Throw away the manual?

Eric Coughlin

Eric Coughlin

Veteran
Do you keep or throw away the manual when you buy an item, such as say a camera?

Most manuals are available online, so a hard copy of many manuals for many types of equipment could just result in more clutter in the house. But maybe some like having a hard copy available.

Sometimes manuals are included in used sales, but I doubt they have much effect on the resale value of an item.
 
I found an old manual for my Amiga 4000 the other day.

Possibly I should keep that as a memento. I've still got the Amiga somewhere.
 
Sometimes it's easier to quickly flip through a book (when troubleshooting) rather than navigating a manual on the phone (especially when you're on a production).

Not sure how much clutter it's really going to add when it's clearly more valuable in every way to keep it.
 
NorBro said:
Not sure how much clutter it's really going to add when it's clearly more valuable in every way to keep it.
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I dunno, a thousand manuals is a lot of clutter. You watch the hoarder TV shows? Sometimes dead animals get caught in the clutter and now you're responsible for animal genocide. Don't even get me started on babies.
 
I hate manuals and just look online. But if I were planning to resell, I would keep it. It gives the impression of a better-kept item and a feeling closer to buying something new. The 2 used lenses I bought from lensauthority came in the original box with original packaging and warranty card etc and it gave me a boost as a buyer, especially versus the sony 28-135 I bought on ebay that came in bubble wrap with no caps and the hood attached wrong

These days, if I think I may resell, I only pull out what I need from the box and leave all packaging etc inside it
 
Depends on the item, doesn’t it? For a lot of simple stuff, it’s a waste of paper to even print a manual - like all those hard drives and SSDs I’ve bought over the years, that have a manual for dog knows what reason... I mean, what can a manual tell you about a hard drive. It’s silly.

But for some items, a manual is actually useful, because you don’t always have access to the internet fora the online manual, or because you need it to access the internet, so you’d be caught in a loop. That’s the case with some more complicated routers modems and hardware firewall gizmos - you need to have the manual right there, because the setup is complicated and you are not accessing the internet.

Meanwhile it’s not just an issue with having access to the internet at a given critical moment, sometimes you just don’t want to waste time searching online for a manual that may or may not still be on the OEM’s site. And then making sure you got the right model. It’s easier to just have the manual. That’s true for a lot of tools (woodworking, metalworking etc.), where the manual may not even be featured online, and you need the manual to troubleshoot.

That said, I admit to hoarding a lot of manuals - I don’t know if it might come in handy, so I just throw it into a drawer with the rest of the manuals... and now years later, it’s 4 drawers... oops. Then you realize that you still have manuals for gizmos that you no longer own.

What about manuals that come on a CD/DVD drive - now there’s a conundrum. First, do you still own a CD/DVD player - and then, are you sure the CD/DVD still works, or has it corrupted through the years.

From time to time, like every 5 years or so, I decide to tackle the manuals and throw most of them away, but then, 5 years later, somehow they’ve accumulated again. It’s a never ending battle.
 
They actually have resale value, so I like to keep them. I like to download a pdf of the manual to my iphone if i can, but that's risky if you only bring the iphone bc then if your phone dies or if there's no phone service to download the manual at basecamp before the shoot (or god forbid when something goes wrong with an item you didn't acquire the pdf for) then you're SOL.
 
Eric Coughlin said:
I dunno, a thousand manuals is a lot of clutter. You watch the hoarder TV shows? Sometimes dead animals get caught in the clutter and now you're responsible for animal genocide. Don't even get me started on babies.
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In your post about diversity hiring you were soon talking about black females as potential mates to birth your children. Here you quickly went from discussion of instruction manuals to “animal genocide” and what I think is a reference to...dead babies?

wth? Are you setting out to post inappropriate, whack-azz content?
 
JPNola said:
In your post about diversity hiring you were soon talking about black females as potential mates to birth your children. Here you quickly went from discussion of instruction manuals to “animal genocide” and what I think is a reference to...dead babies?

wth? Are you setting out to post inappropriate, whack-azz content?
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I'd asked you on the forums and in private message before to stop constantly attacking and criticizing me on the forums over the past year or two. Now you're taking a little joke in a topic about throwing away manuals and using that as another opportunity to attack me. Can you please please stop. I've never done anything to you to deserve such constant scorn from you. Please stop. Geeze.

Forums should be friendly. You are not.

This topic has nothing to do with diversity hiring. I fail to see how mentioning I found a black woman I know as being attractive and have considered asking her out is in any way offensive. You make it sound like you're offended by the idea of mixed marriage and that my having posted that is offensive to all, because clearly all of DVXuser is against mixed marriage. I left that topic because it seems to be headed in the direction of everyone just calling each other racists and being too political, which is against forum rules, and leads to posts like this contaminating other topics with your political views.

Now, back to the discussion of manuals...
 
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I'm just skeptical of how much a manual adds to the resale value of an item. While I do agree that an item having the manual and box makes it seem better kept, just how much of a price difference is that making in the sale? If you sell a lens that new costs $1500 and it comes with the box and manual, maybe you can sell it for $900 instead of $850? It's hard to say. Now the question is, is it worth it to hold onto the box and manual for years so that you could theoretically gain $50 on resale? I guess that comes down to how much space you have in your home and how much you dislike clutter.

To those who say they keep the manuals for when they have no Internet, I gotta ask, are you really taking the manuals with you on shoots? The C300 Mark II manual is relatively thick and would take up a fair amount of space in a camera bag. My car tends to be crowded enough in many cases, not that a manual would take up all that much space in a car. But are you really taking several manual with you to shoots on a regular basis? And if the manual is left at home where you presumably have Internet, then that no Internet reason is not really applicable if you don't have the manual with you on shoots.
 
Eric Coughlin said:
Do you keep or throw away the manual when you buy an item, such as say a camera?

Most manuals are available online, so a hard copy of many manuals for many types of equipment could just result in more clutter in the house. But maybe some like having a hard copy available.
Sometimes manuals are included in used sales, but I doubt they have much effect on the resale value of an item.
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Is this a question or an opinion or is it a statement? Is it provocative or are you just interested?

For your information I have one drawer with all my manuals. No big deal.
 
Publimix said:
Is this a question or an opinion or is it a statement? Is it provocative or are you just interested?

For your information I have one drawer with all my manuals. No big deal.
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It's clearly a question. What on earth could be provocative about the original post? I recently bought a bunch of equipment and am currently dealing with a large pile of empty boxes and manuals and trying to figure out what to do with it all, so posted a topic to get people's opinions. Pretty straightforward here.
 
Just checking. Not all your posts are.

My question also was just a question.

Sometimes I keep the box. That is handy when you want to sell the items again. Makes transportation easier.
 
Publimix said:
Just checking. Not all your posts are.
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What is this, more racial diversity hiring thread fallout? I stopped reading that topic after my last post there. Despite what some people may think, that topic was just a legal question too, and as I'd said in my last post there, I got the answer and am now done with that topic.

People need to stop reading too far into things. These aren't veiled implications. I'm asking straightforward questions, I'm getting answers. Not much more to it. A topic about throwing away manuals is about as harmless as it comes. Next thing people will be asking if my keto topic has veiled implications. Yes, it's the implied stomach fat veiled behind my shirt.
 
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Sorry, you are not beyond any criticism of your statements and behavior here. Particularly when it is detrimental to the forum, which your contributions often are, imo. Hell, they are detrimental to your own career. Maybe you should listen to the numerous professional peers trying to get you to see that.
 
Im winding up to selling some stuff and clearly boxes manuals and the like both add value and simplify shipping. I have no use for such items but see that keeping them is helpful.. ive thrown most of mine.
 
Ha Mr Moore, did you ever dream that your 10.231 th post on this forum would be about throwing away or keeping manuals and boxes?

It is a bit of a cleanup dillema: keep it or throw it away. Throwing away the box becomes a statement: "I will keep this item forever"

So far my 1303 th post. :smile:
 
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