Goodbye, Goodbuy! sale returns to RIT

After a year off due to the pandemic, the popular Goodbye, Goodbuy! sustainability program returns next week at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Items for sale include clothing, furniture, appliances, lamps, bedding, kitchenware, and more. They were collected in May as students moved off campus. Items were sorted, cleaned, and stored over the summer in four 48-foot trailers and four storage lockers, and will be offered at thrift store prices.

“We have a lot,” said Lukas Wiedemann, Goodbye, Goodbuy!’s program director. “We always get some interesting furniture. People can come check it out if they want something unique – artwork, art supplies, decorations – anything a college student would want in their apartment.”

The sale begins Monday and continues through next Friday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Gene Polisseni Center. The sale is open to anyone from the RIT community, including students, faculty, staff, and retirees, living on or off campus. Payment options are cash or Tiger Bucks.

Wiedemann said furniture may be delivered on campus or the surrounding area for a fee.

Nearly 100 volunteers, including students, faculty, and staff, have signed up to help this season, but more are needed to oversee and help answer questions during the sale. Each volunteer who works two or more shifts will get a free T-shirt.

Last year’s collection and sale was canceled due to the pandemic.

“We’re excited to be back,” Wiedemann said. “It is an honor to be working on such a beloved program that manages to help so many members of the RIT community and prevent so much landfill waste every year. It is an important reminder of the importance of reusing things before we get rid of them, and that even when we don’t have a use for something anymore, someone else still could.”

In the five previous Goodbye, Goodbuy! efforts, more than 100 tons of items have been saved from landfills, and more than $100,000 has been raised in sales which supports the program by paying student salaries, rental costs, and other expenses. The program also has saved RIT thousands of dollars in trash removal costs.