Old Lenses

[Lab Girl]

We have about 35 pairs of older, mostly 8 BC bi's and tri's we would like to "get rid of." Any suggestions on where I could donate them? I hate to throw them away, and am sick of being called a hoarder.

[Johns]

Toss them. It will only feel bad at first, then you'll get used to it.

[uncut]

Hi L G :

You could donate them to your local hockey coach for practice pucks............or imbed them in a concrete walkway, in front of a optical shop?

[Java99]

Would make a very interesting lamp shade.

[SharonB]

Donate to Jacqui, a fellow OB'er. She does all kinds of good things, including charity work for needy people. Or, donate to one of the opticianry schools (check out nfos.org).

[Johns]

Donating is always a good idea, but I've found that unless you have a small amount (volume) of something, that happens to be valuable, by the time you mail it/UPS it/drive it to wherever it's going, it's not worth the effort to you, nor the receiver.

Last year, I did donate 60,000 pr. of lenses to a school about 200 miles away. They sent 2 maintenance men, and a truck. It took them 2 trips. I'm not sure how much it cost them in labor, nor how much fuel they spent, but it had to be substantial. Last I heard, they had moved them from the basement of the school to an off-site storage facility. Can you imagine moving 120 banana boxes full of lenses? They're not light? In reality, the "gift" was really a white elephant, as the only person who really benefited from it was me - w/a nice write off, and more space in my warehouse.

[Lab Girl]

Thank you for all the ideas and suggestions. Last year, we tinted a bunch of lenses and engraved all our employee's names on them then hung them from the top of the lens room doorway. It's very pretty, almost like a beaded curtain :)

[Diane]

Donate to Jacqui, a fellow OB'er. She does all kinds of good things, including charity work for needy people. Or, donate to one of the opticianry schools (check out nfos.org).

Plus 1