I learn a lot of things from Facebook, how about you? In fact I learned about the service this post is about on Facebook, you might have, too. Have you heard of GiveBackBox? A woman named Monika Wiela founded it in 2012 after she saw a homeless man on the streets of Chicago asking for shoes. Her company, at the time, had a lot of empty boxes. And her researched showed that tons of unused goods ended up in the landfill. So she came up with an idea, a way to help people, reduce waste, AND give those boxes a second life. You can fill up a box with stuff you want to donate, then print a label and it will get shipped for free.
There are retailers that have partnered for free with GiveBackBox. They help promote the service. Customers fill their empty boxes with clothes and household goods around their houses that they want to get rid of. If you are particular about what charity you are donating to then you might not want to use this service because they ship to the closest participating one to you. But if you just want to have a box of donations picked up and shipped for free, this is an amazing way to do it. You can also drop off the box at a post office or UPS store.
Yeah, you just fill up a box with stuff you want to donate, then print a label and it will get shipped for free. Some partners, such as eBags, request that you donate “bags”. Things like purses, luggage, business cases, backpacks, and duffels. Then they will give you a $25.00 credit to buy one of their bags.
I think this type of service would help reduce the number of us that drive around with stuff to donate in our trunks for longer than we care to admit. Right? Have you done that? I had thought I was the only one until I started to see memes about it. Then I knew that it was just something many of us do . . . .for whatever reason. Well, this could solve that. Instead of filling up a box and letting it sit in your trunk for months. Fill up the box, print the label, then get it picked up! Sounds too simple to be true, huh? Well, perhaps it is. I don’t know, I have not used the service, but when I heard about it I thought it was a great solution to a lot of situations. I thought that maybe not everyone saw it on Facebook, so I could post about it to help get the word out about it. I think having the boxes I receive stuff in be used to get filled with items I want to pass on – and being able to print a label – and then have someone come pick it up – yeah, a lot of things taken care of right there.
What do you think? Is this a great idea? Will this help you get some of those items you want to donate out of your house and on their way?
So you may have heard about the fires in California. It is that time of year. There are always fires in California. There is a fire season, just like there is a tornado season and a hurricane season. It happens. The problem with this year is that we are in a bad drought. The fact that we have no water to spare is what makes it so bad. I did also hear that one of the fires – there are hundreds of fires burning right now, twelve of them are being called major fires – is the worse that we have had in a very long time. I keep reading stories of people losing their homes and animals. But I am also reading a lot of really nice stories. Have you seen any of those?
“UPDATE: We have a huge warehouse arranged by Brenna Sullivan at the Farm Burearu (no relation…we don’t think) The first semi is arriving mid-morning and will have a squeeze there to unload. We have dispensed over $1000 from the Lakeport stores to folks with multiple horses on their property, just today. We are aiming for long term support here so people are not having to make sad decisions down the road after all the hoop la is over. THANK YOU ONE AND ALL for your participation. Suppose to rain…..
Then there was a group of people who banded together with horse trailers and trucks offering to transport animals in need of relocation. (The picture above with the trucks.)
Terre Pruitt's Blog 