“A piece of furniture for a box of milk”: in Mayenne, a Facebook barter group is enjoying growing success

Élodie Goupil is proud of it. In four years, his Facebook group “I don’t throw away, I give or barter (in Mayenne and neighboring areas)” has established itself as an essential reference in this part of the West. Today it has 10,340 members. We offer nearly 350 objects per week. And it’s not over.

But this success worries her. “Now, 90% of exchanges are made for food, often infant milk,” notes this thirty-year-old based in Vimartin (Mayenne). It shows that our society is not doing well. »

“We are responding to a real need”

Behind her screen two to three hours a day, 7 days a week, Elodie Goupil, mother-to-be, who voluntarily administers the content with her friend Mélanie, notes the extent of the damage. Currently, the ads offer “a piece of furniture for a box of Guigoz Optipro 3 milk”, “twelve cups for small organic pots for babies over eight months”, “a Comtoise clock to restore for chicken/rabbit food”, “a child’s guitar for two bottles of Ice Tea”, etc. “We are responding, unfortunately, to a real need,” believes Élodie Goupil.

She confides that the idea of ​​this group came to her because she herself did not always have “too many means”. So, she used social media for its best part: sincere sharing. “We check the compliance of all announcements with our regulations and we ensure the courtesy of the messages,” she continues. Key words: honesty, respect. In case of failure, it blocks. “But it’s rare,” she assures us, “because the vast majority of people who exchange do so out of necessity, in an emergency. »