Alan Kleymeyer

My recent experiences with Craig’s List and Austin FreeCycle make me yearn
for an opportunity to develop a swapping service that I’ve had on the back
burner.

Online classifieds work. And people don’t necessarily need to make money off
of their possessions they are willing to part with.

I was shopping for a loft bed for Cassidy and Craig’s list delivered a
resident here in Austin that was willing to sell me her gently used one for 40%
of the cost of a new one. I loved it so much and it worked out in Cassidy’s room
so well that I bought a SECOND one, on Craig’s list for again, roughly for the
same discount. I even negotiated $50 off the price by agreeing to disassemble
the bed myself.

More recently, I used Austin FreeCycle to get rid of an old Sony 32" TV that
I no longer wanted. It worked but was falling apart and I didn’t care to take
the time to fix what was wrong with it. Austin FreeCycle delivered eight
interested parties within 12 hours.

All this took some time and travel (contacting and waiting for replies,
coordinateing schedules, borrowing pickups, driving across town). How wonderful
would it have been if I could have scheduled the same transacations in my
immediate neighborhood.

We had a great Christmas.
We did not get an XBOX 360 or an HDTV TV, our big wish-list items.
Instead, Christmas included some gifts that were well received, inexpensive and a throwback to my childhood. First there was PaddlePool.  I remember my four sisters and I playing this all the time. We even took it with us to Evansville Indiana that year we got it. 

Next, David received an electric racecar set.  No batteries (yeah), just an AC adapter and two controllers.  It was a blast.  I remember wanting this one I was a kid.  Ours has a loop but this picture gives you an idea of the set:

Finally, David also received this wooden Tommy Gun that shot rubber bands.  The rubber bands don’t shoot very hard but go far enough to make it fun.

I learned of a recent campaign by Microsoft, to encourage bloggers to write about Windows Vista, from Joel.   Specifically, they sent new high-end laptops loaded with Windows Vista, to selected bloggers asking them to try the OS and laptop out and blog about it.  The recipients were free to keep, return or give away the laptops afterward.  Apparently, Microsoft adjusted their offer and asked for the laptops back.

Since laptops were sent unsolicited, I don’t automatically conclude that the gesture was unethical and that any blogger accepting the laptops are unethical for not immediately returning them.

When I get an unsolicited survey with a "dollar" included in the envelope, I don’t bother to mail it back.  I also don’t fill out the survey.

Joel writes:

Even if no quid-pro-quo is formally required, the gift creates a social
obligation of reciprocity. This is best explained in Cialdini’s book Influence (a summary is here). The blogger will feel some obligation to return the favor to Microsoft.

Certainly, the blogger MAY feel an obligation and with full disclosure the reader can decide for himself whether to give the blogger’s review any credence.  But to assume a gift recipient’s review will be biased is unfair.  Otherwise, it would seem to follow that no public official should accept any non-anonymous donations otherwise the donation could be seen as a bribe.

Having said that.  Anyone that takes the stance that Joel has taken to eliminate any appearance of favoritism, by refusing any "gifts" has my respect and their opinion will be more highly regarded by me.

 

Related: A Sell-Out’s Tale