Give Back Box: Fill Boxes w/ Unwanted Items & Donate (No Cost To You & Without Leaving Home)
Did you know 12 million boxes are being shipped daily by online retailers – that is 30 million tons of cardboard every year! 📦
Keep those boxes out of landfills and get rid of unwanted items lying around your home with Give Back Box who has partnered with retailers like Amazon.com! And you can do all this without leaving home and without any cost to you! Awesome!
Here’s How it Works:
* Unpack your merchandise from the box
* Print a free USPS or UPS prepaid shipping label found here
* Look around your home and pack items you no longer need into the cardboard box like gently used clothing & shoes (no electronics may be donated) – there is no weight limit
* Download as many FREE shipping labels that you want
* Drop off the box either at the post office or at any UPS stores OR arrange for USPS to have the box picked up from your home.
* Donations then go directly to your nearest participating Goodwill organization using a free shipping label and Goodwill then sells the donated goods.
Due to corporate greed and their CEO’s bloated salary requirements, Goodwill and the Salvation Army are both on my list of places that I will NEVER donate to. This post was a great reminder though, and for that I am deeply grateful. I will continue to donate to refugees coming to the US and to humanitarian organizations that are doing relief work for the Syrians. Thanks Collin and team!
So were to send
It ? Any other ideas 💡?
UNICEF!
I agree! People are in need of these items and goodwill prices things outrageously. Their CEO is one of the top salaries in the country. I’ve been able to find multiple places to donate to that supply items for free or at minimal prices. Lots of churches have families in need.
Exactly!! I NEVER donate to them! I give to my local charity organizations that give items free to families/individuals in need.
I totally agree. I never donate to the goodwill…I have found so many other honest charities that are grateful for our donations. Thank you for helping open others eyes.
https://www.snopes.com/politics/business/charities.asp
I agree about the negative info on Goodwill’s CEO, but you are incorrect about The Salvation Army! They are one of the best charities to donate to, for getting the most of your dollars to help those in need. I’ve seen the good works they do, and won’t hesitate to donate to The Salvation Army.
Here’s info from snopes:
“The Salvation Army’s Commissioner Todd Bassett receives a salary of only $13,000 per year (plus housing) for managing this $2 Billion dollar organization. Which means about $0.93 per dollar earned, is readily available and goes back out to local charity causes… truly amazing… and well done “Sally Ann”. “
I quoted the wrong part from Snopes, but stand by my belief in The Salvation Army. They do good works, and don’t do it for the publicity. They are everywhere Tge Red Cross is, but don’t look for publicity. They just serve those in need.
Yes, the Salvation Army is totally different from Goodwill; they have helped troops a ton without charge. They have helped the poor a lot, also without charge. Goodwill I have heard on many, many accounts charges a lot for “services” for troops and the poor. I’m not an expert, but I’ve researched quite a lot on it. As a shopper, I also like SA better.
Okay, I researched and I’m sorry it was Red Cross, not Goodwill that was said to charge a lot for stuff for troops.
Neither org CEO has bloated salaries. Educate yourself and stop spreading gossip.
If you investigate a bit more I think you will find that Salvation Army will do more for people with less overhead at the “corporate greed” level. For example, Salvation Army will give clothing to women in shelters so they can dress for job interviews. They will also dramatically drop the prices on home goods for people who have been in shelters and are moving out on their own. Both organizations have overhead and rely on donations; both organizations help those in need but I think if you investigate you will find that Salvation Army will do more in your community. By this I mean, more of your donations stay local and the Salvation Army will do more to help those in your community who need their assistance.
I was in goodwill and I was behind a man trying to buy a wheelchair for himself as he could not walk very good and he was $2.78 short of having enough money and they would not drop the price so he could buy it with the money he had and I said excuse me but I will pay the difference and he turned and thanked me and got his wheel chair and left. I have never forgotten this and it really showed me how cold Goodwill can be to those in need. I thought that in this case they would have lowered the price considering it was for a wheelchair but they did not.
That’s disgusting & horrifying. Thank Goodness you were there to help. Thanks for enlightening me.
Sorry, but nope, nope, and nope. I do not support Goidwill; their CEO gives himself a yearly salary of over 4 MILLION DOLLARS. Very little of money raised by Goodwill ever goes to help the poor. Support Salvation Army instead.
Love the Sallys. Never forget they went into New Orleans after Katrina when the Red Cross stayed outside fearing for their workers safety. People were dying from lack of water and food, Red Cross was fearing for safty of their workers. Support the Salvation Army.
Where did you find that he makes $4 million a year?
I see that James Gibbons (Goodwill CEO) made $585,604 plus his additional compensation of $126,598 in 2015. I agree that this is way too much for a non-profit organization. I really appreciate you posting this though Collin- it is a great way to give back without leaving your house!
Source: https://www.goodwill.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Goodwill-Industries-International-Form-990-2015.pdf
Goodwill does not help anyone. Compare the salary of the CEO for goodwill versus Salvation Army. Goodwill is all for profit and works their employees like slaves.
No way would I donate to Goodwill. Definitely do your research. They throw away more than they sell, it’s very sad when so many could use it.
I thought this was great! Until I saw that the boxes would go to Goodwill.
They get all that stuff for FREE, then sell it for profit. Their CEO makes an obscene salary. I’d much rather take the stuff to my church, where it will be shared with those in need. Or to any number of other places.
Send them a box of rocks
Lol!!!!!! Thx for the laugh!!!! 😝
Thanks for posting this Collin. Despite all the bad things people are saying about Goodwill, i will use this label. definitely better to donate the items than throw them in the trash or something.
You’re welcome! 😉
I agree!
The few jobs that Goodwill may provide I. Communities don’t compare to the amount of people they could help with the items they their away. Why would anyone donate to Goodwill to have their stuff trashed or maybe donated elsewhere, when one can directly donate to a person or no profit organization.
Confused do they give you the boxes
No,the point is to use the boxes you already get or have from online purchases and recycle them. If they sent you boxes that’d ruin the whole program.
I donate items to Goodwill quite regularly and never heard about how much their CEO is paid or how much stuff they throw away. I’ll have to look into that. What are they throwing away – unsafe products or worn items? maybe they recycle the items and earn money doing that?
They literally throw away items they don’t believe they can sell or don’t sell. CEO makes millions of dollars! Horrible
This is so convenient.. I have a tone of iteams to donate I am just glad that it’s going to help people in need . Thanks
You’re so welcome!
Awesome! Love this!
This is an awesome idea. As for goodwill, I would gladly give to them. I have personally worked in connection with goodwill to find employees for my business. Yes, their employees were under paid. But, they had a job coach and were learning the retail business and receiving hands-on training. As the employee would learn these skills, they would pass the resume of that employee to me. And I was able to hire them at a higher rate of pay in a faster pace environment. It was a great partnership. The CEO may make a lot of money, but the organization is isn’t a “non profit.” But they are doing a great job of giving real life skills to people in the community to ensure they are working and helping our overall economy.
Nice idea but I’m totally against a Good Will too… I donate to my local church’s outreach center which provides clothes and household goods to those in need FOR FREE.
For those wanting to donate, I would recommend doing some research.
Here is a great website that makes it simple.
Charitynavigator.com
Thanks for this info Colin
Sorry it is charitynavigator.org
Yes! Definitely a good idea but as others have said…. Do some research on goodwill. I personally have local churches and a local thrift store in my area where I donate my unwanted things. They mark stuff affordable and it makes me happy to see people who don’t have much be able to walk in and get bags of clothes for cheap for there kids or themselves. By all means donate, but in most areas I would advise against goodwill as others have said.
Look up on snopes and you will find that the CEO that your talking about doesn’t even exist. This has been a 7 year rumor. You have to be cautious about what you believe from information on the internet.
YES! My comment is unrelated to this post, sorry, but yes we should be cautious of where the info comes from. So many people believe false news from weird sources. You can’t believe everything you see. No wonder…never mind I’ll refrain from my political rant lol.
Collin’s post to meant to be helpful people. If you have extra stuff in the way, donate it. It’s easy as that! Thanks Collin and team!
That part may be a rumor, however, I knew someone that was way up the corp ladder at Goodwill and was making close to $500k plus bonuses. So I’m sure there is a CEO that is making even more.
Thank you, Maureen. A $4 million salary sounded unlikely!
The Kidney Foundation has free pick up too
Yes! I do it all the time!
I have shopped and donated to Goodwill for many years. Over the last few years the prices to shop have gotten outrageous! Higher than most sale racks!!
We either take our donations to the ‘no questions asked” local church charity. I love it that they help anyone!! Other items goto our church resale shop. I donated for a long time when the workers told me I should get a consignment number. The little bit of $$ we make goes toward our kids school/scout trips! The church and the kids profit!
We’re moving to another state soon and this is so perfect to de clutter! Thank you
Oh perfect! You’re welcome Helen!
I like the Idea of this,but NOT to the Goodwill. Our Goodwill is second hand in name only,not price…I take all of our Items to the places in town that give Commodities. They Accept and Give the items to the needy FOR FREE. (Now thats Good.)😊
Although I think it is a great idea to box up unwanted items and donate, I too have seen first hand how ridiculous Goodwill can be. I saw items at our local Goodwill in it’s original package from another chain store. The other’s store price was CLEARLY marked on the item. Goodwill put their own price on the items and it was MORE than the original store was selling the item for. (For example, a Dollar General tag for $0.99 and Goodwill put their own tag of $1.99) on the item. When I asked a worker, they said, we do our own pricing. I was like, “you wouldn’t sell this for less than the $0.99 or at least the $0.99?” NOPE. She said, that may have been a sale price at that store….UM….SO WHAT???? It was donated and obviously you could go to the other store and get it for the cheaper price. There were several items like this from various stores….even some things from Marshall’s that were seasonal, but still had a price on it from Marshall’s. Goodwill’s price was HIGHER. So I took about 5 pictures and emailed the Corporate office to let them know that stuff like this would hurt their brand. Their response? It is up to each individual store to price items for what they think they can get. If I was so “worried” about it, I could contact the regional manager and he “may” change the prices of those items at my request. They didn’t care one bit. —- I also have been in a Salvation Army when someone came in with NO COAT with several inches of snow on the ground. They asked how much a coat was and the worker told them. The person started to walk out and the worker stopped them and said, “Do you need a coat?” The person said, “Yes, but I was hoping it was less than that, I just can’t afford that.” The worker (who had walked over to them by this time, grabbed their arm and directed them back to the coat rack and said, “We will find you a coat and you do not need to worry about the price.” The person walked back out into the snow in a warm coat without even going to the register. I will make ALL of my donations to Salvation Army. Granted, I won’t be able to have labels provided to me, but it’s worth the drive to know they will give where it is needed.
Please stop condoning donations to Goodwill ! They are are absolutely NOT OF GOODWILL because ZERO GOES TO CHARITY !!!!
Instead make your donation count for a charitable cause. Please check out Green Drop who will pickup from your doorstep: https://www.gogreendrop.com/ I make my donations through Green Drop to support Military Order of Purple Heart (https://purpleheart.org/)
what does goodwill do with the boxes themselves? Will they recycle them on their end?
Our goodwill recycles all their boxes. I hope that helps.
Sadly goodwill is making a big buck off things donated to people for free reselling ridiculously high prices I will just take my things to my local benevolent society or church who gives free to families who need it what a scam goodwill thought of to raise their income I would think this would be great if you could somewhat choose where it was donated as no secondary millions being made of my donated items not gonna happen
We have an email our neighborhood church members can offer anything they don’t want for free or even for sale. It is so helpful to everyone and we know where the items are coming from! This includes food items as well, or even tickets to games etc. they can’t use. Such a blessing and saves me from loading everything up–instead I send around an email offering whatever I want to get rid of (most recently my daughters clothing she grew out of) and they email me if they would like it and come pick it up. 😊❤️ win win and we help each other.
I am a Goodwill employee, as is my partner. I work in a program for special needs adults. The program is paid for by proceeds from the stores. I can assure everyone that Goodwill is a non-profit, I’m not sure why anyone thinks otherwise? My partner is a store manager and the goal of the stores is to raise money to help the jobs programs, not to sell things for less than they are worth. It is unfortunate that some people are spreading incorrect information- please verify the accuracy of rumors before presenting as fact, as it could be quite detrimental to the vulnerable people we serve.
I think each area is different. Unfortunately where I live, the local paper just did a big article about how our local goodwill is paying it’s CEO almost a million dollars! Plus there is a lot of nepotism and those family members are making over 100K. It’s sad… fortunately there are plenty of good places to donate to. We just need to do our research.
https://dataomaha.com/media/news/2016/goodwill/
Thank you for your testimonial, Karla.
Just filled my first box! I think this is great!
This is an awesome idea! We usually save our donations for the veterans or boys and girls club of America or local charities though. But we did have 4 giant bags of clothes a few weeks ago and no charity had sent out a flyer lately that they were coming. Would’ve been a great way to get rid of the old clothes.
A wonderful organization to donate to is Vietnam Veterans of America. http://www.scheduleapickup.com
Salvation Army is legit. The only charity i give too, besides Wounded Warriors, and anything for the military. But Goodwill is not! It is for profit! CEO makes millions!
I worked at goodwill for 5 years. I saw many people trained that I now see working in our Community. It was a happy place to work!! It was people helping people.
You can also post your free items in your city’s freecycle.com or free section on craigslist.
Love this idea
Goodwill is not a charitable organization. It’s a privately owned business. It doesn’t benefit anyone but the owner.
I prefer to donate to local charities that actually help those in need.
FYI, here’s what Snopes has to say about the salary controversy. Apparently the information is 12 years old and was inaccurate even then.
https://www.snopes.com/politics/business/charities.asp
When I look at their 2015 IRS Form 990 it appears that their CEO makes around $700,000/year. Their top management COMBINED makes $2.3 million. That doesn’t seem obscene to me for a multi billion dollar organization.
I love Goodwill and will continue to donate and buy items from them. There is no corporate greed that I see in putting people to work and providing a service. Plus, you keep the goods in America where they belong.
I will admit I stopped reading the comments. Too much negativity. But I wanted to give my 2 cents worth. Easter Seals is a fantastic charity. Nothing gets thrown away. Items that can’t be used or sold (money goes to charity) are shipped and donated to other countries. Any items that are definitely not usable are recycled. Nothing gets thrown away. Easter Seals is big in our community. Money stays local.