Charity shop rant

"Yea you would have been sanctioned Gwenhwyfar . We have no choices there."

Then I would probably take it out on the customers. I promise you that if I was forced to work for no wages, I'd find some way to make my displeasure known.

"if she did see something she likes I think she deserves the chance to pick it before the public."

Absolutely, perk of the job especially as the volunteers aren't paid.

In my experience too some people are suspicious of Gift Aid forms - they think filling one in gets them on a call list where they'll be bombarded with calls and letters asking them to give more. Our charity doesn't do that, but there has been a lot of negative publicity around cold calling and the "hard sell" from charities in the press over the last years and I think it worries people.

Agree with RachelRagged - gift aid is a pain but we have to ask everyone as it's 25% extra on top of what things sell for which makes a huge difference. If asked you don't have to say you don't work - lots of our donors are retired or SAHM so aren't tax payers. There's no shame in it! But we have to ask.

Also agree that often people say they are registered with us for Gift Aid, we take their name and postcode but can't find them on the computer. There is a misconception that if you're registered with for example British Heart Foundation, that the same number will work in Shelter, Marie Curie and Cancer Research, where it won't.

In our chain stores are targeted on gift aid sign ups and percentage of sales which are gift aided and it's something the area manager is always banging on about.

When did donors turn into donators?

ControlledAdult Child . . I hate , hate asking if they do gift aid . One lady said quietly "I do not work so pay no tax" .. I felt awful for her as its an ask not a requirement to Gift Aid !
Another Gift Aid issue we tend to have , and it may be same in other charity shops , is that people bring in a donation and slap their Gift Aid info on a bag and there is no record of them in our files . We need their file as it has the bar codes needed for each item they donate via gift aid. Manger thinks they gift aid for another charity and think its across the board in all charity shops

Also we don't do gift aid. FML, I hate those forms!!

YANBU. I work for a charity and we do have a wee shop staffed by us and volunteers with special needs. We receive some amazing stuff and some disgusting stuff fit for the dump. But we are grateful for everything and have an informal policy of accepting everything then waiting until donater has left before we skip the rubbish. (We're not that fussy but have trading standards to adhere to). We have also been accused of cherry picking the good stuff so we do our best to be fair and ensure that we don't cherry pick. Our volunteers are gold, the heart and soul of the place and like us are trained in customer service. I hate going in to other charity shops and being treated rudely. We have some customers who are twats, it happens. But we are never rude. OP, YANBU. Charity shops can be big business but no excuse to be rude.

My sister volunteers 20 hours per week at a charity shop. She rarely buys anything but if she did see something she likes I think she deserves the chance to pick it before the public.

there is one charity shop i no longer frequent, sadly because it is quite good, but i bought something but didnt like it, took it back and the manager there was very rude about me bringing it back. i had to change it for different items and ended up getting more than my money's worth as she was so argumentative, refused to give me any change but insisted i swap it all and then just gave me extra items!

when i worked in mental health several of the clients were charity shop volunteers.
my dm is a volunteer, in the back office, sorting as she wouldnt want to be out in the front since the staff tend to annoy her with their gossiping.
she said they also have those sent there by the job centre.

so i try and remember to be a bit tolerant of the workers there, although have in the past been offended when donating.
I leave donations in donation bins now, or give to my DM

Yea you would have been sanctioned Gwenhwyfar . We have no choices there.

I started in the shop I volunteer on via the Work Experience at the Job Centre. For 8 weeks I done 16 hours over 4 days . That finished in October but I stayed on .. Do alternate Tuesday mornings and a few hours Friday mornings now. To be honest it helps with my depression too , far more than sitting idoors moping does. I enjoy it .

The carrier bags post . Strangely enough a lady I was serving asked if we needed a load , I checked with the manager who said no thank you to the customer .

I have been volunteering in a large chain for a year and we've had one person working as part of a Job Centre programme. She was there for a week, no longer. As for the "probably volunteering because they can't get a proper job" - so not the case.

Our volunteers are split into three main groups - retired people, students or schoolkids doing their Duke of Edinburgh award, and stay at home mums whose children are now in school or Uni. Lots of them work part time or volunteer elsewhere too. We also have one volunteer with additional needs, this is quite clear when you speak to him and yes he can be quite rude as he says what he is thinking at all times without filtering if he is stressed or upset.

"I'm hoping those people really are there voluntarily and not on some version of workfare."

A friend of mine did workfare at a charity. She was fine about it, but I remember thinking if it was me I'd go in an wear a T-shirt saying I was forced to work there. (Would have probably got sacked and lost my benefits though).

Most naive and clueless post on here. You're in cloud cuckoo land if you think the charity in question sees more than 20% of the profits. The majority is creamed off and put into the pockets of the fatcats that run it.

No, I'm a charity shop volunteer for one of a large chain. You, on the other hand are downright rude.

Don't you know that all charities have reporting requirements? Annual accounts are submitted, breakdowns are issued to stores about the turnover of the shop, the overheads and the surplus - all of which goes to the good causes. In fact it's more complicated than that - if you put money in the donation tin on the till that isn't factored into the store takings so an even higher percentage of that goes to good causes. If you'd bothered to check, the charity "industry standard" of what percentage of income is used directly for good causes is 75% plus. The figures are our there if you can be bothered to Google.

As for "creaming off to pay the fat cats" well that's a whole other argument. I personally believe that if you want to run a successful charity with international operations and hundreds of shops you need to pay people to do that. Charities don't run on fresh air and goodwill. You just sound very negative and twisted about the whole charity sector, tbh.

"Why is it relevant whether the area is affluent or is located in the most impoverished town in the country? Charitable donations from the rich aren't any more worthy or kind than donations from the working class."

The donor isn't being any more generous, but the items will raise much more money for the charity.

I took a massive bag of decent carrier bags to a local shop a few months back as they don't have their own branded bags , I had had a conversation with the manager when I had been buying something , and asked if they could use my glut of bags and she said they would be very useful. Went to drop them off and the person at the till , got really stroppy with me , tutting and sighing at my bag of carriers and said 'Is this all you are donating ? ' . The manager came out of the back and took the bag from the volunteer and explained that they always needed decent carriers .
I do donate other things to this shop on a regular basis , and buy more than I donate

That is just bonkers.

I am in the US and donate regularly at a place called Goodwill, a national chain. I shop there frequently too. The staff are paid, as part of the Goodwill mission is to provide job training, experience and a reference for people who may for one reason or another find it hard to get a foothold in the world of employment (ex cons, people with various barriers such as SN, people who have been homeless but are now in the care of an agency, etc). Retail is a good start for many, and those who need support in the area of interacting with the public can be supported.

They are always super nice. It is a pleasure to donate and to shop (I buy most of my clothes there and have picked up many items for my home too.)

They have a solid system for receiving donations, sorting, sanitising and placing on the shop floor, and keeping the merchandise well organised, as it provides training for the employees in many aspects of retail and also helps to move the inventory.

Basically you arrive in your car and they come out to greet you with a big rolling bin, and you put your bag/s into it, or if they're busy with someone else and you have to hurry, you can take your stuff and put it inside their vestibule. The receiving entrance is different from the shop entrance. They thank you graciously, offer a tax receipt for you to fill out yourself, and off you go.

If you buy a large household item they offer to help you load your car.

It is all a very pleasant and impersonal experience.
..........

JamButtyLand, judging from the OP's post and many subsequent comments, I think it is actually the other way round - that the volunteers think the donors are donating to them and not to the charity. Either that or they have allowed their own personal identity to be subsumed into that of the charity. The volunteers have done the opposite of what your DM does - they have discouraged people from giving and from buying. When people take the trouble to sort out their belongings and lug them to a charity shop the least a volunteer can do is be tactful.

wealthy middle class area where people tend to donate high quality stuff

Why is it relevant whether the area is affluent or is located in the most impoverished town in the country? Charitable donations from the rich aren't any more worthy or kind than donations from the working class.

The staff member was abrupt yes but you've put me off sympathising with you due to your apparent belief that you're entitled to respect/gratitude based on living in a "wealthy middle class area"; I don't think it matters whether you were donating £20 worth of Primark t-shirts or a £5000 Armani couture gown!

Very rude but doesn't surprise me. I used to give a lot of stuff to one charity shop and would get a letter once a year telling me how much money they had made from my items, usually about £100. Then one day I took a bagful of stuff round and the shop manager told me they weren't accepting donations. She wasn't polite about it and the shop was really tidy and minimalist so not overflowing. So I take my stuff to a different charity now.

Agree she was rude but a lot of posters seem to think they are donating to the volunteers rather than to the charity , or that's how it reads anyway.
My dm has volunteered for years at a wonderful small charity that does amazing things for terminally ill people. When I give that's why I give. Also because the shop is in a very poor area and one mans tat is another's treasure.
My dm has helped many people gain treatments and others gain life's essentials by giving her time and her smiles.

Gosh - this seems to be a pattern - I thought it was just the staff or volunteers in my local shop - I leave it outside 5 mins before they open to avoid staff as they are so rude and ungracious.
Perhaps they volunteer because they've all been fired from jobs for being so bloody rude. I do know exactly what you mean - have had the same.