Freecycle (Merged Thread)

Keys

I have found it.

hula-hoops

I have changed my tactics now.

I no longer offer to the first person (I know there are those that disagree with this but hey ho...) . I wait a while. Delete any text speak messages, any from the man who was nasty to me (he still messages me about ever item I offer) and any 'I'll take them off your hands' as if they are doing ME a favour! I then look through the rest and choose the one without the sob story, who says 'please' and 'thank you' and I'm sad to say that with my latest offer of a bag of baby clothes out of 29 replies ony 1 came up to scratch.

Very polite and well-spoken woman collected the next day with her baby oin a sling on her chest. She then sent a very nice 'thank you' e-mail.

Much better.

Skint_Catt

hula-hoops wrote: »

I have changed my tactics now.

I no longer offer to the first person (I know there are those that disagree with this but hey ho...) . I wait a while. Delete any text speak messages, any from the man who was nasty to me (he still messages me about ever item I offer) and any 'I'll take them off your hands' as if they are doing ME a favour! I then look through the rest and choose the one without the sob story, who says 'please' and 'thank you' and I'm sad to say that with my latest offer of a bag of baby clothes out of 29 replies ony 1 came up to scratch.

Very polite and well-spoken woman collected the next day with her baby oin a sling on her chest. She then sent a very nice 'thank you' e-mail.

Much better.

I managed to get a freezer from a woman who wanted to give it to me because I was the politest. I didn't even think I was overly polite! I just asked if it was still available then I would like it please because mine's not freezing properly (it died last night - I was running the two side by side luckily!). If that was the politest then I'd hate tho think what other people said! :eek::rotfl:

You get to know the regulars on there too. I gave my old backpack to a chap who posted a wanted, and when he posted an offer I took a sofa from him! Always loads of baby stuff - wish I had room to store it for when I need it though I'm sure there'll be more when I do!

BrandNewDay

I've been told I was the politest, too.

Here's a message I just sent, for a toaster (that I didn't get):

Hello!

I would love to take that toaster off your hands if it's available, please.
I just set mine on fire by trying to toast a dodgy Pop Tart not twenty minutes ago. A new one would be really useful!

Thanks so much,

BND

Would you say that that is polite? Or rude? Hula-hoops says that the whole "take it off your hands" thing is rude. I didn't mean it to be rude. And, I suppose there's a sob story in there. (But, it's true! I'd just dealt with a toaster fire then sat down to check my email and there was a toaster being offered. LOL)

What do you think?

grannybiker

I think it's the "I'll take it off your hands," phrase that's the issue. It implies that the person asking is doing the other a favour rather than the other way round. Although you've used the phrase, your email's still friendly and polite- always a winner and guaranteed to put you near the top of the list with me!
I too rarely offer to 1st to respond either, so I can give fairly. Not everyone can sit at their PC refreshing the Freecycle page all day. They may be studying, caring, working, chasing children etc etc. I also find that the 1st to respond can sometimes be the worst offenders in the "No-show" stakes as they often just grab without thinking through the practical issues of collection.
P.S. I've been told my emails are polite too, but I don't bother to put "Polite requests please" on my offers. Folk shoud be so automatically and not need reminding IMHO!

JimmyTheWig

BrandNewDay wrote: »

I would love to take that toaster off your hands if it's available, please.
I just set mine on fire by trying to toast a dodgy Pop Tart not twenty minutes ago. A new one would be really useful!

Thanks so much

I haven't got a problem with the "take it off your hands" bit. Someone coming to collect my stuff that I have listed to get rid of _is_ doing me a favour. I'm afraid I'm too mean to list anything that I want or could easily make money from.

And I wouldn't say yours was a sob story. A sob story would have been "just set mine on fire... and am a single parent with a disabled child and all they will eat is toast. I can't afford a new one but don't want to deprive them of their one joy in the mornings"

I think it is good to give an indication of why you need / want it, but don't make it too full on.

hula-hoops

That's not what I would call a sob story. The sob stories I hate are the kind that I had further up the thread (Giro has all been spent and we have 6 children under 5 and no money or food till next Tuesday).

I guess we'll all agree to disagree on the 'I'll take it off your hands' issue. I personally hate it and anyway who uses it when they contact me gets nowhere.

judderman62

yeah have to say the "take it off your hands" phrase tends to get my back up and has my mouse pointer hovering over delete - I do take Jimmy's point - but it just rankles with me.

Oh and Grannybiker - we are sooooo on the same page - I agree with every single thing you said and the reasons behind your points - are we related ??? :rotfl::rotfl:

I also would never ask someone to polite - if they need telling to be polite it's a sorry state of affairs and they'll get nowt form me.

Also I hate when folk say 1st to reply gets it - seems the DSS scrounges will get stuff , whilst those of us working stand no chance - I usually wait at least 2/3 days and sometives levae it a week.

hula-hoops

I have just collected some school revision books. Thought they would be ideal for my nephew who is struggling as English is not his first language.

Picked them up and brought them home to find that all the answers have been written in already.

What's the point of that? I know they were free but you would think people would only offer things that people could actually use. All he has done is got me to come and collect his rubbish.

molley

I advertised a portable CRT telly yesterday and this morning got two identical mails from a girl and one from a guy ,both from Yahoo e-mail addresses and BOTH say
"I'd only be able to collect if your on a ground floor flat/ house." but no reason given for saying this .Gawd's Sake