In a college town, but kids just returned to campus.
Some of the kids will be rooming with someone new and may not have corresponded before hand. They may both end up bringing printers and decide to give one away. That happens quite a bit here.
Also, some dorms/student centers have a community printer available, so an individual student doesn't need a printer in their room at all.
I've also seen postings where the printer works great, but it needs new ink cartridges, meaning the student used it for one semester and instead of getting new cartridges, is giving up the printer as he doesn't have the money to shell out for them. Instead, he'll just go to the student center and get his pages printed out for $1.
No idea what a Freecycle or Buy Nothing sites are. Are they websites?
Yes, they are websites like Craigslist. Buy Nothing is also an app on your phone. And both may have neighborhood groups in your area on Facebook. This way, instead of scrolling though dozens of posts that don't pertain to you, if you are just interested in the college area, you can join the group just for that area. The groups are like an online version of the local Pennysaver. The focus is on REUSING items instead of simply tossing usable items in the landfill. Instead of listing a garage sale or yard sale, students list items they are GIVING away. They don't have the time or inclination to sell their items. They just want them gone.
Giving the items away is sustainable for the environment. It's recycling, for FREE. No middleman, no Goodwill store to charge an exorbitant price off what was donated to them. This allows the items to go directly to other people to continue to be used for free. The Gifter gets to feel good. And the Giftee gets a New-to-me item that works, for free!
The Gifter posts pictures of the items (so you can clearly see the physical condition,) and usually describe the condition, i.e. it works but their new roommate also brought her printer and they don't need two so she's giving hers away, or is barely used, or well used but still works great, or even that it just stopped working - in case someone is good at tinkering and wants to try to fix it.
They post the neighborhood they are in, so you know if there is a lot of traveling involved or are close by. Then you post you are interested in the item. Specify a time frame you can pick up. If they choose you, you both Private Message each other through the system to lock down a time and location to meet - usually outside in a public place.
Reconfirm on the day of picking up the item and make sure you get a confirmation
back. The actual exchanges are quick, easy, painless and FREE!
The printer I was gifted is the HP Officejet Pro 8028 All-in-One Printer. It still retails for about $250. I got it from a business person, not a student. She said during the pandemic, when people were forced to work at home, her company bought her a printer to use at home. When she finally went back to work at the office, they told her (and everyone else) to keep their home printers. She wanted her space back, so she gifted it to me.
This paradigm of REUSE instead of toss or sell has become so popular that last week, NYU opened the first
permanent reuse, swap 'store' in the country at a college. The most popular items were microwaves, cube fridges, lamps, dishware and hangers. Within 3 days, the center was cleaned out.
