Donating magazines

[Enzoamps]

This is not a sales pitch.

I have a large pile of Model Railroader, Trains, Classic Trains, and others like the Trains special issues.  Most from the last 10 years.  I no longer want to store them and would hate to just recycle them.  I looked online for model railroad clubs in the area  and offered to give them to them.  Wouldn't cost more than the gas to drive over and pick them up.

I emailed one club, eventually got a reply that said they would have to take it up at the next board meeting.  Really?  To accept free magazines?  never heard back.  So I emailed another local club.  I got no response at all.

I suppose there is always Craigs List.  But am I doing something wrong?  Are free back issues of railroad magazines not of interest anymore?  ANy suggestions on other groups who might want them on a local basis?  (I am not looking to sell them for money, nor do I want to ship them, they weigh a ton)  Do I need to throw in a bag of rail spikes or a pound of coffee?  I bet some young railroad fan would love them.  A club full of fans would be even cooler.

Lansing, Michigan area, if you know anyone there. Thanks.

 

[ALEX WARSHAL]

I'm in the Lansing Area-ish, so if you would like to shoot me a PM (personal message) I would love to talk.

-Alex Warshal

[Paul3]

There's a few reasons why a club might not want your magazine collection:

1. They may not have a library to put them in.
2. The club may already have them all (especially for the last 10 years).
3. The members may already have them all (they are model railroaders after all).
4. They may not feel like humping heavy magazines from your home to their club (and then to the dump).
5. They have had extras in the past, and couldn't sell them or even give them away.  For years, my club was trying to sell them for a $1.00 per year (in a binder), and we couldn't make any headway.

As a club member myself and past Librarian, I know my club won't take any more unsolicited magazine donations.  We have an almost complete set of MR, Trains, RMC, Railpace, Diesel Era, Model Railroading, Mainline Modeler, NG&SLG, Classic Trains, Great Model Railroads, Model Railroad Planning, NHRHTA "Shoreliner", PRR "Keystone", Anthracite Roads "Flags, Diamonds & Statues", etc.  You name it, we probably have it.  We don't need any more.

In fact, a couple years ago, we had to rent a dumpster to get rid of the overstock, that's how bad it was.  Why?  Because everytime a member moved (or moved on), either he or his estate would give us the collection.  Eventually, we had to say, "Enough!" and now we are very, very picky about what we take, and only to fill in holes in our collection.

Paul A. Cutler III

[BobL609]

Try the local VA hospital or any hospitals in your area. 

[ricktrains4824]

Or a local library.....

[chutton01]

Perhaps think slightly out of the bun:
Instead of MR clubs and the like, perhaps boy scout troops or grade school libraries (perhaps schools associated with churches - not sure if public schools will take them).

[IRONROOSTER]

Your local hobby shop (if you have one) might be willing to put them out as freebie (or nominal charge) for their customers. 

Good luck

Paul

[retsignalmtr]

When I no longer want to keep magazines I can usually find someome who wants to read them and will recycle them. I have also been visiting a few doctors for some minor ailments lately and I take some of the magazines (MRR, Trains, RMC and others) to their waiting rooms and mix them in with the other reading material hoping someone will get the bug.

[dknelson]

In addition to the other reasons listed why a local club may have seemed not eager to accept your donation, I have learned over the years to be leary about old magazines because often they can have a powerful "wet basement" odor that is very long lasting and nearly impossible to eliminate.  I just passed up on a wonderful collection of RMCs from the 1950s to 1980s and a seemingly complete set of Mainline Modelers for that very reason.

Dave Nelson

[MisterBeasley]

When you go to the doctor or dentist or even the barber shop, take a couple with you and leave them with their pile of magazines.  Don't tell anyone;  just do it.  I usually get stuck reading a year-old copy of Time.  I won't touch Parenting or People, which is the crap my dentist has.

I bring out-of-date copies of the Walthers flyers, because they're free and useless to me, and leave them in waiting rooms.

[cacole]

I do the same thing as Mr. Beasley and take old magazines to the VA hospital and scatter them around the various waiting rooms, or to the local VA clinic or my dentist's office.

We had a rather extensive collection of train-related magazines at our model railroad club that we couldn't give away during open houses; the local library wouldn't take them, and neither would any of the schools.  We wound up throwing most of them into the recycle bin.

[rrebell]

Hey thanks for reminding me, today is trash day and I got a stack no one wants!!!!!!!!!!!

[RideOnRoad]

Again, thinking outside of the box, you may check with the local elementary schools. They could be made available for art projects. They would end up being cut up into pieces, but it would be for a good cause.

[joe323]

This is exactly why I switched my subscription to digital.  The magazines were starting to take over and I don't want the SIW to look like an eposode of Hoarding Buried Alive.  I take them with me to the podiatrist or other doctor and leave then there,

[riogrande5761]

joe323

This is exactly why I switched my subscription to digital.  The magazines were starting to take over and I don't want the SIW to look like an eposode of Hoarding Buried Alive.  I take them with me to the podiatrist or other doctor and leave then there,

 

Donating is a nice idea and if you can do it without bending over backwards and losing a lumbar disc in the process, by all means do.  I have moved a lot and in the process found moving many HEAVY boxes of magazines around made me take a long hard look at what I needed to keep - I thought about donating my magazines too, I had quite a few.  In the end I donated most of them to the recycling bin.  I still have several heavy boxes in the basement of magzines but quite a few less than I did some years ago.

[Steven S]

Nursing homes can alway use some new reading material for the residents.  They won't want 10 years worth, but give one year's worth to 10 homes will get rid of them all.

 

Steve S

[ALEX WARSHAL]

I will gladly take any NYC, PRR, NKP, other eastern road material (especially Classic Trains) off of anyone's hands if its offered. -Alex Warshal

[gmpullman]

Alex,

I'll send you a PM... I just happen to be cleaning out some old, musty, dusty railroad stuff (I think they call it ephemera on Ebay just to make it sound valuable)

Ed

[Enzoamps]

Thank you all for your responses, some things I didn't think of. Yes, i can imagine some clubs have more magazines than they know what to do with. I would have thought a simple "no thank you" wouldn't have taken much effort. Even if they have a whole set, some new young member might find them interesting to take home for his own amusement rather than taking teh club copies. I don't know if club sets are allowed out of the building even. Mine are not moldy, but one of those 18 gallon Rubbermaid tubs full weighs more than i can lift. I like the idea of sneaking them into a doctor's office. I always wanted to find a 1973 Readers Digest and leave it there, just as a joke. Yes, if a graded school wanted to cut them up for pictures, that would be preferable to just recycling them. The other ideas are worth pursuit too. Thanks.

[maxman]

Won't do you any good, but our club accepts magazines.  We give them out during our open houses.  Every kid gets one or two, and they're happy as they believe that the received something during the visit.

Moldy is another issue.  Sometimes the folks offering the magazines have gotten used to the smell, and therefore will tell you that they (the magazines) are not moldy.  I had one specific instance last year where I specifically mentioned the smell issue to the person wanting to donate, and she assured me that they were fine.  Went to her house and immediately could tell that we would not be able to give the mags away.  So I took them home and into the recycle bin they went.

[BroadwayLion]

LION has 30 year supply. All neatly stacked in boxes. They are free if you want them but shipping will run into the hundreds of dollars.

I gave some away to a kid who wanted them, but that was a long time ago and now he has grown up too.

I guess when I die, somebody will toss them in the dumpster.

When I start having open houses for my layout, I'll give them away to kids who are interested.

 

ROAR

[NittanyLion]

I sporadically give them to my nephews and then they become my brother's problem.

[NP2626]

For the last several years, I have been giving the various magazines I don't feel like keeping to my local library.  The librarians have told me that they appreciate this very much!

I think they are more interested in current issues than collections.  I have both bought and sold books and magazines on Ebay.  That is a way to turn them into some money.  On a personal note, I enjoy the older Model Railroaders, before the RTR craze took over.  I like to build models, not just buy them. 

[Enzoamps]

My current stock is all in an office/workshop environment. Back at my old house (which I still own) I even have a couple of bound volumes - a year of issues in a hardbound book - from the 1970s.

[Sparky Rail]

Hi Enzoamps and hello to everybody else as well.

First post. I'm a car guy and a train guy, and I've been lurking for a year now and have learned alot, and I hope to get to building a learning layout this winter. The reason I dug up this thread is that I am in the Lansing area (Holt) and would like to take you up on the magazines, if they are still around.

Thanks

Tom

[richg1998]

I live in the Springfield, Ma metropolitan area and went through the same thing about five years ago. Lots of model railroaders in the area plus the club I use to belong to has a full library. Tried Facebook. I got many issues from a local library over the years so libraries do not want them. Recycled all.

About five different MRR companies including a lot of NMRA magazines. Some stuff back in the early 1950's.

This is not unusual in this day and age.

Rich