What do I do with an old cell phone?

[Anne_in_VA]

I found a cell phone in a desk at work that hasn’t been used in over 2 years and the person who used that desk is no longer with the company and that department has been disbanded.  It is a locked phone and I was able to charge it, but don’t know what to do with it.  I checked with our phone guy at work and he says it’s not a company phone as we never used that type of phone.  Any suggestions?

[billisonboard]

I would "whoops" it into a trash can.

[chapeau]

Sell it to one of those boxes st the mall?

[TheOtherMe]

Recycle it at Best Buy or Goodwill.  Goodwill takes electronics where I live.  

[Gardening Grandma]

Donate it to domestic violence shelters

www.domesticshelters.org/articles/domestic-violence/your-old-cell-phone-can-help-survivors

[Deleted]

Target has cell phone recycling bins by the doors around here. That's what I'd do with it.

[Cookies Galore]

Move it to a different desk. 😁

[NastyWoman]

Feb 7, 2019 20:06:01 GMT -5 Cookies Galore said:

Move it to a different desk. 😁

Vivid imagination strikes again: I see this phone every morning showing up in another desk. Then comes the day that you have to lock your desk, sew your coat pockets shut, etc. or else the mystery phone will show up in your possession again and you will bave to "work" later than everyone else just to get rid of it again 

[NoNamePerson]

Feb 7, 2019 22:01:40 GMT -5 NastyWoman said:

Feb 7, 2019 20:06:01 GMT -5 Cookies Galore said:

Move it to a different desk. 😁

Vivid imagination strikes again: I see this phone every morning showing up in another desk. Then comes the day that you have to lock your desk, sew your coat pockets shut, etc. or else the mystery phone will show up in your possession again and you will bave to "work" later than everyone else just to get rid of it again 

[Anne_in_VA]

Thanks everyone.  I need to go to Target this weekend, so I’ll check there to see if they have a bin for old phones.

[iono1]

I don't get the responses.  My 1st inclination would be to try to reunite the phone with its owner.  Just because the person doesn't work for the company doesn't mean they've disappeared off the face of the earth.  I'd try to contact the person who occupied the desk & find out what that person wanted to do with the phone.  Then I would honor their wishes.  Only if I discovered there is no way to locate that person, or found out there was no way to determine who the owner was would I consider the alternatives mentioned.  

[TheOtherMe]

I think the phone is locked.

[NoNamePerson]

Feb 8, 2019 18:48:22 GMT -5 iono1 said:

I don't get the responses.  My 1st inclination would be to try to reunite the phone with its owner.  Just because the person doesn't work for the company doesn't mean they've disappeared off the face of the earth.  I'd try to contact the person who occupied the desk & find out what that person wanted to do with the phone.  Then I would honor their wishes.  Only if I discovered there is no way to locate that person, or found out there was no way to determine who the owner was would I consider the alternatives mentioned.  

You don't know us very well.

[Anne_in_VA]

I tried to find out who was at that desk, but there have been several people who used the desk and they are no longer with the company.   Wasn’t able to find who all of them were and wasn’t able to find anyone who would know.  I put it in the bin at Target.

[jitterbug]

I was hoping that someone would respond about selling it on one of those resale sights and walk me through how to do that! I deliberately keep my last phone on hand as a back-up to my current phone - but I have a couple of old flip phones hanging around that are still in good shape and I thought I'd heard there was still a good demand for those, since they're getting hard to get?

[TheOtherMe]

Selling a flip phone may work but I tried to sell an old iPad.  Online it told me a $$$ amount.  It worked and had not been abused.  When I took it to the machine, the offer was zero.