Having finally succumbed to the charms of the flat screen, the question became what to do with our old dinosaur of a set. It had a flat screen (of sorts), but it was probably one of the last batch of picture-tube TV sets to be made, and even though it works perfectly well, NOBODY wants these things anymore. Our nephews just laughed when we asked if they wanted it; most of the local charities I checked won't take picture tube TVs.
Dh & stepBIL lugged the set out to the garage shortly after the conclusion of the painting project, with the idea of hauling it to the dump along with the other garbage generated by the recent renovations. StepBIL warned us, however, that the dump charges according to weight (they weigh your car as you arrive and then again when you leave). This was a BIG TV -- just 32" wide but, with the picture tube, probably almost 32" deep. I think it weighed at least 100 lbs; stepBIL is a strong guy, & together, he and dh were struggling to carry it out of the house.
Tomorrow is garbage day & dh decided he would try setting it out at the curb. We weren't sure the garbage guys would take it (would they even be able to pick it up??), but there are a lot of local scavengers who drive around the night before garbage pickup, scouting for treasures, and we hoped one of them might take it. Dh managed to slide it down the driveway to the curb all by himself (!), and there it sat for a few hours, looking forlorn.
A little while ago, dh looked out the front window: "Hey, someone's trying to pick up the TV!" And (surprise!) he was struggling. Dh didn't want to let the guy drive away empty-handed (!), so he pulled on his shoes and went outside & offered to help the guy. "This s*** is heavy!" was the man's bemused remark. He went away happy with his find; dh was ecstatic that we finally got rid of the thing.
It still sort of bothers me that something that still worked perfectly well is probably going to be sold for scrap -- but on the other hand, it's out of the house and not our problem anymore. And our new 48" set is so thin and light, I can probably pick it up with one hand. ;)
(We still have a small 12-inch picture tube set -- an 18-year-old Panasonic. It was in our bedroom but we rarely watched it anymore, so since the paint job, it's been sitting in the basement. But that one's much easier to take out to the curb, if/when we decide to part with it.)
What sort of TV set do you have and how old is it? When did you get rid of your picture tube set, or do you still have one? Do you share my guilt over getting rid of stuff that may not be the latest & greatest, but otherwise works perfectly well??
You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here.
We upgraded to an Internet TV about 5 years ago. It was hard to part with the old set as it seemed like such a waste and held lots of memories. But we are liking this new TV.
ReplyDeleteFun! The size/weight is probably the biggest advantage to flat screen TVs!
ReplyDeleteWe have a Samsung 3D LED flat screen. 50", I think. We've used the 3D twice that I can remember. Hubs is a gamer/general tech geek and has to have the latest and greatest (though I only agreed to the TV we got on the threat that we're keeping it until it dies). If I were single I'm pretty sure that I would still have my 20" Panasonic tube TV that I bought when I was in college. I always feel bad throwing away stuff that works so I try to give it to someone who will use it. My 20" tube TV ended up going to a little old lady who lived in an assisted living facility who had no interest in "those fancy new TVs with complicated remotes."
Dh read this post & I stand corrected: he says the old TV must have weighed at least 150 lbs. ;)
ReplyDeleteUpdate: I found the manual that came with the TV, which included specs: 75 kilos or 165 lbs!!!
DeleteWe just went through this, too. I ended up donating our homongous picture tube TV (a wedding gift to us) to a nearby school, which subscribes to the adage "beggars can't be choosers."
ReplyDeleteWe still have a few smaller picture tube sets left...
We did a huge downsizing project about four or five years ago, and sent many things that were perfectly fine, if ancient, to live in other houses. If it hadn't been for the end goal (we were moving into a camper, and planning to travel) we'd still own it all. I was amazed how good it felt to finally release it all. Grats on the new TV!
ReplyDeleteWe have 4 TVs - one is a 16 year old 32" tube TV that never gets used, but we haven't gotten around to getting rid of it. Sometimes you can sell them for a few dollars to someone who wants something medium sized for their kids to play video games - that's what we did with our last one. Then we have 3 flat screens - one is small and I got it from my mom's house. Two are large. The 40" LG is sort of broken - it mostly works, but the HDMI ports went out, so we can't connect the DVD player (well, we could, but it made a high pitched whine when we did). That's about half of our TV usage, so it went to the basement to be connected to the xBox which uses component video. Our main TV is a 50" Sharp LED/LCD. It's about a year old. We just got rid of a 50" Samsung DLP (an older technology) which was possessed (it used to turn itself off and on whenever we would leave it plugged in all the time). My husband pulled out the engine for scrap, kept the mirror (for what, I don't know), and then he and my daughter took out their frustrations on the plastic case...with a hammer. In other words, the tube TVs are better, because they last forever. This new stuff is questionable.
ReplyDelete42" flat screen w/ roku, bought probably last year. It still seems SO big to me, but I can see from your comments that it's actually on the small side! The last one I had bought before that was around 2008 when flat-flat screens were brand new (a 22" that now sits in my daughter's room) and, before that, I can't even remember the last time I bought a tv. I'm sure it must have been a picture tube and I can't, for the life of me, remember how I got rid of it. 2005-2008 is, and will always be, a little fuzzy for me since I was going through a horrific divorce.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the charge per pound at your dump? Here, even your gigantic tv would have been like six bucks...
Sarah
Sarah -- I checked. Up to 92 lbs for $5, and then $1 for every 18 lbs above that. Not bad, really!
ReplyDeleteWe also went through this rcently, but with my father-in-law. We took his TV to the tip (dump) where they have a recycling collection for electronics. The guy looked at the tv and grimaced! It was heavy though. dh and I could manage it together, but therer was no way FIL would have been able to. We have a flat screen, and considered upgrading to an internet smart tv and giving our old one to FIL, but bought an Apple TV box instead for much much cheaper!
ReplyDeleteWe have a 12-inch very very very old tv! Josh jokes that we watch "Aturday Night Liv" because the ends of words are cut off. We recently inherited a hand-me-down flat screen (a huge thing that needs to be lifted by two people, so not really a flat screen -- probably more like the one you just put out), and it feels too big and overwhelming. I like my old television :-) It was my grandmother's. I've never purchased a television; I've only inherited other people's castoffs.
ReplyDeleteWe just got rid of our last tube set this weekend. We now have the flat screens throughout the house. Our problem was that even though they showed tv programs, they didn't have the right ports to work with the Blu-ray, game, and stereo systems. So I don't feel very bad about it going. And the picture quality is SO much better.
ReplyDelete