We had a mound of unneeded items that had gradually accumulated at home, so as part of a bit of an Autumn clean-out, I decided to give Freecycle a go. Freecycle is an online network where you can advertise items that you have and are willing to give away, or items that you need, to members in your local area. The site's official mission is to "build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community."
It was pretty easy to register, and after just a minor hiccup (I initially joined a regional group that had no other members yet!), had posted about five items available for collection to the City of London member group. I included a picture or link to a picture of the item where possible, and a basic description (e.g. working, unused etc). Here are some of the random things that we were no longer using:
1. A wireless router that came free when we set up internet connection with a new company. We already had one, so had never used it;
2. A Sky HD box, which we were no longer using after we cancelled our subscriptions. After several unsuccessful attempts to arrange for it to be collected by the company, it had languished in our hallway;
3. An unused box of chemicals to treat bed bugs. My husband, Trent, had done a solo trip to Sarajevo a couple of years back and had unfortunately had a run in with some bedbugs in a cheap hostel. He was paranoid that he had brought them back to London with him, so had ordered the chemicals ready to fumigate the apartment if necessary. Fortunately, the itching died down, and after we returned from another trip away, he was finally satisfied that they had not made a new home in our mattress corners;
4. IKEA coffee table - we had been given a coffee table by some friends leaving London, but now needed to clear out space in our lounge room. It felt only fair that we should 'pass on' the freebie; and
5. An iPad cover that was a gift, but we already had one.
Much to my surprise, I started getting email responses almost straight away and, by the time I was heading to bed an hour or two later, I'd had emails from members interested in all but one of the items. Initially, I replied on a first in, first served basis, but there were a few items where members were kind of making a case for why I should 'pick' them. In two cases, I ended up going with an email plee that wasn't the first to arrive: a woman with bed bugs who thought she still had them and couldn't afford more chemicals to fumigate - I remembered how hard it was on Trent; and a man who wanted the router on behalf of an 83 year old friend who wanted to get set up on the internet for the first time.
By the next morning, all the items had takers so I could mark all the posts as 'Taken' on the site and then just had to agree pick-up times for collection. In two cases, the original respondent could no longer pick up an item, but I had enough 'extra' responses in order to just go back to the next person and see if they were keen. By the end of the week, all but the iPad cover had been collected, and since it was the last item and wasn't worth as much to motivate someone to go out of their way to collect it, we just popped it in a local charity shop bin instead.
So all up, it was worthwhile using the site. The fact that the items were free generally meant that the people replying were happy to collect the items quickly, with less to-ing and fro-ing with inquiries about the item, negotiating price etc compared to sites like Gumtree or ebay where you're selling the goods. I'll definitely use it again to give away items. I'm not convinced it would be as useful for searching for a specific item that you need, and given how many responses we received within such a short space of time, the chances of you getting something you are after are reduced, but I guess if you're happy to spend the time browsing that wouldn't be too off-putting.
