How to get rid of a TV in Chicago

The short answer

The visit minimum is $75. A single 42-inch TV at $68 sits under that, so on its own it comes to $75. Almost nobody has only one piece of dead electronics, so it is worth a look in the basement before you book.

Electronics are handled separately, and that is the whole point

Televisions, monitors and computers are not treated as ordinary household waste in Illinois. They contain metals, glass and boards that are recovered rather than buried, and the collection routes for them are separate from your regular carts.

What that means practically is that a TV left beside the alley carts is not going to be collected the way a bag of trash is. Where you can drop electronics off, and on what days, varies by municipality and by county across this metro, so check your own current local e-waste page rather than relying on what somebody told you in 2018. We are not going to print a schedule or a program name here, because that is the kind of detail that changes and then costs you a Saturday.

The alternative is having it collected, which is what the prices above cover: the carry from wherever it is and the correct downstream handling, included.

The CRT in the basement

Every few blocks in this city there is a bungalow or a two-flat with a tube television in the basement, and it has been there since the flat-screen arrived.

These are the hard ones. A 32-inch CRT in a wooden console weighs more than a washing machine and it has a glass front. It went down those narrow basement stairs when two younger people carried it down, and coming up requires the same thing: two people, a strap, and a turn at the bottom of the stairs that has not gotten any wider.

It is still priced by size. A tube TV under 42 inches is $62. What matters is telling us it is a CRT when you book, so the crew arrives expecting the weight rather than expecting a panel. If it is in a wooden console cabinet, the cabinet is an entertainment center at $96 and the two usually go together: $62 + $96 = $158.

Big panels and Chicago apartments

The modern version of the problem is the other extreme: a 70-inch panel that is not heavy but is enormous and fragile, in a building with a back staircase that turns.

A TV at 65 inches and up is $73. The handling notes that matter: keep it vertical, never flat, and if you still have the original box or the foam corners, say so, because a panel that travels in its box travels better. Pull the wall mount off and send it separately, and remember the mount plate is still screwed into your wall.

If you are in a tower in Streeterville, River North, the South Loop or along the lake in Lakeview, the building will want a certificate of insurance naming the association and the management company, plus a reserved freight elevator window. The elevator is the scheduling constraint, not the TV. The $73 does not change.

Should you sell it or donate it first?

Worth a quick honest assessment.

Sells: a working flat panel under about eight years old, particularly in the weeks around May 1 and October 1 when the whole city is furnishing apartments at once. List the size, the model year, whether the remote is included, and which floor it is on.

Does not sell: anything with a cracked screen, anything with a failing backlight that shows as a dark band, plasma panels, rear-projection sets, and every CRT ever made. Resale and reuse organizations across the metro generally decline tube televisions as well, for the same reasons.

If it does not sell in a week, it is not going to. Stop watching the listing and book the pickup.

Wipe it before it leaves

Modern televisions are computers. A smart TV holds your accounts, your network credentials, and in some cases your payment details for the apps on it.

Factory reset it while it is still plugged in and before it leaves the apartment. The same goes for a desktop tower at $62: sign out, wipe the drive, or pull the drive and keep it. This is not a service anyone should do for you in the back of a truck, and doing it yourself takes ten minutes.

Chargers, remotes, and the shoebox of HDMI cables that lives in every Chicago apartment can go in a box of electronics at $77.

Doing it in one stop

Electronics accumulate quietly, which is why the efficient version is to sweep the whole apartment first: the closet, the back porch, and the basement storage locker if your building has one.

Lakeview one-bedroom, October 1 move. A 55-inch TV at $68 and its stand at $96: $68 + $96 = $164.

Portage Park bungalow basement. A CRT under 42 inches at $62, a desktop tower at $62, a monitor at $58 and a box of electronics at $77: $62 + $62 + $58 + $77 = $259.

Logan Square two-flat, front room reset. A 70-inch panel at $73, a stereo at $52 and a large speaker at $57: $73 + $52 + $57 = $182.

One visit, one number, disposal included, and no charge for the staircase.

Timing and access

There is no bad season for electronics specifically, but there are two better windows. Spring, when the basement is being dealt with anyway and the back stairs are dry. And late September, before the October 1 turnover, when it becomes obvious how much is going to have to move.

On the day, the only preparation worth doing is clearing the route: the basement stairs, the rear porch landing and the alley gate. If the truck is coming down the alley behind the building, move the car off the pad behind the garage. If your block has no alley, the crew works from the street and the price is unchanged.

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