Freecycle.org

How come I only learned of this cool website via The Financial Times?

Is it an eBay conspiracy, that no U.S paper has covered it?

Freecycle helps you get rid of unwanted stuff in cyberspace.

It's just like eBay - except everything is free.

Yes, free.

No catches.

No conditions.

When I wrote this a week ago there were 1,665 cities freecycling, and 570,516 members.

The movement gained critical mass just this past June, when the number of members multiplied ten-fold, from 50,000 to more than half a million.

The Freecycle network was founded in May 2003 to promote waste reduction in Tucson, Arizona, and "has grown a bit to encompass 30 countries."

I'm reminded of Steve Wozniak's great remark about Apple Computer: "It was a science project that got out of control."

Fast, cheap and out of control

sounds like a perfect description of Freecycle.

And not everything available is rubbish, as some members thought would be the case when they started their local groups.

Rachelle Strauss, founder of the Gloucestershire (U.K.) Freecycle Group, was quoted in the Times story as saying, "We've had a car offered, a Sony television and plenty of other good stuff. People could sell these kinds of things on eBay, but then there is always a wait while the auction takes place, and the risk that it goes wrong and the buyer doesn't pay. Perhaps people also just like giving things away."

Most interesting, what's going on here.

Andre Agassi was asked, back when he ruled the tennis world, what it was like.

He replied, "It's the same as before, except now everything's free."

I've always liked that.