Freecycle (Merged Thread)

savagelyric

This freecycle post made me chuckle:

On offer are three books by "Our Little Marshall"....
1)Whatever you say I am..
2)The dark story of Eminem
3)Angry blonde

You to can read the mind numbing rubbish this man put on to paper, I
was amazed he could write let alone spell.

:rotfl:

SmallEnglish

I did my first bit of freecycling today - put my post up this morning - a nice lady just collected a few minutes ago - and now I'm left with a nice warm fuzzy feeling that I did something good!

OrkneyStar

savagelyric wrote: »

Tis true - I agree it is a valid want, I've had some baby clothes from freecycle myself and freecycled them back when finished.

I guess my point was that £50 can buy you a lot of clothes in quite a few places - just imagine how much you could get if you went on a charity shop crawl? (I got a next skirt for my LO this morning for 25p. :T ) Why would you spend that much on a couple of outfits, potentially leaving your baby 'without'?

I agree, some of DS clothes are bought in 'normal shops' (in the sales often of course ), and some newborn-9 month stuff was borrowed, but a lot of them are hand-me-downs and charity buys (I have had nearly new stuff for 20p/30p/50p a go lots of times, best buys have been a DreamPod and Growbag, perfect sized for 50p each on two sep. ocassions!!!!! - I had paid £30 each for two ones when he was smaller so these 50p ones were an amazing find). Not got anything on freecycle as yet, as it seems to be mainly girls stuff or older boys on freecycle so far but I live in hope!

BrandNewDay wrote: »

For £50, you can buy a LOT of baby clothes at Asda.

Not if you only have a small Tesco (no clothes really), Lidl, Coop, M and Co on the islands!
This is another great use of freecycle in remote communites who would have to order online and hence delivery miles etc.

hungrynurse_2

I just had a reply to a offered saying 'please'. If people cannot go as far as to type more than 6 letter reply, I cant be bothered to offer it to them!

JimmyTheWig

hungrynurse wrote: »

I just had a reply to a offered saying 'please'. If people cannot go as far as to type more than 6 letter reply, I cant be bothered to offer it to them!

At first I thought you were surprised that someone was being polite...

... Then I realised you meant that's _all_ they said.
That's terrible. Did you reply? I think I'd have said "please what?"

ladypinkof66

Just wondering lately I have had several requests for items to be posted out - items that are fairly small.

In the past I have done this and then not received the postage costs in return so now I make sure that I receive a sae or postage before I send item. However lately people have take so long to send the postage it can be up to 3 weeks and I am stuck with the item, that I wish to get rid of. Today yet again I have a lady requesting two bras i have offered asking me to post as she does not drive - How do people belong to a freecycle site if they a) dont have transport and b) not able to bus it.

I am not being mean but I am getting more and more requests for items to be posted and wondering do you think I am being mean if I refuse - Would welcome your comments. Thanks

annie-c

ladypinkof66 wrote: »

Just wondering lately I have had several requests for items to be posted out - items that are fairly small.

In the past I have done this and then not received the postage costs in return so now I make sure that I receive a sae or postage before I send item. However lately people have take so long to send the postage it can be up to 3 weeks and I am stuck with the item, that I wish to get rid of. Today yet again I have a lady requesting two bras i have offered asking me to post as she does not drive - How do people belong to a freecycle site if they a) dont have transport and b) not able to bus it.

I am not being mean but I am getting more and more requests for items to be posted and wondering do you think I am being mean if I refuse - Would welcome your comments. Thanks

My policy is that the item is free but my time/money isn't on offer so I only give to people who don't cause me problems or additional costs.

You don't have to do as anyone asks - just reply saying 'No sorry' or delete and ignore. You're not mean, you are simply putting boundaries around what is up for grabs.

I get a bit fed up with the additional requests that people make and simply don't reply now if they haven''t said please or if they are making demands I don't want to meet.

So far this week I have been asked to itemise a bag of items I described as 'mixed lot for boot sale', give measurements of the pieces of bubble wrap on offer, meet someone in town with a stack of dinner plates and to ring 13 mobile phones to arrange collection.

In the end I picked 5 polite folk to get assorted bits on offer and took all the rest to a charity shop.

butler_helen

I don't own a car and am nice and polite in requests, I simply stick to the items within the local bus routes and cycling distance.

I've offered items before and simply had replies such as 'I will take the lot, where do you live'.

I found this thread really interesting, as I thought I was the only one receiving rude responses!

judderman62

annie-c wrote: »

My policy is that the item is free but my time/money isn't on offer so I only give to people who don't cause me problems or additional costs.

You don't have to do as anyone asks - just reply saying 'No sorry' or delete and ignore. You're not mean, you are simply putting boundaries around what is up for grabs.

I get a bit fed up with the additional requests that people make and simply don't reply now if they haven''t said please or if they are making demands I don't want to meet.

So far this week I have been asked to itemise a bag of items I described as 'mixed lot for boot sale', give measurements of the pieces of bubble wrap on offer, meet someone in town with a stack of dinner plates and to ring 13 mobile phones to arrange collection.

In the end I picked 5 polite folk to get assorted bits on offer and took all the rest to a charity shop.

agree with this stance

OrkneyStar

ladypinkof66 wrote: »

Just wondering lately I have had several requests for items to be posted out - items that are fairly small.

In the past I have done this and then not received the postage costs in return so now I make sure that I receive a sae or postage before I send item. However lately people have take so long to send the postage it can be up to 3 weeks and I am stuck with the item, that I wish to get rid of. Today yet again I have a lady requesting two bras i have offered asking me to post as she does not drive - How do people belong to a freecycle site if they a) dont have transport and b) not able to bus it.

I am not being mean but I am getting more and more requests for items to be posted and wondering do you think I am being mean if I refuse - Would welcome your comments. Thanks

I know it does not help immediately but I would put in your next offers something like:
Must be able to pick up. I won't be able to deliver personally or post item (no matter how small).

Sets it straight from the start, then if anyone does ask you to post you can refer to original listing. Obviously it is up to you if you waiver this (eg I might post something costing under a £1 to someone who I knew well, or maybe who I had received from).
hth