I got a phone call once from my area’s foremost dry cleaning company.

“Wanna come look at our unclaimed stuff?”

So there I was, in the back room of a major dry cleaner’s, looking through row upon row of unclaimed goods. A plethora of silk, acres of holiday linens, coats and suits and cashmere sweaters. All, of course, freshly-cleaned, immaculately pressed… and ready for my racks.

Some of the items, of course, probably weren’t worth even the dry-cleaning bill… but some were treasures. Burberry trenches. A vintage fur, later identified as skunk. Elegant gowns, designer jeans…

What prompted this reminiscence is an article today on how a dry cleaner donated his unclaimed items to a non-profit thrift shop. Have you thought about approaching these businesses to donate to your NFP? Or, if you are a for-profit consignment or buy-outright shop, have you developed a program where the income from these goods could become a donation to the dry cleaner’s favorite charity? Or, simply, pay back the dry cleaner for their expense in accepting, processing, and storing these items?

For the effort of visiting their plant and selecting items you can sell in your shop… you may have found a great source, and helped recycle goods which were doing no one any good. And helping your neighbor business with their storage space is worth a whole lot of good will!