So, my apartment is filled to capacity and I’ve decided that I need to part with a good many items (or move). I joined my local Freecycle group and I’ve been reading the posts for about a month, just to get a feel for it.
It seems like it is a fairly common occurrence for people not to show up or to continue to ask for “a couple extra days” to pick items up. I’m not okay with that. If a person can’t show up within 30 minutes of the time they say they will, I have no intention of sticking around to give them the item, nor will I give them anything else I might post. Is there a semi-polite way I can indicate this in my offer postings? As well, I will never deliver items. If I’m going to have to pack something up and put it in the car, I’ll take it to a local charity.
I’ve also noticed several posters make complete pests of themselves, posting several Wants a day, never offering, reposting wants for large items repeatedly when they don’t get a reply. I’m not inclined to encourage these people either. Has anyone ever not offered to the first person to reply to your offer?
I would love to hear about your Freecycle experiences and any tips you may have. I know I have items people would appreciate, but I don’t want this to become a hassle for me. If it’s going to be a pain in the ass, I may as well sell my items.
Well, this complicates things a little (it’s really nice to able to just leave something on the porch), but you could try what I do:
I say in my ‘offer’ post that consideration will be given to how close the person lives and how soon they can pick the item up. If I have a desirable item I’ll end up with at least 5 or 6 emails within an hour. I generally pick a person who lives less than 5 miles away and says they can pick up within a day or two. I’ve not had any no-shows since I started doing this.
You may want to add in your posts that you need people to respond to your offer with a specific time they will pick up, and if the person doesn’t show up within, say, 30 minutes of that time, the next person on the list will be offered the item(s). This way you could add the criteria of a time when they can pick up - if someone says they can come by at 5pm and another says 3pm, and 5 is better for you, then you can offer the item to that person. People who lack reading comprehension skills and don’t give you a time when they respond just get their email deleted.
I did have one person who seemed to do nothing all day but sit on her computer and try to get everything I (and probably many others) offered. I’ve since blocked her email addy - no more problems.
Don’t be afraid to lump a bunch of like items together and offer them all at once, either. I always do this with books and it’s very easy to give them away.
I’ve just started checking it out. The people in my area are giving away wierd stuff like 3/4 of a bottle of nail polish remover. Is it really the intent of this site to get people to trade THAT kind of trash? I can understand little “garage sale” items, potholders, children’s clothes or toys, etc., but partial bottles of shampoo? It’s very strange to me.
It seems to me like this is in many ways the ideal type of item to give away. The Salvation Army or other thrift stores will take donations of potholders, clothes, etc., or you can sell them at garage sales, saving them from landfills, but you can’t get rid of open toiletries, bags of flour, etc. in any other way aside from giving them to friends.
I can understand the giver wanting to give it away for ecology’s sake, but I’m not sure many people would want to be the recipient. I mean, I have family and friends I can give those items to. I certainly wouldn’t take a stranger’s opened, partially used toiletries.
I was also wondering how many items I should put in a single post. For instance, I have a package of diapers, baby clothes, books, videos, every issue of a magazine from issue one to the forth year. Separate postings for all? And I think I will specify with the magazines take all. Don’t want a dozen people picking up an issue or two.
I adore Freecycle and have been able to acquire SOOOO many things for my home. Plus if you have a rapidly growing toddler (like me) you can get crazy amounts of children’s clothes that they will outgrow in a month anyway. LOVE IT.
That being said, there are issues along the way.
If you’re offering lots of items at once, it may not be a good idea to let all your takers come on the same day, or within a close time frame. I got rid of a bunch of stuff after we moved and had some problems with someone taking things they had not “claimed”. It hasn’t happened since but I learned my lesson.
Remember people who are “no shows” or sit around all day trying to claim everything that goes up for grabs, like someone else said. There are a lot of people who grab freecycle items only to sell them at yard sales on Craigslist or other places. No Shows are the worst, in my opinion, and I keep a list of people who’ve been no-shows and don’t offer them my item anymore.
I don’t get the partially-used items thing. I’ve even seen partially used boxes of cereal, pasta, dog food, etc. Weird. But if you’re desperate, it’s better than nothing I guess.
My choice for giving away is to leave items outside and have people pickup without having to call me or ring my bell. I’m often home alone during the day (and female) and would rather not arrange personal meet and greets for my free bag of clothes.
Oh, and if you’re a smoker PLEASE say so if you’re offering clothes or bedding of some type. Nothing worse than getting something in your car only to have a WALL of secondhand smoke permeate your personal space. YUCK!
Mostly I’ve had very good experiences with freecycle.
People who only take are violating the whole spirit of the thing. Folks like that will often end up getting booted out of the group, or at the very least will end up being ignored by most of the other participants. I live in a fairly small town, so it’s easy to notice when someone becomes a “taker” and they never last long around here. We’ve given stuff to the 2nd responder just because the 1st responder was known to abuse the system.
I’m usually pretty flexible about no-shows. If someone says they need a couple of days, I give it to them. If they don’t get it within a week, then the item gets re-listed.
People are people, and stuff happens. Some people are nice when an emergency pops up and you need to cancel a pickup. Other people get completely pissed if you are more than five minutes late. And yeah, some idiots will post things like half a roll of toilet paper. :rolleyes: Just mentally ignore the idiots.
It’s easier for everyone if you put multiple items in multiple posts. There is also no problem with having a “mother in law” clause with something (you want this, you have to take that too, i.e. if you want one magazine you have to take them all).
I’ve managed to get rid of TONS of stuff on freecycle, and managed to pick up a few things I’ve needed in return. Overall it’s been pretty good for me.
There might be different rules for different groups. The rules for our local freecycle group specify that you should put everything into a single posting.
For those of you who don’t like the idea of taking used toiletries, half a roll of TP, etc. from strangers. Why? What are you afraid of? I’m not trying to be antagonistic, I’m just wondering what particular fears you have. I know it seems “gross.” Is it a specific disease? Are you afraid ringworm or scabies or herpes is lurking in the open bottle of shampoo? Or is it the thought of finding someone else’s hair in the bottle, EWWW! Do you think that the open oatmeal cannister will be spiked with anthrax? I’m just curious. Like I said before, I think the ecological motivations for offering these things are really sound, and I want to know why they’re being ignored or dismissed.
I can’t find any rules for my local group regarding posting multiple items, but I think if people are receiving individual messages it might be a bit annoying if I post stuff separately.
I’m also a little concerned about strangers coming to my apartment (I’m home alone with the baby), but I’m probably just being paranoid, right? There are other people in the building, I live in a smallish city, and I could just hand them the goods while they stand in the hallway.
Weird Freecycle incident that was recently posted on my board: Someone posted asking for National Geographics or anything having to do with dinosaurs for her young son. Someone responded to her and said he’d mail them. He sent her all this religious propaganda, articles disputing evolution, a brochure telling “what really happened to the dinosaurs” and a flyer for his church. WTF? Anyway, the recipient of this garbage did post what happened and the person’s name, but it kind of freaks me out to think people will do this kind of crap. Not very Christian to lie to someone and mail them crap you know they won’t appreciate.
WRT half rolls of toilet paper, etc., I’ve never seen posting like these. Yes, opened food and household goods would creep me out, not knowing how they may have been tampered with or if the bottle contains what it says it may contain. Other than that, I just can’t imagine it would be worth the effort to travel to someone’s home to pick up something like half a roll of TP.
I’ve never seen postings like those either on our local Freecycle either. I joined mine fairly recently – haven’t offered anything yet, nor have I taken anything. I’m still trying to get a feel for it.
I don’t know about other boards, but my Freecycle is very big on baby/toddler items – clothes, cribs, whatever. It’s also big on Great Aunt Sadie-type bricabrac which, I imagine, comes from relatives cleaning out a deceased relative’s home.
I have to admit that putting my location out there for a pickup skeeves me a bit. For that reason alone I’m not sure if I’m ever going to offer anything.
I thought about the desperate angle, but then I thought I’d sure as hell have cut off internet access before I’d start looking for 1/2 boxes of cereal.
I guess I’m just not hard up enough to bother traveling across town for a dirty, partial bottle of shampoo. It’s nice to know that these items are out there if I lose my job, tap out on unemployment insurance, and can’t get approved for welfare, but to me, this is utter desperation. I would have sold my computer long before I felt the need to scavenge personal items offered there. I’d probably be doing the subterranean homeless person lifestyle at that point.
I understand the need to reduce landfill, but I’d be asking myself the whole time, “Why didn’t this woman just use the shampoo herself?” I mean, she had to go out and buy another bottle of SOMETHING! It sort of defeats the purpose.
My Freecycle list sucks. I often get the emails well after the item has been offered and taken already. I suspect the owner of the local list ‘screens’ for the good stuff and either takes it herself or lets her friends know first before sending the emails through to the general list. :mad:
Plus, I hate the ‘need to get rid of our pets’ ads. The purpose of Freecycle is to keep items out of the landfills, not to be the easy way out because you’re too cheap to get your pets fixed. :rolleyes:
That’s basically why I cancelled my Freecycle around here. I couldn’t take the constant “My cat needs a new home or she’s going to the pound!” emails - it broke my heart on a regular basis. Several of us requested of the group leader that we disallow these requests, and were told ‘If you don’t like it, just don’t read those’.
I think a few of us quit at the same time for that reason.