Finding human connection in strangers through selling and stooping locally
Moving and packing are never fun. As much as I welcome the idea of only keeping items that spark joy, I am no Marie Kondo. It’s especially painful when big furniture is involved - how are we going to get rid of them?
Little did I know, we can sell just about anything via online marketplaces and I have since participated in the stooping culture in New York City.
The back and forth messaging can be cumbersome, but day by day I start to enjoy meeting people I would have never met otherwise. What makes this worth experiencing is how I was able to make a stranger genuinely happy by selling them things I no longer need.
The buyer who got my couch thanked me more than three times, completed with a picture to show me how the couch is a perfect fit for her place. The other lady who got my kettle told me she has to be late by 30 minutes due to a train delay (NYC subway woes - who doesn’t get that?) and she texted me throughout as if I am her friend - ‘oh my god, the stairs in this station is killing me… can you believe people are doing this and that on the train…?’. Perhaps she’s afraid I will sell the kettle to someone else because she’s late (I hope it’s not because she’s so lonely…)? We actually chatted on the street for 30 minutes when she finally arrived, she told me how perfect my kettle is for the job she just started, she lost her previous one at the beginning of Covid.
I have read about trust deficit in our society for years, with trust hitting rock bottom in 2020 where nobody trusts the government, science and institutions anymore. Yet I find trust flourishing in these marketplaces. I recognize that both the seller and buyer are at risk of bumping into a dishonest (or worse) person, it’s not uncommon to see both sides bringing a friend/ family with them for the pick up, carefully assessing each other (and the item) during the entire roadside transaction. Yet the conversations I had with my buyers suggest that those of us who made the decision to put faith in strangers do find joy in this connection.
Then a friend told me about stooping, follow this account and you’ll understand how intense people are when it comes to treasure hunting the one and only item someone else put on the street for grabs - free of charge! I witnessed two girls racing each other to a stoop in Greenpoint, turned out they are sisters and they asked me to take a picture for them to celebrate their success (it was a vintage looking full length mirror). The one who got the item explained to me that she is new in town (from LA) and has planned to stoop for her entire room, no buying!
Our newfound flexibility in living, working, even schooling at some point, has reframed our thinking towards ownership. To be fair, this isn’t a new trend, Airbnb and other brands in the sharing economy thrived under this mindset.
To me, the beauty of marketplace selling lies in giving something a second-chance, humanizing inanimate objects, as well as our interactions with strangers, however minimal it may be.