Free shop
A Umsonstladen even Kost-Nix Laden or Schenk shop , a private, socially or politically motivated project, new or used items for free entrainment is providing. A compact special form of gratis shops provide so-called Free Boxes , also known as Give Boxes , Gib- and Take shelves or exchange shelves called, represents.
functionality
Items that may be useful to other visitors can be passed on or exchanged in a free shop. Visitors can also take exhibited items with them. Taking the items with you is not tied to a neediness test , as is often the case with tables and clothes closets. In contrast to charitable institutions, many free shops and donor communities see themselves mostly linked to political goals.
regulate
Many shops should only bring new, unused or well-preserved usable items. Groceries such as jams, honey and long-life canned goods can also be offered. There are often restrictions on the number of items you can bring in certain areas. Sometimes you are asked to deliver certain things less, sometimes there are "acceptance stops".
Larger and difficult to transport objects (such as furniture, two-wheelers, machines, refrigerators or cars) can be arranged by users themselves by means of notes attached to a notice board - in individual cases also mutual assistance.
Due to the way it is organized, the time required for the operator should be relatively low. Accepting and placing things can be shared among many volunteers. Often the users are involved. A payment process is omitted and you can - as long as there is no driving limit - nothing "steal". In addition, the items can be borrowed or tested free of charge , as they can be returned at any time. This option is often used, especially for clothing and books.
Some shops solicit donations from users for operating costs, but unlike recycling stores and waste exchanges, they do not have to pay for individual items. In contrast to exchange rings, there is no offsetting. In some shops, however, there are restrictions on this principle. For example, there is often a limit to the number of items that a person can take with them on an opening day. This is to prevent, for example, books or clothing from being taken in large quantities to sell at the next flea market.
offer
Small items such as crockery, cutlery, novels and non-fiction books (for example encyclopedias or dictionaries), tools, lamps, usable paints, cosmetics, comfortable clothing, shoes, electrical appliances, computers, software, CDs and much more are often used.
Products such as old novels, outdated electronics or unfashionable clothing that are brought in more than they are taken away often accumulate in the store. Such " slackers " are dealt with differently. Some free shops also hold public fashion shows with such shopkeepers (e.g. in the city center).
Food that has been bought too much by individuals, for example, is a problem because of its shelf life. Therefore, these are sometimes processed or consumed as part of a special campaign, which is also intended to attract interested parties.
Spread and location
Free shops are particularly widespread in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. In December 2014 there were at least 83 free shops in the German-speaking area, mainly in larger cities, but also in some places with less than 10,000 inhabitants.
The free shops are locally bound projects, in this they differ from net-based free projects such as freecycle , in which goods are offered via the Internet and then sent or picked up. In some cases, spaces are made available by urban social centers.
Special forms: gift boxes and gift fences
In many social projects and residential buildings, freeboxes are set up, which work on the same principle as a free shop, but do not take up an entire space, but only consist of a shelf or similar furniture. To some extent, this also as Gib- and Take shelves or exchange shelves referred.
In 2011, the first give boxes appeared in Berlin as open, roofed houses, which, for example ( Bonn ), are financed by private initiative and by crowdfunding and donations on land made available by church institutions. According to Givebox.eu there are between 50 and 60 public giveboxes in Germany (as of January 2018).
Givebox wins
Givebox on the HNE city campus in Eberswalde, Brandenburg
Givebox at the Alsenstrasse living room in Bochum
Alsengarten behind the living room in Alsenstrasse in Bochum
In 2017 a fence in Hamburg was declared a “gift fence” for the homeless and other needy people. The fence near the main train station was originally built to prevent the homeless from sitting on a wall. People hang up donations in kind packed in bags such as clothing, hygiene articles, food, dog food, etc. As part of the 2020 corona pandemic, the idea was adapted in many German cities.
Economic discussion
Many free shop operators emphasize that they are not interested in exchanging goods, but in giving and taking freely. The aim is to provide a means of acquiring, using and transferring goods outside of the capitalist system. The proponents of the projects often associate the utopia of a money-free "free economy" with it.
Free shops are assigned different objectives by their operator groups:
- as a practical critique of capitalism ( concrete utopia ),
- as a project of sustainable, environmentally friendly waste avoidance , or
- as the exercise of a charitable , mostly Christian social ethic .
The free shops should also make a contribution to sustainable development by conserving resources and giving people without a high income the chance to purchase goods without money. For this approach, for example, the free shop of the local economy working group in Hamburg-Altona was awarded the Altona Sustainability Prize by the Altona district assembly in 2004.
Starting from the Hamburg free shop founded in 1999, there is an attempt to further develop free shops as a sub-project of a community of mutual aid . Anyone who is active in one of the projects and participates in the necessary agreements (cooperation) can use all the resources of the project community. The free shop is to become part of a jointly organized structure. For Hamburger projects composite so far include - in addition to the Umsonstladen as a core activity - a small furniture store, an educational project (the "Free University of Hamburg"), a bicycle - self-help workshops and other projects. All services and items from all projects are free of charge for those active in the projects . They are made available to other users in return for a donation to cover costs, which are well below market prices . On the further acquisition of skills will gradually become a production for the self requires the project community are being developed. A practical connection with municipalities and projects of non-commercial agriculture is sought. This and similar models are also being discussed in other free shops.
In the spring of 2009, students at the TU Berlin founded a free shop on the university campus , right next to the Unirad student bicycle workshop . The founders are active in several student projects and hope to promote sustainability and solidarity across the campus through the free shop .
History, predecessor
The Diggers were an action group with a political and artistic background in the Haight-Ashbury District in San Francisco in the late 1960s . Whether their anarchist criticism of money, they operated from 1966 to 1968 a. a. some "free stores". One on 1762 Page Street, a second on 520 Frederick Street, and a third on Cole Street called The Trip Without A Ticket. In addition, they distributed "free food" daily in Berkeley's Civic Center Park . There they also organized free concerts and theater performances and operated a "free bakery", the "Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic" at 588 Clayton Street. Furthermore, a "Free Print Shop". The Diggers also had free stores in other cities. For example, in New York at 264 East Tenth Street (Lower East Side). Following this example, there was a freestore in the town of Cotati in California from the late 1960s to 1983.
In Melbourne (Australia), there were 1971 to 1972 in 42 Smith Street, in the district of Collingwood a run by anarchists Free Store, the "Collingwood FreeStoreClub".
See also
literature
- Hanna Kunas: Giving as an economic act. An analysis of free shops in Germany , Cologne 2010, online (PDF, 191 kB)
Web links
- Kostnix stores in Austria
- An address list of free shops in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, also further information
- Self-criticism from active members of a free shop
- Free shops on alles-und-umsonst.de - a list of active free shops
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jürgen Klute, Sandra Kotlenga: Social and labor market policy according to Hartz: five years of Hartz reforms. Inventory - Analysis - Perspectives , 2008, ISBN 3-940344-33-8 , p. 249, online .
- ↑ a b A self-criticism of the free shops - review and outlook. Retrieved September 27, 2009 .
- ↑ http://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/240024.umsonstlaeden-einfach-zum-mithaben.html
- ↑ http://www.taz.de/!84357/
- ↑ Local compass: give and take . Online at www.lokalkompass.de. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
- ↑ Tagesspiegel, Berlin, September 3, 2011
- ↑ Julia Bauer: The Bonnbox in the media. May 17, 2017. Retrieved June 24, 2017 .
- ↑ Stefan Knopp: Passing on instead of throwing away. In the Bonner General-Anzeiger , page 21, June 22, 2017,
- ↑ GIVEBOX. E U. Retrieved January 12, 2018 .
- ↑ Hamburgers turn a fence against the homeless into a gift fence: this is how misappropriation works! In: Jetzt.de. Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 25, 2017, accessed on March 31, 2020 .
- ↑ Other free shops. (No longer available online.) Local Economy Working Group, archived from the original on September 23, 2009 ; Retrieved September 27, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ What doesn't cost anything isn't worth anything? - Experiences from the free shop - Hamburg (Altona) ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Hamburg Local Economy Group, accessed June 11, 2014
- ↑ Free shops are trendy. Report from dapd on the website of the Märkische Onlinezeitung, accessed on June 11, 2014
- ↑ Student concept: Free download ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Article in the Berlin city magazine zitty on May 25, 2009
