On 10/5/2015 12:16 AM, micky wrote:

[attrs elided]

They've had the stuff for years. They can wait two more weeks.
They could also plan ahead.

It's just people being nice...

A little nice but not very nice.

You are too picky. Maybe they're having a party and need it gone before the

There are just too many people like this for them all to be having
parties or any other deadline.

I suspect there are many factors at work.

Having given items away on CL, Freecycle, etc. I know how many
"flakes" claim to want something -- then back out after they've
reconsidered for a while. E.g., asking for it QUICKLY (to
beat others to the punch) but then discovering they don't
really want it, that there is too much work required to make
use of it, etc.

[I plan on EVENTUALLY accumulating sliding glass doors to
enclose the back porch. But, I have no place to stockpile them,
presently, for the many months?? it will take to accumulate
enough of them! So, each time I see a set of doors offered, I
am immediately tempted to request them. But, know that there
will always be more of them and NOW isn't the right time to start
accumulating big things like that!]

I suspect other cases have spousal pressu clean out that
damned garage, now!

Or, they simply got tired of looking at the stuff and, having
decided to get rid of it, want it gone NOW!

[I'll be headed to a local facility that recycles electronic
equipment tomorrow morning. Should I hold onto the equipment
for another week to let someone who *might* be able to use it
(and *might* turn up to collect it)? Or, just toss it in
the back of the car, tonight, and not have to deal with it
anymore?]

Or, are trying to coordinate with "bulk trash pickups" (we have
them twice yearly, here) that are usually only announced a
week or two ahead of time -- no one wants to wait a few days
for ONE GUY to show up (turning away others who might be
interested in the meantime) only to watch the calendar slip
by and have to repeat the effort hoping to renew interest
in the offering.

IF you want it, ask
for it and pick it up as they desired. You're getting it free.

98% of things I don't want. I'm just commenting on how strange it is
that they've had these things for month or years and all of a sudden
they can only wait until the day after tomorrow or they will send it to
the dump.

How long should they wait -- *you're* the one wanting it, shouldn't
the onus be on you to "be quick about it"? Apparently, some folks
even expect the giver to *deliver*! (why else would so many folks
state that *you* need to pick it up?)

We decided to get rid of a potters wheel and electric kiln -- SWMBO
decided she was no longer interested. These are big, heavy items.
We weren't keen on "taking them off the market" prematurely -- for
someone who *said* they wanted them but later decided they didn't
have the ability (vehicle and "strong back"!) to collect them.

It's not fair to leave a post pending and have folks trying to
contact you "is it still available" (which is actually a prime
technique for harvesting email addrs). So, we wanted the items
picked up *quickly* so we could take down the offer in good
conscious AFTER we'd disposed of the items.

The things I really want, I ask for immediately and go over there almost
immediately if that suits them.**

I recently rescued a large format printer/plotter. I was reasonably sure
there would be very few folks interested in such a thing (5' wide,
4' tall, 3 ft deep) so it wasn't like I *needed* to "rush" to collect it.

OTOH, I knew that the giver would be anxious to get it off his hands.
It takes up a lot of space in an office -- when you've decided that
you don't want it! So, I picked it up the next morning.

Actually you bring up a similar phenomenon. There are other things
that I could use, or sort of want, that I think someone will want more
or will likely make better use of than I will, and I want them to have
priority. So I used to answer and say, "If no one else contacts
you, I'd like this" I always got an immediate answer saying "It's
yours". I'm pretty sure that's because they didnt' want to wait another
day to see if anyone else wanted it.

So now I wait, 2, 3, maybe 4 days, depending on how much I want it,
(unless they've threatened to send it to the dump. Not everyone makes
that threat) and then, if no email has shown up saying "TAKEN", I reply.
Once it was taken but they didn't post that, and a couple other times it
was something no one would want but me.

**I would more often go immediately, but most people insist on doing
everything via email. With an hour, 5 hours, overnight intervening.
It's taken up to 5 emails from me and 5 emails back to arrange things by
email, spanning days. I always give my phone number when I reply or
in my first email after I've offered something, but only ONE person in
several years has ever called me. In that case, we handled all the
arrangements in one phone call. So much easier.

(I reply what is immediately from my POV, but I think it might be
possible to read the webpage and see the offers hours before they arrive
in my email. And if it is possible, I think there are people who do
that, but I haven't checked if it will work that way. )