Korean Job Discussion Forums

Lorilou · Joined: 01 Sep 2009 Location: Osan

I'm leaving in a month to go back to the states. While here, I went a little overboard on shopping, and now have tons of clothes in good condition that I can't take with me (no room in the suitcases and their monetary value wouldn't equal shipping them home through the mail). I know, I know... very irresponsible of me.

Any advice on what to do with them? Like I said, their in good condition, so I would like to donate them as opposed to just tossing them out (as my principal suggested).

thegadfly · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

Did you actually check the shipping rates, or are you basing this off of the shipping costs in your home country? I ask this because I was surprised how little it cost to actually ship things back home -- I think a full suitcase worth of clothes cost me about 40,000 won to mail back to the US....

There are charity collection bins around my neighborhood, so I imagine there are some near you. If you are not sure of what they look like, perhaps ask a Korean co-worker to point one out. You simply slip the clothes into the slot (kind of like a giant mailbox).

b0101 · Joined: 24 Jul 2009

If you ship things the slow way (which may take a month of two to arrive) the prices are reasonable.

Or you could donate them, or post on buy/sell/trade forum and try to make a few bucks.

wylies99 · Joined: 13 May 2006 Location: I'm one cool cat!

The Salvation Army in Seoul accepts donations like clothes.

http://www.nanumistore.org/eng/main.html

Yaya · Joined: 25 Feb 2003 Location: Seoul

Just throw them into charity bins that are all around the city. If you can't find one, go to your nearest neighborhood office, or "gu" office, and they should have the bins there.

It'll save you a lot of trouble trying to ship them, give them away, or sell them and help the needy.

littlelisa · Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Location: Seoul

Tell your friends (who are around the same size as you) and offer them the clothes. Or host a clothes swap/take my clothes party. Donate anything not taken at the end.

I've gotten a decent number of clothes from others like that, and some of them I wear quite often.

nathanrutledge · Joined: 01 May 2008 Location: Marakesh

Troglodyte · Joined: 06 Dec 2009

I think that the color varies. Most of the ones I've seen were green colored. I've seen a few brown ones though. But they always seem to be a large box with a slot near the top where you can drop in clothes but it would be hard to take things out. They are really common around large apartment complexes. If you're looking for them, then you'll figure out what it is when you see it. It might even have some bags of large stuff (blankets, pillows) next to it.

Although, like someone else said, you can ship stuff home really cheaply via the post office. If you are sending a package by surface mail, it's really cheap. I haven't checked at the post office for heavy parcels, but i think that it's less than 300k Won for a 30kg package. If you just have clothes, they should be quite light. Stop by the main post office in your city and ask them. They can quickly tell you how much it would cost.

peppermint · Posted: Sun Aug 22, 2010 10:45 am Post subject:

lorenchristopher · Joined: 25 Dec 2007

Hey, if you'd like to donate...I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to find a second-hand store in your area that will take them.

If you can type the name of your district in Korean, then go to naver.com and type it in after typing 재활용센터

You will see that there are plenty around your area. Some may have been rated on a 5-star rating system so if they have 5 stars and lots of reviews then they're probably a big salvation army type store and will definitely be happy to take the clothes from you.

Also, if you have working appliances or things of that nature that you'd like to get rid of...sometimes they will give you cash for those.