Treasures from the side of the road

Everyone knows one of the best ways to sell something is to put it out beside the road with a "For Sale" sign. I've sold a used car that way myself. The same tactic works if you just want to give something away. There's a nice local tradition of giving good stuff away by placing it at the side of the road and putting out a sign to say it's free. I've done it myself, offering a table of yard sale remnants that I didn't want to bring back into the house when that sale was done. Over the course of a few days, most of those offerings were gone. And another time I saved the cost of tire disposal by putting out a set of four that still had a season or two of tread left. They didn't fit my new vehicle. Someone snapped them right up. I got a nice cabinet for the basement that way and once I scored a like-new recliner, one of the great things about owning a pickup truck and being first on scene. These days most towns have a "Swap Shop" at the trash disposal and recycling center (aka dump). The problem with that alternative is most don't have the space for large items like furniture and appliances, things for which the dump charges a fee for disposal even though they might still be useful. The roadside works just fine for those items. These days you don't have to rely solely on passing traffic to give things away. There are also community social media sites that'll help you get the word out. Here in my hometown Rindge there's the Rindge Online Yard Sale for those with stuff to sell or a yard sale to publicize and there's also the Rindge and Neighboring Towns Freecycle for people with stuff to give away, both on Facebook. These kinds of social media sites abound throughout the region. Curbside giveaways have become so common in the region that a lot of folks don't bother setting out the "free" sign anymore, just put the stuff out beside the road. This has led to some errors. For instance, a woman who set up one of those roadside Little Free Libraries also put a small table out beside the library for the convenience of those who might like to sort through the offerings. Someone snatched that table right up, probably thinking it was a "freebie." Another person recently put up a Facebook post to say: "When tables are left out after yard sale that does not mean they are free. Could you please return the table. Thank you." Another recent Facebook post on the town site reported the loss of a beach bag with towels, bathing suits and clothes, saying: "I'm hoping someone picked it up thinking it was free." Those kinds of losses leave the victim wondering if the loss was a misunderstanding or a theft. My son, who lives in Jaffrey, asked a carpenter friend to build him a picnic table and paid in advance. When a fair amount of time had passed, he checked with his friend to inquire about delivery, only to be told it had been delivered — left in his driveway. Did someone assume he was discarding a brand-new picnic table? That's why you might not want to take anything that doesn't sport a "free" sign without making sure it's meant to be a freebie.