Can You Explain the Best Buy CRT program to me?

I'm going to sound like a noob here, but:

I knew the day would come. Our town recycling center no longer accepts CRTs. And guess what, I have a few left. So, Best Buy is my only feasible option other than $.50 per pound. Did I say feasible?

There is a Best Buy a couple of counties away. I've never been there. What are the limits, and how does it work? There are three of us, so we could come back three times, and send one person in, waiting a couple of hours. I don't have too many, but there were a few in the back that I didn't purge in time.

Any input would be great!

matador: "Stupid! Stupid! How did I miss them!?"

Matador, I saw that coming but didn't say anything to avoid a pointless argument. In regards to the Best Buy program, if you bring them a CRT monitor or TV up to 32" they'll take that as a down payment towards a tv. They won't give you redemption value for em and if their broken or cracked they won't take em.

-Matt

Call the store...your results may vary

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HonestScrap

Call the store...your results may vary

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That's right I forgot it varies depending on the state.

Actually it varies by store, not state. Each manager has their own preferences here. Cord or no cord, broken or gutted ok, 2 per day, 5 per day, store credit or not, leave them out front in a drop spot or around back...

So absolutely, you will have to call the store

I'll give them a call tomorrow. I'm good at playing dumb! ;) For me, it's not a stretch.

Logan- I don't know what you saw, but I'm guessing that you were referring to towns cancelling their CRT programs???

Our won't take any electronics- period. I won't take any CRTs- period. I sent almost all of mine to them. I asked if it was fine, and I was given clearance, so I hauled an entire pickup in. It was quite a large load! I forgot about these in the back. At least there aren't many.

I'd be happy with them just taking them for free. I just want them gone. I have a TV, and it does fine. It's a CRT TV, so it'll last forever, right? ;)

The only other place that takes them charges $.50 per pound for them. I'd be money ahead to pay the gas to take 6 per day if I had to.

With three of us in the big city, I think we could spend a day and clear a few out.

Ironically, my load probably pushed the city out of recycling. I feel kind of bad about that. They were palletizing them, though, and there were at least 15 pallets full when I arrived. There were three the week before. For a town with 10,000 people, that's a lot of monitors!

I'll be rejecting a lot of CRTs in the next few weeks, methinks.

matador: "Here's a tip: Destroy your competition with CRTs!"

Before I reformatted my pc back to XP so I could use my TV card, I had a link to their f.a.q. that explained what they do and don't take. For NY anyhow..

Be sure you talk to the manager and take them to the store when he/she will be there.

In NJ the Best Buys are a designated drop off point for CRTs. Three per day per person, no charge (the program is funded by a tax on new TVs at the Federal level i believe) I have three within driving distance that I use and none have given me grief beyond a couple of looks from one guy who knows what I am doing gutting them and another guy who wanted to make sure one TV was 32 inches. I take my monitors to Staples who has the same program but only for monitors. Both chains just need the case intact and screen not broken. They get plenty of good stuff left by muggles who leave intact TVs, Pcs etc for disposal, I am not concerned about my gutted CRTs being mixed into their loads. I'm dragging them to them.

I have two Best Buys in very close proximity and both take CRT's. They supposedly have a 3 monitor daily limit but I took 7 in one day, talked to the manager, and he said it was fine. They just don't want companies unloading all their junk on them.

Staples does it too? Neat!

In that case, if three of us were to go in (Separately), we could dispose of roughly 35 monitors (Depending on the exact limits). The yard would charge $.50 per pound, or $525 for the day (Assuming each CRT weighs 30#).

Not bad! I'll be making some calls today! I'll be glad to finally be done with these. I thought that I already was!

Recycling: Mobile Phone Recycling, Computer Recycling - Best Buy

I am in the STL area, and just took 3 into a local store. Basically no questions asked.

As I was taking the CRTs in someone else brought in 5 or 6 computer towers. I considering asking the people if I could have them instead of them giving them to the store. Has anyone else considered intercepting people taking stuff in?

I wouldn't do it in ours. At our Best Buy, there are three security guards at the door.

I was able to recycle the CRTs without an issue, though. Getting rid of those things is worth cringing at what you see being brought in...

DannyC, it is tempting, as I often see the piles of stuff to be recycled. But I figure if the customer brought it to them, that helps offset the cost of me bringing gutted TVs to them. Let BB make a little on some good stuff too. If all they got were TV shells, I would imagine the program would become too expensive and end quickly. Plenty of stuff out there.

Our local best buy's stopped taking them, as has the thrift stores.

Best Buy's profit margins are shrinking rapidly. Personally, I think that within 10 years, they'll go the way of Circuit City.

I think we have a good thing going here- the more we take from them, the less money there will be.

It's sad to say, but Amazon and eBay are squeezing all of the box stores. I think that era is starting to come to a close....

I see that as a good thing but a bad thing in the long run - makes people lazy(why go to a store when they can shop online). I never really cared for Best Buy or Circuit City to be honest. CompUSA had my business when they were still around.

We never had a CompUSA, but Circuit City did get my business a few times. The problem with Best Buy is that everything is overpriced. A family member and I were travelling, and she broke her cell phone charger. Best Buy wanted $25 for the cable. We shared mine until the $3.99 one on eBay arrived.

It's a no-brainer.