Reply #3: we've had good and bad experience with it

[BigMcLargehuge]

on the good side -

Someone needed a book about SIP VoIP. I tutored him for two hours instead (I just wrote an 8 hour training course on SIP). Mrs. McLargehuge scored me a broken weed whacker that still doesn't work... but it will dammit! It will! We got rid of some baby equipment no longer needed (swing, high chair, etc...). We also picked up a nice Minolta SLR when a local photog switched to all digital.

On the bad side -

A lot of freecyclers are assholes and are using the list as a sob-story based/expensive gift wish list. People post like "I know this is a longshot but I really need a new laptop/desktop/electric stove/refrigerator/car/truck/snowmobile..." Others use it for fundraising, which is against the rules, other push the same tired e-Mail SPAM through the system, and yet others post things then give like a 30 minute pickup window or they blacklist you. People actively give away literal garbage - shredded curtains, shredded furniture, broken lamps, TVs, stereos, etc... that all need alot of work to get rid of.