Donating Magazines NYC

June 29, 2022 9:04 AM

Where can I donate magazines in NYC?

I am trying to donate a giant stack of New Yorker magazines etc from when I lost my ability to read/focus/process information during the pandemic (due to anxiety, not Covid itself). I feel like this should not be hard but I just called a senior center and the library and was met with giant nos.

I don't want to just recycle them- I feel like I used to stumble upon magazines pre-internet and be excited. Surely someone will want to read them!! (I thought it would be me but it seems as though that might never happen...). I'm on the UWS so would prefer somewhere local. I thought somewhere for seniors would be ideal. Thank you for any help/advice specific to NYC/UWS. (That is not just the basic google results of "libraries, etc" which I've already tried:))

Also if anyone wants to memail me about successful Marie-Kondo-ing that would be great too:))

posted by bquarters to Home & Garden (7 answers total)

There are a few Zine libraries across NYC - they may be able to take them or point you in the right direction. E.g., in the LES.
posted by icy_latte at 10:00 AM on June 29, 2022

Best answer: Probably nobody will want them, your good intentions notwithstanding, because they are so common. (Think of towering stacks of moldy National Geographics in thrift stores.) I suggest that you fall back on the city's remarkable ability to self-recycle and leave them on the street. I, for one, always love to find free magazines on the street, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this. The only other option that might work is to donate them to a prison library. Worth a few phone calls at least.
posted by scratch at 11:16 AM on June 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

Maybe there are art/collaging groups who would like them as material to cut up? My friend who collages loves old magazines for that reason.
posted by corvine at 11:39 AM on June 29, 2022

I regularly left New Yorkers on my stoop. Usually the last two week's New Yorkers were scooped up in a day, sometimes I would have to just recycle last month's.
posted by sandmanwv at 11:40 AM on June 29, 2022 [2 favorites]

Laundromats?
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:12 PM on June 29, 2022

I recently picked up a bunch of old New Yorkers that someone was giving away on Craigslist (I like reading the fiction, so it didn't matter that they were out of date). My library also has a magazine exchange, and possibly yours does too.
posted by pinochiette at 2:35 PM on June 29, 2022

I used to work for a psychiatric mental health agency that would from time to time ask for magazine donations for their inpatient unit. If you have an agency like that near you, that might be an option?
posted by SageTrail at 4:25 PM on June 29, 2022