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

[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.