Looking for a kid to take my cans/bottles for refund

[lusciousnichols.livejournal.com]

I would like to find a kid that lives in Davis Square who would take my cans and bottles back to the grocery store for the deposit. My aim is to provide some child or teenager the opportunity to make a few dollars, and it would take the task off of my hands.

Ideally, once I have a few bags full, I would call or email the kid to let them know I've put them on the porch and they can come and get them after school or whatever works for them.

I'm looking for a kid that's reliable and whose parents approve.

(We didn't have a "Jobs for Teenagers and Kids" tag so I have no taglings attached. Recommendations?)

Comments

[komos.livejournal.com]

It might be a crazy idea, but I'd recommend leaving them on the curb on recycling day. More than likely, someone who needs a couple of extra dollars will pick them up.

[jodi.livejournal.com]

great idea. our building isn't set up for the leave-it-out-in-the-alley-and-let-someone-take-it method and so it goes into city recycling. i would rather a deposit be claimed by someone.

[ron_newman]

I can't help with your real question, but I did add a couple of appropriate tags. "Garbage" really covers everything related to trash, recycling, composting, where to donate unwanted used stuff, etc.

[lusciousnichols.livejournal.com]

Ron, my main man...

Is there a tag anywhere for kids and teens to pick up odd jobs on here?

[ron_newman]

No, because tags get created here once there are a number of posts on a similar subject.

[bitvoid.livejournal.com]

I'd guess kids today can probably make more money leveling WoW characters for yuppies than recycling bottles. Maybe you could just point out your porch to a homeless person who does your street on trash day anyway?

A homeless kid might work.

[tt02144.livejournal.com]

I think it's a great idea to give a kid the chance to earn a few dollars and start building a work ethic. My nephew lives near Porter, maybe he'd be interested. You can feel free to e-mail me off list.
And by the way, I do often leave my own bottles and cans out for people who forage through the bins, but one of the 'homeless people' who does my neighborhood drives through in a Chevy Avalanche!

[lusciousnichols.livejournal.com]

I haven't figured out how to find email in here. I'm LJ challenged and pretty clueless as to how it works in here, so please email me at lusciousnichols@gmail.com and I'd be happy to give your nephew my soda cans and bottles.

And thanks for the reply too :-)

[ron_newman]

I don't see any way to e-mail tt02144 either. His/her e-mail address is not in his/her profile.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

I think you'd have to have an awful lot of bottles to make this anywhere near attractive enough for anyone to do it for just a cut of the money involved.

[lusciousnichols.livejournal.com]

Well, I wasn't expecting to see a 12 year old with a 6 figure income on my porch, so you can sleep well tonight.

I really don't get the lack of work ethic...oh wait...yes I do.

;-)

[derekp.livejournal.com]

Okay, let's get specific then. How many bottles/cans are you talking about? Let's say it's even $5 worth and that you were going to give the kid all of that money. That's 100 cans and bottles. These cans and bottles may, or may not have some residual liquid left in them. This kid certainlty doesn't have transportation other than his feet or his bike.

So he or she is going to come to your house, gather up 100 bottles and cans into a trash bag or two, balance them on their bike, ride down to the grocery store, and then feed them one-at-a-time into the recycling machine. For this, they'll get the whopping sum of $5. $5 isn't what it used to be. What's a kid going to buy with $5? He'd need to do it two times just to go to a movie.

I wouldn't question work ethic of a kid who didn't want to do this so much as I would applaud their business sense. Their time is better spent shoveling driveways, sweeping walks, doing chores. The return-bottles-for-profit market has been cornered by adults with cars and homeless people with shopping carts. They can do the kind of volume that makes it worth their while.

[lusciousnichols.livejournal.com]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and ideas.

As far as leaving it out for the homeless or dumpster divers, I don't think my neighbors would be thrilled with me encouraging more scavengers making a mess of their garbage too. We've had plenty of "divers" make a huge mess rifling through the garbage and it doesn't get picked up by the garbage people because it's been ransacked.

But I did see a guy pushing a Shaw's grocery cart up my street last summer. He was collecting bottles and cans, so I gathered up everything I had and filled his cart. I was relieved to not have to cart them to the store.

Although it did make me wonder why he didn't just sell the grocery cart to make some money? Aren't those carts something along the lines of $500?!

[somertricky.livejournal.com]

If you do leave cans and bottles streetside, I would recommend bagging them separately and leaving them alongside but not in the recycle bin. The regulars pick up on this real fast, and don't even rifle through the bin anymore: they know the returnables are in the bag.

Seriously. Four cases of bottles is still 20 cents shy of five bucks. Unless you have nightly parties, I'd just leave the 35 cents at the curb.

[ron_newman]

I'm wondering how he got the grocery cart out of Shaw's parking lot, since they are designed to have their wheels lock up as soon as they leave the lot.

[derekp.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered if this was actually true. When I take a quick look at the carts themseleves I don't see any sort of receiver in them. I guess for full effect the receiver could actually be embedded inside one of the wheels. I've been tempted to try leaving the lot with one just to see what happens.

[ron_newman]

Try it. One of the wheels looks different from the other three, and it will lock up as soon as you try to leave the parking lot of the Porter Square shopping center.