How to streamline sharing supply chain offers with a group

March 26, 2018 1:49 PM

I coordinate projects for an unusual recycling industry that is trying to expand. Random people contact me when they have suitable material available, and I'd love to have a streamlined way to share this with lots of industry members who may be interested. In the past, I've shared these alerts to an email list, but then I never know if anyone followed up, whether materials were ever recycled, or if it all got lost in the void. I keep wondering if there's any team communications app that I could use to post new listings, see who saw the post, and allow people to "claim" items on a first-come, first-served basis. Bonus difficulty: people in my work world aren't generally tech-savvy, so it would need to be really straightforward and simple. While I think a Slack discussion etc. could theoretically work, I'm looking for something with a ridiculously easy interface: see post, click yes or no. Does something like this exist?
posted by hessie to Work & Money (3 answers total)

Freecycle fills most of these functions.
posted by aspersioncast at 1:53 PM on March 26, 2018

I hate to say it but a Facebook group is probably the lowest barrier to entry and easiest for the greatest number of people to use.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:01 PM on March 26, 2018

Follow the user - sure, it might be easy for you, but would it require the other people to take an extra step to access this single piece of information?

I advise, whatever you do, to keep it in the same medium that you already are successfully communicating with them.

Maybe set up something that sends out an email, and for people to claim the goods (or show interest) they click a link in the email?
posted by rebent at 6:16 PM on March 26, 2018