Freecycle is it corrupt??

gunslinger13401

Seems like a lot of posts for items are not making the board but are taken.
I guess the takers are psychic.
There must be huge temptation for administrators seeing items before it reaches board.
Does this happen?
Am I the only person who has noticed strange things on Freecycle.
There are also on my local boards a large number of greedy people posting wanted for luxury items that would never be sent to landfill. I have seen everything from Leather 3 piece suite(must be black), expensive musical instruments and increasingly commonly cars.
And then the others who either request or take everything they can and then spend a profitable sunday morning at the local car boot sale.
Surely this is contrary to the ethos of Freecycle.
Great idea but against human nature in an environment where greed rules
I look forward to any comments.
Michael

raeble

Its a nice idea but falls down in execution as it gets even larger. Shame really as I have a lot of stuff to get rid of and most of it will be ending up in the landfill as I can't stomach the lot on my local freecycle. If they're not begging for stuff that wouldn't have ended up in landfill anyway, they are trying to offload unwanted dogs (mods have finally put a stop to this).

Sharra

I too see more taken than offered posts
Funny how the admins were apologising for take so long to mod posts but when I offered my time to help, I didn't even get an acknowledgement.
I can't totally knock everyone as I've had a few good things on there. I guess nothings ever perfect!

madfrenchgirl

mine is ok so far. It is just that it seems some people just spend their whole day on freecycle.

I do not necessarily ask for the most valuable items ever, I asked for a fish tank that a school was thinking of putting a hammer through it (!!!!!!!) and never heard anything back. I know some people might be too busy to send an email to evryone but posting a "taken" message would be nice.

It annoys me too to see some peole asking for very high value items.
I never actually posted a wanted ad: i think that if people want to get rid of something, they can truly decide by themselves, i will not push them to give me something they might have kept.

Also, some people can be a bit stubborn: when i send an email, my mobile phone is at the bottom of the page. The other day, I asked but did not know if I got it, in the meantime my normal email server went down so i sent the guy a message through my official yahoo address saying who I was and explaining the situation and giving once again my mobile number. When my normal email was back on, the bloke actually said "since you never replied to me I have given it to somebody else"... no comments

alanobrien

Its certainly dodgy.
Traders use it to stock up on stuff for car boot
sales etc, which is not really in the spirit of the thing. I gave up using it long ago because of this.

frivolous_fay

madfrenchgirl wrote: »

Also, some people can be a bit stubborn: when i send an email, my mobile phone is at the bottom of the page. The other day, I asked but did not know if I got it, in the meantime my normal email server went down so i sent the guy a message through my official yahoo address saying who I was and explaining the situation and giving once again my mobile number. When my normal email was back on, the bloke actually said "since you never replied to me I have given it to somebody else"... no comments

Sounds like he either didn't get, or ignored, the email from the 2nd address.

Personally I don't really like arranging freecycle stuff by phone - I give plenty of windows for people to collect, and I check my mail regularly, but I'm not going to chasing people by phone, although they're welcome to phone me at their expense!

People who say 'I'll take it, here's my number...' rate as a 9 on the scale of annoying freecycle responders in my book

Big_Bird_4

If a trader takes your item away and sells it to someone who has a use for it, then that's three people happy. You've got rid of whatever it was that was cluttering up your house without having to stick it in landfill. The trader's made a bit of cash and the person he sold it to has got something they wanted.

Why do we think that a trader using Freecycle to earn money for their family is less worthy than someone who just wants the free stuff for doing nothing?

madfrenchgirl

Not my fault my normal email went down on that day. I would have gladly contacted him but I did not have his phone number and I actually said to send me a text and i would gladly call him back. I even put my normal email address in the title of the one I sent from yahoo.
Honestly, it was a one off.

My phone number is part of my siggy on my normal emails. I never say to people to contact me on it, but it has proven helpful for some of them to let me know they could not be there 1hour before picking up time. tis all! i do understand your frustration thoguh: youa r egiving something for free, why would you have to pay for the phonecalls to arrange collection?

pennypuppy

As an "owner"of a freecycle local board I agree the system is open to abuse but I wouldn't dream of it since I started it locally because of my genuinely held environmental worries.To me it would be tantamount to stealing which is plain wrong. I have appointed a moderator (we are only small) but would welcome any help offered. I think the main danger is traders using it to gather stock. For that reason it's best when offering something to not just give it to the first who responds but to perhaps someone who sounds genuine. Also, it's seems unfair that people who do not sit in front of a computer all day are not given a chance to take up an offer.
It is great when someone comes to collect something and you can see their genuine delight.:D

frivolous_fay

madfrenchgirl wrote: »

My phone number is part of my siggy on my normal emails. I never say to people to contact me on it, but it has proven helpful for some of them to let me know they could not be there 1hour before picking up time. tis all! i do understand your frustration thoguh: youa r egiving something for free, why would you have to pay for the phonecalls to arrange collection?

I agree completely and I wasn't trying to criticise you :beer:

madfrenchgirl

hey Fay, it's ok.

In fairness, i have only been anet taker so far, just moved in our home in Dec 2006 and lots of decorating to do. When i get lucky I get lucky big time. i got a woman's wolly double breasted coat the other day, can't believe she did not want it anymore since it is coming back in fashion!