"Look at that printer."
"Do you think it works?"
"It's so new looking, why wouldn't it work?"
"Then why put it out on the curb?"
"Who knows? Maybe they got a better one."
"Should we take it? I could use a printer."
"What do you need a printer for? You work at the gas station."
"Well . . . sometimes I like to print out directions or recipes."
"I suppose, but I bet it doesn't have ink or something stupid like that."
"How expensive can ink be? Besides we don't know anything about the thing. I'm going to take it. You can call me a fool later."
"I'll call you a fool now and later, it is a nice looking printer though."
"Here take this power cord for me. Do you have a spare USB cable I can use?"
"Yeah I do, my roommate found a USB cable on a curb a few weeks ago and it's been sitting on the coffee table ever since."

The mouse was the last to go. Along with the USB cable they lasted longer than any other item so far. Only a day but still surprising. Perhaps there are only Apple aficionados in my neighborhood and they know how old that mouse was.

Its been a while since stuff was left on my curb. Fortunately my across the street neighbors put a chair out on the curb a couple of days ago. Looks like a big old comfy recliner which certainly has seen better decades. How long did it take? Less than the time to go to work and come back is how long.

Next up for my curb is a desk lamp rescued from the back of my apartment building. The old grumps who live in the building are moving out finally and they just unloaded a ton of stuff into the dumpsters outback. Judging from the volume of stuff they threw out and the amount of boxes on their deck that apartment probably looked like a scene from the show Hoarders. The lamp works, it is definitely used. A missing bolt has been replaced a by a long bolt and wing nut. It adjusts and looks kind of cool. How long will it last? Judging by the amount of time other things have lasted, less than 24 hours. It's also Friday night coming up which means the lamp has a poor probability of surviving the night in one piece. Instead it will most likely end up in multiple pieces strewn about the neighborhood surrounded by empty booze cans.

Everyone needs cables

The books spent a great day in the sunshine relatively untouched. They were set in a neat stack on my curb and within hours nothing happened. Some passerby knocked the stack over but took nothing. The books were still there when I returned home around midnight. Sometime between then and 7 am the books got off my curb. Did they go all at once? Were they taken piece by piece? Clearly some variety of webcam is in order.

The depth of a wannabe minimalist's junk pile is already limited and mine is no exception. A quick sweep of the bedroom turned up the nest of cables. All those cables for only one purpose in the world just sitting in the dresser drawer doing nothing. Time has passed them by. The device they pair to is no longer mine. There are three of them in the drawer and so on. Now they get to go out on the curb.
The Apple mouse will surely charm someone quickly and will go first. You know those USB cables that are like double USB cables? Here's one now and it's going out on my curb. That coupler has probably not seen use since 1987 but has somehow survived for years.
In the morning it goes on my curb.

How long will it last?

Last week my roommate unlocked his old, rusty, seatless bicycle and left it in front of our building. We wondered how long it would take for the bike to find a new owner despite its defects. Unlocked on Monday afternoon, I figured the bike would last until Friday night but not past Sunday. The bike didn't last past Friday afternoon.

The neighborhood I live in is close to a university and all kinds of things are left on the curb all the time and disappear to new owners all the time. But how long does it take for random stuff to go from curbside to a proud new owner? Let's find out.

This morning I put a cordless telephone set on my curb. It's nothing fancy and not many people use landline telephones these days so I think its a good item to see how long it takes to go away. Personally I'm giving this one no more than 48 hours.