Unconsumption & Freecycle

Rob Walker’s NT Times Magazine column on Sunday Jan 7th looked at the idea of unconsumption. Rob, in post festive-deluge mood, wondered whether it could feel better to give things away rather than receive them. He examined the success of Freecycle – a site and community that lets people find stuff that other people want to get rid of.

Whatever attracts people to join, part of what keeps them involved, Beal says, is something they probably didn’t expect: the moment when someone thanks you backward and forward for giving him something you planned to throw away. “There’s a sort of paradigm shift in your brain: ‘Wow, that feels really good,’ ” Beal says. “That’s what I think is fueling this absurd amount of growth we’ve had.”

…In a sense, what Freecycle has done is channel the same blend of utility and pleasure that motivates consumption itself. Steve Portigal, a business-strategy consultant based in Montara, Calif., founded a Freecycle group for the San Francisco area’s coastal communities in 2004. “Getting something you need and getting rid of something you don’t need are both satisfying as problems solved,” he points out. But while we’re all well trained in the former, the latter often exceeds our patience and know-how.

Freecycle
Unconsumption – New York Times: