Imagine paying to donate a truckload of items, only to find out they were trashed. One Minnesota family says that’s exactly what happened to them.
For months, Matt and Mary Cullum say they carefully decided what to donate, from furniture to gently used baby clothes. The Cullums collected items, big and small, to donate over a year.
The Cullums felt strongly about making sure what they could no longer use went to another loving home.
“This stuff has been staying in our basement, cleaned and organized, for a while. And I know that getting rid of it was like saying goodbye to that chapter in our life. But what gave me peace is knowing that some other kid would get to enjoy it,” Mary Cullum said.
The family had a long list that filled a 20-foot moving truck, including dressers, nightstands, end tables, an oak cabinet, a bed, and much more. Their collection of items to be donated also included toys, clothing, bikes and baby swings. They found a company that said they could do it all — sort and donate the items — and hired the Shoreview franchise of College Hunks Hauling Junk.
“If you look at their website that they pride themselves in repurposing, recycling or giving things a second life before they take anything to the dump,” Mary Cullum said.
The Cullums paid $1,500 for the pick-up. About an hour and a half later, Mary Cullum started to regret donating some sentimental items. But by then, it was too late. She was told her donated items were “all gone,” that it was all “at the dump.” She said she raced there in hopes of salvaging something.
“It was just an overwhelming pile of stuff, of garbage. I was trying to look for like larger items, and everything had just been bulldozed,” Mary Cullum said.
She took a video walking through the debris at the dump site, grabbing what she could save before she says it became too dangerous. And she watched the video of the donation being crushed.
“My ‘mama heart’ was breaking because I wanted to get back the things. And I was just so disappointed that they treated good things like garbage, things that could have made a difference for another family, and things that we cherish, and we had put together so carefully, and our donation was treated like trash,” Mary Cullum said.
The Cullums salvaged a few items, then contacted the company. When the issue wasn’t resolved, they turned to the Better Business Bureau. The company responded, saying they’ve done more training.
The Cullums contacted the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. When they still didn’t get the response they were looking for, they contacted WCCO to get answers. College Hunks Shoreview owner Ryan Spille gave WCCO a tour of their office and clarified there are two parts to the business: moving and junk hauling. Donations fall under the latter.
“We do donation runs every week, week and a half,” Spille said.
He says items are brought back here to be sorted, and truck captains are incentivized to donate versus dump.
“Their commission percentage goes up or down depending on their, what we call, disposal percentage. Disposal percentages are how much it costs you to dispose, versus how much money you brought in, so they have a strong incentive to donate stuff, because that’s free. That will bring their disposable percentage down,” Spille said.
WCCO questioned how the Cullum family’s big donation could have ended up in the trash.
“If our guys are, like, actually dumping stuff that’s in good condition, I mean that, like, immediately horrifies me. I’m like, ‘No, that can’t happen. And so we sit that Captain down and say, ‘Look, we have a responsibility to give those toys to donation,’ or something like that,” Spille said.
He says in this case, one of two things happened: the items weren’t donatable or the captain made a mistake. Overall, the website says they donate or recycle 70%.
“What percentage of that is donatable? I don’t actually know. But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s probably like 15% to 20% of everything that we take in,” Spille said.
The website touts partnerships with Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity ReStore. However, Goodwill told WCCO it “is not, and has never been, affiliated with College Hunks Hauling Junk.” Habitat for Humanity ReStore told WCCO they also don’t have a partnership.
Spille said, in addition to donations, they also allow employees to take what they need. That’s not advertised.
The Cullums asked for a donation receipt. The family never got one.
“If that’s the case, that’s a problem,” Spille said.
For the couple, the outrage from the owner is too late.
“I think I was in shock for a while. I know I cried a lot because that’s the last place I wanted it. And I was upset because this is something I felt was taken from the community. You know, if we hadn’t tried to track down that box, I could have lived blissfully unaware,” Mary Cullum said.
College Hunks is a franchise. This report applies only to the actions of the Shoreview location.
The Attorney General’s Office sent two letters to College Hunks Shoreview asking for a response. They’ve gone unanswered. WCCO discovered the letters went to the wrong address.
So what can you do in a similar situation? One thing is to ask the company to send pictures along with a list of what was accepted for donation. Also, follow up with the company to get the donation receipt for your taxes.
Jennifer Mayerle
Jennifer Mayerle happily returned to Minnesota and WCCO, where she began her career as a summer intern. The Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist returned to WCCO as a reporter in 2014 and later also anchored WCCO Saturday Morning for 6 years. Then in early 2024 she focused on her new role as Senior Investigative Reporter.
