How to lose a sofa in 10 days?..via donation and pick up.

September 3, 2015 8:03 PM

Hi, I have a classic NYC problem that I'm sure has a simple solution. Old couch, walk up apartment, desire to replace old couch (or do we say sofa, I'm never sure) with a new one. How do people do this?

I can pay for delivery for the new one- but how to remove the old one? (Housingworks seems to only pick up more than one item at a time, and Goodwill apparently no longer does individual pick ups). Thank you for any help with this. I cannot physically move it out myself, that's for sure.

posted by bquarters to Travel & Transportation around New York, NY (20 answers total)

Oftentimes the place that delivers the new one will take the old one away for you. Maybe this does not happen in NYC, but you should ask them.
posted by dis_integration at 8:05 PM on September 3, 2015

Response by poster: Let me add that the place I looked at does not do that but if someone knows of a furniture store that does do that in NYC please let me know. Any people with specific recent experiences would be really helpful!
posted by bquarters at 8:18 PM on September 3, 2015

Fellow New Yorker here. At a party last year, a woman told me she hired an man to take apart her old couch. That is all I know, but apparently it's a thing.
posted by jessca84 at 8:24 PM on September 3, 2015

Craigslist free items.
posted by Oyéah at 8:33 PM on September 3, 2015

Seconding CL. Depending on condition, you could even try selling it there. I sold a used couch for as much as I'd bought it for (also used) in NYC.
posted by three_red_balloons at 8:35 PM on September 3, 2015

We once had to pay a guy to take away our couch in park slope (when we moved here and realized it wouldn't fit in our apartment, by a matter of inches). I think it was 75 bucks and we were in a panic because the landlord was hassling us about getting it out of the building. In retrospect we should have just walked it a block down into gowanus and abandoned it.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 8:37 PM on September 3, 2015

Craiglist free items, or just pay some Taskrabbits to haul it out with your garbage. NYC sanitation will pick it up any trash day--no "large item" days necessary. Watching our old (cat-clawed, saggy) couch disappear into the maw of a garbage truck was oddly satisfying.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 8:41 PM on September 3, 2015 [3 favorites]

If you have a destination in mind for the old couch and all you need is to get it from point A to point B, ask around for a recommendation for a man-with-a-van. Services exactly as advertised, one or two guys with a van turn up and for $30-40/hr (at least as of three years ago) they'll take your stuff wherever it needs to go.
posted by yeahlikethat at 8:46 PM on September 3, 2015

A friend of mine had this problem and borrowed my saws-all. I was not there, but apparently he cut it down to sizes that he could carry himself. (I think as a first time user of one of these, he was having more fun than he should have, but heck the couch was his ex's so getting rid of it violently was probably satisfying.)

If you have a super for the building, ask him/her if they want it or if they would move it to the curb for you (for a $20-$40 tip).
posted by AugustWest at 8:57 PM on September 3, 2015

Does it fit through the door without disassembling it? If so, nthing Craigslist; list it for free but specify very clearly that the deal is that prospective takers must come prepared to move it and drive it away under their own power. (Otherwise you'll get people who'll ask you to drive it somewhere or to help carry it out, which may or may not be fine with you.)
posted by lettersoflead at 10:05 PM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have not been able to find a place that will take away my old couch when bringing me a new one. I have been trying (halfassedly, yes) for like 2 years now. Everyone says BUT MAYBE BEDBUGS as their excuse which I guess is legit these days, but still.
posted by poffin boffin at 10:18 PM on September 3, 2015

Get a knife, a hammer, and a medium crowbar. Destroy couch into tiny bits, put out as curbside trash. Have new couch delivered. I have done this in queens.
posted by vrakatar at 11:13 PM on September 3, 2015 [2 favorites]

Lay down plastic, but a sawsall-reciprocating-saw-dealie at harbor freight or Home Depot and some blades, lay down plastic, and cut the thing to pieces.

Then return the sawsall.

Yes I'm a prick, but this is what I'd do. You'll only have to pay for the blades and some garbage bags to put the couch chunks in.
posted by emptythought at 11:15 PM on September 3, 2015

Response by poster: I'm really hoping to donate it....I didn't know that couch destruction was even a (desirable) thing! Someone else can still use it, i just need a change for allergy-based reasons. I will look into CL but I live in a walk up so I may end up paying someone. It seems like a waste to not let someone else have it while it's still functional.
posted by bquarters at 2:34 AM on September 4, 2015

I needed to get rid of two couches last year. I put up a "free to whoever can get them out of here" post on Facebook. The next night they were gone.
posted by futureisunwritten at 3:05 AM on September 4, 2015

Freecycle is also pretty active in NYC.
posted by Mchelly at 3:21 AM on September 4, 2015

This is a perfect situation for your super. If you have a good relationship with him, and that is what the year-end tip is especially helpful in cultivating, he may help you get it out of the apartment. Also, when you have the new one delivered, tipping the delivery guys generously may be the best other option. Don't count on CL unless it's a really, really nice sofa.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 3:56 AM on September 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

Where in New York do you live? Hour Children is a great nonprofit that runs a thrift store. I know they do picks ups.
posted by neematoad at 4:46 AM on September 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

Goodwill has a paid service called "College Hunks Hauling Junk" which will come with a truck and take away anything that's donatable, and send you a voucher for tax purposes. They're a bit pricey (a sofa will run you maybe $250) but the upside is that you can make an appointment on a day of your choosing (rather than waiting around for some random person on some random day & time), and have the satisfaction of knowing that someone else will get use out of your undesired stuff. Also the items are not left on the curb (which might be illegal).
posted by RRgal at 7:54 AM on September 4, 2015

I recently got rid of a sofa from my 2nd floor walkup. None of the charities I contacted would do a pickup within the short amount of time before the new sofa was going to arrive, and they all wanted me to bring the couch to the curbside myself. I put listings on CL and freecycle specifying that they had to handle the removal and transportation, and had two dozen responses by the end of the day. If you're a higher floor you will probably get somewhat fewer offers to pick it up, but I have no doubt that someone will come for it. My couch now lives in a music studio, and my building's stairway is only a little scratched up from the amateur movers.
posted by twoporedomain at 10:52 AM on September 4, 2015