To consider giving to freecycle wanted ads until

[ThatWomanAgain]

...I click on them and read the ends.

Wanted:TV needed



At least 32" and good condition, to be delivered to...





Wanted: Dining Table, urgent need






Wanted: Coffee Machine/ Deep Fat Frier/ Solid wood table



I'm a student and I need some living essentials

[skgnome]

I saw a wanted form someone that needed some items for a second room: bed, tv, sofa, etc... and then went on to saying: "will go to the tip at the end of the month, but you will help us in the short term" basically they were going to sub-let the room for a month and they wanted all the items to furnish, and yeah, we'll help you get money

[DilysPrice]

Why wouldn't you put a half used box of oxo cubes on Freecycle? - it's exactly the sort of thing it's there for to prevent waste and keep usable items out of landfill.
Obviously you wouldn't travel a long distance to collect them, but if you happen to live nearby why not?

I put half a packet of Pull Ups on freecycle once - they were gathering dust, and they'd save someone a couple of quid.

[DilysPrice]

Freeview boxes are cheap and people get rid of them all the time, (eg when they get a new TV/DVR) so I don't think that's an unreasonable request

[redwineformethanks]

I've offered various items. Although some of them went to a good home, I did get fed up with lots of people replying, asking quite a few questions and then not turning up to collect. Also, I did wonder if some people were just on the scrounge for things they thought they could sell on ebay etc

I've also posted a few requests for items and have been delighted when people replied to make an offer. Some of them said that they no longer offer goods, but are happy to give away something in response to a "wanted" request, as they know it will be taken.

I don't have a problem with people posting requests for what they would like. You can easily ignore the greedy ones. If the idea of Freegle is to avoid items going into landfill, then it doesn't necessarily matter if some people do all the giving and some do all the taking. I don't think it has to be reciprocal.

[Solo]

I've offered to people who have placed wanted ads, but they still don't collect and that's after giving out my address!!! THAT angers me!

[EsmeWeatherwax]

I offered a really nice leather sofa last week, and got so many time wasters it wasn't real. Eventually the actual person who collected it was also the most polite reply I got, and genuinely seemed to be in need. But the wanteds are outrageous. My favourite was someone wanting an icandy pram. Yes, I've just got 600 quids worth of pram lying about, do you want it delivered? :)

[lizardqueenie]

dilys & solo ah I see. I just automatically thought it was someone taking the piss! Cynical me!

[notcitrus]

I gave away an oscilloscope a couple years ago! I think MrNC had acquired it from school 30 years ago - it was clearly from the 1950s!

I live in an urban area where people don't mostly have much money, and you can usually give away anything - out of date head lice lotion, bag of random toiletries, bag of random spices and other jars/packets of food, bunch of shells, whatever. Though I've noticed an increase in no-shows over the last year which is very annoying.
And some things you can't give away - analogue TV aerials for example, modems, pre-Pentium computers...

But I've got sympathy with the pregnant women being told that having a baby costs a fortune and there's loads of stuff you need but everyone argues about what that is - I picked up a few things that sounded useful and the lovely donors usually threw in a few extra bits, like a sippy cup or cutlery or vests. And in turn I've given loads away.

Sofas and beds seem hard to get rid of, actually - very hard to collect if you don't have a car, and people don't want to hire a van unless they've see the item. We did get a lovely sofabed off Freecycle after a few other people had failed to collect it - MrNC had to solemnly vow that he understood that it was up two flights of stairs and was heavy and would bring a strong friend, before being given the address. Now if anyone has solid wood chests of drawers they'd like to get rid of...

[mygirllollipop]

When I first joined, I was offering a few itemss of baby stuff and got a response from someone saying she was expecting her first baby and could she come round to see what else I had WTF???
My local Freegle lets absurd wanted's through now so we can all see who the unreasonable people are.

[PenguindreamsofDraco]

I freecycled a bed a few months ago. It was old but gorgeously comfy (and I described it as such). Had a few responses but one seemed nice and genuinely needy. Alas, 2 hours after it was collected he sent me an email saying it was not 'in gorgeous condition as described' so he'd taken it straight to the tip. I was - obviously he'd only been wanting to sell it on. Someone could have made real use of it - I felt like he got it under false pretences.

Obviously still v annoyed about it!

[WillowFae]

I joined my local Freecylce group a few years ago but was shocked at the content of some of the requests - pretty much what people have posted here.

I now just donate unwanted stuff to charity places.

[myfriendflicka]

I have had some good experiences with Freecycle - but I was just offering things (stairgates, chest freezer and two Roman blinds). They all got taken by nice polite people and it was much more satisfying than taking them to the tip.

I haven't put any Wanted ads in yet thou...

[AmyStake]

Penguin! What an ungrateful shit.

[Insomnia11]

I don't really look at the wanted ads, have given away a cross trainer and a baby walker, no problems. They came to pick them up and both people sent a nice thank you e-mail afterwards.

[Insomnia11]

I don't really care what people's real motives for having the stuff are. As long as they are polite and pick it up when they say they will, no problem. If I think it's something the charity shop could easily sell, I'd send it there instead.