Trading useful “junk” items?

[Sheffie]

I have a bunch of things in my various boxes that I don’t think I would ever use. S64 straights, insulated unijoiners, Kato point power cables, catenary poles and supports... it’s too many things to list. 

 

The point is, there’s a lot of different items, all of which could be really useful to someone else, but none of which seems worth the trouble of writing up a For Sale post, or even putting a price on. 

 

So I was wondering whether there was a good way for us to redistribute these things among ourselves, in the hope that one person’s trash becomes another’s treasure. 

 

Now, my wife has a thing going on with a group of friends where they mail a gift box to whoever needs cheering up. It has a dozen cute happy things in it, just nonsense novelties and gifts. But each recipient is supposed to take out whichever item makes them happiest, and put in something else before mailing it on.

 

Perhaps we could do something similar?

 

... I don’t think that this is something that works, if you seriously want to crunch the numbers and make it cost effective. Probably a google doc where anyone can list an item makes more sense, and the only time an item gets mailed is when we know someone wants it. But it might be fun to have a box of curiosities doing the rounds. 

 

Thoughts?

[gavino200]

I'd be a bit conflicted. I'd actually love to receive a big bag of junk/treasure. I would, on the other hand have a hard time contributing. I mean, I don't know if I could bear to part with my own junk. I already think of it as potential treasure waiting for it's perfect need. 

 

Feel free to just pack up your railroad junk and send it to me 🙂

[Kiha66]

Its a interesting thought Tim!  Most of my junk spares I am happy to make available for friends, but also its hard to know what people need unless someone specifically asks for something.  

[cteno4]

Sheffie,

 

nice idea. Only issue is the shipping costs. If it’s little stuff in a padded envelope that’s thin it can go for a couple of bucks. But a pile of stuff is going to be a bit of money to send the box along. Even though I would love to see a goodie box I could pick thru, personally I have way too much stuff to participate and my additions would just jack up the shipping! Maybe a starting point could be to start with just a list of stuff up for grabs in the classifieds. Maybe just ask for cost of shipping?

 

years ago when tomytec vehicles were really coming out fast, a bunch of us looked at doing a big trade list for vehicles. Turned out it just didn’t work out well with the shipping costs involved.

 

jeff