The BIG clean out

I cull the flock every 5 years. It started out at 30,000, it's about 10,000 now with numerous donations waiting to be made. The older we get, the less time we have we have left to listen. It's the math of life.

Davey, I have a fair amount to get rid of but until I organize and playtest multiple copies, I'm reluctant to dump stuff. I have been replacing copies with better copies (in the sense that I am searching out original pressings in many cases rather than the 'audiophile' copies I bought back in the day).
To answer your question about how to dispose of a quantity of records, I think you have several options:
(1) take to the local Goodwill or other local charity, but before you do so, make sure they will accept them;
(2) see if your local library, church or other eleemosynary institution wants fodder for a fund-raising sale; it may give you a charitable deduction (check with your tax lawyer ) and a good warm feeling;
(3) if you wanted to generate some money from these, I'd try and sell them as a 'lot' with a disclaimer about condition- changes are, your "VG" is conservative compared to much of what is on offer on the web, used recordwise. I don't know how well larger lots sell on e-bay, but selling a large quantity of albums (particularly those of low value) individually on line sounds like a nightmare (responding to queries, getting paid, packing and shipping). Shipping costs could be prohibitive.
(4) I never really used Craigslist- I guess for local sales, pick up and the like, it makes sense.
(5) Some large used record stores will give you nominal money per record for a collection, so that might be worth considering too.

My experience with the local Goodwill store is that they will take all LPs. I know I have given them plenty over the years. I wouldn't attempt to sell any LP on Ebay or anywhere else unless it was something special and in special shape. It's not worth my time or trouble to sell records with low value and in questionable condition in hopes of making a few bucks and risk getting negative feedback. I would rather give them to Goodwill.

I had only around 2500 or so, many of them given to me. I simply went through and pulled the ones I knew I'd never listen to and gave them to a friend's daughter who is getting into the hobby. Lots of decent stuff, some still sealed. Easy come, easy go.

I have around 800 or so that, although I probably won't liste to them, they are too cool to gave away for free. Early Aladdin and King items, classic sixties albums and the like.

They are in their own section of my shelf system. The other section is my current listening supply, growing almost daily. Total LP collection is around 1800. Plenty to listen to.

This is something I need to do as well, but I'm having a difficult time taking that step. Once I get my collection in Calgary over here (getting shipping quotes now) I will have to get serious about it though. Once I go through them I'll set them aside for my nephew who can take them back next year when he drives out to visit. I'd like to whittle it down to no more than 2,000 LP's. I just don't have the room to store much more than that.

At this point I have to listen more and buy less. I can't stop myself. To borrow a thread title from Madfloyd, "I think I need help".

Still, I'm very very selective never buying even rare sought after records if the music on them isn't "my type".

One dealer I frequent buys and sells records. I have cleaned out my collection a few times. Instead of cash I take store credit. As a result I ended up paying $400 for an Oppo 95. Paid $150 for a Dynavector 10x5 another time. Next sell off an Okki Nokki.

I have been organizing and purging like mad. I have one bin of 'collectibles' that I will eventually put on e-bay. Lot's of old MoFi, many of them sealed, with their old price stickers still on the bags.
A friend decided to get into beer budget hi-fi - he's roughly the same age as me. He bought a Dyna ST-70, a PAS 3 (x?) and a Music Hall turntable, I forget which speakers. I made him a deal- take some of the 'junk' records out of my house, and he gets some seconds of decent stuff too. I think he took a total of 7 or 8 hundred records so far. This is cathartic. I found a huge amount of old Grateful Dead stuff that was part of a collection I bought years ago- haven't a clue as to the Dead. I figure I'll research some of it, maybe pick a few out that don't look trashed and fire 'em up.
So far, I have:
organized 1st tier pop/rock
organized 1st tier jazz
organized a large shelf of 'audiophile' crap- MoFi, Wilson, Fultons (yes, I have those), Levinsons, tons of D2D,
put some order to the vintage Mercury Living Presence and RCA dogs;
put all the Lyritas together
put all the Londons together
Put all the Philips together
assembled a roughshod 1st tier of classical and
alphabetized another three 8 foot long shelves of classical
started to set aside 'novelty' records in one place
started to set aside soundtracks in one place
probably have organized 3-4k of records;
haven't touched the DG, the Harmonia Mundi, Argos or other Euro pressings;
have several thousand mixed classical, some good, some mediocre- from old Everests, Capitols, Westministers and MHS to more obscure labels- found some pretty early stuff on 33 including some Cooks.
I've made a huge dent, just chipping away a few hours or more each day.
Haven't gotten to the boxes in the basement and I'm ignoring all the records that have come in, and are still coming in, which haven't been sorted, cleaned and play-tested.
Oh, and I have a special pile now for early UK first pressings- Vertigos, Pink Labels, Harvests and the like.
I think I want to be an archivist when I grow up. It's actually fun once you dig in!

PS- for Madfloyd- I found some old London Montovanis, including some Bluebacks. They are yours!

Bill - I'd be interested to know what MoFi's you have and are willing to put up for sale.

It's because the people who work there are clueless where vinyl is concerned. I have never found anything at any of them that was worth much, so I don't bother to even look anymore. It isn't worth the effort to stop and go in the store. Some guys have found gems, though. I've never been so lucky.

At about 70 12" records per 13" x 13" x 13" box, 1000 boxes. That's huge.

@ DaveyF, I know what you mean. Years ago a pal of mine who is a few years older than me invited me over to check his friends collection for sale. About 10 boxes or so. I looked at every one and found one I liked. Not rare, just a record I liked.

But then there were a few times throughout the years when I was clearly the first one on the scene; junk store, auctions etc. Scored a few brutally rare items.