A few local charities are collecting tabs from soda cans, claiming that they have value, and can be donated to charity. It is obvious that these pieces of metal are worthless. do you have anything on this hoax? a link i can forward>?
thanks
joe
Category: ; Replies: 72
Comments Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.
I've collected pop tabs for fund-raising before. It's legitimate. They don't seem like much, but I guess they're worth at least a few cents, and with all the pop people drink, you can collect a lot.
Stuart
Posted: Mon Jul 05, 2004 | 02:57 PM
Dont be stupid. This is a Hoax.
Charybdis
Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2004 | 09:27 AM
No, it started as a hoax but people refused to believe it and so the collective force of stupidity overwhelmed these groups and they started accepting the tabs. It only became real after the fact.
Pink
Posted: Sat Jul 24, 2004 | 06:44 PM
Why do you guys care, if charities are getting money and helping those in need who are you to critisize it
Sclotlan
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 | 10:06 AM
THIS IS NOT A HOAX.
As a kidney transplant recipient, the Kidney Foundation collects soda can tabs and turns them in for cash. In turn they donate the funds to the organization. Why they dont collect the entire soda can? Thats a good questtion, but i turn in my tabs once a year to my Transplant Coordinator. For more information you can email her (Claudia Swift) at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Thanx for your support...
Christopher Burnham
in Plainfield, NH
Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 | 09:52 PM
I would like everyone to save the pop tabs and send them to me. thank you
YES tabs are valuable!!!! They are pure high grade aluminum. The cans are mixed alloys and coloring and other additives that must be purified. Also the tabs are easier to carry as they are more dense. A garbage bag full of cans weighs less than a garbage bag of tabs. I took a few large boxes of cans in and got $15, the same boxes filled with tabs got me $1500.
Tarralyn
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 | 01:45 PM
Where do I turn in my pop tabs for money? I live in Florida, and I heard from someone that her daugther had collected money from a gallons worth of pop tabs. Does anyone have an idea?
Andrew
in North Kingstown
Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 | 07:18 AM
Hello tom is pennsylvania...I was wondering where i might be able to trade in my soda tabs for money just like you did to recieve 1500$....please get back to me
yvette bland
in US Virgin Island
Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 | 07:07 PM
Hi I would like to know where can I mail in my soda can tabs for money.
Yvette...
That said, if you're still REALLY SET on sending your pop tabs so somebody else can do the really hard work for you, apparently these folks at the Canadian Legion are at the head of it all (as an example of mythologizing pop tabs, elsewhere it's reported that these folks raised enough money for 400 wheelchairs...in this article they themselves say it's 24):
Bless THEM for giving wheelchairs to 24 people who didn't have them before. They did the work. As for the "it's the thought that counts" folks who collect pop tabs without any conception of how much they're REALLY contributing -- compared to how much they COULD contribute if they'd actually sacrifice something -- well..."keep thinking!"
Pop tabs are not made of any sort of special, high-grade metal. They ARE worth something: apparently 0.03 cents a tab (though some recycling plants won't collect them).
Why criticize people who collect pop tabs? Because the cost of collecting and transporting/shipping them surely outweighs the tiny amount they're worth. The only reason they ARE worth anything is because people are (strangely) willing to put so much energy into dealing with them.
The can itself is worth much more than the tab, but I guess collecting and returning cans is just too hard for most people.
The bottom line: rather than collect 100 pop tabs to raise THREE CENTS for charity (and eat up that three cents when you mail them or drive them to a destination where somebody else needs to sort through them and organize everything for you), how about you write a cheque and donate A DOLLAR? Isn't that a more useful goal than collecting over 33,000 pop tabs just out of some quirky human hang up?
Make a difference in the world by REALLY doing something, not just by pulling the tab off your can and feeling special.
jarrod Grammel
in pa
Posted: Fri Jun 15, 2007 | 07:31 AM
dude can tabs are worth something me and my friends are collecting em to raise money for new ramps at a local skate park
once we get a hundred pound its worth 35 dollars
somebody
in ct
Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 | 08:33 AM
silly people. the reason they're worth anything is because so many people collect them, while collecting the cans makes much more sense, especially if you live somewhere where you can collect the deposit (five cents a can). it'd only because thousands of the tabs are collected that it's worth anything at all. Also there's a lot more metal in a can then a tab, so why not just crush the can down and turn the entire thing in, even if you can't collect the deposit?
KM
in CT
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 | 10:04 AM
Shriners Hospitals for Children in Springfield and Boston have been collecting pull-tabs or “pop-tops” from beverage cans since 1989, recycling them, and putting the money toward programs that directly benefit children.
Since its inception, about a half-million pounds of aluminum tabs have been collected and recycled.
Did you know: The tabs are the only pure aluminum part of the can, and the cans may still be returned for deposit even after the tabs are removed.