The etiquette of FREE

By Wouter Suverkropp, former MLNA President

Over the past 16 years I’ve made a number of perfectly functional, and sometimes valuable, items available to neighbors. Here are some suggestions to quickly move items to others who can use them:

  • Post them to Nextdoor.com, the mln email list, and/or freecycle.org with good descriptions and/or photos. Then post them as “gone” to save others’ time.
  • Be discreet if placing items and a FREE sign in front of your own house, to prevent blight. (Leaving unwanted items elsewhere is illegal dumping.)
  • Leave your items out for no more than two days. If they haven’t been picked up by then, re-post and/or contact Goodwill, Ecumenical Hunger, etc. They will pick up larger quantities of decent stuff.
  • Remember that the City allows us three free large pickups (a pile 4x8x4 feet), plus three large items (mattress, couch, etc.), a year. It’s easy to arrange a collection by calling Recology at 967-3034, but it’s going to landfill, so try other methods first.
  • Viewed a free item and didn’t like it? Please put it back gently so someone else can use it.

I love how this neighborhood shares so generously! Books, food, items looking for a new owner…let’s keep it going.