Best freecycle story I’ve got is actually positive. This young guy who’d moved to SF for a fresh start had his apartment robbed. Absolutely cleaned out. He made an appeal for housewares, a bed, anything. I have a truck and volunteered to help get his things to his apartment, so I got to see the lack of furnishings firsthand. He was a good guy, just had a huge run of horrible luck.
Through Freecycle he managed to get a really nice bed, microwave, a funky (but usuable for awhile anyway) TV and quite a few kitchen supplies.
In fact, your pit thread had a deep, profound and lasting effect on me. I never make a bid for anything unless I’m sure we can pick up!
I’ve seen your stuff listed from time to time, but the only thing I ever saw we might have been listed in was a box of books (you guys seem to have the same taste in reading that we do), but by the time I saw it, someone else had gotten it.
I don’t take pictures of anything, and I don’t do phone calls either - email all the way! I also don’t like having to save stuff in a pile somewhere where I can trip over it until I’ve got enough to make it worth driving the 25 miles to the charity, who doesn’t want half the stuff anyway (yep, they’re picky these days - they won’t take anything they don’t think they can sell very quickly, or anything that takes up too much space in the store, like furniture). So I loves me some Freecycle! I find it to be incredibly easy.
We don’t do pictures, either. It’s very unusual to see a link to a photo. I did once for a bedroom set I was selling (it was still retailed online so a good photo existed) simply so I wouldn’t have to ask questions about what it looked like.
One of the reasons I like freecycle is that I shop at thrift stores and I see how the items are displayed.
I’ve seen a lot of useful stuff get separated out of its matched set, hung up in such a way that no one can tell what it is, or be buried in a jumble. So when I have a set of, say, vaccum cleaner bags, I’d rather they go to someone who needs those vacuum cleaner bags. Not go to charity and have them sit on some shelf for six months alongside old jigsaw puzzles and fondue pots in a thrift store, on the off chance someone with the right model of vacuum cleaner will spot them.
Some items I gladly donate to charity. With other stuff? I feel less certain it will really get to someone who needs it or will appreciate it, so freecycle is more appealing.
