Open letter to a Freecycle customer upon my first foray into the culture:

[cyrano]

Hi. I know that you may also be new to the process, but when my ad says "Sofa has been used, batting shows in places, but is structurally sound" that means that yes, you might have to wash the fabric to remove dust and a few stains. That means it is unlikely to be a pristine show-room model of a $2000 sofa waiting to be picked up for the cost of the gas it took to drive to my apartment.

Sorry for the confusion.

Comments

[9thmoon.livejournal.com]

Welcome to Freecycle! You're lucky s/he didn't demand that you deliver the damn thing.

[tersa.livejournal.com]

ebonlock speaks so glowingly of Freecycle, that kind of rampant stupidity seemed atypical. :P

[9thmoon.livejournal.com]

I've had good and bad experiences, which jives with what most people I know who've used it have to say, too. Like anything else dealing with the public, I guess. :)

A friend recently put up a free bed and matress/box spring set for pick-up ("hollywood frame, queen, cream-colored soft fabric, used but good condition, clean") and got spammed with people wanting to know the date of manufacture, the exact fabric content, a digital photo of the manufacturer's tag, measurements (measurements! it's a queen, sheesh?), one woman wrote and said "What's your address?" and he replied with his address and said "When are you coming so I can be here?" Never heard back from her and two days later got a bitchy e-mail that he "owed her" a mattress because he wasn't there when she was trying to pick it up...

etc. etc.

On the other hand, I had a huge dog crate taking up space and the guy who wrote for it said he could be there within 15 minutes - mentioned he was with a dog rescue and really appreciated it - so I wrote back with my address and letting him know I had two more he could have, too - put them out on the porch and 30 minutes later all three were gone. Good experience. So.

[amanda_lodden.livejournal.com]

I've only had one Freecycle experience, when we decided that we no longer wanted to be bothered maintaining a fish tank. The guy and his pre-teen kid were very polite, called before showing up and then showed up when they said they would, and were obviously excited about gaining a new hobby. But as with anything involving the general public, it's a crap-shoot, and while the number of assholes hoping to score something very valuable for free are probably just a small percentage, they make up for it by being more active.

[tersa.livejournal.com]

The latter experience is mostly what I've heard, although I've also heard about the people expecting it would be delivered. That I was ready for, at least! :)

[lil-m-moses.livejournal.com]

I figure Freecycle is like Craigslist, but at least 2x as bad because it's free. I expect there to be a few good eggs, but most of them will probably be flakes who can't read and follow simple instructions.

This is why I'm doing all my flensing these days through the Johnson Space Center Swap Shop. The average intelligence level is guaranteed to be higher than the general public, and there are correspondingly a lot fewer flakes, even for free stuff. I can also be more proactive and offer to bring the smaller things to people. It's too bad you guys don't have a similar venue.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

When in her reply she said "i have been looking for sectional couch for long time" I suppose I should have taken it to mean I am exceptionally picky rather than I am looking forward to having a couch.
But yeah, it's dealing with the general public so I expect I'll get a delightful mix. (:

[amanda_lodden.livejournal.com]

Um. Unless you had another couch section hiding somewhere that I never saw, you didn't have a sectional couch.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

It was hiding in the garage. I don't think we visited there.

[miss-electra.livejournal.com]

I had a good experience with FreeCycle the couple of times I used it, but I also was giving away things of relatively small value (i.e. I gave away a mixed bag of books which went to a woman who donated what she didn't want to the Prison library program).

[pielology.livejournal.com]

I've generally had better luck giving things away by putting them on the curb with a free sign & announcing their presence on Craigslist. The exceptions have been things like craft supply leftovers or packaging materials, where random passers-by mostly won't want it, and the people who do want it don't value it enough to risk showing up for nothing.

[tersa.livejournal.com]

Given that we live in an apartment complex, I'm leery about sticking stuff on the curb. Also, with all the rains going on, putting it outside right now is asking for it never to be picked up ever. :)