Saw this coming a mile away
 

Welp, it finally happened. I went to my local Goodwill store on Saturday to make a rare TV donation, and they refused to take the set. This has changed since the last time I was there, which was less than a month ago. The set in question was a 1997 25" Sanyo that I had gone through and cleaned up; other than having a tired CRT, it worked fine. I ended up giving the TV to a couple of older ladies in the parking lot who needed a TV, go figure. Inside the store, there wasn't a single TV of any type on the shelves. Gee, I wonder why! Nobody is going to donate a working flat panel TV they can sell easily for a profit. This means that my area is now one of a growing number of places where a person or family that's down on their money can no longer buy a cheap, working TV from Goodwill. This also leaves me wondering how I can re-home working sets I don't want or need, as the other large local thrift store actively disposes of donated TVs. I am at a loss; obviously I have issues with curbing working TVs. It all makes me pretty sad...

Within a couple years, you'll start to see the smaller flat panels in the thrift stores too. Nobody really wants flat panels anymore that are smaller than 32", and the going rate here on a 32" flat panel is about $80 used on CL.

Every consumer good when it hits the 15 year mark becomes about as valueless as it's going to get. The trend tends to reverse once they hit close to 30 years old and they regain acceptance as "retro". Cars are a prime example of this.

They have done it. I was at the back of a local thrift when a donation came in. I was getting ready to leave and a couple ladies in a truck had what looked like a 55" - 60" flat screen and some other stuff in the back. Lets just say that sold PDQ. I've been in several places that had flats of varying sizes. Some places still accept crt but not much. I know one Salvation Army here has pretty much stopped altogether.

How do you sell a flat panel TV for a "profit"? They depreciate pretty fast, you are lucky to get 25-35% of the new price for a used one just a couple years old.

.

I would say, looking at FP ratings and reviews, that public knowledge of the short
life, and near impossible repair once they are 5 years old, the resale value of FP's
are going to drop faster than crt's did when people would buy used crt sets.

.

And they call this progress. New sets now are just junk really. They need to go back to what really worked and was repairable. Real investments. Tvs worth owning.

Totally agree with you, but sadly the manufacturers have a diametrically opposite view than we do. They WANT to sell junk so they can sell you a TV again (and again, and again, and again). They see it as an annuity!

It is odd that with user ratings, product reviews becoming a larger part of the purchase
decision, that new FP sets have a pretty bad reputation for reliability, and lasting
less than 6 years. You would think there would be more call to change the direction
of the product, but it seems that the newer better expectations of the next NEW model
are outweighing the disappointment of early product failure. Or do people now look
forward to early product failure so they now have a more "legitimate" new opportunity
to SHOP ! for new crap...

A couple of years ago me and the wife drove school busses for a short time, and we
witnessed kids of high school and middle school age throwing out ipods, and breaking
phones so they could complain to their parents and quickly get a new one.... In the
case of phones, they would get new ones quicker than the company upgrade cycle...
Were they insured ? Was it parents out of pocket paying for the new one...? I do know
that on sports trips I use to listen to parents talking about their kids, and family
cell plans.... 5-600./mo. Crazy....

I think the people who drive these markets have money to burn, and they
do it as much as they can.... I don't see how though, $36,000 car, house
payment, $300./mo cell $200./mo cable, I don't see how they come up
with all that money to blow each month, year after year.....
And a - what $2,000. tv every 3 to 5 years......


.

Regarding the people mentioned with all the monthly debt, they crash-and-burn immediately, if one of the earners lose their job.
Look what happened in the last 10 years or so, forclosures, evictions and such. The lucky ones, were bailed by parents or some one else. :sigh:

Yes, there certainly seems to be rampant, unbridled consumerism. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely like all the cool gadgets and shiny new products, but nobody seems to value what they already have and use it for as long as they possibly can. Or, Heaven forbid -- *do without* a non-essential product/device until they can pay for it.

Saw this coming a mile away
 

I think you hit the nail on the head here -- people actually want to always buy stuff. For some, it's an addiction the same as any other vice. But for others, I think our culture (in conjunction with Moore's Law) contributes greatly to the mindset that you aren't "hip" or successful if you don't always have the very latest electronics, cars, smartphones, etc.

You can post them in the Free section on CL. I see them all the time there.

There have been times when the local hospitals, etc have dumped ~1-2 dozen FP sets at the thrifts. Last batch were smaller 4:3 sets with respectable jack packs.

On the bleeding edge of HD broadcast, we bought a 55" Hitachi plasma back when they were lots of money. It was a great-looking set, but not natively full HD. As the years went on, things got to the point where a similar set could be had for $600 or so during the normal sale seasons. After sending it off to college with the kid, he and it returned home last summer. I had hoped it was a one-way trip. (The TV, not the kid.) We ended up donating it to a local makerspace to display the schedule for classes and upcoming events, on a continuous updated roll. It's gone off to digital signage heaven... but it's still going strong. At least I don't have to pay the electric bill for it any more.

So, not fifty years, but a good decade or so thus far.

Chip

I still see CRT TV's in the thrift stores; but, they don't appear to be moving very fast. I also see a few flat panels; but, they are usually either smaller sets or older bigger sets that people are getting rid of because they are over 5 years old.

I've pretty much stopped taking in any kind of TV, unless it's for my collection. For a number of years, I did really well with selling used CRT sets; but, they are not even worth fixing to resell anymore (even the less fortunate don't want them). A while back, I had a 20" Sony WEGA from 2002 (nice flat tube set with an extensive jack panel). I advertised it for $25 on the facebook "baby clothes and cell phones" pages and the only hit I got was some woman offering me $20, if it had the original remote. I told her that I'd take $20; but, for that price, she could buy her own $5 remote at the dollar store. I never heard another word from her, I eventually got pissed, pulled the ad, and gave the TV to the guy at the flea market for him to add to his collection of 30 similar type TV's that aren't moving. From now on, if any working CRT TV lands over here, I'll take it straight to the flea market and give it to them.

A while back, someone gave me a dead Samsung 32" LCD from 2012 and all it needed was a capacitor. I first thought about selling it; but, people around here would expect to get it for nothing and then they'd expect a lifetime warranty. Frankly, I don't have time for that crap, just to make a few dollars. So, the Sony I mentioned above came out of the living room and the Samsung took it's place. It's been working fine, my Mother is happy with it, and it will stay here until it dies.

In the old days, people didn't care how old a set was - just as long as it worked good. Now, they want the "latest and greatest" and they expect it for nothing.

Go back in a week or two and this will change. My local SA said no TVs without RCA jacks. Went back a few weeks later there were two older TV sets. No RCA jacks. Go figure.

I have an Insignia 19" flat panel, bought new in 2011. Works fine, going on five years old, not one bit of trouble with it from the day I unpacked it. I don't use it that much, so I'm expecting it will last a while yet. I read somewhere that if a TV set (for example) lasts through its warranty period, it will continue to work well indefinitely.

My set is already well past its two-year warranty and still works very well, so I am not expecting it to give me much if any trouble for at least a while yet. I've read on Insignia's support site of sets that have lasted well beyond the five-year mark, although some sets are beginning to show problems at this point such as lines in the raster, screen half light and half dark or completely dark on one side, and the like. Many flat-panel TVs fail simply because of accidents or even deliberate acts, such as throwing things at the screen in anger (this can and often does happen during football season when a fan gets upset because of a bad call), knocking the set off its stand or falling off a wall mount, power surges, etc., but if a flat panel manages to escape these hazards I don't see why it cannot last at least five years. Many flat screens go bad and are scrapped simply because of defective power supply capacitors, which I understand can make a very loud noise (akin to a bomb going off) when they explode--so when one goes, you will know it. However, replacing the bad capacitors is quite often all that is required to restore a "dead" flat screen to normal operation, although most non-technical folks don't know this and think that when they hear that sound or when the screen goes dark, the TV is worthless from that point forward.

They probably have a lot of customers that buy the older design sets, plus their inventory was low on TV's.
Better have a few sets on the floor, than none. :yes:

With Goodwill it is probably a national corporate decision. I hears someone got hurt handling a CRT set, and that is why they stopped accepting them in 2014....Been almost a year now and the only CRT sets they take or sell are 5" portable sets.....And the occasional random karaoke machine.

If they were sued and lost or settled, they probably will not take CRT sets that are not antique again.

The local SA never seemed to reject any TVs, but they have been gone 1-3 years now....and the others are quite a distance away.

The Goodwill here still takes in crt sets. They usually have around 10 or so at a time. Prices between 1$ and $15. As for flat panel sets, i imagine one could last awhile if it were not used much but use it every day and watch what happens. They dont hold up like crt sets and they never will. They're simply junk with a price tag thats too much. I've had 3 of them and i wont touch another. Didnt care for them and sold them while i was able too. I read somewhere that theyre made cheaply so they dont last long and theyre not practical to fix so consumers will go back out and buy another. This is how they make money. They income stops rolling in if everybody bought the set they wanted and it lasts 30 years. They know what they're doing.

I think the real reason for the decline in thrift stores taking CRT TV's, is you can't receive any over-the-air channels without an outboard tuner. Those customers that have $20 for a TV, may not have the $35 to $65 for a ATSC tuner.

Also, new ATSC tuner boxes are getting hard to find as new items in a local walk-in store. Around my area, everyone had them for a few months. Then, they basically went away. I'm sure that was done on purpose in order to force people into buying a new TV.

Sorry, but not everything in this world is a conspiracy. Sales went way below sustainable levels years ago, so production stopped and sales continued on existing inventory, which is finally being depleted. Very simple - manufacturers have to recover costs or else close the doors.

They're now pretty much a garage sale staple.

Also, the new go-to ATSC tuner solution is the integrated OTA tuner/DVR. Less than a hundred, but records un-encumbered transport streams automagically.

Chip

Yea .Who wants CRT TV anymore.I found 6 sets including a projection set in one night driving the next town over.

About 3 weeks ago somebody dropped off two CRT sets in front of the Goodwill container in front of the supermarket.I was afraid to touch them and take them away because its like stealing from the poor or getting arrested .

A month ago somebody dropped off a WEGA widescreen CRT set in front of the Goodwill container.

VCR's will be next to be eliminated at the goodwill center.If have already.

I havn't seen a tv at a thrift store for a few year's now. Hell, there's no stereo/radio equipment either. No real point for me to go to them anymore. There either throwing the stuff out or selling it online without putting anything on shelfs.

ATSC->NTSC converter boxes are still around on eBay. I was browsing that site earlier this evening and found several such converters, some without remotes but otherwise complete and operational.

BTW, until I read the posts in this thread, I was not aware that the demand for new converter boxes had decreased so much in recent times, but on the other hand it doesn't surprise me. I see Craig-branded HDTVs advertised for almost dirt-cheap prices in, of all places, the ad flyers for Rite Aid Pharmacy in my area, and other brands of HDTVs are coming down so much in price these days that it hardly makes sense to try to convert an old CRT set to DTV. This makes me think long and hard as well about trying to use one of my CRT sets with a Roku player and a Blu-ray player, which in turn means I may not even attempt such a thing when my current flat set quits--whenever that may be. I think of what jr_tech mentioned in his reply to one of my recent posts on this subject, and he is right on the mark. I do like the sharper, clearer pictures I get from my Roku, cable and DVD on my flat screen TV and probably wouldn't like having to go back to a CRT set, although I may have to for a short time if I must replace the flat set.

For the present time and as long as it works, however, I will enjoy my little Insignia 19" FP, as it still makes an excellent picture and has given me absolutely no trouble in the four years I've owned it. Given the reports I have read online regarding these TVs going bad within months, not years, of initial purchase, I think my set could set a record for longevity; I will just have to wait and see what happens. Many of the failures of these sets I read about on Insignia's support site involve TVs much larger than 19 inches, which leads me to believe that the larger sets are more prone to early failure than smaller ones. I once read somewhere in this very forum, several years ago, of someone who had a 15-year-old Coby flat panel that was still going strong; this was in response to a question I had asked regarding the life span of these sets. In fact, I think it may have been the owner of that 15-year-old Coby FP who told me my set could last that long. I don't use my TV that much, only for an hour or so in the evening to watch the news and, depending on what's on the networks or on cable, a program or two in prime time, although I honestly do not care for most of what is on prime time TV these days; for those times I have my own collection of DVDs and VHS tapes, mostly '60s-'70s TV series, which I watch on occasion, but again, not to excess.

I believe flat screen TVs that are used many hours a day are much more likely to fail early in their lives than sets which are used moderately (as in my case) or hardly at all. That I don't use my set for hours and hours every day may be one reason it has lasted as long as it has.

I'm sure if I did use it eight to ten hours a day or more, the set would have failed by now. The larger FPs will fail sooner than smaller sets because of the higher voltages and currents required to operate the screen, which means more strain on the often underrated components.

In simple terms, I am trying to say that very large flat screens, and by "large" I mean 60 inches and up (this includes the new curved 4K "UHD" sets), are more likely to fail within their warranty period than much smaller sets. I think this is a darn shame, as much as these TVs cost new (I've seen large-screen UHD sets priced very high, upwards of $1000, and Samsung's curved 4K UHD sets, not to mention their S-UHD monsters, can run even higher, depending on where you look).

I also believe that, if a TV (for example) lasts through its warranty period, it will continue to operate well for quite a while afterward. This is why I am not concerned about my own set failing any time soon; after all, the set had a two-year factory warranty, which has long since expired. The set is now in its fifth year of service, and still works every bit as well as it worked the day I unpacked it in August 2011. The TV will actually be five years old in May of this year, as that is the month the set was manufactured.

I have absolutely no idea what brand of capacitors are used in my set's power supply, but since the TV has lasted this long with no problems, I wouldn't be surprised if those caps are Nichicons or some other brand of high-quality capacitor that won't fail within weeks or months of being installed. This is not to say these capacitors, of whatever brand, will never fail; it does mean, however, that whatever brand of caps are in my FP right now have been good enough to last four years, and they could last longer. As little as I use my set, as I mentioned, I would not be surprised if I am still watching it a year or two from now.

The cheap sets found at discount stores, however, are another story. I give those sets six months, a year at most, before they suffer failures that will put them out of commission permanently. At the rates TV repair shops charge just to look at a set before taking the back off, let alone the actual charges for parts and service labor, it is hardly worth having such sets diagnosed, much less repaired--the cost of the diagnosis alone could well equal or even exceed the price of a new set.

But the result is still the same--once the supply of converter boxes runs out (this includes the ones currently on eBay), people will be forced to get a flat screen TV once their old set quits, whether they like it or not. Let's face it, the age of NTSC 4:3 TV has ended. We are now in the age of digital everything, including television, and there is no turning back.

HDTV is not all bad. I've had a flat screen set for over four years and I like it, a lot (much better picture and more channels than I ever dreamed would have been possible with analog), and my Roku player and Blu-ray DVD make my viewing experience even better yet. (How did I ever get by before HDTV?:scratch2:) One quirk in my personality is that I do not adjust to change easily, but eventually I do, and once I am past that block I'm OK with the changes; this is how I'm dealing with the changes, sometimes one after another, occurring these days in TV technology. The longer I have my flat screen, the more I like it. The only thing I can honestly say I do not like about HDTV is the fact that the sets don't last as long as the old NTSC CRT TVs did.

When my set quits, I may well get a larger one, although since my apartment is quite small, I might decide to get another 19-incher if they are still available. I say this because, with the switch to 4K "ultra-HD" television not far off, the makers of today's flat screens may well stop making 19" and smaller sets altogether. I read somewhere recently that 4K resolution does not display well on 19-inch TVs, if it will display at all, so the 19-inch and smaller flat screens may go the way of the ATSC->NTSC converters eventually, with no new sets of this size being manufactured after a certain date.

For jr_tech: I apologize if my post in which I all but said outright that I was dead-set against HDTV, after stating in another post that I liked the improved picture quality afforded by HDTV over analog NTSC, confused you in any way. As I mentioned above, it is just that I don't adjust to change easily. Now that I have a flat screen, a Blu-ray DVD player and a Roku player, however, I am enjoying television more than I ever did in the days of 4:3 NTSC, and I would probably miss it if it ever reverted to the old standards. Thank heaven the latter will never occur, since time and technology only move forward. One of the opening screens on my Tagital tablet PC, in fact (the last one that shows before the tablet's home screen appears), states "Tablet PC. Keep moving forward." This is what we all must do in this day and age, lest we are hopelessly left behind.

my TV viewing is still exclusively 4:3 standard def... but I'm definitley in the minority, I havnet had cable since 1998...just use VHS and DVD. Just before the local Goodwills stopped taking TVs i got a Sony 32" CRT high def set for $10 (still 4:3) but I don't have a digital video source to hook up to it yet. takes up a lot of space though, I may get rid of it once I get one of my vintage tube color sets up and going.

... have never been fortunate enough to find anything worth rescuing at a GW
... seldom stop there anymore ... have seen nothing but useless stuff people can not get rid of in a yard sale the last few times I did stop in

... here is a story from the local ABC station

http://www.wsiltv.com/news/local/Goo...330190761.html

Yeah Goodwill stopped taking TVs all together even LCDs from what I've heard, and the last time I saw TVs in a Goodwill store which was in April of this year they had two LCD TVs there and they both had busted screens, I'm thinking that part of the reason why Goodwill stopped taking TVs all together was because they were becoming too much of a liability for them (too many returns on broken LCDs, too many employees and customers getting injured while trying to carry CRT Televisions, expensive hazardous waste cleanup costs whenever a CRT TV was thrown into a donation bin and the CRT broke, etc).

... I recently posted a link from local ABC affiliate re: GW no longer accepting tv's
... stopped in the Carbondale IL GW today ... 11 sets on display for sale ... they ranged from a 36" Sharp set identical to my daily watcher to a matched pair of JVC 27" sets a few RCA bpc sets a few misc sets and , the pick of the litter , an all woodgrain plastic Zenith SentryII 20" set ... left them all there although was tempted to snag that Zenith ...
Stores must get to set their own policy on acceptable items ... BTW Carbondale is a major university town... SIU's enrollment is 16000 plus so that may have some bearing on management's decisions
All the sets I saw today were CRT sets

Some great reading in this thread, which I somehow forgot I posted! I very briefly tried offering TVs for free on Craigslist, but very quickly halted this practice because I was getting more scrappers than legitimate users!

Goodwill here still takes them. I let someone take about 12 sets 3 yrs ago thinking they would do something good with them. They left them out in the rain and a couple months later, they pop up on craigslist for free. I responded but when he admitted the whole time he had them, they were kept outside, I said forget it. Idiot even broke the best one in the lot by breaking the back off. Man was I pizzed.:thumbsdn:

I would also understandably be greatly upset if something similar happened to me. I think most everyday folks just don't have the same level of appreciation for this stuff that we do, and so things like this occur. This is why I try to make sure my sets go to people that will actually USE them. (This is getting more and more difficult.)

The Savers (Value Village) locations in my area still accept them and one local thrift does as well. The thrift is kinda crazy though, 27" and higher sets carry prices of $60-100+ while even 20" sets are $25 or so. They're all Y2K sets and trashed but at least they have them plugged in and running. The odd LCD I see there from time to time, even if it's tiny from a no-name brand, is always over $100. Funny thing is I hauled a late '90s RCA and JVC up there a few months ago and a worker said they were too old and they only accept flat panels. Probably just lazy that day.

Savers/VVs are much more reasonable, the highest price I've seen was a 36" JVC for $25. Picked up a like-new 20" Sony WEGA for a friend's son's retro gaming for $7.

Visited the thrift earlier today, took a few pics to show their craziness... (first pic is $24.24)

That's what they should be offering to haul them away.

Perhaps in your attempts to reason them down to a reasonable price you should repeat every word twice. :D

Haha, can only explain it that there's a city landfill about a mile away, so I think after a certain amount of time if they don't move they're just hauled to the dump. Seem to always have "new" CRTs every time I go every couple weeks.