Is this Facebook post reasonable or rude and ungrateful?

They do have a point. Sandwiches are no good for a food bank!

But they could have been a bit softer and kinder in the way they asked people to not leave sandwiches. That was a bit brusque!

Reasonable

anyone with half a brain would know sandwiches are out of date before they can be used and that it would mean the charity would have to pay to dispose of them

The point is fair but the message extremely rude. That person is going to feel horrible.There were so many ways to say it in an unhurtful manner.

It’s not unreasonable if the donations cannot be used and will cost them time, effort and money to dispose of.
Only criticism is it could’ve been worded slightly more diplomatically.

I didn't see anything in the Facebook post that said it was left at night? Obviously that would be ridiculous. Not kept at the proper temperature and attracts vermin.

I assumed it was being left for them opening, hence me mentioning if you didn't know when/how/what they gave out you wouldn't know not to give fresh food.

Years ago I worked in a supermarket in the evenings, and we put out of date food in the bin outside the building at the end of the night so wasn't a hassle to dispose of.

I remember thinking at the time it's a shame it went to waste as fruit/veg is best before and not use by. Someone would have been grateful for fresh food that was still perfectly fine.

wher I live the supermarkets contact the community fridge to let them know they have a collection of food to be picked up. It’s not a food bank it’s to reduce food waste and is open to all. The volunteers often do collections at 8-9 at night and open up the community centre to allow people to collect food. They can only store so much they have stuff going on during the day so don’t really want it left there overnight. They definitely wouldn’t want it if it’s been left out in the rain.

Completely reasonable. Most of not all food banks don’t take fresh food. They usually have lists of what they need, that’ll come down to storage facilities and what is needed. It is costly and time consuming to dispose of inappropriately donated items.

Even if you don't work in that sector though, no one thinks leaving stuff in the street is actually donating.

Have you ever donated anything? Did you somehow know not to leave it in the street at night?

Did cross my mind it could have come from a supermarket employee, but I still think it would have been with the best intentions. It would be easier to just bin the out of date stock than take it elsewhere.

Dumping stuff instead of donating it isn't done with kindness. At best it's laziness but it's probably quite a calculated way to fly tip unwanted items while having a defence of 'I was trying to help!'.

I didn't vote because I don't think it's ungrateful if it is costing the charity money, but the way it's worded is rude and unnecessary. Someone obviously thinks they are helping by donating fresh food instead of tinned. Unless you are a volunteer or work in that sector, you're not going to know they can't take fresh food.

The cynic in me says it’s someone from the supermarket dumping it on the doorstep so they don’t have to dispose of it properly.

Accidentally pressed YABU. It’s not ungrateful at all. They need certain things, mostly shelf stable items that can be distributed as needed.

It’s literally costing them money to throw away! Did you not read the full post?

Very rude. There are ways of saying things or they could redirect the person bringing them to a service or people who would appreciate it. It’s been done with kind intentions and there isn’t enough kindness in the world.

What a bunch of unpleasant cynics claiming that people who donate to these things only do it "to make themselves feel better" or so that they can think they're "doing a good thing".

You have misunderstood. It's the people who donate without actually caring about whether they're helping or hindering that are doing it for themselves.

What a bunch of unpleasant cynics claiming that people who donate to these things only do it "to make themselves feel better" or so that they can think they're "doing a good thing".

Does this apply to the volunteers who work there too?

And actually, doesn't everyone donate to charities because it's doing a good thing?

They sound exasperated at having to deal with the unwanted and unasked for food! Volunteering is time consuming and having people dump stuff willy nilly on them causes unnecessary work and takes up valuable time.

Reasonable, but rude

I can’t see where OP or the Facebook page states the produce is out of date? Someone wouldn’t just put the items outside the charity just to get rid of them. They could just pop in their wheelie bin, fly tip over a wall, put them in council waste bins. Hence me thinking they’re doing it because they think they’re doing good. The items are packed up nicely, not just dumped there in a bin liner.

Rude as hell. There are a million other waya it could have been phrased to express what they do actually want and why the sandwiches are not required.

I agree with the above posts who said the message was reasonable, but the wording was actually quite rude.

They have actually fly tipped though, they could be prosecuted especially if it's a repeat offence. It's not a donation, it's dumping.

These places are run by volunteers so they’re not media trained and won’t be making perfectly worded public announcements.

Let’s just be grateful they exist or we’d have a thousands of people going hungry.

The message of not wanting bread/fresh food is fine but the delivery is horrible.

Someone has gone out of their way to try and help others. They could have explained nicely why their donations were inconvenient, they chose to be rude instead. I feel really sorry for the person who donated in good faith and had to read that.