Proposed features/give box

Give Box
Status:	Voting (under way)
Proposed by:	ToastHawaii
Tagging:	amenity=give_box
Applies to:
Definition:	A small facility where people drop off and pick up various types of items in the sense of free sharing.
Drafted on:	2020-01-06
RFC start:	2020-01-07
Vote start:	2020-01-21
Vote end:	2020-02-04

Proposal

A give box is a facility where people drop off and pick up various types of (none food) items such as clothes, small appliances, dishes, toys, books, CDs in the sense of free sharing and reuse. The facility can be a small box, shelf, cabinet, phone box or shack with shelf's. Usually only the size of the facility limits the types of items.

Sometimes those facilities are run inside a building, such as the entrance area of a community centre, apartment building or other leisure activity places, and the operator of those facilities is the host.

Give Box is a known concept that is used by a community. These facilities have different shapes, from small boxes to small shacks. But they all have the same principles, a space of free sharing, reuse, solidarity and they are organized by the community.

This proposed is based on the Proposed features/Reuse and the feedback to it and my own experience with this kind of facilities.

Links

• Free_box on Wikipedia
• Give Box Community on Facebook
• A Free box in Telluride, Colorado
• A Free box in Canada

Photos

• 

  Give Box in Germany

• 

  Give Box in Germany

• 

  Give Box in France

• 

  Free Box in Germany

• 

  Free Box in Germany

• 

  Give Box in France

• 

  Give Box in Germany

• 

  Give Box in Sweden

• 

  Give Box in Poznań

• 

  Give Box in Switzerland Bern

• 

  Exchange table in Switzerland Zurich

• 

  Free shelf in Switzerland Zurich

• 

  Free art box in Decatur, Georgia, USA

Translation in other languages and synonyms

• English: Give box, Free box on Wikipedia, Free table , Share shelf
• German: Gib- und Nimm-Regal, Tauschregal, Umsonstregal, Tausch-Tisch, Schenkschrank, Tausch-Box, Tausch-Ecke

Rationale

• There are currently 80 POIs documented in OSM that indicate this type of facility. Overpass

• The Give Box community with a lot of facilities Give Box.
• A map based on different sourcesː Give Box Map

Tagging

This proposal is for a new amenity tag:

amenity=give_box

Other existing tags could be used in combination:

Tag	Description
name=*	Optional. If the facility has a name
description=*	Optional. Add details on how to find easily the facility.
opening_hours=*	Optional. If the facility is in a shop, cafe etc. Can be an important information.
brand=*	Optional. Name of the brand or network of the facility if there is one visible.
operator=*	Optional. Name of the operator, for example a restaurant that provides the facility within its walls.
location=*	Optional. Use location=indoor if the facility is inside a building.
access=*	Optional.
website=*	Optional. Website of the facility, if one exists.
facebook=*	Optional. Facebook page of the facility, if one exists.
ref=*	Optional. If the facility has a reference number
wheelchair=*	Optional. Please add this attribute cause a lot of facility do not have wheelchair access.
lit=*	Optional. Add this tag if the facility is lit.

Related facilities

Usually a givebox is a small facility, everyone is free to give and/or take any kind of small items except food. The distinction will sometimes be a matter of judgment. Here are a few suggestions how related facilities could be documentedː

• amenity=give_box + clothes=only - For a give box where only clothes are preferred.
• amenity=give_box + shoes=only - For a give box where only shoes are preferred.
• amenity=give_box + art=only - For a give box where only art are preferred.
• amenity=give_box + electronics=no - For a give box where electronics are not preferred.
• amenity=give_box + hiking=yes - For a give box with items from Hikers for Hikers. (Hiker box )

These are suggestions to handle related facilities, but they are not part of this proposal:

• amenity=public_bookcase - For a give box where only books are preferred.
• social_facility=food_bank - For a place you can give and take food.
• amenity=recycling - For a place where you can give things but not take.
• shop=charity + fee=no or shop=second_hand + fee=no - For shops with employees and free items.
• shop=rental + fee=no - For shops that rents or lends things free of charge.

See also

• amenity=public_bookcase
• shop=charity
• shop=second_hand
• amenity=library
• amenity=toy_library
• shop=rental
• amenity=recycling

Rendering

As give boxes are a landmark feature as much or even more visible than telephone booths, it is suggested that they be rendered in the same zoom levels as the telephones. The icon could be a combination of the shop=charity icon and the shop=gift icon .

Features/Pages affected

• Proposed features/Reuse - amenity=reuse and reuse=* would be deprecated by amenity=give_box

External discussions

• "Givebox" eintragen (In German)

Comments

Please leave any comments on the talk page.

Voting

Instructions for voting

• Log in to the wiki if you are not already logged in.
• Scroll down to voting and click 'Edit source'. Copy and paste the appropriate code from this table on its own line at the bottom of the text area:

To get this output	you type	Description
I approve this proposal.	{{vote|yes}} --~~~~
I oppose this proposal. reason	{{vote|no}} reason --~~~~	Replace reason with your reason(s) for voting no.
I have comments but abstain from voting on this proposal. comments	{{vote|abstain}} comments --~~~~	If you want don't want to vote but have comments. Replace comments with your comments.

Note: The ~~~~ automatically inserts your name and the current date.

• I approve this proposal. --SelfishSeahorse (talk) 10:10, 21 January 2020 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --Dieterdreist (talk) 10:45, 21 January 2020 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --PangoSE (talk) 11:05, 21 January 2020 (UTC)
• I oppose this proposal. Good concept, bad name. The name is not meaningful in British English. A Google search for "give box" returns nothing related to this concept. A "give box" is not just for giving, it's also for taking. A "give box" is often not a box but a shelf in a shop or even an entire shop. Terminology from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give-away_shop includes "give-away shop," "free shop," and "free store," any of which are better British English than "give box." Possibly even better would be to tag it as a charity shop with a sub-tag indicating that the goods are free, because that is essentially what this is. --Brian de Ford (talk) 11:16, 21 January 2020 (UTC)

@Brian de Ford I encountered many give boxes that would not deserve tagging as shop (because it was box with about 20 clothing items left by previous visitors at hostel/camping site). I never encountered something big enough to deserve tagging as a shop Can you recommend a better name? If there is no better one I would be perfectly fine with "give box" Mateusz Konieczny (talk) 19:41, 21 January 2020 (UTC)

• I approve this proposal. --Hauke-stieler (talk) 15:46, 21 January 2020 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. --ToastHawaii (talk) 17:29, 21 January 2020 (UTC)
• I approve this proposal. though willing to change to oppose vote if there is a better nameMateusz Konieczny (talk) 19:41, 21 January 2020 (UTC)
• I have comments but abstain from voting on this proposal. - It appears that "free box" and "give box" are both used for this feature. It seems much more intuitive to use "free box" in American English, but I can't say whether or not that would be better in British English, so I'm abstaining for now. If "give box" is understandable to speakers of other languages, then it would be reasonable. --Jeisenbe (talk) 02:21, 23 January 2020 (UTC)

References

Related terms: ‹ free_box › ‹ free_table › ‹ givebox › ‹ give_shelf › ‹ free_table › ‹ share_shelf ›