Why Freecycle Doesn't Work

I just discovered a (potentially) great magazine out of the UK called Permaculture. It's major flaw being that it is a UK based magazine with content that is inspiring but not directly applicable to a Canadian climate. While we're still worried about frost everyone in the UK is harvesting vegetables already. Big difference. Anyway, the Winter 2009 issue had an intriguing article on Mark Boyle, the founder of Freeconomy, who lives life without legal tender.

This is certainly a feasible endeavour and something I've considered but I believe it is only a surface solution and does not address the heart of the problem that is consumerism. In the article, Mark mentions Freecycle as a source of finding necessary supplies without the burden of currency and it was this very comment that reminded me about the flaw in denouncing the culture of money. And I have been waiting so long to gripe about Freecycle - this one has been brewing in my brain for some time.

I've used Freecycle in the past but not recently. I have only been able to acquire one small plant (that I have since ripped out) but I have been able to "re-gift" many unwanted household items that were collecting dust in a closet or the shed (oh the poor shed, collector of all that is unloved yet fiercely necessary). Giving away items on Freecycle is like tossing a bone to a yard of ravenous dogs. Within minutes my inbox is flooded with requests for whatever discarded contraption or household oddity I happen to be availing myself of. After weeding through the requests to select someone who does not come across like a spoiled mooch, I then have to arrange for a pickup, usually from my front porch which makes life much easier for me. I've been fortunate in that most people pick up the items when they say they will but when they don't... it's incredibly frustrating. And then some people change their minds or they want only one of the items I'm offering not the whole lot or they need some kind of special accommodation which is ludicrous since I'm giving them something for free, may I remind you.

All this furious activity makes it very clear to me that it is not currency that binds us to a consumerist culture but rather an innate desire to acquire. This powerful drive may be an ancient habit expressed in a gene yet to be discovered or it could simply be learned and passed down lovingly from one grasping generation to another. The only thing I am sure of is that money is not the cause of it but rather another tool to assist in the acquiring process like two hands and a basket are tools for collecting berries.

I know because this drive expresses itself in me from time to time and I need to actively remind myself that everything is okay just as it is.