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

[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.