To think giving away things for free just isn't worth it?

Our Freecycle group went super local after the switch to Freegle and it seems to have solved nearly all the problems. People generally aren't arseholes to named neighbours who live close by!

OMG though, the big Freecycle - the tales I could tell.

100% agree. I’ve just started binning everything. Which I feel bad about but giving it away, as you say, is an admin nightmare and I’ve even had bad experiences with people like BHF and furniture. So now I get rid

I either drop it at the charity shop or set it out with a sign that says free. If you do it on the day of a nearby boot sale you can put out multiple items and do a good clear out.

Oh I know. I mean I would like to think they were some CFs, because how deranged would you have had to have been otherwise.

It was on Facebook marketplace so I can see how you’d just search for dollshouse anywhere.

I gave up with giving stuff away for free after being messed about too many times.

I then started donating my stuff to the local charity shop but they then decided that donations can only be made on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon via the back door, no good for me working usual Mon-Fri so nowadays I just dump it all at the tip. (I'm rural, we only have 1 charity shop).

I do put recyclable things in the appropriate container at the tip though, e g I've just recently cleared out 2 perfectly serviceable adult bikes via the reuse container at the tip.

Its human nature not to value what is free. I now put a nominal value on anything I 'give away'. Even if it is only £5, people respect it more and you get messed about less (although it doesn't go away)

That sounds like Fagins den

Same. I haven't had any trouble

Omg

I think it depends which channel you use. FB marketplace and Nextdoor are a waste of time. My street WhatsApp group is good, as is Freecycle and putting things out on my driveway.

I stopped using marketplace after I had to block a woman who turned picking up a Duplo set into a massive drama of rescheduling, not turning up, expecting me to deliver, asking me to hold it for 3 weeks and being rude when I told her it wasn't worth all this hassle over a bit of free Lego!

Contact a group like Anglo Doorstep Collections.
They take a wide range of things including books clothing toys. They come at a scheduled time and you can leave bags or boxes on your doorstep if you're not going to be in.
They recycle the goods and make a donation to a charity.
Currently you can pick from charities for
sick children or
domestic abuse or
the environment.
I first heard of them on
Gransnet and they have been very useful.

Pound to a penny they were CFs and not penniless at all. Genuinely very poor parents would want to shield their child from upset and would avoid telling them of the possibility of a great new toy until they knew they could get it.

What kind of idiots even go looking on a local Facebook site that is a very long way from where they live/work/can get to in the first place? Do they just search across the whole country and then play the emotional blackmail sadface when somebody offering/selling something in Inverness won't 'pop' it over to Plymouth for them?! Do they also march into Timpson's on Christmas Eve with angry tears streaming down their face because they won't sell them any mince pies?!

We have a similar group, @PumpkinPieFairy , I find it very straightforward and it’s nice to help out a local family, and a good way to meet our neighbours.

Do you have a neighbourhood WhatsApp group OP? Lots of stuff gets given away for free on ours, no funny business (I don’t think!)

Ithe freeycyle group I run is on Facebook. Don't accept people on it living outside the area and throw them off if I find out they do afterwards. Same as if someone tries to publish something to sell or gets reported for messing about. .

Less hassle with time wasters like it

I wonder about hoarders too. There was a woman on my local Facebook group who seemed to take A LOT of stuff including curtains that didn’t look they’d fit her windows (I was a mug and delivered once), clothing of various different sizes and child ages and genders, specialist items for hobbies etc. I’m convinced was either selling them on or had a hoarding problem and couldn’t resist a freebie.

Our charity shops are overrun where we live so I now sell on Vinted for a pound or two and it goes. Tried giving stuff away and it was ridiculous like the examples above

It all goes to the charity shop now. I’m done with dealing with absolute idiots.

It's well known it's not easy to give things away it just doesn't happen to you OP.

Yes people don't turn up. Yes people ask if you can deliver.

Can you just leave them outside in your porch or front garden if you have one.vit seems to be the thing to round here. People will list stuff and say available now. They don't get involved with anyone. Take it if you want it.

Around here we just leave things at the top of the drive with a notice taped to it saying “free.” Nothing ever seems to be there longer than an hour.

I take to a charity shop or, if it's something like a high chair, just leave outside with a "free" poster. It's gone in minutes.

All the free-grubbers round here are a bit thick and don't really understand why I wouldn't want to drop off something big enough to require a van. The same sort who try and sell a £50 shop voucher for... £50.

yeah see if you post through a good local group, all that rubbish doesn't happen

same here. I found I got a lot more hassle and time wasters on my local freecycle but my local facebook group is really good. Timewasters and no shows are suspended then banned and of course on FB you can block people if they ask dumb stuff. I mainly give away craft stuff and it often goes to community stuff like clubs, playgroups and schools so I feel i am doing a bit of good as well. One lot went to a lady who is a TA at a local primary and when she collected it she said that the kids would be so excited to use the stuff....She took it into school and messaged me to say that the teachers were more excited than the kids!!

The tip is so much easier, that’s what happens to our stuff.

If only putting the details on stopped the stupid messages... Last month a put a shell lampshade on sale stating clearly it was collect only. The first ten messages were "Can you send it to me?".