Pickers!

A commentator on local radio reviewed this new television show, American Pickers. When I saw the advertisement for it, I smiled, because I got a bang out of the fact that they’ve actually created a show around those who recover treasures. I haven’t seen it, but I’m a fan of the concept. My husband and I used to be pickers.

For awhile we ran a little collectibles shop to try to change course during the 80s recession. We got a lot of our stock from auctions, lawn sales, and yes, from the large garbage that people put at the curb. In those days, when people wanted to get rid of something, they just put it at the curb for the magical garbage faeries to take away. There wasn’t a lot of concern that charities might be able to sell those clothing items or books, or that the old dresser might be a treasure disguised under layers of icky paint.

We not only found treasures that we could use, we re-directed some items to charity. We were careful what we chose to take them. Unfortunately, charities here are now being dumped on by people who apparently don't know what is re-usable and what is genuinely garbage. It’s like there’s a line there that some people can’t fathom. But these charities have to pay to discard the ratty furniture and broken junk, so we need to be discerning, and take them things that someone else might be able to use. And we need to discard the other things ourselves. If you have a box of soft-cover novels you don’t want anymore, someone might like those, and probably a local charity like a literacy council, thrift shop, or your local library, or even a used book store, would take those off your hands and recycle them to interested readers. Or those large jeans you’ve dieted your way out of. If they’re done, they’re garbage, but if they’ve still got wear in them, how about taking them to your local thrift shop? Or if they at least have good material left in them, perhaps a local quilting club would like to have them. Just sayin’. This keeps things out of landfill, and helps others... sort of a win/win thing.

But I digress. We really had fun picking through the stuff people placed at the curb during “big garbage” pickup. Hubby refinished several chests of drawers that turned out to be good hard wood underneath. We found chairs, lamps that just needed rewiring, window frames that made great mirrors, books, collectibles, intact carnival, cranberry, and depression glass items and more. Some people had a nasty “I don’t want it but you can’t have it” mentality that I don’t get. They’d break glass, cut screens, leave their discards piled in such a way that was plainly dangerous to touch, so we went around. Whatever. But most people didn’t care where the stuff went, as long as it went. So we kept good stuff from going to landfill and found new homes for it. Some of it needed work, but you know what they say, one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure! And it’s true.
One Mother’s Day we even took my mom garbage picking with us. She thought we were nuts at first, but she actually had a good time and got quite excited by some of our finds. There were a number of items that wound up on her shelves instead of in our store. While we were glad for her to have them, we didn’t take her picking with us too often. Hehe. We went a different direction after a while. We live in an economically depressed area and these days only scrap dealers can find treasure in those piles at the road. But we had fun for awhile there. If you have stuff you don’t want, don’t just send it to expensive landfill unless it really is garbage... and then do. But ask yourself if that item might be useful to someone else. No, don't get dollar signs in your eyes... no one makes a fortune on this stuff, except on television. If you have pickers in your neighbourhood and you don't want to drive around with that interesting stuff, make sure they can find the items you think are recyclable. Or, if you have charities in your community that raise funds with used goods, make sure suitable items get to them. That’s what community is about. Seriously.