About

A Note on What Gets Stocked
Current Stocking
Photos
Thanks

7014 42nd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98118

The Little Free Failure of Capitalism (LFFC) is a distribution point for necessities for anyone who needs or wants them. People suffering from houselessness or impoverishment may need things like soap, socks, wound care materials, and similar items. People who are, or who live around, people suffering from opioid addiction may need naloxone (Narcan). People of all stripes may want zines, art, native plant seeds, food plant seeds, or on-demand short stories. People with a need to use a phone, or who are curious what on earth a free public telephone there is doing in 2024 (it is actually a phone! It’s just also an art project) may want to use the phone. All of these can be had at the LFFC.

A Note on What Gets Stocked

At a high level, my goal for the left-hand cabinet is to provide necessities. As a corollary, I want not to duplicate other resources in the neighborhood. For instance, there are a couple of free pantries nearby (as well as a church that does semiweekly food box handouts), and I don’t wish to steal their spotlight—food is, of course, absolutely critical. Accordingly, I’m not doing food here. Similarly, there’s a (city-provided) needle/sharps collection box at Othello Park, so while that’s another great service to provide, I’m not doing it at LFFC.

Planned and hopefully on the LFFC very soon will be a map with pointers to other potentially-useful resources in South Seattle, including free pantries, free fridges, Little Free Libraries, and similar.

Current Stocking

As of November 10, 2024:

Left-Hand Cabinet:
- Masks (top shelf): KF94 and N95 (Aura) masks.
- Lead tests: both soil and object lead tests, courtesy of UW / LilLabs.
- Condom / Lubricant Bin: Condoms (assorted brands, including Skyn non-latex condoms!) and lubricant (Slippery Stuff water-based taste-free lubricant in convenient single-use sachets)
- Soap: 1oz bars of soap, individually wrapped.
- Ibuprofen/Earplugs/Ponchos/Pencils: This is a bit of a random assortment, but they all fit in the box well together. Disposable ponchos, reusable silicone earplugs on a string, two-pill ibuprofen sachets, and sharpened pencils.
- Socks (1 shelf): Crew-length thermal socks.
- Toothbrushes/Toothpaste: what it says on the tin.
- Sunscreen/Handwarmers: small tubes of sunscreen, and packs of Hothands handwarmers.
- Gloves: thin but warm gloves.
- Pads (3 bins): Menstrual pads in five sizes/absorbencies. There’s a chart on each bin showing the manufacturer-recommended panty size vs absorbency matrix to recommend one of the five. All have wings.
- Tampons: Tampax “regular” tampons, with cardboard applicators.
- Wound Care: Gloves, CoBan (those elastic bandages that stick to themselves), Band-Aids, and combine ABD gauze pads.
Center:
- Narcan/Naloxone: boxes of two nasal doses, along with instructions in six languages. They have some temperature requirements, so they’re kept in a climate-controlled box.
- Charging: A big USB charger with Lightning, USB-C, and MicroUSB cables, and it speaks all the Extremely Rapid Charging protocols (up to 100W per cable on both USB-C and Lightning charging).
Right:
- It’s messy because a few modules are still being built, so the overall organization isn’t great.
- Art Gallery: a rotating selection of postcards to look at and, if people choose, take with them.
- Zines: a fairly random assortment at the moment. Curation and coherence, along with a printed menu of what’s in stock in a given week, are coming, but not done yet.
Right-Edge:
- Phone: This is a phone (it’s inside a birdhouse, which is a convenient rain shield). Press 1 for an outside line (to dial any number in North America for free). Press 0 to speak with an operator (one of Futel’s mottos: “Operators are Sometimes Standing By”). Press 2 for voicemail; anyone can set up a free voice mail box, which others can leave messages at by dialing 503-468-1337 and following the prompts (they’ll need your mailbox number). Other numbers lead to other interesting results! (There’s a directory below the phone.)
- There is also a sign speaking a bit about what is in the LFFC at the moment (changing as new things are added).

There is also a comments ~~box~~ birdhouse, and provided comments paper (and pencils) so people can submit ideas and suggestions.

Thanks

Thanks to Mask Bloc Seattle for hooking us up with masks to distribute.
Thanks to Futel for providing phone service.
Thanks to the Washington State Department of Health, Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution Program for providing naloxone (Narcan) to distribute.
Thanks to King County Public Health and their HIV/STI/HCV program for the condoms and lubricants. (It turns out to be difficult to provide a variety of condoms, and in particular, a variety that includes non-latex condoms, unless you can purchase in pallet quantity; they do, and they are kind enough to let us distribute some!)
Thanks to the Lil Lab Network and the University of Washington for providing lead testing kits to distribute.
Thanks to all the people who have written small notes of encouragement, sent emails to us, or shared information about what we’re doing with people in need.