Garage Sale after Burning Man

[paul_bennett]

Hello there people! Would you be so kind as to help an international traveler with information? Here's what's bugging me:

I'm going to have to buy a lot of things that I won't be able to bring back to my country, and I feel bad trowing it all away. The 100+ list items I made include a tent, a beach chair, a bike, a pillow, a mattress, a shovel, a costume, led things... too heavy or large to go back in the airplane. I don't feel like paying the company one billion moneys for each extra gram of luggage.

I could rent it all, but the price for renting is almost the same as buying. Plus, if you rent you have to give it back intact -- if you buy it, you don't have to worry about any mayhem that may randomly happen.

So I was wondering about selling it all, for a fraction of the price, in a garage sale, after the Burning Man. Is there any place that allows you to bring your things and sell it like a garage sale? It could be in any large enough city nearby such as Reno, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas or San Francisco. I'll stay in US for only three days after the event, so no time to post it on ebay.

Any ideas about this subject? Is there such a thing? Is it better to just trow away? Should I just give my bike to a singing errant on the road? Is there someone who buys used things for later craiglist resale?

[some seeing eye]

The value of a thing goes to near zero once it gets dusty. What you want is a garage sale before Burning Man.

Some ePlayans recycle burner things and they may reach out to you.

If you know someone who pays income taxes, they may be able to donate things to nonprofits, after removing all the dust! Say you buy a tent for $100. Then you go to Goodwill and find a used tent is $20. But it costs you $10 to clean the tent at a large capacity laundromat. At a marginal tax rate of say .28 * $20, the donation value is $5.60, but you spent $10 to clean. Just saying, lower expectations. I'm not a tax advisor and this is not tax advice. YMMV.

[AntiM]

You're not going to recoup much, if any, money. Approach this two ways, beforehand, see who has stuff they will lend or give you. Make friends online, or during the week, and make arrangements to gift them your gear if they have room to pack it out.

If you get the right sort of bike, you can donate it to Yellow bike. If you do not thrash your costume badly, you can donate it to one of the many costume camps. LED things are also acceptable gifts for some people. Do understand a gift must not be trash or a burden.

Think hard about the Gifting ethos.

Why do you need a shovel?

[Agaton]

My first thought was "thrift store", but of course the Dust makes that unrealistic.
It is not uncommon to gift such items to other Burners when you leave BRC. My camp once received 14 bicycles, 14 chairs, and so forth from a foreign group, and we are making use of it all.
That said, many Burners will not have room to transport anything extra, so you might ask around throughout the week.

[mgb327]

"Why do you need a shovel?" I was thinking the same thing...unless he is going to do a Breaking Bad episode theme......

[DoctorIknow]

One year, my camp had 1000sq.ft. of carpet, two couches and some soft chairs in decent shame, that were not wanted at the end of the week. We were ready to load them on the U-Haul for disposal in Reno, and although our camp leader swore a sign would not attract people to take these things for free, within an hour of putting a sign on the pile of stuff, it was 90% gone.

Dealing with stuff at the end of a transcendental burn instantly awakens one to the default world banality owning excessive amounts of stuff and having to deal with it, piece by piece, hundreds or thousands of pieces one becomes a slave to until they are put to rest in storage or a dump or Goodwill.

Make a sign.
Put the sign on your pile of stuff sitting next to your campsite.
Make it all free.
And be free.

[Traveller in Time]

The concept does make sense:
-having to get the stuff in a very short time
-only using it for a week at most
-uncertain about what next with it
-in default world a dusty pillow (tent, mattress) is only a burden
-it might be the daily bless to have a good rest in the desert
-why not store it?
-storage costs more then default world value
-new users may have a 'dirt' hurdle (only before the event)

still,
dragging the dusty stuff for thousands
to and from the desert
just to dump it after a week seems so useless

[ygmir]

"Why do you need a shovel?" I was thinking the same thing...unless he is going to do a Breaking Bad episode theme......

[Captain Goddammit]

If you want to donate your bike to the Burning Man Yellow Bike program, the right bike is a Huffy Cranbrook, usually found at Walmart.
That bike and only that bike, so they can keep the parts interchangeable.

[paul_bennett]

One year, my camp had 1000sq.ft. of carpet, two couches ...

Make a sign.
Put the sign on your pile of stuff sitting next to your campsite.
Make it all free.
And be free.

Thank you all for the answers. Yeah, garage sale of dusty ruined items seem like a bad idea after all. I'll just donate it. Free Stuff sign may help.

Oh, and the shovel is to bury my dignity for one week.

[Ratty]

Oh, and the shovel is to bury my dignity for one week.

Ha, ha. I might come by to borrow it.

[Captain Goddammit]

Oh, and the shovel is to bury my dignity for one week.

Ha, ha. I might come by to borrow it.

Wanna shower with me in Sparr's grey water recycling shower?

[some seeing eye]

As for showering in recycled or random water, this year is going to be peak for brine shrimp. Be safe. Just saying...



...there maybe some brine shrimp to need to be thoroughly cleaned from used playa gear and on-playa bodz.