Free Stuff

I gave to a stranger today, it went really well.

This old but good Denon tape deck had been stored under the bed for years. I had never got around to selling it second-hand, it always seemed like too much hassle.

I found someone who wanted it through the Lambeth branch of FreeCycle. FreeCycle exists to keep stuff out of landfill, our societies are so awash with redundant goods, but as even eBay has show, everything is useful to someone, if only you could find them.

I might have found someone willing to buy it on eBay, but then you probably have to ship it, you worry about the money exchange, yadda yadda, for what I was likely to get it did not seem worthwhile. FreeCycle’s rules are simple: recipient collects, no one pays.

Through FreeCycle I got immediate response from about 6 people. I emailed the person who wrote first, they collected it in the morning. It even turned out they lived across the road! I could have just put it out in the street after all (like everyone else does, grrr!).

Next, there’s that bloody scanner I got years ago, that never worked with SANE reliably, there’s bound to be somebody local who could use it . . . . .