In theory its great. I've been getting freecycle for my immediate area for the last 3 months. The problems I see with it are:
1. It is a catch as catch can endeavor. There is no way to know what is available at any given time. Let alone
what is STILL available.
2. If you see something you want that has been offered, & you immediately E-mail the person who has offered it.
You may never know whether the item(s) have been given to someone else or whether the offer has been
recinded, or whatever.
3. People don't really read the entries. So alot of times there are offers & wants for the same type of items & they
never get together.
I receive the stuff via a digested form in my E-mail. My experience has been that if you post a desire for something, it is essentially ignored. I've sent about 4 to 5 E-mails to different people in my area who have offered stuff on freecycle and none of them have gotten back to me either way. 1 of the policies of the freecycle network is that if you offer something on the network & subsequently give it away. That you put up a notice on the network that this has happened. This was not done in the 4 or 5 cases that I sent E-mails for.
I've also sent out to freecycle a request for PC's that I as the New Jersey coordinator of the National Federation of the Blind's Adopt Adaptive program. BTW: the program is a way for people that need adaptive equipment to connect with people who have it & no longer need it & don't want to throw it away. This request went unanswered, & a week later 2 offers to give away PC's were posted on the B Board. Those were some of the 1's I sent E-mails to.
So, in THEORY it's a great idea. In practice, I'm underwhelmed.
Regards
Dragonrider
