Misadventures with Freecycle (slight rant)

[oreo]

So Freecycle is a Yahoo group or is it something else? I have never used it (I have used Craigs List) Does it have a page of searchable items or do you only receive email alerts when something is posted (or maybe it has both). I was looking at signing up but I don't want to get 100s of emails/day and if I got digest everything would be gone by the time I got it probably so it would only be useful for getting rid of stuff, not possibly getting anything (I like the idea of the plants someone mentioned they'd gotten/given).

[thyme4change]

I tried to freecycle many years ago, and the page was horribly ugly and very difficult to use. It took me forever to sign up. I hope it is better now.

[lisaa]

I have had the exact same thing happen.

I offered an item for pick up at XXX shopping center. I arranged the time with the respondent. I said let's meet at <exact location> at <exact store> in XXX shopping center at the arranged time. Now, to give you some advance info, XXX shopping center isn't that big. You can walk from one end to the extreme other end in 7 minutes.

The reply back was "oh, sorry, that's too far". I was like WTF? How is it too far? It wasn't too far an hour ago. The store certainly hasn't picked up and moved in the past hour. This isn't Kansas, and we didn't have a tornado.

The density of some people boggles my mind.

[Cass]

Jun 13, 2011 17:46:00 GMT -5 oreo said:

So Freecycle is a Yahoo group or is it something else? I have never used it (I have used Craigs List) Does it have a page of searchable items or do you only receive email alerts when something is posted (or maybe it has both). I was looking at signing up but I don't want to get 100s of emails/day and if I got digest everything would be gone by the time I got it probably so it would only be useful for getting rid of stuff, not possibly getting anything (I like the idea of the plants someone mentioned they'd gotten/given).

It is a Yahoo group (mine is anyway) that sends emails in "batches" so all of the days mails arrive at once. There is a page where people can post pictures of their stuff if they wish. My group isn't too busy, I sift through maybe only a half dozen posts a day, a little more in summer and on weekends.

I really don't find it any trouble at all and have gotten rid of a ton of stuff with it. I email the first (polite) person where the item will be, leave it outside and call it a day. It is an awesome resource for perennial sharing as well.

[Opti]

oreo mine is a Yahoo group too that covers the county.
It is moderated so the posts come through as the moderator approves them or you get an email why it wasn't approved.
You can just log into the group and scroll through messages
and its the only way to see the pics people post in my particular group.

My particular freecycle group is overwhelming. I probably average 700 emails a week from them but as you say if I do a digest, I'll never see or get to anything in time. I think it all depends on how your particular group works. My group also has Free4All days
once or twice a year. I went to my first one this year
and they take over a local parking lot and people display what they want to give away and some people just come to take.

lisaa, I totally get your pain. Who are these people and
what are their thought processes? I don't get it either.

thyme, I have no idea where the closest Goodwill is. Probably a hour or more from me so I'll see if I can find a thrift shop instead hopefully close.

[Opti]

Researched Goodwill and had to reboot my machine.
As I had suspected my area is not really covered by Goodwill. The Goodwill NJ website is for South New Jersey and the Philadelphia area then the Goodwill NY website covers part of Northern NJ.

When I feel like risking my laptop again I'll see in Goodwill NY has donation centers like South Jersey and Philly do.

[motherto2]

I've never tried freecycle but I did venture on Craigslist late last year when I was replacing my kitchen appliances. I had a dishwasher, fridge and over the stove microwave. I had some sketchy responses, and a couple kind of scared me (thankfully no personal info was given out) so I decided to donate them to the Habitat for Humanity in our closest city and take a tax write off. We aren't allowed to have yard sales in my neighborhood, so I will try the local citizens center. They have one the first Saturday of the month during the summertime. I had one a week ago and priced things to sell = made about $125. Funny thing - my stepdad and mom helped me and DS move the stuff (really mom was just along for the ride). About 3 months later, mom made the comment that stepdad needed a new fridge for a rental property (which he knew at the time). Why didn't he just say he needed one? I'd have given it to him

[Opti]

Interesting story.


I have some that says they will pick up the toy tomorrow early morning whatever early is. I'm not entirely sure what I want to do as tomorrow morning is the food pantry that I could give stuff away at I hope and their hours are 8-10AM with almost everyone showing up before 9AM. Its just one morning a week and I don't go that often any more due to the gas expense, etc.

So should I leave Barney hanging on my door in the AM
or should I take him with me? I'm undecided. I'm waiting to see if she is willing to define early morning even though I asked for a specific time or time window of two hours max.

[Cass]

You are making this far too difficult. It is a stuffed toy, leave it outside. Who cares what time she comes?

[Poppet]

Yeah, Optimist, you are making it harder than it need to be. Too much time fretting. Leave it outside and got about your business.

[Opti]

The reason I'm concerned is I am leaving now to the
food pantry that I would give it to if she does not pick it up. If I get the job I interviewed for I will not be able to go to this food pantry again or at least until the job ends in September or October.

[Opti]

She did pick it up ;D Got an email with a ThankYou. Maybe
I'll try freecycle for some things with what I've learned from this
thread.

Dropped a few pairs of womens socks and some toys at the food pantry this morning. They were happy to take them. Yay!

[Opti]

Your suggestions have helped. I got rid of some food
yesterday by not picking the first respondent but selecting the one that sounded like they would show up.
Now if only more of the items were small and could be
hung by the door knob or wedged in the door...

[Cass]

Glad you are getting the hang of things. I've also posted successful "TRADES" ie. gas powered lawn mower to trade for push mower or for perennials. Good luck to you.

[cronewitch]

Ours doesn't allow trades or curb alerts. I did trade plants once but not as a bargain, I had a offer and she had answered my want and asked for my plants.

My best thing I got may have been all the free firewood. A family had a tree cut down and rather than pay for the offered it free. We must have gotten about 6 PU trucks full from them. I got other free wood from other offers, it is nice to get free heat.

[Opti]

I think each group decides on what is OK or not. I wanted coupon inserts but found out that was voted down before I joined. The moderator OK'd my idea to
ask for the Sunday paper with all the guts but I can't ask specifically for just the coupon inserts.