Should a cafe be used for trading?

Image via CrunchBase, source unknownTo my purist way of thinking a cafe's primary purpose is all about building community. It is a place for chit chat. It is not a place to buy and sell items. To do that you need a specialist service, perhaps an Ebay or other auction site. Or you need to set up a special group that has special rules and moderators focused on managing the sales process.

But that is not a cafe. Of course this could just be my prejudices and cultural asiprations speaking but that's what I think a cafe is about.

Cafe differences

Image by law_keven via FlickrWith membership coming from those who freecycle what tends to unites cafe members is a care for the local community and environment. That said a common rule on freecycle cafe styled groups is no freecycling. So what do they discuss? Another way into this is to see what they do not discuss.

Almost all abide by the general rules of no politics, no proletysing and so forth. Some allow adverts for pets whereas others do not. The difference sometimes depends on what other local resources (such as specialist pet charities) and legal and social implications there are regarding rehoming of pets.

Another differentiator is that some groups allow advertising of services. Some even permit for sale adverts. These tend to be curtailed if they get to the point of swamping the group's other activities, viz building on community values.

Does the Freecycle Network discourage cafes?

Image via WikipediaIf you look at the moderators pages on the main freecycle network you will see that there is a strong encouragement to actually hide the the concept of freecycle cafes. That is The Freecycle network recommends that cafes are not promoted. Explicitly in para h it states, "Consider not listing the local cafe group in Yahoo Groups."

I would argue this is not in the best interest of the cafes. Surely the cafe could be the lifeblood of drawing new members into freecycling activities. In essence I think this particular guidelines need a new perspective. That, or course is only my opinion.

Cafe technologies

Image via WikipediaMost cafes seem to run on Yahoo groups at the moment. However given their nature is more exploratory and social than purely trading items for free perhaps other social network sites are worth looking at. I see that Fife, for example uses Ning.com. Is this better?

Welcome to our blog

Image via WikipediaA blog for linking freecycling cafes around the world. If you run a cafe whose members came from their interest in freecycle and want a link here then please contact us.