I'm in Southampton as you know and I occasionally use Freecycle Southampton to get rid of good quality items we have no more need for, aka 'shizz we don't want'. I have also put a Wanted Post up once for a piano for work which was a complete debacle and ended up costing us a stack of £££ for delivery and almost cost us for removal too until Robbie the Handyman and one of the dementia residents took an axe to it in the garden.
Not our piano - there was nothing left of that....
Today I thought I'd put up a want ad for some audio books for my residents - tapes or CDs, I don't mind. Like I said yesterday, some love stories but can no longer read themselves so I thought we'd try some out. Then I thought I'd put another want ad up for a baby buggy or pram. I bought a couple of dolls from Ikea the other day that Babcia is dressing (also for my residents) and I figured a pram to put them in would be cool. I'm not expecting great things...
I decided, whilst looking at other folks' Offered and Wants, that some people have no shame and are talking the mickey with their wants, and that others are plain weird with their offers. Offered this week are: UPRIGHT HOOVER - seems to blow as well as suck; DENTED CAR DOOR FOR WELDING PRACTICE; LAMINATOR, BROKEN. Wouldn't they all just be better off in a skip? Then there is one person offering 'DENTAL FLOSSERS - open pack of 100, 90 left. Unwrapped but unused'; and also 'TAMPAX APPLICATOR TAMPONS - couldn't get on with them, 18 left'.
Is it me or is that yuck to the max and just totally wrong?? Worst of all, when I looked an hour ago there was a 'tube of cream for cracked nipples with just a bit out of it' but that seems to have mysteriously disappeared. Are these people genuine or have I stumbled upon some kind of coded messages relating to deviant behaviour? Maybe there's a swingers party at 18, Plug Street? Perhaps it's something along the lines of a 'Men Looking For Men' ad Big Man and I stumbled across in the back of the old yellow Free Ads paper years ago - someone looking for a 'BMX boy', whatever one of those might be :S. Inquiring minds want to know.....*
On the flip side, wanters are looking for: AN OLD LAPTOP WITH INTERNET AND A WORKING USB PORT; the same person is after TWO ADULT BIKES; someone wants an AIR CONDITIONER - must be in great condition; a wheel and tyre for a LDV convoy; a Petrol Lawnmower; a hover - 'a cylinder hover with good suction would be great!'; 'WARDROBES WANTED :) We are move in a new house and need wardrobes. Anyone could deliver it for me pls! I'm very happy if its okey!'; and the cryptic 'Stare gates - may boy is barwond now so need stare gats a.s.a.p please help!'. Stare gats I get, but barwond?
You'd have to wonder how many people get what they ask for when they are looking for high value stuff. I noticed a couple of want ads for Warhammer items (if you don't know what Warhammer is then you can't have a fantasy/Goth/alien-inclined son of a certain age). Mr Charming was mad about it at one stage and even now he's away at uni I still sometimes stand, painfully, on a little twisted creature when I'm putting clean washing in his room. (And sometimes I stand on a Warhammer figure, boom-boom!!!)
Warhammer is kind of like Barbie for boys - you need to buy the little men, then the army of little men, then all the tanks, animals, scenery; paint it all...it's a dos expensive hobby and they can be worth a lot of money, depending on age and rarity and how well they're painted. Mr Charming inherited a stack of original stuff from my brother Jack when he was first starting out and we'd never give any of it away. A friend of Mr Charming's who used to spend so much time at our house that we considered him our fourth son, after Mr Charming, Carb Addict and Otto the cat, recently posted a picture on Facebook of a display he's made of his Warhammer figures and Mr Charming commented that his pal 'could put a deposit on a flat with what that stuff's worth'.
This is what a flat deposit looks like......
So, do you agree that want ad posters on Freecycle are mainly chancers, looking for either high-end stuff to flog, or low-end stuff that's dirt cheap to buy anyway? Are offered ad posters trying to fob their crappy old crap onto unwary saps rather than toting it to the tip themselves (can you tell I'm still bitter about the piano, the details of which I still can't bring myself to go into two months later?) Am I too after 'summat fer nowt' as they say in the North? Do you ever use Freecycle? Ever had anything good from there or successfully palmed off dross onto somebody? Got any audio books you don't want? Just asking.........;P
* whaddya mean, the Lost Boys isn't one of your favourite films, like, ever??!!
Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteI avoid Freecycle like the plague. I had so many bad experiences with greedy, shameless and rude people. There was the guy who came to collect a cot. Stood there smoking while I loaded it into his car. Then he said "lemme give you my mobile number, I'll have all your stuff off you what you dun want, me and the misses are broke"
ReplyDeleteHe was smoking Benson and Hedges, top to toe in labelled clothes and driving a new Focus. I said "your broke and my broke are obviously on different levels".
There was the guy who came to get toys, "I do boot sales see love" (me - fuming, I was under the impression they were going to needy kids). Then, he asked for a cuppa, he was exhausted after a day collecting Freecycle boot sale stock. I reported him.
You certainly attract the charmers Lucy :S
DeleteK xx
I think I may have a couple, I'll check later. The only problem is they will almost certainly be cassettes...
ReplyDeleteI do have a stack of CDs - classic novels read by famous people that I would gladly post if they weren't so heavy! I've never got on with freecycle but I'm sure what I have observed previously doesn't compare in weirdness to the southampton site!!
ReplyDeleteI've tried freecycle before and I've never got anything I've wanted, or been able to give away anything I had. I don't bother anymore. I love the Lost Boys btw. X
ReplyDeleteWe have used it before to get rid of bits and pieces and even had a couple of items too. Not been on there for ages though.
ReplyDeleteWill have a check in the charity shop I volunteer in for audio books and if they have any I'll send them over to you.
Lisa x
I use freegle which is similar to freecycle. A very nice dining chair has just gone to the dump (sniff!) because I can't ask everyone I know and the freegle nightmare is not something I can cope with right now. We are moving in 2 weeks and have freegled lots of stuff (or tried to) and one recently was a 6 ft tall bookcase. I gave the dimensions and the first person I offered it to didn't get back to me, I emailed and she answered and said well, she was busy getting her kids to school and suchlike and then her phone wasn't charged up and... (obviously I'm not busy, am I?)then she asked will it fit in her vauxhall corsa? So I got a tape measure, found a vauxhall corsa..., no I didn't and the bookcase ended up at the dump.
ReplyDeleteOh and perhaps the stare gates you saw are related to the stargates on my local freegle.
I'd love a piano too, but if that's what's likely to happen I think I'll give Freecycle a swerve! I signed up for the emails but I rarely check them, and I've heard lots of stories like Lucy reports about people just collecting to sell on, which seems a shame. I've always managed to find people to pass unwanted larger items on to, but in itself Freecycle does seem like a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI have used freecycle (now freegle here) a lot) but always to give stuff away. Everything went very quickly. I recently put in an 'ask' and another a few months back. The first was for old sewing patterns because I had given all mine away a few years back and wanted to start sewing again. The second was for toys in reasonable condition because are going to be fostering soon. On both occasions I got no response at all and felt very disappointed. I decided to go back and look at all the stuff we had given away - beds, 2 dishwashers, a sofa bed, bikes, crafting materials, a green house, wardrobes, rugs, a couch, kitchen equipment and even a laptop ... the list goes on and on. I must admit I feel that I don't really want to give stuff away when two smallish asks can't be met by anyone. Anyone had similar experiences? xx
ReplyDeleteThe Lost Boys is SUCH a good film! :D We're always yelling "Who wants to know? Michael wants to know!" at each other at my house! :)
ReplyDeleteThe Boyfriend got some books to help with his course from someone who offered them on Freecycle, and picks up broken computers every now and again (He's making a big server to render his architectural 3D models faster - basically make them look like real pictures!)
I have used it once to get rid of a box of old cigars that my Nana didn't want. If something's not worth anything, I would recycle it, but mainly I just donate stuff to charity shops. Anything that has some value but that charity shops don't sell, I will list on Freecycle.
I use freegle too to give things away and think I have only ever had one thing that didn't go. I can't even remember what it was. Not cracked nipple cream or tampax though that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteOnly ever asked for something once - something obscure so no surprise that I didn't get any replies but I would try again if I really needed something.
I love it when things are taken off my hands by someone who needs them. No matter what it is, if it doesn't end up in landfill that's a plus in my book. :-)
I put up an ask for Warhammer stuff on Freecycle and got an old box of stuff that helped me get a leg up. I dont think anyone is expecting to be able to get a fully painted fully functioning army. You would most certainly be a chancer if you did! Then again this is the internet.
ReplyDeleteThe stuff I got is 10 years old but still playable. People quite easily grow out of that stuff and anyone who is as into it as Mr Charming's friend is never going to want to part with it!
I wish I could have passed my old stuff from 20 years ago on to someone else but I just tossed it.
I feel it is more based on the premise that if you need something there is 100% going to be many people out there who have it and dont need it.
Yes, you're absolutely right, and I have had useful things from Freecycle as well as got rid of things we had no more need for. People are generally kind and more than happy to help but I still can't help thinking that sometimes wanters are well aware of the value of the items they seek and are hoping that the opposite is the case for the givers.
Delete