Yerdle was formed as a California Benefit Corporation with a mission to reduce the number of new things we buy by 25%. We’ve pursued this mission through the Yerdle Marketplace and by working directly with companies to help them increase the reuse of their products.
Today we’re announcing a major milestone. Over the next few weeks we are transitioning the Yerdle community directly to our members.
In four years, one million members have found new homes for 1.2 million items. That’s more than a million things not purchased new; a million things that didn’t end up in the landfill; two million human connections. All thanks to the Yerdle community.
Over the last few months we’ve been in dialogue with our community leaders about the best way to guarantee the future of the Yerdle Community. The cost of operating the marketplace is not supported by the revenue the marketplace generates. Meanwhile, our staff members are increasingly focused on helping sustainability-minded companies build their in-house reuse programs. This path has enormous potential for helping us reach our mission.
Rather than increase the fees on the current marketplace, we have decided to transfer the community to a volunteer led FB Marketplace. We’ve been in dialogue with Facebook as they have been building their marketplace functionally. Their new platform will allow Yerdle members to continue to exchange items at a much lower cost of operations.
On November 23rd, 2016 we will close down the existing Yerdle marketplace and will do what we can to support our members transitioning to a community-run Facebook group. We will also be discontinuing the use of Yerdle Dollars.
We’d like to thank Cassie, Amanda, Sara, Martha, Melanie, and Charles who have volunteered to act as moderators and administrators of the new group. These dedicated volunteers have already devoted countless hours to making Yerdle thrive. They are heroes of the reuse movement. They inspire us.
Here’s what to expect:
- Beginning today, October 18th, 2016, we will direct all new members to join the community-run Facebook marketplace and encourage current members to join the group as well.
- Yerdle Marketplace will continue to operate as it has through November 8th, 2016. We encourage everyone to use this time for final exchanges of items on the system. Yerdle Dollar balances will not be transferred to any other service or marketplace including the community-run Facebook Marketplace.
- On November 8th, 2016, we will disable the ability to post or purchase on the Yerdle marketplace. Members will still be able to login to view and fulfill existing orders until November 23rd, 2016;
- On November 23rd, 2016 we will disable all logins and turn off the Yerdle platform. No services (posting, shipping, feedback, etc) will be transferred to the community-run Facebook Marketplace.
We couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished together. We’re excited to see how it flourishes in our members’ capable hands.
