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

[LarryForPrimeMinister]

Having a massive declutter.
Listed various different things online for free with collection only.

Had people asking if I can deliver, can I deliver a good 25 miles away, asking if I can hold things for a week, no shows.
Even someone having a go at me in the comments for giving away glucose lift shots (for diabetic hypos) saying I can't give prescription medication away despite the sticker being ripped off and it's just a glucose drink no actual prescription drugs in it? If I gave to the pharmacy they would just throw them away anyway!

Aibu to think its just not worth the hassle anymore?

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

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

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.

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

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!)

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.

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?!

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.

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!

Omg

Same. I haven't had any trouble

That sounds like Fagins den

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)

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.

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 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.

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

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.

Why don't you take it to a charity shop?

I highly recommend the Olio app - people get rated on whether they show up or not and there seems to be a high proportion of decent reliable people - I've never had a no show and you can both sell and give away for free

Our local charity shops have started to limit donations to times of day and how much any one person can hand in.....even occasionally they will put up a sign declining all donations which is totally unhelpful if you have lugged it all from the car.

I use Olio, but you still get people saying they'll collect and then no-shows. It's changed and become far for commercialised with adverts etc and I do think they're taking advantage of volunteers now.

I always list things cheaply but with a nominal price. It weeds out the time wasters. I also insist on collection only. Only had one ridiculous person who wanted a mattress delivering and I said collection only and first come first served. I did tell them it had gone when it hadn't gone. Local Facebook sites seem to be better than market place.

Why didn't you block them as soon as they started being troublesome?

Thats absolute bat shit crazy.