Where can I buy an outdoor steel collection bin?
January 14, 2010 7:58 AM
Where can I buy an outdoor steel or plastic collection box? The purpose would be to collect returns or book donations to the library.
I've only been able to find one source, and on Amazon, and the bins seem to run ~$750 and weigh 350 pounds. Are plastic bins available? What are my options for where to buy these? Thanks! If building them is a possibility, I'd be open to that, too!
I've only been able to find one source, and on Amazon, and the bins seem to run ~$750 and weigh 350 pounds. Are plastic bins available? What are my options for where to buy these? Thanks! If building them is a possibility, I'd be open to that, too!
Seconding that you buy it from one of the suppliers listed above. An insufficiently weatherproofed outdoor book drop box will destroy books worth well in excess of the cost of a proper, ready-made box.
posted by onshi at 8:15 AM on January 14, 2010
posted by onshi at 8:15 AM on January 14, 2010
Assuming you have a really small library, you can probably make do with a lot of things. The reason those thigns are so huge is because they've got some baffling on the inside to keep books from getting all smushed up inside, because they're locked, and to make them hard to steal. They're also more or less impervious to weather. The small library that I used to work at used an old mailbox for their book returns. Here's a new one, here's one that's just like USPS. They're still spendy though.
One of the problems with donations is that a lot of people look at this as an option to toss out old and worthless books. So you're likely to get a lot of them and if the book drop is full, people may leave them outside so if they weren't useless before, they might be once they've gotten rained on. Again I don't know how big of a library we're talking about [MonkeyToes has the links if you're talking about a real book drop] but generally libraries have a book drop outside and make people come in to drop off donations so that they can keep an eye on them an dmake sure they're not just dumping grounds.
So, my apologies if you already know this but my answer if you want to go with something not library-specific is "old mailbox" and barring that, make sure you're thinking about all the things a collection box needs to have.
posted by jessamyn at 8:17 AM on January 14, 2010
One of the problems with donations is that a lot of people look at this as an option to toss out old and worthless books. So you're likely to get a lot of them and if the book drop is full, people may leave them outside so if they weren't useless before, they might be once they've gotten rained on. Again I don't know how big of a library we're talking about [MonkeyToes has the links if you're talking about a real book drop] but generally libraries have a book drop outside and make people come in to drop off donations so that they can keep an eye on them an dmake sure they're not just dumping grounds.
So, my apologies if you already know this but my answer if you want to go with something not library-specific is "old mailbox" and barring that, make sure you're thinking about all the things a collection box needs to have.
posted by jessamyn at 8:17 AM on January 14, 2010
A few more, in the style of those big blue mailboxes:
Curbside collection mailbox
Collection boxes
Curbside collection box
If you go this route, perhaps you could contact your regional postmaster and ask if there are any used mailboxes for sale? Or perhaps the post office's used equipment goes to auction? This NPR story says that the old blue mailboxes are being pulled out of service, so some may be available.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:46 AM on January 14, 2010
Curbside collection mailbox
Collection boxes
Curbside collection box
If you go this route, perhaps you could contact your regional postmaster and ask if there are any used mailboxes for sale? Or perhaps the post office's used equipment goes to auction? This NPR story says that the old blue mailboxes are being pulled out of service, so some may be available.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:46 AM on January 14, 2010
Alternatively, you could try something from an industrial supplier like C&H -- such as this big outdoor plastic bin + hinged lid. Um, you probably wouldn't want the one that's got wheels. $187, 34x24x25.
posted by aramaic at 9:00 AM on January 14, 2010
posted by aramaic at 9:00 AM on January 14, 2010
Seconding USPS. They seem to be taking many boxes out of service. We're got a few scattered around the base that I work on, where they are used to collect US used flags for disposal. The Lions paint them yellow and use them to collect old eyeglasses.
posted by fixedgear at 1:16 PM on January 14, 2010
posted by fixedgear at 1:16 PM on January 14, 2010
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posted by MonkeyToes at 8:08 AM on January 14, 2010