There is no national Goodwill pickup to book. Goodwill is about 150 independent regional nonprofits, so what happens at your address is your region's call, not a company policy. Most locations take drop-offs only. Where a free Goodwill truck still runs, it wants a full load and a date that can be weeks out. Where you can book one this week, it is usually an outside company and it usually costs around $100. If the room has to be empty first, curbside removal is $99 for a sofa, and booking by 2 PM gets it out today where same-day is running.
Start with your zip, because there is no pickup line to call
You enter your zip on the national site, it hands you to the regional organization that covers you, and that organization decides whether a truck exists at all.
Three versions are out there. Some regions run their own free truck. Some run their own pickup and charge by the piece. Dozens have handed pickup to an outside company that charges by the load. Most have no home pickup at all and take donations at the door. Your zip decides which one you get, and none of them is the default.
That is worth knowing before you plan a week around it. Two people in different states can search the same words, get different answers, and both be right.
The free truck wants a full load, not one couch
Where the free Goodwill truck still runs, it is usually not a one item service. Goodwill of Northern New England, to use a published example, asks for at least five boxes or bags of clothing and household goods plus three or four pieces of furniture before it will schedule a stop. Other regions set their own bar, plenty do not publish one, and any of them can change it — read the pickup page your zip returns rather than this one.
The reason is dull and permanent. A truck and two people cost the same whether they collect one chair or a garage. One chair does not resell for enough to cover the trip.
So free pickup is real, and it is built for a house being emptied, not for the loveseat you replaced. If you are clearing an estate, a basement, or a parent's apartment, and nothing on your calendar is pressing, that is your route and it costs nothing. Get on their schedule and let it happen.
The pickup you can book this week is usually not Goodwill's
Dozens of Goodwill regions route pickup to ReSupply, an outside company. You book on their site, their crew comes, and Goodwill receives the goods it can sell. It is fast, often one to three days, and it is not free. ReSupply's own materials put a typical job near $100 for a couple of furniture pieces plus bags and boxes, though the number moves with your region, your stairs and what you have. Disassembly and volume push it up, and donors have posted quotes of $150 to $200 for a single piece of furniture.
Two things to settle before you book that. The fee itself is not tax deductible. Only the donated goods are, and you are the one who assigns them a value. And complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau describe quotes that moved after booking and extra charges added at the door for items the crew decided could not be donated. Get the number in writing, and ask what happens to anything they will not take.
A handful of regions skip the outside company and charge you directly, priced by the piece. It is the same trade either way. You are paying for a date.
Four questions before you plan a Saturday around it
Whatever your zip returns, the accept list is set locally and it moves. Floor space fills up. A store stops taking upholstery for a month. A truck goes down. None of that reaches the website, so a donation page that says yes today is not a promise for Saturday.
Four questions settle it in about three minutes.
- •Does a truck actually serve my zip, or is this drop-off only?
- •Is it your truck or an outside company, and what is the number?
- •Is there a minimum, and does what I have meet it?
- •What will you turn down when the driver sees it?
That last one is where trips die. Mattresses and box springs are refused almost everywhere, because a used mattress cannot go on a sales floor. Sleeper sofas and futons go the same way in most places, because of the mattress inside and the weight. Large appliances are usually out: refrigerators, washers, dryers, stoves, water heaters. So is anything stained, torn, smelling of smoke or pets, swollen at a particle board corner, or missing a part. When a service says it takes any condition, read that carefully. The unsellable half is not being donated. Somebody is hauling it, and you are paying for that too.
If what you have is clothing, kitchen things, books and small working electronics, no truck is needed. That is a ten minute errand at the donation door, it is free, and it is the best thing you can do with those items. Call the store first and ask what hours the donation door is open, because it often closes before the store does.
For large clean furniture, a Habitat ReStore will often send its own truck at no charge, and the Salvation Army schedules free pickups by zip in many areas. Both are worth a call if your piece is genuinely resale ready and no date is pressing on you. Both are also independent, store by store and division by division, with their own lists, and some areas run no home pickup at all. Ask before you carry anything down to the driveway.
Every one of those routes has the same shape. Somebody else picks the day, and somebody else decides at your door whether your thing qualifies. That is a fair trade when your goods are clean and your calendar is open. It stops being one the week the room has to be empty, because a no on Thursday puts you right back where you started, minus the week.
If you need a date, not a place in line
- •Standard sofa — $99, and $28 for each additional item on the same pickup
- •Queen mattress — $99, with the box spring under it another $22 on the same pickup
- •Refrigerator — $109
That is the whole price. It is set when you book and it does not change at the curb.
This is a removal, not a donation. If your things are clean and a store or a ReStore will take them, the calls above are the better answer and they are free.
Book by 2 PM and a local hauler comes today where same-day is running, seven days a week, in all 50 states. Haulers head out between 8 and 10 in the morning. About half of pickups are done by noon and three quarters by 2 PM. You get a text with the ETA before they arrive and photos once it is gone. Nobody comes inside. You put the items out the morning of the pickup, after you book, not before.
See my price for a sofaHanding this to a name you have not heard of
You were about to hand this to a name every American knows, so handing it to one you have not heard of is a real question. It is the one we get most, and this is a customer answering it. Melissa booked from the St. Louis area and left this on our Google profile.
"I was concerned this wasn't a legit company, but they absolutely are and I'm so glad I found them as I was quoted $1500 by another company in the St. Louis area. I was provided with photos from the pickup to validate that the items had been removed." — Melissa Mader, Google
Google 5.0 from 150+ reviews · Trustpilot 4.9 from 125+ reviews · 1,000+ items picked up a month