TreasureHunter

Abstract

Increasing the reuse of locally available consumer goods is one way to make consumption more sustainable. We present TreasureHunter, a system to help consumers find and share used goods available at thrift stores in their local area. TreasureHunter enlists frequent thrift store shoppers to help find requested items for those who lack the time or inclination to search for the items themselves. Incentive-centered design was used to craft a solution to fit the needs of all types of shoppers. TreasureHunter consists of an online community that is also accessible from mobile phones so that it can be used while at a thrift store. The proposed system works best on smartphones, though any Internet-capable phone could also be used. By motivating more people to buy used goods instead of new, everyone can benefit as consumers pay less for the goods they desire and fewer resources are wasted in the transportation and consumption of new goods.