Do you trust charity collection bags

[Lifeisshort123]

I really don't trust those charity bags that get posted through doors. I love supporting charities especially ones I truly believe in. However, I'd much rather drive or walk to my local block of charity shops to donate items including my children's clothes, toys, my old clothes and brick a Brac and I do donate these items every 3/4 months but I don't feel comfortable with leaving a bag filled with clothes and books ect for a 'charity collector' to collect them from my door as I can't guarantee all my items I've donated will be going to the charity shop to raise funds.

What do you lot think about these charity collection bags??

[saoirse31]

I think they're a great way of getting rid of stuff you no longer need.

[JigglyTuff]

They charge the charities a massive cut.

[dementedpixie]

Check them carefully as not all of them are from charities and don't have a registration number on them. I'd rather donate myself and don't tend to use them

[WorraLiberty]

I check the small print on them.

9 times out of 10 I'm happy to use them.

Especially as all the clothes banks in my area seem to have disappeared.

[Spam88]

Yeah I always check the detail. Like some of them that want clothes are just for it all to get broken down into scrap material and then the charity gets so many pence per tonne or something, so I wouldn't put any decent clothes in that could actually be sold.

[PinkSwimGoggles]

they make good bin bags...

[MrGrumpy01]

I tend to use them for clothes that aren't really good enough for the charity shop/to pass on, so I am not that bothered what the deal is as long as I am not actually throwing them away.

Anything that is good is either taken by myself or put in the Heart Foundation or Age UK bags as they are collected by the shops - the BHF certainly is because I have spotted my things on the shelves.

[FeelingSmurfy]

I don't trust leaving them out because we have had vans go round picking the bags up before the proper people got there, our neighbours left 2 bags out (other houses had left stuff too but no idea if many had) and they were taken by men in a white van, thought nothing of it until a marked charity van drove slowly down the road and then left empty-handed

[BackforGood]

I generally use them for bin bags.
However, my housebound neighbour finds it very useful when she wants to have a clearout - collected from her door - no carrying, no driving needed, no having to ask someone to help her.

[Empress13]

I'm glad to have them to get rid of my old stuff no longer wanted . Not bothered about checking just glad to get rid TBH

[HiDBandSIL]

God no.

[BillyJoel]

My mate reckon it give ne'er do wells a chance to snoop around your property on the pretence of putting a bag through the letterbox..

[dodobookends]

The only one I will fill and leave out is the Salvation Army one, as I'm sure that the bags are collected by them and the contents go directly to the charity.
The other bags are sometimes from commercial companies (their name is in very small print somewhere on the bag) who pledge to donate a proportion of their profits to the charity mentioned on the bag.
Would a quick check on the Companies House website show that the companies rarely show a profit as most of the money disappears into the directors pockets as 'expenses'? Not for me to say.
Searching on the directors' names and looking at their other business interests can also be enlightening.

[starfishmummy]

Depends. I do have preferred places to take things to but sometimesnI just want rid of things so the bags are handy

[harderandharder2breathe]

I don't use them, don't believe the charity gets as much as they should even from the genuine ones, plus the risk of scams

There's half a dozen charity shops 15 minutes walk from my house that I donate things to directly instead

[Freyanna]

I never use them, the two supermarkets I go to both have collecting bins for charity and both have charity shops adjacent to them.

[Chloe1984]

Mine rarely seem to get collected, I've stopped bothering since the last attempt at leaving them out. The first bag didn't get collected so put that bag into the next bag left by a different charity, and repeated this 4 times, none of them collected.

[Scaffleen]

The only one I use is the British Heart foundation as it's the only one I receive that gives 100% to the charity

[picklemepopcorn]

The bag does specify whether it is collected by the charity or just one of those companies that gives 10% to the charity. I rarely use them, as I can take my stuff directly to proper charities and buy more stuff while I am there.
Depends whether you want to donate to charity or clean out your cupboards.

[LunaLoveg00d]

We sometimes get bags from the Salvation Army which are totally kosher, they use the bagged donations to stock their shops or hand out to people who need clothes.

Most of the bags we get though are of the "we'll donate (maybe) 5p per tonne of clothes to some sort of non-specific charity" and those get used as bin bags. Our stuff gets handed in at a charity shop as I am far more confident the charity will benefit directly in that way.

[SquirmOfEels]

I rarely use them, and when I do I fill them with things that I'm not sure are good enough for a charity shop. Because they always seem to be from companies which make a donation to the charity concerned, and I reckon a business can sort what it wants and doesn't want.

[OvertiredandConfused]

I work for a charity and would make a couple of points.

Firstly, you can always contact the charity that the bag pupports to support to check if it's genuine. The bigger problem, as some previous posters have said, is sharks bogus collectors going round and collecting the bags before the real collectors arrive.

In terms of how much money goes to the charity, obviously it varies. However, I would caution you to bear in mind that although 100% of the proceeds may go to the charity who does their own collection and only a portion goes where it is outsourced, both have a very similar level of costs to ultimately meet.

So, the charity that does their own collection will then have to pay themselves for the staff, vans, insurance, the sorting etc, etc. The charity that outsources will receive a donation that goes directly into their charitable spends. Very often, there is little difference between the two options.

I have to say, this was something that surprised me when I first got involved a few years ago. Now, I am very aware that the bogus collectors are the ones we need to be watching and that the genuine ones all make a significant contribution to many deserving causes whether they are done directly by the charity or outsourced.

[Gatekeeper]

I only put stuff in that is no use to charity shops, ie stained or torn clothing that can be used for rags etc. I am put offa using them for decent stuff after I saw two air ambulance vans parked in a layby and they had all the bags outside and were rifling through them .

[Pengweng]

They annoy me as they never get collected when they are supposed to so if i do actually put stuff out i end up having to bring it back in again (usually soaking wet) and re wash and take to the charity shop. I normally don't bother any more and use the bags as bin liners.

[19lottie82]

They're a total scam.

I read the blurb on them and I think it works out they give 5p per kilo to the charity they are promoting.

If I take old clothes to cash for clothes I get 50p a kilo and I'm guessing they get more than that........ so how much are these companies profiting from these charity bags?