Tales from the Crypt ( ohhhh I mean FreeCycle )

[POF]

I love Freecycle .... I love to have people come and take away my old stuff. I also like that someone can use something I am done with.

But - some folks are really kind of rude and demanding. We just listed some really nice toys - that DS's don't use/need and thought we would pass on to another family to enjoy. We also had some small furniture / some household items / fall decorations - lots of nice things.

Some people are very polite. One guy requested 4 of the 6 toys listed - and he apologized for looking greedy - but said his 2 sons would love a couple new things - but he'd take any of the items.

Several people just EMAIL me and say - I'll take it tomorrow. These users ( DH started a list ) - responded to everything listed and all with the same EMAIL. No politeness at all.  ( they are going to be marked as spam )

My favorite is the lady who responded and said because she was in a wheelchair - she should be able to have everything.... because she is in a wheelchair. She responded a lot later than other folks and everything was promised ( and noted on the website ). Additionally - she sent her EMAIL after the Promise was listed.

We've had a  followup EMAILS telling us she needs our address right away because she should get these items, because she is in a wheelchair.  ( She mentions the wheelchair 3 times and does basically say this )

DH nicely responded to her and explained that everything was promised. She responded back - Well I told you I wanted these things ...... ummmm nooooooo. 

[hope]

Oh gosh.  That is why I don't mind loading the stuff up and donating it to a shelter or somewhere else.

Reminds me of the time I was holding a yard sale.  Girl (about 10) comes up with her grandma.  She translates "Grandma says you need to sell this big pile of stuff in her arms for one dollar because we are poor."  I replied "I too am poor."  Grandma says something and girl says "But you live in this pretty house."  I replied "I never said I lived here."  I was hoping to teach the girl something about assumptions.

[Giggity]

Buddy of mine used to work for a guy who used a wheelchair. Said guy was a bit of a loon and wanted Buddy to find the original of a picture of him that was in a magazine in 1982, or failing that, to copy the picture out of the magazine and have it blown up to life-size.

After attempting to teach Boss how it would be fruitless to blow up a low-res photo, Buddy called the magazine and was told that they didn't have a copy.

Boss's response to that was, "Did you tell them I'm in a wheelchair? That's the last picture of me standing! Tell them I'm in a wheelchair."

Buddy had no success persuading Boss that his ambulatory status has no bearing on picture reproducibility.

[MissyMa'am]

The only convenient Freecycle group I could find is in a neighboring county where there is widespread poverty.  So every request comes with a sob story about how hard the person has it, often asking for large, expensive items like refrigerators or furniture.  It really makes the experience kind of negative.

One source of entertainment, though, is a member whose user name includes "pimpdaddy" who is always asking for things like heat lamps for his "herb garden".

[dragonflies]

Today a lady posted she wanted lawnmower b/c she moved into her first house and can't afford to buy one.  Yard services are inexpensive here - around $35 for the whole yard.  You normally need it done every two weeks until the middle of November.

Who buys a house and can't figure into a few hundred dollars for a lawn mower?  In our area, you mow from the middle of March until November. 

I know the neighborhood she lives in and its new construction.  None of the houses are up for sale and its too early for foreclosures.

[DottyG]

Today a lady posted she wanted lawnmower b/c she moved into her first house and can't afford to buy one.  Yard services are inexpensive here - around $35 for the whole yard.  You normally need it done every two weeks until the middle of November.

Who buys a house and can't figure into a few hundred dollars for a lawn mower?  In our area, you mow from the middle of March until November. 

I know the neighborhood she lives in and its new construction.  None of the houses are up for sale and its too early for foreclosures.

I've never done FreeCycle, but I thought that was the whole idea.  That people who wanted to get rid of stuff could post it and get rid of it.  And, people who needed stuff could post and maybe get something that someone would have thrown away.

I don't understand why her posting that is such a bad thing.  If someone has a mower that they don't want, what does it hurt for her to put the word out that she'd be willing to take it?  It's not like she was begging people for their property - just putting a bug in the ear that she's in the market if anyone has one.

I'm confused on how speculating on her income - or how she could afford the house -  fits into this. 

[LeeLee88]

Today a lady posted she wanted lawnmower b/c she moved into her first house and can't afford to buy one.  Yard services are inexpensive here - around $35 for the whole yard.  You normally need it done every two weeks until the middle of November.

Who buys a house and can't figure into a few hundred dollars for a lawn mower?  In our area, you mow from the middle of March until November. 

I know the neighborhood she lives in and its new construction.  None of the houses are up for sale and its too early for foreclosures.

I've never done FreeCycle, but I thought that was the whole idea.  That people who wanted to get rid of stuff could post it and get rid of it.  And, people who needed stuff could post and maybe get something that someone would have thrown away.

I don't understand why her posting that is such a bad thing.  If someone has a mower that they don't want, what does it hurt for her to put the word out that she'd be willing to take it?  It's not like she was begging people for their property - just putting a bug in the ear that she's in the market if anyone has one.

I'm confused on how speculating on her income - or how she could afford the house -  fits into this. 

When DH and I first bought our house, we were about $5 away from being broke after we bought new windows (just to replace the ones that were literally falling out), paint to get it up to FHA standards, etc etc.  By the time we were done, there wasn't any money left at all for a lawn mower, and although I've lived in homes that've required me to mow the lawn my whole life, I did indeed forget to get a lawn mower  .  Had it not been for a very kind person who had an old junker that he didn't mind parting with, our house would've looked abandoned due to grass overgrowing.  We've finally been able to get a new one on our own, luckily.

[Harriet Jones]

Dottyg, sob stories are pretty much frowned upon in freecycle.  Besides, you don't even know if they're true.

I find them off-putting, myself, since many of them seem to be from the school of "I'm pregnate and really need a Nintendo DS"

[DottyG]

I guess I didn't see it as a sob story.

I saw it as "I'm so excited!  I just bought my very first house, and I'm getting everything together to maintain it!  If anyone has an extra mower they don't need, I'd be willing to take it off your hands."

Maybe FreeCycle is more cynical than I thought?

[Harriet Jones]

It's just that Freecycle is not a charity, you don't have to give your item to someone who *needs* it.  You can give it to whoever you want.  My criteria are politeness and relatively quick turnaround for the transaction.

[LeeLee88]

Dottyg, sob stories are pretty much frowned upon in freecycle.  Besides, you don't even know if they're true.

I find them off-putting, myself, since many of them seem to be from the school of "I'm pregnate and really need a Nintendo DS"

Well, yeah, that's a bit much  I can easily see how someone coming right off the bat with a sob story (especially a really, TMI-type detailed one) would be off-putting and raise suspicions.  It's one thing to let the person know how much they helped you out after they have kindly given you an item you truly needed, it's quite another to go on and on and on about the hardships that have been thrown your way and that's why you are entitled to whatever item.  I am a bleeding-heart myself, but I do get red-flags when someone starts up with the overly-detailed sob story when it concerns something like, say, a Nintendo DS.

[Surianne]

It's just that Freecycle is not a charity, you don't have to give your item to someone who *needs* it.  You can give it to whoever you want.  My criteria are politeness and relatively quick turnaround for the transaction.

But no one has to give it to her, she just posted a request that if anyone was looking to get rid of one, she could use it?  I don't see how that's against the rules or rude or anything.  She's not spamming people who have lawnmowers and begging them with her story?

[DottyG]

I agree with Surianne. The lady's not holding a gun to your head. She's just saying she's trying to find a mower if anyone has one and wanted to get rid of it.

I don't see her as a "charity case" at all and wonder how the heck the people on FreeCycle are seeing that.

Give your stuff to whomever you want to. But, if people aren't allowed to post that they're also looking for an item, maybe that function should be disabled/prohibited.

[wolfie]

I agree with Surianne. The lady's not holding a gun to your head. She's just saying she's trying to find a mower if anyone has one and wanted to get rid of it.

I don't see her as a "charity case" at all and wonder how the heck the people on FreeCycle are seeing that.

Give your stuff to whomever you want to. But, if people aren't allowed to post that they're also looking for an item, maybe that function should be disabled/prohibited.

She's considered a charity case because she didn't just post that she could use a lawnmower she posted that she was too poor to be able to afford a lawnmower.

[mikeylou]

The group I moderate now has a pretty high wanted/offer ratio.  It's not that we live in a poverty stricken area, but the group covers a fairly large area that is very diverse when it comes to one's financials.   Pretty much anything posted is swooped up quickly, causing complaints by members who "didn't get what they asked for".    So our group is a mess of unrequited wanteds.  One of the first things I did when I came on board was to stress the importance of "ask simply, no strings attached".  Talking about your layoff, no money to pay the bills, but could you please spare a Xbox 360 so Little Johnny could have something fun to play on; or to replace the cell phone poor me flushed down the toilet.  Some of the requests were for run of the mill things, but always with the same "poor single mom struggling to make ends meet after a layoff".  You never know if they're true or not.

What I had trouble explaining to the newbie mods was that although initially they had not received any complaints about the sob stories, it would alienate those who MAKE the offers, and don't you want the list to be full of offers not wanteds?  And for every new member, we were losing one.  Long story short, we did start getting complaints about the sobs (although one mod just wanted to ignore the complaints...), and now we do strip out the really sobby stuff before approving a wanted that's in the queue.  If anyone complains (and they haven't) the intent is to tell them that Freecycle is not meant to be a charity, although it does often have the side benefit of people who really needs an item getting one, that is not its Mission.

So last week I offered some old kitchen stuff we hadn't used since we moved here and was taking up space.  I received 12 responses to my offer.  One came immediately after the email went out and was a generic "I am interested in Everything" etc.  I mentioned it to my other co-mod and he related that he received the exact same response from the person - immediately after the email went out.  Ok Ms Auto-Responder, I will not consider you.  <Delete>  Most of the other responses lacked what I had initially requested - available pick up times, what items they're interested in.  Some stuff on the list was duplicates.  Why someone would want two widgets was beyond me.  I replied back to each asking them for available times and what specifically they may be interested in.

Half replied back.  One asked for things I hadn't even posted - misinterpreting things I had posted into other things.  I certainly hadn't posted 3 crock pots of varying sizes, I'd posted 3 ceramic crocks with those weird pressure lids!  I wrote down everything, wrote down what people wanted, and started sorting out.  Half of the items went to two guys who had recently moved here.  [We are a military city, too...]  One of whom showed up on his motorcycle with a backpack to put things into!  The blender I gave away was intended for a power shake that evening.  One person  stopped replying to my emails after I mentioned one of the 3 items she wanted was tagged for someone else.  [She's not afk, she was posting receiveds...]  I don't have the energy to chase people down when they decide the pickup window doesn't work for them after all or realize it's farther than they thought (despite my location being included in the post) or whatever reason she decided she no longer wanted them.  So onto someone else and we're arranging pickup (although I haven't heard back from her since I sent her my address....)

I made another post and Ms Auto-Reply didn't auto-respond.  I don't know if that's because of the extreme delay in MF getting the post out or she canceled the AR.  I do have someone interested in a few items out of that box and we're arranging time...  [Which was good it wasn't today b/c it POURING.]

Also, I have to agree about part of the whole lawn mower conversation.  When DH and I bought our house, hey, we forgot a lawn mower!  By the time we went through closing and paying the movers, then we had new windows installed since they were 50yrs old, we just didn't have the extra $$ to buy a new one when spring hit - we had no idea where to find an old one and Freecycle wasn't founded yet!  Luckily our next door neighbor had an extra and gave it to DH.

However, she shouldn't have posted that she was too poor to buy one.  That's a string tug.