Should the classifieds forums be temporarily closed?

Reasoning:

1. You cannot post things
   
2. You shouldn't be meeting to exchange things
   
   

So how can you trade at the moment? And if you ignore #2 then WTF.

Thoughts appreciated.

The proposal will be to make it so that no-one within the Classifieds forums could do anything. If there's a safe way to avoid this I'm open to hearing about it.

So how can you trade at the moment

You go for your daily allowance of one excersise session with the thing you're selling

You clean the hub, bb, whole cycle (ghosted) you're delivering with sanitiser,

Leave said thing outside the buyers door

Step away (2m) and call them

Wait till they pick up

Wash your hands and tell them to do the same

You may also be classed as a key worker if you sell bike stuff

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, which includes Sports Direct and Evans Cycles, is claiming that selling sports equipment that people could use to stay fit and healthy in their homes means their staff should be classed as key workers and their stores should stay open.

This has happened for bike stores in New York
https://twitter.com/NYCSpeakerCoJo/status/1241067475250356225

In this situation i dont think it works

+1 for temporary freeze the classified thread

You cannot post things

Why not?

This, is the Royal Mail not essential.

Why not?

AFAIK Post Offices are closed

I assumed Post Offices are closed as well.
Round here, 0uter north west London the Post Offices are
just counters in general stores, what I used to think of as sub-Post Offices,
but this suggests otherwise.

No

The reasons you post for why it’s not sensible to trade via classified are correct.

However people may choose to be idiots and risk infection by meeting to trade. They are most likely to remain idiots and risk infection regardless of the ability to post in the classified sections.

That's news to me, seeing as many people use the Post Office for withdrawing cash I would have thought they would have the same status as banks/building societies.
So what about all the people selling stuff on ebay tonight? How are they going to post anything?

According to the bbc, post offices stay open

I imagine some people might be selling to raise funds to pay rent, eat, etc.

That, grimly, is going to be an actual issue.

Personally I think the classifieds should stay open (after all, eBay ain’t shutting down any time soon) and perhaps we could rely on most Lufgussers to be a bit more sensible about this.

I would also add that your observed behaviour has largely been highly tolerant of members behaviour unless a members behaviour has the risk of creating liability for the forum or its administrators.

I would suggest that your historic behaviour is is admirable and I encourage you to continue with that philosophy

N.b. Edited to clarify I am not replying to @drifter post but to my own previous post. Whic in turn was implicitly addressed to @Velocio

Its official, bikeshops are an essential service.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/874732/230320_-_Revised_guidance_note_-_finalVF.pdf

Good point.

If I hadn't done a firesale through the forum I would have been in a lot of trouble right about now.

They'll be a ton of people hitting the buffers soon and it would be good if they can continue to access community members who are a bit more flush.

They are here in California too. But my LBS is operating under a Labour only, appointment only, store is closed set up. You drop the bike at the front gate, the mech comes to get it wearing gloves. Works on it, returns it. Think there’s a three day quarantine period in there on all incoming bikes too.

If you want to buy something, they’ll bring stuff out to show you, again, wearing gloves. They’ll then send you a PayPal invoice for any labour/parts/kit so there’s literally no human to human contact.

Bike shops are exempt from closing, and "Online retail is still open and encouraged and postal and delivery service will run as normal."

i am currently using classifieds for sales/purchases via classifieds but postponing any posting/meetup.

perhaps we could rely on most Lufgussers to be a bit more sensible about this.

The fact that you've used "Everyone else is doing it so why can't I?" logic in your post proves that common sense is as scarce as bog roll.

Meeting up/collection is lunacy, but posting/courier sounds reasonable.
Not much more risk than having something delivered by Amazon or getting someone to drop off groceries for you.

As a likely healthcare volunteer, this forum is a means for me to get parts and (potentially, if this is months and I remain with no work) a way to raise a bit of money when I'm uncertain about LBS's and the downtime that'd involve with bike quarantines.

I think it'd be best for a set of guidelines for people to act sensibly within that can be updated as government advice changes - such as dropoffs and restricting face-to-face meetings and unnecessary sales/travelling

Where is this quoted from please?