Old OGR/ CTT Magazines, & Lionel/MTH Catalogs

O Henry posted:

I have a lot of OGR and CTT magazines as far back as the early 90`s. Also Lionel and MTH catalogs as well. I need to get rid of them. But I just cannot get myself to just throw them in the trash can, or dispose of them to the landfill. Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can give them away? Most of them are in like new unread condition.

Take them all to a train show and give them out to the kids. 

Our local library loves getting my magazines, they have a table out front and sell them for a quarter.    Also you could leave them at your doctor or dentists office.  Spread the word that O gauge is alive and well.

I know you are on the other coast, but for anyone else you can donate them to the San Diego 3 Railers and we pass them out to the children who visit.

I second the doctor and dentist office idea.  Don't forget barber/hair stylist shops either.  The real problem with leaving model railroading magazines at any of these places is, they seem to disappear awful fast.  Instead of leaving them lay for others to enjoy, I think people take them home with them.  That's okay though, probably gets them thinking about getting into model railroading!

Paul.

Besides candy I give out mags and catalogs on halloween. 

Donate them to a local club.  We have a magazine rack as you walk in with a sign that says free to all.  We have given away thousands over the years

All good ideas....  Some assisted living places also welcome them.

And when those ideas are exhausted, there's always recycling.....especially at those covered bins found at schools, churches, etc. (at least they are here around mid-Michigan) that reward those institutions for collecting.  The ones in our area tend to fill up pretty fast.   

The local Lions Club also collects paper for recycling, including magazines.  

We (LHS) will accept donations of old RR magazines if they are in good-to-excellent condition and are complete by years.  We shrink-wrap them by years, put a small $$ price tag on them, stack them by current periodicals, and gradually they disappear.   Guys buy them....so they say....to take on camping vacations, to their hunting cabins, etc., just to have something to read in idle moments away from home.  

my wife works in a doctor's office, I send all my old car mags down there so the guys have something besides Womens Day to look at.

Plus you could list them here on the for sale forum.

Lots of great ideas here! I should be able to give them away in no time. Thanks for the ideas.

I have donated old magazines to the local RR museum (IRM) for them to sell in the Used Book Shop. However, they binned a large number of RR magazines (some dating back to the 30s -40s) several years ago because they had too much inventory. They are much pickier on what you can donate now. I think they should just hand them out for free to kids or anyone else that wants them. When a friend of mine passed away in 2008, his widow gave me his bound collection of CTT, so I have a lot of dups to thin out. However, I won't just take them out to IRM without phoning first. I'll get around to it this winter though....I promised my wife.

I just had the same problem come up.  So,  I am taking the stuff to our local train show in November and piling it all up on a table for free giveaways to anyone in the show.  Otherwise, it was all going in the dumpster.  I tried everything to have someone or some group to take it for free, and got no takers.  The show promoter suggested this as a solution.  My only condition was that I would not take back any of the leftovers!!!  

If you MUST throw them out, please put them in re-cycling & not in the regular trash.

It does make a difference.   

before you guys toss them, please list them here, some (me included) would be willing to pay postage for missing issues.