Did you ever find out what happened to something you gave away? My buddy Dave gave his old grill to a neighbor two summers ago and then saw it sitting in the guy's backyard a year later, totally rusted out and never used once. That one still bugs him. But then he gave away a bike to some kid down the street and saw the kid riding it every single day, so it really just depends on the person. I figure once you hand something off, it's out of your hands, and even if it sits in a garage, at least it's not in a landfill. The cooler guy had a point but I would not let it stop you from giving stuff away.

Made the exact same mistake with my old Simpsons tapes from the 90s. Had them stacked sideways in a cardboard box in my garage for like 8 years because I figured as long as they were out of sunlight they'd be fine. Nope. Pulled them out last summer and half of them had that wavy picture and the tracking was all over the place. Turns out heat and humidity in the garage did way more damage than I ever thought. Now they live in plastic bins in my closet with those little silica packs. Lesson learned the hard way.