Adventures in Freebies

[fidgiegirl]

We list a lot of items for free on CL or on the Twin Cities Free Market. If we think the thrift stores would just throw it or if it's something we would have to pay to haul, we list it. Nine out of 10 times it goes.

But sometimes we have to deal with a doozy in order to get it gone.

Today a woman called me back about some deadbolts we are giving away. She had to tell me all about her awful week, then proceeded to ask if we had anything else we were giving away!!!!! Then to give her directions was a big ol' deal, and the locks are still SITTING ON THE FRONT PORCH!! BAH!!!

You got any doozies?

[Square Peg]

We used to have stuff like that happen to us all the time when we would post something on freecycle. What I hated was after giving the address and directions and they don't show, do you pass it on to the next person, or keep waiting. I was always afraid the first person would come and then be mad because it was gone. It got so frustrating that we finally started putting things out in the front yard with a free sign. Less messy that way.

[creaker]

The hard part with freecycle are the no shows. I've found nailing down the pick up time first and then providing my address helps. If it's a no show at that point, or just not a quick response to email, there's no guilt in relisting or giving it away to someone else.

[jania]

I've become a big believer in the alley. All I have to do is place something in the alley, outside of the trash bin and in less than a day it has disappeared with no hassle.

[Rosemary]

We take all that stuff to Goodwill or another similar place - I don't need the hassle!

[fidgiegirl]

Typically we have the people show because now we put in the ad that if the items aren't claimed within 24 hours of being offered, we offer to the next person. Very few no shows now.

I have also had multiple things sitting out for people, even with names on them!, and had people take them all, resulting in the the correct person showing up as agreed and NO ITEM! Funny.

[Square Peg]

Something like that happened to us fidgie.
We needed some square kitty litter buckets. I think we might have posted a wanted ad on freecycle. But we might have been responding to an ad. Anyway this woman said she had a great big stack of them and we were welcome to them. She lived far, like a 20 mile drive away. Usually we wouldn't go out that far, but we had been considering moving to her town, so we thought this was a good excuse to check it out. She told us she would leave them by the well house. We drove all the way out there, pulled in to her driveway, nothing! We went and knocked. She said someone else had come and taken them! She assumed it was us! Really annoying! In order to get them, we had to pull into her driveway, they weren't sitting on the road. Also, this was a country road so it wasn't like people would be walking by and see them. She also hadn't told anyone else about them!
In the end, we decided the drive was too far so we wouldn't want to move there anyway!

[goldensmom]

We just set things at the end of the driveway and they get picked up. Trash comes on Friday so we set it out early in the week. The road we live on is on the way to a salvage place so scrap anything is gone fast. The downside is that as I am picky about setting out 'neat' trash the night before pickup, I often find someone has rummaged through our trash leaving a mess that I have to re-organize per trash company rules or they won't pick it up. On several occasions an item has been picked up before we make it back to the house.

[Anne Lee]

We had a garage door opener, never opened, offered on Freecycle. It took the recipients about 6 weeks to finally come around to pick it up after several missed appointments. I know they really wanted it because they kept emailing but living 90 miles away they only came to town a few times a month. At the end, I'm glad I did it but it got frustrating.

[iris lily]

I've become a big believer in the alley. All I have to do is place something in the alley, outside of the trash bin and in less than a day it has disappeared with no hassle.

yup--love our alley system. It gives, it takes.