Blades need sharpened, gas maybe needs to be drained, are there other fluids that need take care of? Do I need to oil bits, are there bolts that I need to tighten?

I could spend hours learning to do this, and then buying the tools and materials to actually do the maintenance, plus the few hours of effort of actually doing it. Walmart has several mowers listed under $200, I can see why someone would find it not worth the time/effort/money to maintain a mower and just buy a new one. Hopefully, they are setting it out on the curb with a sign that says free for someone that does find that tradeoff worth it.