Jeffrey Chan, Ryan Lacey, Amruth Venkatraman

User Classes

Parents Interested In Giving

• Have children that have either grown up or simply grown out of using certain toys
• Do not want the clutter of unused toys in home, but also do not want to create waste by throwing old toys out

Families Interested In Exchange

• Children may be interested in the toys they have, but want others
• Parents may instill values in children to prevent spoiling (ie a little sacrifice on the child's behalf is required for the child to get something they want)

Familites / Organizations Interested In Receiving

• Many low income families may not be able to afford toys they children want
• Day cares and other organizations dealing with children
• Do not have the resources to give 

User Interviews

Middle aged father of college student

This user was a father in his mid fifties whose kids moved out years ago. Until recently, he had held onto all of his kids’ toys from when they were in kindergarten. He mentioned that they held on to the toys for sentimental reasons, but that they were cluttering and taking up a lot of space in the upstairs floor of his house. About a month ago,  after talking to his kids, he decided to give away the toys so that others could enjoy the toys that his kids had. The only option he found for giving away his toys was to give it to a maid that cleaned the house every three weeks. He mentioned that since he was giving away a bulk of things and was a working professional, he did not have time to go through and catalog everything he wanted to give away. Instead he trash bagged a bunch of the toys and gave them to the maid, feeling that since she was interested in free things she would be willing to go through it.

Lesson Learned:

• Disappointed with the lack of a system for recycling toys among people in an area
• Felt that as someone giving away free things, the recipient should be willing to go through the contents and find what they were interested in
• Would be willing to list a couple items on a marketplace if it existed if he was giving away a couple things
• Didn’t want to have people coming to his house to collect the toys (didn’t feel comfortable with strangers coming to his house)

Mother of six

This user has six children, some of which are now well into adulthood. Her children acquire most toys as gifts from relatives or as hand-me-downs from her friends. She didn’t go out of her way to acquire many toys herself because the toys took up a lot of space in her home and she didn’t want her children to be spoiled. If possible, she would keep toys outside in an attempt to conserve space in her home. The user found it unfortunate that many donation centers, like Goodwill, would not take in some used toys because of liability issues (eg. stuffed animals being a risk for bed bugs).

Lessons Learned:

• Would like an alternative for exchanging items that donations centers would not take
• Active in peer-to-peer toy exchanges and enthusiastic about broader opportunities
• Preferred receiving hand-me-downs and passing on used toys over buying and selling in yard sales and similar venues

Daycare director

The user does not have the budget to provide enough toys for his children’s enjoyment. He would like a cost-friendly manner in which to acquire toys for his kids. Unfortunately, saving up for each toy for the kids is not a worthwhile investment since kids quickly outgrow or mistreat toys. His biggest problems is finding age-appropriate toys which are in good enough condition in an inexpensive fashion. He mentioned that he had to ensure that it was important to ensure that toys from organizations such as the Salvation Army or Goodwill were clean enough for the kids to play with.

Lessons Learned:

• Felt that it was important for cleanliness/quality of toy to be upheld
• Would like to know which toys correspond to which age kids
• Would like to know when toys of this type are available at places like Goodwill

Goals

Bulk Donations

The giving parent expressed an interest in being able to give lots of toys away at once, without having to sort through them himself. As he was the one giving away stuff for free, he felt the onus for cataloging was not on him. On the other hand, in the interest of the receiving parent, he or she may only wish to accept specific toys rather than the entire set. Ideally, this process would minimize the donation of gifts to receiving parents that would not use or throw away some of the toys.

Anonymity in Exchanges

Interviewees did not necessarily feel comfortable with people they did not know coming to their houses for numerous reasons, including security. They were more comfortable with a shipping system where they got reimbursed for shipping costs or having a way to orchestrate a meetup in a place midway between the two parties involved.  

Quality of Goods

A concern arose over ensuring that they toy exchange did not become a means for people to offload junk onto others. While it is understandable that not all toys exchanged would be of "like new" condition, a certain level of cleanliness, aesthetics in appearance, and retained functionality would be necessary for a product to be exchangeable. The donation of poorly maintained items could result in bed bugs or the transmission of diseases, which may make the receiving parent hesitant to partake in a toy donation program.