[joelippard]

Thanks Guys!

We do have a local Habitat "Home Store" around here and I've seen a few interesting things in there. One week they had a Center Dial Tag, but I'm not a Maytag person myself, I'm pretty much a Frigidaire guy. They have a 50's GE ironer in there but it's priced way too high. I'll have to keep a more regular eye on that place.

It really sucks that there is so much red tape with places like Lowes, and other major retailers... almost everyone is ready with a lawsuit these days.

I've found out where there are several dumps here in our County and where the main landfill is located. I might make a few trips and talk to a few people.

I think if I were to find a used lot somewhere I may just help myself if there was something I wanted and no one was around. I still need to drive out to the country and look around for some old appliance places that may be closed, never know what may be lurking around... I'm just not good at finding things like that. I also thought about getting a newspaper more regularly and looking for estate sales. I know there have to be some good things around here in this town that either I would like, or that deserve to be saved.

I am wanting so badly to find a Jet Action Frigidaire. This is the only place I could say this and not be considered crazy, but I went to sleep last night with sound of the deep action agitator in my head.