Give Your Junk Away To Someone Who Wants It... Thanks To The Internet

from the freecycling dept

We all have some junk in our homes that we probably just want to throw away, but it seems too usable to completely toss. You could sell it on eBay, but that involves its own hassles to deal with. So, an increasing trend is to set up systems that help people to give away their useless junk to people who want it. It's basically like eBay, minus the selling part. You take your useless junk and list it, and if someone wants it, you send it to them instead of putting it out with the trash. I'm sure many people wonder why you wouldn't want to put the item on eBay anyway, but many people probably don't care about the money, and are just looking for the easiest way to get rid of their junk.
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  1. identicon
    Jeff McHugh, 27 Oct 2003 @ 7:24am

    Freecycle.org

    What a great idea! I can see this really taking off.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Oct 2003 @ 8:59am

    Goodwill?

    Hey, I take my crap down to a Goodwill collection depot a couple of miles from my house and take the tax write-off. What could be simpler than that?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Joe Schmoe, 27 Oct 2003 @ 9:20am

    Too bad...

    I'd rolled this idea around in my head many times, but I'm in no position to erect the site... It's too bad that it would probably run afoul, but a really great name would be "freebay". That and that freebay.com already redirects to some outfit called bidville.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Oct 2003 @ 9:40am

    Local Borrower/Sharing Site

    I've been pondering something similar on a local level. It'd be nice if there was a way to network what resources you're willing to share with those in your neighborhood.
    E.g.:Why does everyone on a street need to own their own lawn fertilizer spreader?
    It'd be nice to have somewhere were you can say things like:"I've grown too many zuchinis or apricots. Please come take some."
    I'm just trying to brainstorm ways to be neighborly without having to actually (*shudder*) go and talk to your neighbors.
    Of course there'd have to be some way to control that only people you trusted were let in to your little clique.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Chris, 27 Oct 2003 @ 9:59am

    Re: Local Borrower/Sharing Site

    I think something as simple as a neighborhood listserv couls accomplish that easily. Not that I would do it myself - I'm one of those people that would very happy with 20 acres between me and the closest neighbor.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Euroman, 28 Oct 2003 @ 12:38am

    Re: Local Borrower/Sharing Site

    We do this in our street already - we share a ladder, a jet washer and a leaf blower. We all chipped in a small amount of money (there's 12 housesin the terrace) and bought them. Works a treat. If someone moves out their share stays with the house.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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