Freecycle -- Recycle and Reuse...What About Respect?

Michelle Robinson, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jun 1, 2007 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

Unless your city or town is really pretty darn small, there is probably a Freecycle online community dedicated to it. Or even if there isn't a specific Freecycle community for your city, I would bet that there is one for the closest big city. Am I right? Of course I am! Since the Freecycle Network began back in 2003, more than 4,000 different Freecycle groups have formed throughout the country as well as in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

Freecycle was formed with the purpose of keeping useable merchandise out of landfills. A very noble idea, and one that has caught on quite well-the Freecycle groups here in the United States alone have over 3 million members! Many other countries across the globe have borrowed the idea behind this network to make their own similar groups, as well.

The way these local Freecycle groups work is simple-people join the group through Yahoo. Then they can post items that they have that they no longer need (these are usually posted as an "offer") or they can post asking for items for which they are looking (these are posted as a "want"). Chances are, either you or someone you know belongs to a Freecycle group and has either made or responded to a post.

Generally, the groups run rather smoothly. Yes, the groups do have local moderators who are required to follow the guidelines as mandated by the Freecycle Organization, but for the most part, it is a self-run operation since group members are free to put up their own postings as long as they follow the rules.

I have belonged to my local Freecycle group for a few years now, and while I do see that these groups are doing an excellent job of keeping items out of the landfills, I also see that there is a great deal of strife among some of the members. Of course, the moderators try to keep any arguments or friction away from the Freecycle group itself-people who post about problems or disagreements are commonly told that they are not supposed to post off-topic comments and they are directed to the Freecycle Café group (a secondary group that is supposed to be for people to discuss local matters, but which is actually rather sparsely attended).

So, what causes the problems? What does anyone have to get upset about? Plenty, as it turns out. Here are the most common complaints that I have seen:

No-Shows: It is just plain rude to tell someone you will be somewhere to pick up an item and then not show up. No-Shows are, sadly, quite common. Sometimes a No-Show will email or call with an excuse, but more often than not this doesn't happen.

No Items: Quite often, a Freecycler will tell the person who is picking up an item that the item will be on the porch or in a bag by the steps, something like that. Sometimes, the Freecycler forgets to put the item out for the person picking up-and this, too, is quite disrespectful. After all, with gas prices the way they are nowadays, people cannot afford to drive somewhere for nothing.

Stolen Items: It doesn't happen too often, but unfortunately it does happen sometimes-every once in awhile, a Freecycler will have an item for pickup on their porch, and the person picking up will help themselves to additional items on the porch that weren't intended for pickup. This can be quite maddening, because it is difficult, if not impossible at times, to prove.

People snatch up the items being offered too quickly: This is pretty much the way things always go-a person posts an item for offer, and then moments later posts that the item is taken. This means that people who can't check their email very often or who can't type very fast often lose out-this can make people really angry at times.

There really is not much of a way to correct most of these problems, though. People are going to forget things sometimes, so the no-shows and no-items are going to happen from time-to-time. Items are still probably going to get stolen every now and then-that's just the way things are and as long as we have people leaving things out for pickup instead of staying home to greet the person picking up, this will likely happen at times.

As for people grabbing up the items as soon as they are posted, I'm not sure if there is a feasible solution to that problem. Sometimes when people post an offer, they mention that they will choose from among all respondents-this gives more people a chance to answer the post, I suppose, but it isn't really practical for every single post. Nor is it possible to moderate the group in order to keep track of which people are getting which items-that would be far too great a task to ask of anyone. So, this is one issue that really has no solution.

But, despite these troubles that Freecycle groups have had, these groups have been quite successful in their goal-for example, each day on my local Freecycle group there are dozens of posts with people offering items that they have, all of which get taken by another Freecycler. If you multiply that by the number of groups across the country, just imagine how many thousands of items are being kept out of landfills each day! Membership continues to grow in these groups, and new groups are formed all the time-you can even start your own group if there isn't one close enough. One thing's for sure-whoever dreamed up the concept behind Freecycle sure cares about our planet!

Published by Michelle Robinson

As a freelance writer, Michelle Robinson has written on a variety of topics over the years; however, her current goal is to write about family,fun children's activities, and frugal parenting. She has a blog... View profile

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Freecycle -- Recycle and Reuse...What About Respect?

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