I'm starting to get kind of snotty with my freecycle messages... and it's working - Page 2

[ollineeba]

Originally Posted by JessicaTX

My freecycle has a twice yearly free-for-all. so this weekend everyone brings the piles of crap that they haven't gotten rid of, and get to shuffle through everybody else's piles of crap to see if theres anything they want =D It's great! All leftovers get donated to habitat for humanity.

It's great not having to wait around for no-shows or respond to 50 people who want what you offered or something similar and if you have it in red would you have a spare blue one lying around because their sister's friend's uncle lost his leg and is wheelchair bound and tryin to put his grandson in college and really needs it.

That's such a great idea! Where does your freecycle find the space to hold this?

[annettemarie]

Well, dang it. My air purifier lady didn't show. Now I move on to step two. I am making A List. I plan on giving a lot away--we're decluttering--but no shows are going on My List.

[anthasam]

I have "A List" - and it's getting long :

You do have to be firm. We can't do curb alert postings on our local freecycle, but it's so bad now that I put a "you must pick up by x date" and "please do not reply unless you plan to drive here and get x item"!!

It's sad the way people feel it's ok to waste someone else's time!

[Turquesa]

Sigh! My Freecycling honeymoon is coming to a close. Maybe it's time to go back to the old way---thrift store drop-offs and pick-ups. At least the GoodWill van comes reliably.

[gottaknit]

Why anyone bothers with freecycle is beyond me. I really just don't have the patience for it. It seemed like such a great idea in the beginning.

I have gone back to dropping things off at Goodwill instead. If it's something too big for me to move, or worth selling, I post it on craigslist or call Habitat for Humanity to pick it up.

[BunnySlippers]

Originally Posted by gottaknit

Why anyone bothers with freecycle is beyond me. I really just don't have the patience for it. It seemed like such a great idea in the beginning.

I have gone back to dropping things off at Goodwill instead. If it's something too big for me to move, or worth selling, I post it on craigslist or call Habitat for Humanity to pick it up.

I'll second that

[annettemarie]

I've kind of had it as well. It's great for getting stuff, but I am sick of people not following through. I'm on Person Three for this air purifier.

[urklemama]

This is the high cost of free. People have absolutely no investment in the system, so it's no skin off their noses to flake.

I find freecycle really great for getting rid of or acquiring things of no cash value (moving boxes, partially used art supplies, concrete detritus for making raised beds, packing materials) or things with a cash value that are for some reason difficult to sell or move (I've gotten rid of a loom and nice yarn, for example). The former category is obviously beneficial to both parties; the latter category is obviously one party being extremely generous. The problems seem to show up when both parties can think of themselves as doing the other guy a favor - if you take this broken appliance to fix, did I give you the value of the appliance or did you give me the value of the space and the gas and time it would have taken to take it to the dump? If you take this box of old romance novels that you're going to sell at .75 each to increase your ratings on half.com or swap on paperbackswap, same thing - who is better off on the deal? It's impossible to say, so both parties can feel like they're being generous and then feel put upon when the other guy doesn't bend or is flakey or asks a million questions.

[4evermom]

I have it great here in that I can leave things out early on trash night and some guy with a pickup truck will haul it away. Presumably he is mostly doing it for scrap metal so I don't feel bad about putting out old appliances that don't work.

[Pariah]

I've pretty much given up on freecycle and craigslist, too. Sooo many no-shows, just plain rude people, etc. I just take things to the thrift store lately.

[sunnysandiegan]

We have had great luck with freecycle! We use it judiciously, though, and I think urklemama may be onto something in her analysis above. We've only offered things that still worked and were in decent condition (her 'generous' description). If it had a flaw, we disclosed it up front. We gave away an old TV that would turn itself off randomly, but worked otherwise. The mom who drove quite aways for it felt that was a good thing because she was giving it to her preteen sons for their video games. LOL She was gaining the family TV back and giving her sons a gift. We've given furniture and other stuff away, too, but generally big items that certain charities won't take.

We live in townhomes and there is a guy nearby who resales items as a biz. If we are getting rid of something medium-sized that is in decent condition, we leave it next to the dumpster. (If something were to sit out there all day, we'd bring it back inside before nightfall and decide what to do next. That has yet to happen)

I generally ask our playgroup if they need items DD has outgrown or big ticket items we no longer need/want. Most of our nicer baby and toddler items went to families we know with younger siblings. We sold some and gave some free. Ironically, it depended more on our financial situation at the time than the value/condition of the item.

Otherwise, I always have a donation bag or box available in the bottom of my closet in an unused corner and everyone puts small items in there (outgrown clothes and shoes and housewares and the like). I drop off when I am in a hurry to get rid of stuff and combine it with another errand or two or three (or more) to save gas. Or I call a charity for pick-up when I have no deadline or I want motivation to clear out the house or a particular room or whatever.

[Amys1st]

I aquired moving boxes on freecycle and then got rid of them after we moved within literally hours.

I had someone looking for bob the builder vhs tapes. I had bought some for $2 at a rummage sale. The kids didnt watch them and responded I had them. She came for them and my friend was over and waled at me- your freecycle people actaully show!! Then the receiver emailed me a thank you!!

Our new old house had a ton of stonework all over the perimeter and we wanted it out. I started piling the blocks at the curb and posted. They were gone within minutes. Another person was looking for more to build a bbq pit area. He came over and took out all the stones all over my house. Loved him!

I had a pile of books I bought at a used book sale. A lot of them were less than a year old- bestseller type of fiction. After I read them (hardcovers are $2 a piece at this sale) I post them on freecycle. I had a few people respond and said first come.../ A few sifted thru and took what they wanted and the actaul first responder took the bag. She left them out at her complex and said they were all claimed within an hour by her neighbors.

I have scored some good things.

Now for the bads-

Someone ISO a rocker wanted to come by and look at it first. whatever

One lady iso sheet music never showed three times.

I put a sofa out at the curb and one person said- I didnt list the address and I guess I didnt want her to have it. Whatever.

For childrens stuff, nursing supplies etc I always run by my local moms group or someone I know thru my kids. Or a friend or family member who have children younger than I. Also the preschool. ITs always snapped up quickly. OR I donate that stuff.

I was loosing a lot of weight last year and I had several almost new size 12 clothing. I emailed a friend on my mom's network on yahoo and dropped off the stuff to her. She is estatic because she just lost a lot of weight and fits in all of it as well as her dh lost his job earlier this year so things were tight. I hope to do this again soon with all the size 8 stuff!

So yes, I can see why its easier to be snotty and I also noticed a few people posting similar in my freecycle network. One person posts =- if you dont plan on picking it up, dont respond already!

[ashleyhaugh]

mine is mostly a pain in the butt- i just had to throw away 2 grocery bags of clothes that were on my porch and never got picked up, then it rained. and i ahve had tons of no shows. however, ive honestly forgotten a couple of times to go get something

i did just get lucky on a pack n play though, 3rd time is a charm on that one.
first time, someone listed a ton of baby clothes and the playpen, and picked me, but the playpen reeked of smoke so bad, i had to put it back on freecycle after a month- it was on our screened in porch that whole time, and i had scrubbed it down too. i put in the post it should go to a smoker
second time i requested one, and after going to the lady's house like 4 times, i finally got it. the "great condition, just needs to be cleaned" had been sitting in a shed with no floor and was dirty and water damaged. we threw it away

yesterday though, i got an awesome chicco pack n play, and all the accessories thats only a year old, an outside swing, and some toys. and the mama said she would keep my email address for when she cleaned out her sons closet.

so i guess some times its worth it

[Kabes]

You all don't have the "No Show Rule"??? Our mods maintain a no show list. You can report anyone who is a no show, if a user gets 3 strikes they are removed from membership.

I put most of our stuff in the back of DH's truck and tell the responder it will be there for X number of days (unless it rains) after that I will notify the next responder. I don't have any desire to deal with strangers knocking on my door and making my dogs bark during nap time etc-.

We are also allowed to "freesale". I **heart** freesale, just post a list of the best stuff with "plus much more" at the bottom and people stop by and take stuff. At the end of the day I take the rest to our local SPCA's ongoing rummage sale.