I have had a lot of dealings with buying, selling and giving away items on craigslist, but the experience never ceases to amaze me.I the past I told the story about how I got a Canon 10D DSL for $75 on craigslist. This time a few thoughts on the Free section on craigslist.

Let me tell you, if you have a garage full of stuff and you don't want to bother with a yard sale and you just can't see it going into a landfill, the Free section is the way to go.

We just throw a tarp down on the front lawn, arrange the items on it, then post the contents and directions. Always first-come-first-served. Our first time we did this, the collection was gone within 4 hours, and I mean every single item. Some folks stopped by for something they saw in the photo, some folks just stopped by and took whatever, until the last fellow stopped and took every single remaining item!

In most communities, the solid waste companies are charging a disposal fee for computer CPUs and CRT monitors, which is a real pain in the ass, who wants to spend $15 to throw away something? Solution: free on craigslist. We had a fellow drive 25 miles for a free 15" CRT. This wasn't 7 years ago, this was last fall!

Yesterday evening we piled some more stuff on a tarp in the yard, posted the ad at around 6pm, a little late, but what the heck. By 8pm, a quarter of the stuff was gone. Then, at 11:55pm someone stopped by and was going through the pile with a flashlight!

Yes, for free, people will even take that old Atari steering wheel set, despite the missing wheel. Thanks for cleaning out my attic and garage, Seattle.