what to do with a lifetime's worth of IEC power cables?

[clay]

As part of my cleanup project, I'm thinning the cable herd. One cable that is quite abundant is the IEC power cable (standard computer power cable). At $7 new from Amazon, is there any value in these things or should I just donate somewhere?

I see that a 20-pack of these (NEW, not used) recently sold on eBay for $33 shipped. At that price, why bother?

Probably just drop off a pile of them at the thrift store.

[mattkime]

Might donate to a local org that restores computers. Past that, you've accurately assessed their value.

[modelamac]

Staples will recycle them free. Your local high school IT dept may like them, as may a local computer repair shop.

[mikebw]

modelamac wrote:
Staples will recycle them free. Your local high school IT dept may like them, as may a local computer repair shop.

When I worked at a repair shop we had a box full of old ones. We also sold new ones. But it was nice to be able to give one away to someone who maybe inherited an older computer and needed a few things to get it setup and running again.

EDIT - they can also make a decent speaker cable if you don't need a long run, just clip the ends and strip down to the bare wire.

[rz]

I remember the good old days when I went to a county auction and bought an enormous box of SCSI cables for $5. This was probably in like 1998. I was selling them in lots of 10 on eBay. Was getting like $30 at first. I think eventually they were getting only a few bucks. I finally sold off the rest (probably about 100 or so) for like $20 to a local reseller.

[Tiangou]

Keep a couple and run the others over to your city/county e-waste collection site.