6 Tips for a Successful Pickup

Thinking about donating to ReStore? If you aren't able to or don't want to bring your donation to one of our stores, you can schedule a pickup! We offer free pickups, as well as a paid priority pickup option if you need to donate your items quickly. These options make it easy for you to donate your unused items and support ReStore's mission. Before you schedule your pickup, though, take a look at our six tips for a successful pickup experience.

1. Give Yourself Time and Plan Ahead

ReStore picks up donations from the seven-county metro area and beyond. That's more than three million people! Because of the large area we serve, sometimes our pickup schedule gets busy. It's common to have to schedule pickups at least a couple weeks in advance. So, if you know you're going to be moving or doing some deep cleaning, schedule your pickup early to meet your timeline. It takes time to go through your items and think about what to donate, too, so scheduling in advance works out for both us and you.

You do not have to be there when your donation is picked up. If our team needs to get into your garage or storage unit while you are gone, please coordinate with us ahead of time to make sure we have access to your donation.

2. Clean Your Donation

This is a huge help to our team. Before you send off items in our truck, wipe down the surfaces. Don't forget to remove clothes, papers, and personal items from drawers, boxes, and shelves.

3. Keep Pieces Together

It's easy for hardware and small pieces to get lost during pickup. If you're donating an item that has bolts, nuts, washers, or other small pieces, please keep them together. Securing them in a plastic bag and taping the bag to the furniture usually works well. (ReStore is not a hardware store. If those accessories and supplies go missing, we can't always find replacements.)

The same goes for donating tools and kits. Make sure they're boxed and labeled. Be aware of how much each box weighs! If the items you're donating are heavy, please separate them into smaller boxes to make it easier for our team to carry and load into the truck.

4. Make Your Items Accessible

Our teams don't go into homes when picking up donations. Have items ready outside or stored in your garage so we can pick them up easily. Keep in mind that weather, especially in the winter, may make this challenging (consider snow, alleyways, etc).

5. Label Your Curbside Items

If you're donating a lot of things, you may have multiple piles. Especially if you're donating to a variety of organizations, please label which items are for ReStore. This helps us (and others) take what you intend for us to take, and helps to avoids mix-ups.

6. Don't Try to Donate Broken Items

If it's broken, we don't take it. We want to offer shoppers high-quality items at an affordable price, so find another way to dispose of your items that went past the "well-loved" benchmark years ago. Please review our Donation Guidelines to learn more about what we do and don't accept.

Ready to schedule a pickup? Donate to ReStore today!