It's hard to tell how much of our economy has moved to "Buy and Sell" sites now. They've become an extremely efficient way of getting rid of unwanted items, but plenty of people are running actual businesses in them too.

There's always the concern of giving complete strangers your home address though, especially when they're coming over to inspect the flat screen TV you're trying to sell. Are they scoping your home? Will they be back later tonight to help themselves? We've all had those thoughts.

One very forward thinking cop shop in the US is offering local residents a safe place to conduct their transactions. Farmville (I know, right) in North Carolina has a monitored parking lot at the local police station where people can exchange goods and money, with the assurance a camera is watching.

Here's what they published on FB:

The Farmville Police Department now has an area in the Police Department parking lot where you can exchange items purchased over the internet. This area is located where the officers park their cars at night, right in front of the PD main lobby, and is under 24 hour surveillance. There are parking spaces designated as an Internet Exchange Location and Police Vehicles Only, these areas can be used to exchange items.

With the increase in people buying and selling items online and through social media we wanted to make a location people could feel safe making the exchange.

We understand people feel hesitant to give someone their home or work address or meet them in a random parking lot and wanted to provide a location that was public, monitored and accessible.

If a buyer or seller is unwilling to meet you at this location to exchange items, you probably don't want to be doing business with this person anyway.

Do you think this is something Geraldton needs?

Leave a response in the comments below.

The Farmville Police Department now has an area in the Police Department parking lot where you can exchange items...
Posted by Farmville Police Department on Monday, February 15, 2016

Thanks Aleisel for the heads up.