On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:30:21 +0000, Bruce wrote:

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:51:10 -0600, Jules
wrote:

On Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:38:20 +0000, Bruce wrote:
Instead of being primarily a means of avoiding low value but useful
items going to landfill, Freecycle has become a means of cynically
obtaining something valuable for nothing.

The problem I find is that some mods try and police it by deciding what's
valuable and what isn't, then making blanket bans on some subjects (no
computers, no vehicles etc.) which has the downside of sending legitimate
stuff to the dump.


Well, there's always the charity shop - but not for vehicles.

I don't think many of them do electronics these days either, do they? Too
much time to find someone to PAT test them and make sure they work, and
then it takes up shelf space...

I'm starting to think that a list that limits things to a max of 50
quid/dollars/whatever per item might be the best way - low enough that
unwanted things that might be seen as "worth something" are nearly
free, but high enough that it might stop the same pikey twunts from
grabbing everything they can get their hands on.

But what value do you put on, for example, a posh dishwasher that is
five years old, was £500 when new but needs a new pump? More or less
than £50? I feel sorry for the moderators!

Well, I saw it as the seller's job to put a value on it - not
that being a moderator's job. I just think the 100 of "local currency" is
perhaps a bit high if the aim is to keep stuff out of landfill - but
selling for a lesser amount (i.e. the 50 limit) might be enough to stop
the pikeys from getting too heavily involved. I suppose they might still
know their markets though and know what they can flog stuff for.

re. collection issues, the norm on my local list is for people to leave
offered items outside or in a porch, shed etc. for collection.

I do find the ones who wash their hands of it and just post saying "left
everything on the driveway - first come, first served. If it's not gone by
tonight it's going to the dump" somewhat irritating though - I can't be
bothered doing a 40 mile round-trip on the offchance the thing that caught
my eye is still there, but at the same time it's frustrating to think that
something I could have used might be off to the crusher because nobody
else wanted it...

re. posting stats - good idea. The Cambridge one used to try to encourage
folk to balance their wanted / acceptance posts with ones actually
offering something, and to a certain extent this was policed by the
moderators, but maybe they no longer do that.

cheers

Jules