To think people are quite petty to object to charity shop staff getting "first dibs" when they are BUYING the items?

Irrespective of your motive, it still took the book off the shelves and out of view of your potential customer base. For niche interest books, I think it's all the more important that you have visible stock because people simply won't bother going back in if there's nothing there.

I was challenging the proposition - by saying that if no one else wanted the book, there was no need to keep it off the shelves. The fact you felt the need to buy it immediately suggests you were worried it would be snapped up if you gave others the chance.

I’ve lost count of the number of scholars in Iceland occultism who’ve bemoaned the lack of rare tomes because of unscrupulous charity shop volunteers.

Dinner parties in York are rife with these conversations.

Yup I think this could, in fact develop into a massive massive problem.

Thereby potentially leading readers of occult books to think there's nothing to see in your shop, so they won't bother going back again.

So I think what we can take from this thread is:

If you have volunteered or do volunteer in a charity shop then you understand the sheer bulk of donations that arrive on a daily/hrly basis. Items are priced according to a list and by a paid manager. You can buy the items if you want, for full price, and occasionally you do this. It’s recorded in a book and approved by a manager. It is likely to be a quirky item that you, personally, think is a bit of treasure.

If you have never volunteered your time in a charity shop then you think it’s pretty awful that the volunteers pick through ‘the best’ donations, pop them in the boot of their car and then resell them on vinted. In fact, volunteers are magpies of the worst kind. There is never anything nice in a charity shop because the volunteers took it all.

I live near four shelters including a women's shelter and have volunteered at a transitional living facility for years and you can't go in and donate so I don't know about that, but it's definitely not universal. Maybe realise you're not the ultimate authority on the topic...

End of the day, a well managed charity shop is one that is maximising revenue. How they do that is their business. I don't actually care if staff buy all the good stuff, but I do think it must happen in some shops.

Um, yes you can. I frequently do - women’s clothes, children’s coats, books etc. There’s a collection point and they list what they are after.

Same for the refugee charity (bedding, household stuff as well as clothes) and the homeless charity (outerwear mostly).

Charity shops are not “supposed to be affordable second hand”. That’s not their purpose; it’s a benefit of the necessary pricing to shift stock.

Their sole mission is to sell as much as possible for as high as possible to create income for the charity itself. That’s it. They are the income stream.

How do people not understand this?

The word “charity” in the term “charity shop” - they aren’t “charitable” in themselves. It’s all about funding the work of the charity named.

When people donate things to a charity shop they expect the items to earn money for the charity. It doesn't matter who buys them.

Volunteers are giving their time for free to a cause they believe in, and being able to buy a few things they like is a small reward for their efforts. I strongly suspect that most charity shops would really struggle to find any volunteers at all otherwise.

If you read my posts, you will see that what you describe does NOT happen where I volunteer

Cool. That’s peachy. It does happen at a lot of places though and you asked a general question. Can only give an answer based on generalities. So, no, in your unicorn shop, there is nothing wrong with what you specifically did, however it’s not how staff in many charity shops operate.

In my shop, even with volunteer purchases, it doesn't happen that there's never any good stuff for other customers to buy.

Unless they've gone in especially to look for books on witchcraft and the occult.

Charity shops are supposed to be affordable second hand, and for part of earnings to go to a good cause. Not to be poached and sold on by managers.

You say donate to a shelter - the way people do that is to donate to a Refuge charity shop or similar! You can't just rock up to a shelter and give them a bag of clothes

What is the issue with this?

Who mentioned stealing from food banks?!

You are far too sensible, @GinToBegin . And I completely agree.

I’ve done various voluntary work over the last 40 years, and one thing I’ve always avoided is charity shop work. I couldn’t do it; all the lifting and lugging, the sorting through dumped toot (including stuff that’s been left on the doorstep in all weathers), being on my feet for hour upon hour, it would all be too much for me. I take my hat off to people working in voluntarily in charity shops, and certainly don’t begrudge them making fair purchases.

I’m going to hazard a guess that most of the people up in arms, or shaking their heads in disapproval would no more work in a charity shop than sprout wings and fly. And they don’t have to, of course.

Also find it interesting that some are recounting one negative experience in a charity shop and happily boycotting all charity shops because they must all be the same. I don’t understand it. Obviously there will be workers in any field who are on the take/chancers/CFs. But you don’t write off a whole sector - one that aims to do good - because of one bad incident.

I don’t think there’s a perfect system, but so long as the charity and the buyer are happy with the sale, that seems fair enough to me.

So, no need to buy it before it goes on the shelves if no one else is going to want it.

Round and round we go!

Again, missing the point of donating - if you are taking it to a charity shop and not a women’s refuge (for example) your goods aren’t going to “anyone who needs it.”

They are going to be stock on a shop floor, sold to anyone with money. And most probably not to someone who “needs” it, but to someone who likes a bargain hunt.

Customers in charity shops aren’t necessarily skint, they are just people who like charity shops. My mate could buy and sell me without a blink and she loves charity shopping. My mum was a bargain fiend.