I had a few things of value (new camera bag, old but useful cell phone, some new PDA pen/stylus dealies) lying around that I didn't think it would be worth my time to sell on eBay or Craigslist, so I decided to give them away on Freecycle. This has been my experience so far:

Camera bag (worth about $20): first guy to contact me insisted that I meet him at the subway turnstile so he could save the $2 to get back on the train (oh, and also because "his knee has been giving him trouble"). When I said he'd have to come to my building, he called it off. Girl who did take it wouldn't come upstairs (this is somewhat understandable, because there may well be people luring others to their homes with the promise of free goods then assaulting them), and barely thanked me when I brought it down to her.

Phone: the guy came mostly on time, complained about the 4-floor walk-up, again barely thanked me, and left.

PDA pen/stylus (3 count, worth $12 apiece): first lady was very nice, made a little crack about the walk-up but was good-natured about it, and was very grateful. One person was a no-show. The third saw my subsequent ad for the phone and decided to delay her visit till I could tell her whether anyone actually came to get it, signaling to me that she is just some asshole who trolls Freecycle for shit to resell on Craigslist or eBay.

I hate people.

Don't they have a Salvation Army or Goodwill near where you live?

All my freecycle experiences have been lovely, actually. I mean, all two, but still. You, like everyone not involved in slinging drugs, should move to Baltimore.

My co-worker wanted to give some decent stuff away through the Annapolis Freecycle group, but they wouldn't let her because she wasn't in an Annapolis zip code. She lives about 200 yards outside of it.

Maybe. I'm not aware of any in my neighborhood, and I'm trying to minimize effort.

I signed up for something similar to this called Lincol Share where people give away or sell old crap at a minimal cost when I was looking for a bed. I still get emails from it advertising stuff people are trying to get rid of or receive, and somebody was giving away a Mounted Deer head last week.
I almost thought about taking it, it would have made a great convo piece for the apartment.

I gave away a bunch of clothes and coats through freecycle and had a good experience. I'm too lazy to wade through all of those messages to get anything in return. Too much work for free stuff. haha

I dunno, sounds like you went through more effort doing this than dropping some shit off at a thrift store.

Well I know that NOW.

Freecycle sounds like a good way to meet cute boys. Hmm...

Come in and look at my bed.

cute poor boys.

and it's nyc.
put that stuff out on the sidewalk and wait 10 minutes.

yeah, why wouldn't you just leave the stuff on your sidewalk? at least you wouldn't have to put up with assholes.

I know, I just wanted to try and get it to people who would actually use it. Which maybe failed.

Update, though: phone guy sent me a follow-up e-mail saying thanks and that at least implying that he was using the phone, so my misanthropy dropped a tick.

What were you expecting, blowjobs?

If I'm giving you nice things for free, I expect you 1) respect my time and show up when you agree to, and 2) not to complain about walking up some stairs to pick it up. I guess that's unreasonable?

anyone ever going into a stranger's building is ass-fucking insane.

I guess that's what OPA!'s banking on.

(Sorry. Too onvious.)

We taking the armoire and that's all there is to it. Okay?

yeah. this whole thing has "Law and Order SVU" written all over it.

I don't think freecycle lets you donate blowjobs and manpussy

we've had nothing but good experiences with it. i guess it's just random luck.

Well, your stairs are pretty goddam exhaustive.