free box

{{Short description|Box or location used to allow for people to rid themselves of excess items.}}

{{for|the digital television device known under same name|Freebox}}

File:Freebox.JPG, Germany, 2005, serving as a distribution center for free donated materials]]

File:ClothingBinsCrestoneFreeBox.JPG]]

A free box is a box or location used to allow for people to rid themselves of excess items without the inconvenience of a garage sale. When someone has items they wish to be rid of, but which might be useful to another person, they are set out and given to whoever wants them. If, after a period, no one has claimed the items, the contents of the box may be donated to a charity like Goodwill or The Salvation Army.

Free boxing is implemented at the University of Saskatchewan,[http://www.ussu.ca/pdfs/annualreports/USSU2001-02AR.pdf U of S annual report for 2001-2002 school year describing the creation of the Free box by then VP of Student Issues, Jennifer Barber]{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} in Victoria, British Columbia,[http://seaopaque.livejournal.com/404827.html Livejournal entry on free box etiquette in the Vancouver area] in Isla Vista, California,[http://www.independent.com/news/2009/sep/02/iv-free-box/ An appreciation of the Isla Vista Free Box] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328113133/http://www.independent.com/news/2009/sep/02/iv-free-box/ |date=2012-03-28 }}, Santa Barbara Independent and in Crestone[http://crestoneeagle.com/?page_id=70 "Editor’s Notes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224135909/http://crestoneeagle.com/?page_id=70 |date=2010-12-24 }} August '09 Crestone Eagle, accessed September 19, 2010 and Telluride, Colorado.{{cite news |first=Lisa |last=Waring |work=The Huffington Post |title=The Free Box Provides |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lise-waring/the-free-box-provides_b_603900.html |date=June 9, 2010}}[http://www.denverpost.com/lifestyles/ci_13585828 "Get to know Telluride's Free Box"] article in The Denver Post 10/18/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT, accessed September 19, 2010[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/My-Kind-of-Town-Telluride-Colorado.html "Telluride Thinks Out of the Box"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617105825/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/My-Kind-of-Town-Telluride-Colorado.html |date=2011-06-17 }} article by Antonya Nelson in Smithsonian Magazine, August 2009, accessed September 19, 2010

An online version of a similar concept is The Freecycle Network.

The University of Guelph, in Guelph, Ontario, runs a free table for several weeks of the school year. New College of Florida is home to a student-run free table (open throughout the school year).{{Cite web|url=http://collegeprowler.com/new-college-of-florida/|title = Explore New College of Florida| date=8 June 2023 }}