[Gerda]

I know in one of my posts I told you guys (and staci said it too) about the toys r us not handing out displays. well I was so upset I emailed them about how it was just wrong to fill up the land fills with all this stuff that could easily be recycled and reused, I was surprised when I got this reply from them

Thank you for contacting Toys "R" Us. I apologize for the delay in response to your e-mail.
Unfortunately we do not own the displays our selves. They are property of the vendor and under our contract with each vendor they require that we dispose of the displays when they are no longer needed. If the various parts of the display are recyclable the store will put them into the proper bin so that they can be recycled and waste is reduced. I do apologize that we are unable to give or sell these displays.


gues it's not so much the stores fault as it is every dealer they deal with, BUT so why can other stores hand them out? It's still so wrong



gerda

[Smurfysmurf]

It doesn't make sense .... if they throw it away...why not just give it away. It shouldn't make one bit of a difference to them

[SmurfingH]

It doesn't make any sense at all, does it?

[bradley]

that's a bit like movie posters/banners/displays at cinemas. The cinemas are not allowed to give away the displays. They all have to be sent back to the the production studios (like Warner Brothers, Universal etc) to where they came from. So a tip when it comes to the Smurfs movie and the promotional displays and posters in cinemas, email or phone your local Sony Pictures to ask if you can have the display from your local cinema when they no longer need it. They might say yes. My brother did this last year to obtain a "Dark Knight - The Joker" banner from our local cinema. The cinema said he couldn't have it because they send all the displays back. So he contacted the studio in Melbourne who said yes he could and they contacted the cinema to let them know he could have it.

With Toys R Us and other shops, I expected all displays are binned. But I'm surprised Toys R Us won't compromise and let you have the displays. My cousin works at my local Toys R Us so if they ever have any displays, maybe I'll be lucky he might be able to save them.

[André]

Gerda,

this sounds just like when I was working with computerparts. Many of the parts scrapped was perfect and working well but was scrapped because of overstock or out of warranty. We got money from Fujitsu, Philips, Samsung etc to scrap these parts and even if we thought it was a waist just to send them recycling, these parts could under no circumstances been given away or sold, without the permission of the manufacturer. There were some trouble with a company transporting the parts to recycling and they saved some parts and put them together and sold them later. This company was not allowed to transport these parts after this incident.

But I agree with you that it really is a waist throwing things if there are people wanting them.

But in the same time I can see their point of view.

And maybe it is difference between a harddisc and a poster. But where do we draw the line???? My father got a question once when he was working with security, which he told me: - Are there a difference if a employee steals a pen or a computer? I don´t want to answer this one but you see the point, right.

But as long as you ask them, you can´t loose. Either you get it or you ask somewhere else. Just keep asking Gerda.

I am the kind of person who saves everything and don´t throw anything away( can be useful in the future, right). My wife is the opposite. But that is great because otherwise we wouldn´t have any room for my smurfs now I guess.

/André

[Smurfysmurf]

What parts were those? I can kind of understand it in regards to electronics as they can always get into the hands of people who copy it and then sell it for much less.

I guess, in a way the same can be said about display items for collectibles..it's only....they throw it away anyway, so what is the loss if they give it away instead?

In the case of the Toys R Us display, it's "only" a huge poster that can't be copied anyway.

BTW, I didn't ask for it at the store in my area but I am sure I would have received the same answer

[eggie smurf]

I have a very good photo of the poster and was thinking of just getting a copy done online (on snapfish)...would look just as nice so that's always an option

[Gerda]

I can see the point Andre, and steeling is steeling if it is something small or big it is still wrong. I just never understood the mentality of why someone would not want someone else to have something that they where going to throw away in the first place. Our town use to have a trash week where people could throw whatever did not fit into there garbage bins out on the curb and the city took it away. Most things where just trash but other people would throw out things they just did not have any use for anymore. Many people (including myself) would drive around and collect treasures like this. Well the city got rid of it because one the cost and two people complained that someone was going through there stuff. I don't get it, I mean if I had something that there was nothing wrong with it and I knew someone else could use it then why would I say NO it is getting tossed. I just can not wrap my brain around it.

I too am a pack rat and can't throw anything out so don't feel bad Andre. Robert use to be like your wife and toss everything but he dont dare to now. So we have crap stuffed in every corner of the addict, basement, garage and shed. It's bad but like you said you never know when you can use it.

[Smurfysmurf]

Our town use to have a trash week where people could throw whatever did not fit into there garbage bins out on the curb and the city took it away. Most things where just trash but other people would throw out things they just did not have any use for anymore. Many people (including myself) would drive around and collect treasures like this

I remember that from Germany...it was always a lot of fun

[Tojo]

Yeah, they still do that here

When Daniel was a baby I was pushing him in his pram when we passed a house & there was a huge pile of children's stuff outside. There was a load of Duplo (the big lego bricks) & a bucket so I filled the bucket & the pram - you could hardly see Daniel

The kids still play with the Duplo today so it was worth walking past that house that day

[André]

It was all different kind of computerparts Maureen,

You know motherboards, graphiccards, harddisc, covers, keyboards, speakers, everything.

I personally was working with the swap procedure of the Philips monitors in Scandinavia. And the thing about the scrapped parts are that the money we got from the manufacturer: We got paid to scrap AND recycle these parts. That means sorting plastic, metal etc. And then if if the parts were given away we sort of took money from the manufacturer.

If you look at computerparts many parts that earlier were repaired like keyboards, powersupplies etc. nowadays are scrapped directly in the systems, as soon as you recieve it back from the customers, who say these don´t work. There are no economy in repairing these parts, because of the time it takes and the price on the new ones. And off course many of these parts are working perfect. I guess you know there are a lot of things besides the keyboard that could be the problem if it doesn´t work. Software, wireless connections, many times the person using the computer etc.

Off course I didn´t buy any computerparts at all when I was working there but I always made sure I had a paper from the company that it was OK to bring parts home.

But it is very easy for some people to take thing home and telling that it is for personal use only and then selling them on ebay or to friends. And that is the problem. It is no problem if you keep them for yourself.

For example the BASF-smurfette. Is it OK for a employee to ask the company for one or maybe two, saying that you are giving these away for free so why can´t I get these. And then he or she is selling them on Ebay. How many should they then give to the employees. ?????

It is very hard to know if people are keeping them for themselves or actually making money on the parts.

/André

[Smurfysmurf]

I think the case of the BASF smurfette is different as it is my understanding that those are giving away at the fair...and we find most of them on ebay so you know they will get into the hands of sellers, and I am sure BASF is aware of that by now as well

I agree with everything else, Andre....it's always a few that spoil it for the rest of us, isn't it

[André]

That´s right Maureen,

and I also think it is wrong to throw things that other people want. And the best thing for enviroment and recycling is if it still can be used by someone who wants it. Unfortunatly it doesn´t work this way all the time.

Sometimes it seems manufacturer wants as much old things as possible to be thrown, to be able to sell more new stuff instead.

/André

[Cassiebsg]

I'm also a keeper of "trash"...
Find it very dificult to throw anything away, specialy if they're computer parts that still work, but got replaced my newer models... and reparing ends up being as expensive as buying a new one, so ppl just buy a new one - that way at least they have waranty for 2 years...

Recently I'm trying to be a little better and throw some stuff away, but I know that as soon as I do it, I then imediatly "need that thing I just threw away yesterday".