KPLR TV Channel 11 interviewer John Fuller sits down with John Alipertz of Harris House St. Louis and Craig Jung of St. Louis Green to talk about the Precious Earth: Green Furniture and Metal To Food Program.

(This interview has been transcribed.)

John Fuller: First of all Craig what is this furniture and metal to food program?
 
Craig: There is a program that Operation Food Search started about four years ago. What they do is take all of the old furniture and all of the old metal that comes from all of the corporations that partner with their programs. Well the program got a little large for them to manage. So they came to us St. Louis Green and said hey would you be willing to take this program over. We acquired it in October. Since October we have worked in all the programs that we’ve done with all the people and diverted 300,000 pounds of furniture in something like 60 days so it’s been fabulous. A group like Johns is one of the groups that we’ll send the furniture to if it’s still useable.
 
John Fuller: A beneficiary?

Craig: A beneficiary.

John Fuller: Well then how can a company help as long as we’re talking about the program.

Craig: A beneficiary. Well the biggest thing is to get a hold of us if you’re planning on moving anything let us decide if it’s of value or not for us to come in and say yes we can get someone to use it here or we can use it there that the best way for us. Just call us if you would.
 
John Fuller: Now the beneficiary or the group the Harris House tell us about the Harris House John

John Alipertz: Harris House is a not for profit United Way agency located in south St Louis we provide residential treatment services for men and women suffering from alcoholism chemical dependency and mental health issues. We have 99 beds. Being a not for profit we have a relatively limit budget so; the furniture and various items that we have gotten from St Louis Green. It’s just been like Christmas for us.

John Fuller: How big of a problem is substance abuse and alcoholism you say you have 99 beds how many people do you provide services too.

John Alipertz: Close to five hundred a year

John Fuller: Wow.

John Alipertz: The impact of Harris House goes well beyond that five hundred people leave the Harris House and they return to the work place. We help people get jobs. Provide employment skills. A lot of the women come to Harris House in an effort to regain custody of their children they lost due to their addiction. So it’s a tremendous impact on their community.
 

John Fuller: What would be some of the items that you would reuse from Craig’s group?

John Alipertz: We got some beautiful furniture and it’s gonna be the first time in our 50 years history that we have matching furniture in our living room. (Everyone Laughing) We’re pretty excited about that!

Craig: Washington University redid their library last week the nineteenth. We went in there with five agencies and took four floors of old furniture from Wash U. and they were one of the agencies that got some of that furniture. It’s just fabulous.

John Fuller: Wow and it’s keeping it out of the landfills as a waste
Craig: Yeah everybody wins.

John Fuller: Thank you John and Craig also for joining us today about how about precious earth segment can help other by repurposing furniture for those who need it.

See the video interview from KPLR 11 Precious Earth: Green Furniture and Metal To Food Program

Photo By Jepoirrier The scam truck

It’s not just people that can get scammed on Craigslist. We wanted to share an email conversation that turned out to be nothing more than a mattress dealer (STL Beds) getting scammed on Craigslist. I thought our STL Beds readers might find this email interesting to say the least.  As you will eventually see  a caring individual was trying to help orphan kids in Ghana Africa, and she wanted to purchase 12 $1000.00 queen size mattress sets. She was even willing to pay USA sales tax. In the end we found it interesting that she wanted to supply orphan kids with queen size organic beds that cost over $1000.00 dollars eachs That same money could have purchased  (60) $200.00 twin size mattress set for the same $12,000.00 budget. This probably would of been enough mattresses to furnish the entire orphanage with a mattress set that the typical teenager sleeps on here in the states.

First I’ll start by saying we never talked to Patricia by phone. So here we go with our Mattress Dealer and Craigslist Scam email transcript:

Patricia Brown <brownp290@something.com> wrote:

Thanks for having time to talk to me over the phone. Well i want you to quote me some prices on the queen size mattress and also the king size mattress about 3 or 4 different prices, so i can also get back to you with my order also i need to know the method of payment that you do accept, hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you
Pat. Brown.

Response:

Pat, Give either Dave or myself Doug a call at the store. 636-296-8540 We would be glad to go over any price or size with you. I am out of the office until after 12:00 today, but if you call me we can even get on the website together and price specific models over the phone.
Thanks Again
Doug

Patricia wrote:

Good hearing from you back… Well am sorry i cant talk on the phone, thats why i did called you with the operator relay am having problem with my ear…am damb and am ordering this mattress to the orphanages. So i will be glad if you can go ahead and quote me with some prices and i will choose from the prices that am interested in, so we can continue hope to hear from you soon.
Respectfully,
Pat.

Response

What size are you looking for queen 60 x 80 or king 76 x 80. Second which models are you interested in. What price range are you looking to stay with in or under so I am not guessing and wasting your time on beds out of your budget?

Patricia wrote:
Okay good hearing from you back… well am not looking for a specific brand, I want prices on both king and queen size and my price range start from $800 to $2000. hope to hear from you soon
Pat.

Response:
Pat, Quick question do you live in the St. Louis Metro area?

Patricia wrote:
No David am sorry

Response:
What city do you live in? I will need to see if it is even possible to ship the item to you b4 we go any further.
Doug

Patricia wrote:
Thank you David, you dont have to worry about the shipping i will send for pick-up after payment has been done. am in Springfield. hope to hear from you soon
Pat.

Response:
Pat, As a courtesy I just wanted to let you know that you are working with Doug.
Are you planning on coming in and test resting the mattresses first? I would suggest if at all possible to do so. A mattresses feel is subjective and if they all felt the same we would only offer one model. If you must purchase via the internet please see attachment. Also both here are a couple models that are not on the web site as of yet. These are all set prices and include mattress and foundation.
Symphonic Queen 1600.00 king 2000.00
Harmonious queen 1000.00 king 1350.00
(Link) Vistit our Organic beds Meadow starts in Queen 1500.00 king 1800.00
Zippered Rainforrest or Natures Select are the same beds. Queen is slightly over budget but is 2100.00 and is a fantastic seller.
Doug

Patricia wrote:

Hello,
Okay Doug sorry for calling you David, also thank you very much for your good customer service once again for making this purchase a suscessful….l recommeded by my associate  shipping company to take care of the shipping, we recomemded by my associate for a shipping company to pick up the mattress from your store after payment has been made so l will want you to contact the shipping company, Inter- ship asap so that they can pick up the mattress from your store after the payment has been done because l will like to order 12 set of the Harmonious  queen set that you quoted $1000.00 for a set  (So pls let me know the price without shipping) shipped to the Osu Childrens Orphanage Home in Accra Ghana, west Africa…l will want you to contact them for the frieght charges, weight,diamensions and thier terms of payment and email me back…..l’m ready to order so l will want you to email me back with the Grand total price and plus frieght charges so l can get back with you for the payment with my credit card info via email….looking forward to hear from you back soon….Thank you.

Respectfully, Patricia.

Shipping companies information:
the manager….. Mr Isaac xxxx
Address….. “Named Road”, 3rd street 00233, Ghana W-Africa
Email ……  inter-ship@hotmail.com
Tel ……….  xxx-xxx-xxxxxx

Tell us your Craiglist scam story.

There is a  bedroom and furniture store in the area offering green furnishings and they have been busy making countless strides to be more earth friendly. STL Beds we believe is the the first Green Mattress Store in St. Louis This blog is our promised update to assure its customers of their dedication to sustainability.

Read the rest of this page »

Sullivan Mo Earthquake wakes man in his waterbed in St. Louis!

Ok I know it’s a silly headline but St Louis MO has run the gamut and had its fair share of natural occurrences these past few months. A couple big tornadoes, crazy temperatures, big snow, flooding and as my wife has pointed out to me ” the cicadas”. Now just this morning a minor 4.2 Earthquake positioned around the Sullivan MO area just 50 or so miles south of Saint Louis. This happened according to my alarm clock set 10:00 minutes fast I will admit at 3:12 am 5/7/11. What most of you will find interesting or unbelievably boring is that I rode out this minor Missouri earthquake in my softside waterbed and is the second such happening while owning this bed. Now of course the mattress had nothing to do with the quake but the interesting thing is that I felt the shake through water.  This got me to thinking what kind of mattress is least likely to disturb you during an earth quake? I’m hoping to get some input from you all, but here is my best opinion on the subject.

Earthquake Preparedness In A Waterbed

What mattress is best during an earthquake?

Coil Spring Mattress?

Innerspring beds use coils and let’s face it these bad boys bounce.  Push a coil down it comes right back. I can remember as a kid jumping on mattresses like a trampoline and bouncing my sister around on the bed and laughing about it. Take my advice  no matter what the brand if you have you may find yourself rudely awakened as you are bounced to the floor.

Memory Foam Mattress?

I have got to think this is your hands down winner. They are built to be energy absorbing, isn’t that what they do to earthquake proof buildings? They advertise a glass of wine sitting on the mattress while a full grown adult walks around on the high tech surface with nothing more than small shimmies and shakes of the liquid in the glass and nothing spills. I wonder if it would even register on the Richter magnitude scale?

Always Clasp Your Hands Over Your Head

Airbed?

These things make me think of those inflatable bounce houses kids play in at carnivals and picnics. Bouncing, shaking, tremors and lots of movement need I say more?

Waterbed?

The water bed and tsunami myth, while I own a fully wave controlled waterbed I must admit it wasn’t exactly a tsunami I rode out. However there were definite vibrations and shaking going on underneath of me. I have to think a wavier free flowing mattress with nothing to hamper the waters movement may be nothing short of seismic.

Lawyer Disclaimer: This was written for cheap entertainment value and is in now way intended to suggest a mattress is a safe place of refuge during a real disaster or emergency.

American TV Furniture Electronics Appliance is Closing in St. Louis-Area

Four local American Stores Going Out of Business

As many of us in this industry already know the furniture industry has really struggled in recent years and now another bit of bad news, according News Channel 5 (KSDK) St. Louis – American TV Furniture and Appliance has decided to shut down four of there locations in the St. Louis MO area including it’s local support operations.

While the chain itself is not going out of business, there were 4  local stores that were announced to be closing.

They are located in Cottleville,  Bridgeton, Fenton, Missouri and O’Fallon, Illinois on the east side of the metro area.  It was not said how many jobs were lost or if those jobs would be relocated to other locations.  According to the report all remaining American stores in Illinois, Michigan Iowa, and Wisconsin will continue to remain open providing business as usual.

Starting June 4 Store-closing sales will be set in motion and run for several weeks.

There is great news for previous customers of American Furniture and Appliance. The company has announced that the they be honoring gift cards for the duration of the store-closing sale and offer refunds to consumers who decide that they do not want to redeem them.  Extended warranty plans will be honored and will continue to be valid per their agreement and are insured through a third-party insurance group.  It is that refunds will be available on pending orders or regularly delivery for customers who currently have open orders to pick up or waiting for delivery.  Pending service items and orders will either be or returned to the customer prior to closing or repaired.