Due to the impact of the epidemic, the life of grass-roots families has become more and more difficult. Some organizations have launched a one-stop item matching platform "GOODS-CO Items for Use" this month, allowing citizens to share or receive second-hand items for free at any time with an App in their hands. The platform will also Provide free logistics and delivery services for low-income people without the burden of shipping.
Housewives who live in subdivided flats tried the platform and successfully matched their son with a tablet computer. They no longer need to rely on small-screen mobile phones to take online lessons. In the future, they can also search for suitable furniture through the platform when they move to public housing, which greatly reduces the family's financial pressure.
St. James' Settlement launched "GOODS-CO" one-stop item matching platform.
(Provided by St. James' Settlement)
St. James' Settlement receives $28 million from HSBC Charitable Foundation
St. James' Settlement received a grant of RMB 28 million from the HSBC Charity Foundation to launch the "GOODS-CO" one-stop item matching platform.
From January to April this year, GOODS-CO commissioned a policy research institute to interview 2,000 grassroots people and 81 social welfare organizations, and found that most of the interviewed grassroots believed that using second-hand items would help reduce the financial burden, make the best use of things and increase Environmental awareness.
About 60% of the respondents who have received second-hand items in the past received an average of 3.2 times in the past year, most of which were clothing, electrical appliances and furniture, but most people needed home appliances (accounting for 30%).
However, there are still 40% of the respondents who are reluctant to use second-hand items. Wu Wenxian, Senior Manager of Poverty Alleviation Services of St. James' Settlement, explained that they do not know the status of the items. need.
In addition, transportation costs are heavy, and some have to be paid layer by layer. Therefore, 70% of the interviewed grassroots expect the new platform to provide goods delivery services after matching services.
GOODS-CO survey: In the past, it took up to 36 days to receive materials
The survey also found that nearly 60% of the respondents said they faced difficulties when receiving items, including lack of storage space (95.6%), uneven quality of donated materials (64.4%), and lack of transportation (62.2%).
In the past, the time for delivery and receipt of goods received by institutions on the online platform took an average of 5.5 days and 5.6 days, and the longest waiting time was 29.5 days and 36.3 days, respectively.
The GOODS-CO survey found that most grassroots respondents believe that using second-hand items can help reduce financial burdens, make the best use of things and increase environmental awareness.
(Provided by St. James' Settlement)
Free logistics delivery for low-income people
Therefore, GOODS-CO joins the logistics delivery service and arranges its own trucks to provide free logistics delivery for eligible low-income individuals. Applicants need to submit identification documents and income proofs to verify their eligibility.
Take a one-person household as an example, with an average household income of $6,750 or less, excluding government financial assistance, the application will be approved within 5 working days.
The GOODS-CO platform has a "solicit" function to encourage citizens to "purchase first and then buy". In addition, the items are sorted and prioritized according to user needs. Users can quickly browse the most urgently needed items. The system also has the original area priority. Matching can help save transportation costs, reduce carbon emissions, facilitate the delivery of second-hand items and shorten the time for successful matching.
The platform service covers enterprises, social welfare institutions and individuals, and can integrate the items shared by all parties, and requires uploading pictures of the front and back of the items, listing the functional status, appearance, size and other information.
If the second-hand goods obtained from the platform are resold, the account will be frozen to prevent speculation
Xu Jiansen, project manager of St. James' Settlement, said that the "solicit" function in the first phase is limited to grassroots people; the platform will launch the second-phase optimized version in June and July this year, and this function will be fully open to the public.
At that time, the organization will also provide training for people with financial difficulties, and then they can be assigned job opportunities such as handling and simple maintenance on the platform to earn extra money.
He expects that the platform can encourage 20,000 users to participate, successfully reuse 10,000 second-hand items, and provide more than 4,000 working hours to 200 low-income people. on hand.
As for how to prevent users from resale of second-hand items, Xu Jiansen pointed out that each user is limited to receiving a maximum of 10 items per year, and the platform also has a reporting function. If the user resells items after investigation, his account will be frozen.
St. James' Settlement project manager Xu Jiansen expects the platform to encourage 20,000 users to participate.
(Provided by St. James' Settlement)
Husband shuts down due to epidemic, two sons share tablet computer for online classes
36-year-old housewife May's family of four now lives in a subdivided apartment. Her husband, who works as a dim sum chef, earns about 20,000 yuan a month to support the family. However, due to the impact of the epidemic, her husband stopped work for five months last year, and the fifth wave will stop work for more than a month , the income has fallen sharply.
Faced with the fact that she is about to move into a public housing estate, she has recently been searching for second-hand supplies, hoping to reduce the cost of moving.
Another problem faced during the epidemic is that the two sons rely on a tablet computer and mobile phone for online classes, but the phone screen is small and the volume is not enough, so that the sons cannot understand the teacher's pronunciation during English class.
Later, she successfully received a tablet computer on the GOODS-CO platform, allowing her son to study more efficiently.
May shared that in the past, he had to rely on friends and social workers to tell him about second-hand goods. He also had to pay about 200 yuan for shipping each time he received large electrical appliances from a friend’s home.
Now she can check the type and status of second-hand items on the platform at any time by herself, and she has also applied for a free shipping subsidy to save the cost of transporting second-hand items.
Housewife May used the platform to find a tablet computer for her son to take online lessons.
(Provided by St. James' Settlement)
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