The Madaket Mall

"One man's trash is another man's treasure."

I don't know who said it, but he (or she) was very right. At least in the case of the "Take It Or Leave It", aka, Madaket Mall, on Nantucket.

If you don't want it anymore, but it still has some life left, bring it in! In less than 24 hours it will be whisked away by someone who has seen immense potential.

Voila! One less thing taking up space in that giant mountain of trash for years to come!

This very scenario plays out every single day, many, many times over.

The Madaket Mall is located at the Nantucket Landfill in Madaket, Nantucket Island. There is a small fenced-in area off to one side, with a garage and shed.

The shed is for the town employee, there to monitor what comes in and keep the peace.

Inside the garage, there are tables and bookshelves. On the large table in the center of the room is a mound of clothing. Other tables support household goods, such as plates, vases, cups, fly-swatter. Toys get a table, as well as office stuff, such as printers, faxes, radios, mice. The bookshelves line the perimeter and overflow to the tables.

Outside stays the stuff that is too big for the tables.
Chairs, cribs, bedframes, suitcases, golf clubs, coolers, boxes full of random nuts, bolts, and nails.
Bikes, windows, door frames.

Not everything is in good condition. For example, a wooden chair might be sturdy, but need refinishing. Or it might look mint, but one of the legs has fallen off.

That is not to say that all of the items brought here need work.

Summer dresses with the tags still on them abound. Brand name shoes that seem barely worn. DVDs in the sealed plastic cellophane. Picture frames still sealed.

Opportunities are endless here! All you need is a little patience, and eventually something will be dropped off that you find beautiful, or useful, or your size. "Put your order in", my mother used to say, meaning, send a thought order into the great beyond, and soon, what you need will turn up.

There are actually quite a few things you can do at the Mall:

Socialize
There are people that visit just about every day, and I have become familiar with a few of them. While going through all the things people have left behind, we chat, laugh, gossip.

Look for money
It is a fact that many people do not check their pockets before throwing their old clothes away. I know a guy who checks every single pocket of every single article of clothing he comes across, and he has found hundreds of dollars. Once he even found an old boring-looking box which was full of quarters!

Network
"Know anyone renting a room?" is an oft-overheard phrase inside the fence at the mall. "I'm looking for work" is another.

Furnish Your House
Very usable furniture arrives almost daily, a unique piece every time. Kitchen tables, coffee tables, dresser drawers, bookshelves, wicker chairs, to name a few. Plus, anything and everything you might need in the kitchen.

Find A Beach Book
Everyone needs a good book to read while sunbathing, right? There are so many books here that you can have one for every day of the year. Novels, How-to manuals, gardening, cookbooks, even books in French, Russian to English dictionaries. I have found books signed by the author, first editions, antique books, Bibles.

Get Toys For the Kids
This is my favorite, actually. I don't think I have ever bought my children a new toy at a store. There is just no need to! At the end of summer, we pick up toy shovels for the beach next year, or toy trucks that need a little bit of shaking to get the sand out. Action figures, puzzles, videos (yes, I still have a VCR, got it at the Mall), light-up shoes, mini slide, remote-control cars, Etch-a-Sketch. I could go on forever.
Then after they get bored with a toy, I take it back and get a different one. Think of all the money I didn't spend on toys!!!

Outfit Yourself
There is nothing like the feeling you get when you walk in, turn over the clothes pile a little bit, and pull out brand-new-with-tags Levi jeans in your size. Or a Baby Phat hoodie beach cover-up. New.

Donating goods to the Mall is absolutely free! Bring as much as you want, whatever you want. The only catch: it must be in working condition. It must still be functional in some way.

That means no ripped clothing. No VCRs that eat the tape. A chipped plate would be all right, but not one that has a crack going through it.

You can also take home with you as many things as you want. The trunk of my car is full up when I leave. There is no limit on what a person can take, even if you've been there every single day for a week. Taking is encouraged! That way, you are saving the landfill from filling up with things that aren't really trash.

There are some general rules though. Most are based on common sense, while others are set by the Board of Health.

First off, of course, the hours.
The Mall keeps generally the same hours as the Landfill. Only when the Landfill is open can you even get in. Every day of the week, except holidays.
Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM till 2:30 PM
Saturday and Sunday, 8:00 AM till 11:30 PM
The Mall closes half an hour before the Landfill gates are shut, only because it generally takes that long for the stragglers to get moving.

Certain items are prohibited.
Mattresses, TVs, computer moniters, pillows and anything with stuffing, such as comfortors, food (even if it's still sealed), batteries, any hazardous materials, and of course, anything that is obviously broken and has no further use.

Behave yourself.
There is a definite competitive atmosphere at the dump. Everyone wants to make the next great discovery. Getting your hands on an item first when it arrives makes it yours. This is a difficult task during the week, but next to impossible on weekends. As the space fills with people and donations, the niceness factor gets pushed aside.
Rudeness has become such a huge issue that a new rule has been posted, and is enforced; first with a warning, then with being banned for the rest of the day, then with a lifetime ban.
A donor must be allowed to put the item down before it is available. One cannot go peering into vehicles. No grabbing.

30 Minutes, No Tag-teaming, No Stockpiling.
Keep an eye on your watch. Once you've been there for half an hour, it's time for you to go. You can come back later, don't worry, just go do something else for a while first.
If you come with a group of people, make sure everyone does their own shopping. None of that "I'll sit in the car for your half hour". The time limit goes for parking too.
It drives me nuts every time I see a great big pile of good stuff off to one side, and I go over thinking that everyone else just didn't notice, and then someone comes running over saying "that's mine". That's just not right.

Just be nice, people. We all want some free stuff, but no-one wants to fight over it.