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julie_mi_z5

Freecycle - How does it work?

Julie_MI_Z5
17 years ago

There isn't a freecycle group in my community, but I think I can join one a suburb over. Right?

And if I offer something, does my personal information (address, phone, email, whatever) get posted to the whole group, or just the person who contacts me?

I've been surfing their site and can't figure out the details.

Julie

Comments (15)

  • Maura63
    17 years ago

    Hi Julie,

    I've been Freecyling for about a year.....

    The Freecycle forums in my area have FAQs or Member Guidelines. Look again to see if you can find them. If not, I have guidelines from my group moderator that I would be happy to email to you so you can get a general sense of how things operate.

    To answer your questions:

    You should have no problem joining a neighboring suburb. Local Freecycle communities generally have similar guidelines in that they don't want you to "cross post" in neighboring communities. I don't think you would have any trouble joining your neighboring suburb and it's been my experience that people will travel the extra distance for even the smallest things.

    Personal info is NOT shared with the whole group. You deal with individuals who request your items.

    I've gotten rid of lots of unwanted or unused items. I've rarely responded to offers since my goal is to purge stuff from my home, not to acquire more. But, I have obtained a Nintendo game system after losing ours to a flooded basement.

    Usually your membership is subject to approval (which is never a problem).

    Hope that helps for now!

    Maura

    Here is a link that might be useful: Freecycle Manual

  • Maura63
    17 years ago

    The link above takes you to a home page. On that page, click on the link on the left called: "Guidelines and Local Policy" That should help with some of your questions too.

    Good luck!

  • steve_o
    17 years ago

    I have participated in several versions of Freecycle. One thing to be aware of is that people responding to your offer may have a very different level of commitment to the exchange. Between juggling emails from respondents (including the ones who say they want your item but don't respond to your emails or show when they say they will), packaging items safely (I won't leave electronics out if it looks like rain), etc., I've found that, for all items except those with a very specific purpose, it's easier to drop it at Goodwill, where they're there when I am and I even get a tax-deduction receipt.

    I love the idea of Freecycle. But, for me, it has very often been a case where people treat these free items as if they had no value (if you know what I mean).

  • Julie_MI_Z5
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Maura--Thanks for the link!

    Steve--I know what you mean. Actually I have nothing to offer, but I'm looking for 3 dozen empty champagne bottles for a project. No way do I want to drink 36 bottles of champagne just to get empties! LOL

  • quiltglo
    17 years ago

    julie, contact a local caterer and ask if you can stop by at clean-up for a wedding reception and get them. They will probably be willing to bag them up for you as the party progresses or you may have to dig them out of the trash.

    Our local Freecycle seems to be a pretty nice group. The first rule is that you have to offer something before you can ask for something. Like steve, I prefer to drop off most donations, but it has been very useful for oversized items. I listed mirror closet doors, an old really long wooden ladder, hoses, trash cans, etc. Someone even requested a treadmill and I was able to have someone just haul our right out of the house. Much easier than trying to donate. Our group really encourages people NOT to just take the first person to respond for the item, but to choose from the responses. I think those who just tell the first person responding have more no-shows for pick-up.

    I like it, but it is heavy email traffic. Be sure you set up a separate folder if you decide to subscribe.

    Gloria

  • Julie_MI_Z5
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Well at first I didn't think I had anything to offer, then I found a pair of baseball cleats (or maybe soccer, I should look closer) in the give-away box.

    Normally I would feel guilty about offering something so insignificant, but then I saw people offering stuffed animals that need to be sewn because they were handled roughly by children. The cleats are in better shape than that!

    I'm having the email sent to a yahoo mail account that came with the yahoo ID thing. Now I just have to figure out how to get to my yahoo email and see if the moderator approved me yet. LOL

    Good idea on the caterer. Might have to try that next.

  • alisande
    17 years ago

    In my rural area, everything seems to happen on a less intense scale (well, most things), and so I haven't been bothered with too many emails, too many people with poor attitudes, etc. Even so, I will say I've learned to keep track of everyone interested in an item I'm giving away, because even the most fervently committed to picking it up may never show.

    I still cart small stuff off to the Salvation Army, but a couple of years ago I gave away all my living room furniture and an old microwave via Freecycle. And last week a young couple came and took a huge air conditioner away. It was only a little over a year old, but had stopped working. I figured someone with some electronic/mechanical skill could get it going again, and they figured they'd give it a try. I hope they succeeded!

    Which brings up the point that Freecycle is especially useful if an item has a quirk or something that needs to be mentioned. If it's donated to Goodwill, etc., the person buying it buys it blind.

    Susan

  • jenathegreat
    17 years ago

    There are always suprising things on freecycle. I've never gotten anything, only given a couple away.

    One family needed a rabbit hutch immediately because they'd been given a bunny. We had one in the backyard that hadn't been used in at least 5 years and we had put off hauling to the curb. It's nice to know that someone could get use out of it. I never would have posted it on freecycle, I just happened to see the "wanted" posting.

    We also got rid of a cooktop that needed a repair to the electric starter (had to use a match and light it the old-fashioned way). The girl who picked it up was thrilled as her parent's cooktop was the same kind but no longer worked at all.

    These aren't things that you could take to goodwill and I'm not sure even the people who scavenge from the curb on heavy trash day would have taken the rabbit hutch.

    Why not ask about empty bottles at a local bar?

  • Julie_MI_Z5
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Update: The banquet hall said no. The local bar only sells the small bottles of champagne, and not many of those.

    Looks like it's time for a freecycle posting.

  • Julie_MI_Z5
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Since there wasn't a group in my suburb, I joined the one next door. There isn't a lot of traffic (about 4-6 posts a day).

    Is it bad form to also join another group? If that's OK, how long do I wait before I cross-post? I saw a message that you're only supposed to post the same thing once a month, so I could re-post on a different group in August, right?

  • Maura63
    17 years ago

    Hmm. Not sure on this one.

    I know that cross-posting "Offers" is discouraged. But even those vary from group-to-group. i.e. My local group allows a cross-posting after 24 hours if you get no takers in your "home" group.

    I think cross-posting a "Wanted" could be okay.... You should email your moderator to verify.

    Good luck!

  • Julie_MI_Z5
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Maura, I did email the moderator almost 24 hours ago but haven't heard back (what? he has a life? he's not just sitting there waiting to answer my questions? LOL).

    My group has only had 47 posts in the last 7 days. I definitely need to find a more active group--the downside being that it will cover a huge county instead of one suburb.

  • Julie_MI_Z5
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Update:

    I've had limited luck with Freecycle, but I am shocked at the yucky stuff some people are offering AND getting responses, and the wild stuff people ask for.

    With the price gas is going for around here, who in their right mind would drive across town for 1/3 of a bottle of pot pourri oil???

    P.S. I don't want to sound snobby, but Freecycle has become quite entertaining. LOL Who would have thought more than one person would offer dirty clothes and broken furniture for pick up on their porch?? Other than the odd things, it really is a cool system!

  • quirkyquercus
    17 years ago

    I haven't used freecycle. Sounds interesting. I just wanted to jump in and say that I've been taking stuff to goodwill and the workers there aren't exactly grateful. I showed up with a truckload of toys and stuff. Everything was in decent condition. This guy storms out with a horrible attitude and he was being kind of rude. I said "Having a bad day?" He said "I can't stand these people that come here and bring nothing but sh**. Everything is total sh**. They just come to get their tax certificates."

    I almost left. I don't go there for tax certificates. I think they're pretty useless but that's another matter. I bring good stuff so they can sell it and use the money to hire people like this guy.

    Then there was this one time we had one of the services come to take stuff in their truck. I think it may have been the salvation army. Not sure it was a long time ago. They opened the back door and literally threw everything in has hard and rough as they possible could. They have no respect for anyone or anything as the stuff would be broken and useless.

    Anyway it's nice to know that the middleman is getting worked out of the equation. It sounds like it makes a lot of sense to freecycle or if not, there's always Craigslist where I have unloaded things before for $$.

  • quiltglo
    17 years ago

    How come you think the tax receipts are pretty useless, quirky? We've taken between $4,000-5,000 in non-cash donations every years for the past 4 years. Major help on our taxes.

    I've read about this trouble on other boards. Since we are an isolated area, our guys are good about taking everything. I do tend to put the breakables in boxes and mark "glass." I'm sure they do get their fair share of cr**, though.

    julie, I'm one of those weird freecycle people who drive all over to get garden waste for my composting operation. I built several beds in the backyard that way. Had a tomato plant sprout this spring. I'm amazed that the seeds overwintered! Don't forget the original intent was to keep stuff out of the landfills, so you just never know what people may do with broken furniture. My pride would make me wash the clothing first.

    Gloria

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