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http://www.freecycle.org/
I have belong to my local freecycle group for awhile, but haven't really paid much attention to it. Was wondering if anyone uses this to drum up items to scrap. I just responded to items really close to my work that I can scrap out, and it's FREE.
I did for awhile. Did find any use for it.
I've used it for about 6 months. I've given away a couple things but have never gotten anything.
I use it but don't get much. Got a dryer last week the best part of that was the 6.00 in change I got out of it. The 20 years of candy wrappers, pencils, crayons, and other nasty stuff I pulled out of it was not so cool.
I receive the posts and have gotten a couple of appliances, but have not received a whole lot. Most of the time when I see an appliance posted and reply, the poster says it is awaiting pick up, so a lot of scrappers do use it.
After you posted this i had never heard of freecycle.org so i checked it out first post was 300-400lbs of scrap from a furnace replacement so i emailed the guy and he said come out and grab it and he would help me load my trailer so i got out there and it happened to be about 15 minutes from my house but it was only 5 minutes from the scrap yard i go to so i got there and we loaded it up and i hit the scrap yard on the way back it ended up being almost 600lbs and $60 so thanks for that tip.
Sounds like I might give it a shot !
I was thinking that you could also use freecycle to get rid of stuff from a cleanout if you do cleanouts. If you're gonna pay money to dump the stuff, you might as well get rid of everything you can for free. It's not just good for getting stuff...
I just joined. I have not asked for anything yet. I am offering acouple things to get the community used to me. I will start asking for stuff next week maybe.
OK, I just asked this morning for computers. Working or not. I have one reply with a guy nthat says he has a CPU. I told him I will take it. I hope there are more replies tomorrow.
Fairly older topic, but I have been using Freecycle since I heard about it, and have gotten quite a few things from computers, boxes of misc. wires, lawnmowers etc..
Of course I put up offers for plastic things or some clothings I find that has no scrap value so I don't appear to be only a "taker" :)
I have received a couple of appliances from folks posting them, but I have yet to get one from my post asking for them. I do much better with craigslist.
After being on freecycle for a few months now, i have decided to use it for things other than scrap. I have given away some things that people could use, and have taken a washer and drier that were announced as scrap and economically unrepairable. Otherwise I am crossing my fingers that those other washers and dryers(that work) are going to someone who can use them.
I use it more than Craig's List. I have collected huge amounts from Freecycle and it's not as competitive as Craig's List. If you have not tried it you should. I get lot's of appliances, exercise equipment, tons of lawnmowers and computers. I have also picked up some pools. Just last week I did a cleanout from a move and got 6 truckloads of items! I am signed up for 4 different areas that are all within a reasonable drive distance.
The mods all claim that you are not supposed to ask for scrap or you'll be removed so I have held off doing so. I play the game and put in my requests or have my wife watch when I'm gone. I do see quite a few on there asking for computers. Just yesterday there were 5 people on there asking for any and all computers or parts. Later in the day there were 2 people offering up computer parts. Guess what I got? I'm getting a lifetime of old computers and parts from one and two bags of power cords from another and I didn't have a wanted post up either. I also use it to give away things that are non-scrappable and have a use.
It's not always first come, first to get it. I have been told by the people I pick up from that I got chosen because I offer a same or next day pickup with options that work for them and I have home and cell #'s in my email signature.
I use it quite a bit. Facebook, Craigslist and Freecycle ad the best oline sources for scrap for me. There are also some yahoo groups in my area but YMMV..
In my area most of the activity on freecycle is people trying to find a home for the stuff they don't need/want, yet they don't wish it to be thrown away.
This is true here also. There are the ones I run into who hope it gets used again by me or someone else. I only say I have a use for it in that case. I don't reveal that I may be scrapping it. More often than not the item is broken anyway and needs something to fix it for it to work so a sledgehammer will fix it and my use is the scrap yard.Quote:
Originally Posted by fnord
There are also those that post specifically for scrap use only.
I just got a set of alumimun rims off there and when I went to get them I discovered they will fit my Autocross car so I'm keeping them instead of scrapping.
My local freecycle is a bunch of people who are like "freegans" and don't want anyone profiting from it. I make sure to put lots of usable but basically worthless things on there and only respond to the ones that have good scrap so they don't think I'm making a profit. For some reason my local group acts like its bad to be profiting. I don't see it that way, you are keeping stuff out of the landfill and promoting recycling.
BTW, it's a good source of lumber. The sides of my scrap trailer are made out of Freecycle plywood.
fiat...Nice score on the rims. Yes there are some people on there that would have a cow to think what they were offering was getting scrapped. Then again there are too many posts like "for scrap only" or " Broken for parts only" or "can't get this thing to start..it's yours".
I have used it enough that I'll actually get calls now for repeat pickups. If I get something that is specifically posted as scrap I give them a card and they will call back for something eventually.
I had a couple in the Army that would repeat call me like that. They finally moved and when they did they gave me a ton of stuff. I got a huge working osilioscope, an HP spectral analyser and huge stack of routers off them. I've been hanging onto the older electronic gear but I'm thinking of cutting it up as I haven't sold it yet. These things have tubes in them and I know some of the old tubes are very valuable if they are working.