"2nd Life," You Say? How About "No Hope"?

On Saturday, as I walked near the ugly and unwelcome scam clothing donation boxes on Washington Street across from the firehouse, curiosity got the better of me and I decided to see what had been left on the ground in front of the boxes.

Neither of the boxes was full, so some wonderful soul(s) had decided that placing their bags inside one of the boxes wasn't worth the effort.  This is not unusual to see, and I actually have come to expect to see crap on the ground surrounding the boxes when I am walking by.

There were 3 bags of clothing, some loose clothing, and one large reusable grocery bag containing food that looked like it had come straight from either a refrigerator or from Hannaford.  That bag contained an unopened bag of walnuts, an unopened package of ground beef, an unopened bag of pulled pork, as well as a few other packaged goods that I could not identify without getting too close to all the flies in and around the bag.  That was 2 days ago.  I imagine that the maggots have appeared by now since all the bags were still there this morning.  This is found, of course, directly across the street from the temporary Hudson City Hall.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to destroy or remove these scam donation boxes without getting in trouble?

There are several things to dislike about these so-called donation boxes.  (There is also no shortage of stories online about scams related to them).  What peeves me most about these things is that anything that is put in them (or left on the ground) goes far away -- there is nothing, absolutely nothing, locally oriented about the boxes or the companies behind them.  It is nothing but a money and clothing grab and run.  

There is no doubt in my mind that the proliferation of these ugly boxes can be tied to the recent closing of the Salvation Army thrift store.  Before these boxes become so ubiquitous, there were three not-for-profit businesses in the area to truly donate clothing to -- Goodwill, Sal's, and the Second Show were about it.  Now we are down to just two. 

This morning, I counted the number of scam boxes in the former Shop Rite Plaza on Fairview Avenue, where they popped up a year or two ago. First it was a few of them, then it was ridiculous.  There are 37 boxes in front of Shop Rite, and 5 boxes a few feet from Fairview Avenue (anyone driving by gets to see the backs of those boxes, of course!).  That's 42 "donation" boxes in one plaza, a stone's throw from the vacated Salvation Army store!  Do you think those boxes have any effect on local secondhand stores trying to do a good thing and make enough money to pay the rent and wages? 

Instead of an actual thrift store, there 
are 37 scam boxes in front of the vacant
Shop Rite store

But calling those boxes in the Shop Rite plaza "donation boxes" would be a misnomer and misleading.  The company that owns the boxes, and the merchandise inside them, is a for-profit company called 2nd Life Recycling -- it says so right on the boxes.  

2nd life, my ass.  Are you trying to crush all hope for the future?  

Is there any hope for mankind (or Greenport?)

Here is a screenshot from 2nd Life Recycling's website.  They are a for-profit company asking readers to "donate"!  And asking for your clothing, too!  Looking past the wretched grammar, do you need any more evidence of a scam and an illegitimate company up to no good but making money?  The clothing put in their boxes, and the money it produces, certainly don't stick around here.  But it used to.

How many people lost their jobs at the Salvation Army store when it closed?  You think the companies that operate these scam boxes care on iota whether the Salvation Army, the Goodwill or the Second Show stick around or close?  One less local secondhand store is exactly what a company like 2nd Life Recycling wants.  They'd prefer no thrift stores, actually.  No stores, no employees, no donation center with a human being.  Just their ugly boxes, everywhere you turn.

Can we get any lower than this?

24 hours after publication of this article!