Hello Freecycle Members,
A lot, if not most, Freecycle offers are transferred to their new owners by being left on the Gifter's porch for pickup by the recipient. This is a standard practice in most Freecycle groups and the majority of the time everything goes smoothly.
On rare occasions, a person will arrive to pick up an item, and the wrong, or additional items will be mistakenly picked up. This usually happens in error when (for example) Mom asks Dad to stop by 123 ABC Street on his way home and pick up a bag of stuff from the porch, and when he arrives, he just grabs what's there, not paying attention and gets the wrong thing or additional items. (My husband has done this before so we fully understand that it happens and at the same time can be easily corrected.)
Another scenario is that a member shows up at the pickup point, they enter the members home, the member helps take the item to the vehicle and something is mistakenly taken from the home that did not belong to them.
SHOULD this happen and you realize that you have MISTAKENLY ended up with more than was intended for you, please email the person who offered the item ASAP, so arrangements can be made so that the person the item was originally intended for will be able to receive what they were promised or the members item can be returned to them ASAP.
Think how you would feel if an item you were promised was taken by someone else. Or you notice that an item that you had laying around your home is no longer there. Knowingly taking what you know was not Gifted to you is theft, and could result in your being removed from the group, along with other consequences such as the Police being called. (We know none of our members would intentionally do this and would immediately correct the problem by returning the item.)
A word of caution...
Members that come to your home are 'strangers' and we ask that you be cautious when inviting them into your home. We know nothing about a person when they join. They could have a police record, they could be a saint, there is no way to know. Please DO NOT leave a person unattended in your home, even for a minute. We, as Moderators, cannot be held responsible for transactions or what happens during them.
**FREECYCLE NETWORK MEMBERS USE THE LIST AT THEIR OWN RISK!!**
Please take reasonable measures to protect your safety and privacy when posting to the list or participating in an exchange. By joining the list, you agree to hold neither the list owners, moderators nor anyone affiliated with Freecycle.org responsible or liable for any circumstance resulting from a Freecycle-related exchange or communication.
SAFETY -- Public posting and personal information Tacoma Area Freecycle prohibits placing phone numbers or addresses in posts. Exchange in private email only, never in a post to the group. You might get swamped with calls. A reverse look-up service might provide access to your address. Making contact information publicly available is a risk that is not encouraged.
I am concerned for the safety of our members, as well as your identity. Though it can be more convenient to list your personal information for everyone to see, it is not worth the risk. I do my best to keep out spammers and perverts, but there is no reason to ASSUME that EVERYONE in our group is honest, much as we'd all like to believe they are. The fact is that we all need to be very careful about giving out personal information to strangers!
It is up to each member of Freecycle to be appropriately aware of the potential risk of having "a stranger" come to your home to pick up an item. Freecycle as an organization assumes no responsibility for this risk. You may want to arrange to meet in a public place or leave the item on the front porch without mentioning whether or not you'll be home at the time of pickup. Be cautious about revealing too much personal information.
Our members are extremely generous as seen in the board postings, and we appreciate each and everyone of you for helping to make Tacoma Area Freecycle one of the best and fastest growing groups in the Freecycle Network. Members comments/suggestions are always welcomed.
Your Friendly Tacoma Area Freecycle Moderators
Questions? Comments? TacomaAreaFreecycle-owner@yahoogroups.com
QUICK GUIDE TO CORRECT SUBJECT LINE FORMAT:
(Use ONLY one of these four keywords)
OFFER: couch - (Your Home Location)
TAKEN: couch - (Your Home Location)
WANTED: garden hose - (Your Home Location)
RECEIVED: garden hose - (Your Home Location)
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Compose messages easily with Internet Explorer and *Firefox* Freecycle Plugins from http://wiki.memberplugin.org. Click to install it today!
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Please join our new forum, the Tacoma Area Freecycle Café. It is a place where you can share links, services, resources, community agencies, volunteer opportunities, trade, or barter.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TacomaAreaFreecycle_Cafe
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(c) 2010 The Freecycle Network http://www.Freecycle.org). All rights reserved.
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COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS? Email: TacomaAreaFreecycle-owner@yahoogroups.com
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