Charity shops have lost the plot

In all fairness I also think standard retail is greedy. £60 for an acrylic jumper anyone? I buy most of my wardrobe second hand and compared to what else is available many charity shops seem overpriced.

So many high street staples have vanished because the answer to various pressures seems to be offer the consumer a shitter product at a higher price and hope brand loyalty carries through.

Charity shops are somewhat cushioned due to free labour and goods and so the demise is slower but I think it’s the same enshitification which is driving hundreds (if not thousands) of charity shops to close per year.

Greedy?
charity shops exist to make money for the cause.
standard retail makes money for shareholders.

Mary Portas did a whole series Mary Queen of Charity Shops , about turning them into ‘ boutique style’ shops. My impression was she managed to alienate volunteers , some of whom has 30 years experience working in the shops with her high handed attitude & her rudeness.

I totally agree with you OP. Many charity shops have become greedy

I'm going through my wardrobe this week for charity. Checking each item. If it's pulled, stained etc it's rags. If it's still fine to wear carefully folded to go. It takes no time to check donations.

I used to volunteer with a clothing charity. On some shifts 75% of donations would go for rags. Some of it just slightly too worn/smelling musty. Some of it disgustingly dirty, worn out, stained, torn, unwashed. The charity shop is not everyone's dustbin but people treat it that way. Saddest were donations that would have been fine if only they had been washed - what a waste
I read that you should only give things to a charity shop that you would give to a friend, ie clean and decent with plenty of wear.

It is a shame that donations don't come in, in good order- they should do.
I haven't worked in a charity shop myself, but know people that have, and know that unfortunately it is not the case.

A number of years ago one of our local charity shops did this.
There was an older person who enjoyed doing jigsaws, so any that they had were passed on to them. They completed them and returned them for the shop to sell, knowing they were complete.

If I send jigsaw puzzles I always complete them first, then carefully bag the contents and seal (either in a zip lock bag or fold over and tape) before passing them on.

I was told they go over ‘you’re not having to pay delivery’.

..‘and price ‘quite a bit under’ that, at least in our shop. Today I looked up a collectible ceramic item. Sold prices on EBay between £12 and £20+. I put £7.50 on it.

@dontthreatenmewithagoodtime

Though, tbf, I don't think it's out of the realms of possibility that someone would count out the pieces.

It's not; I'm sure some staff do, but it's not a common thing that is done across the board.

They check how much things are going for on vinted and eBay and price over that.

was responding to someone who said that they know charity shops who arrange for the jigsaws to be checked by people who actually make them up.

I was responding to someone who said they know someone who does exactly this and then adds a label to say whether it was complete.

Clearly some volunteers do the jigsaws.

Now personally, I wouldn't expect them to... but if it hadn't been checked, I would expect it to be cheap as it's a risk for me, the buyer... and it would be v annoying to find pieces missing if I'd paid a lot of money.

Though, tbf, I don't think it's out of the realms of possibility that someone would count out the pieces.

@dontthreatenmewithagoodtime

Volunteers don't do the jigsaws. But neither do they count the pieces. It's simply not practical - some shops don't have enough volunteers to do that job full stop; others have volunteers who are not willing to take on the task. I certainly wouldn't - I'd find it very tedious.

@Talkingfrog thank you for considering what to donate. Our pricing is rarely done by volunteers, only a couple of them price, and rarely clothes. We would also be happy if someone pointed out a price that is way off!

@dontthreatenmewithagoodtime We don’t have enough volunteers to count every jigsaw that comes in. We have to take them on trust 🤞🏼

I tend to donate to charity shops more than I buy, but have bought a few things in some of our local ones too. I bought a skit in one - I think it was about £3 or 4 a number of years ago. In all fairness it did look a lovely skirt, and I got quite a few comments from people asking where it was from.
However, which shop I donate to varies, depending on what I am donating and when.

I know that the nearest branch for the local hospice has toys for sale, but doesn't have such a high turnover of toys - they are often only taking clothing and textiles. If I have toys to donate I take it to the branch about 3 miles away. They have a bigger section for toys and a quicker turnover of them.

If I have sorted things out on a Saturday and want to drop of quickly I will use a local branch of one of the national charities that is about a mile from home and opens on a Sunday.
We have a branch of a different national charity in the city centre that we have donated a few things to recently, because they had posted on the facebook page that they were in need of donations.
In general the prices in our local ones don't seem too bad, but I haven't looked that closely for a while. The last time I looked was because I wanted a specific pair of jeans that isn't available in store anymore so second hand was best option. Didn't find the ones i wanted, but the ones I did see weren't that far off the price I would have expected.
I think a lot can vary depending on the knowledge of volunteers. I know in one there was a toy priced and what seemed to be a good price compared to the new price - however, I knew that one of the main toy chains had the same item on offer for the same as they were asking or a slightly lower price - I let the volunteer know and she said she would let the manager know so they could change it. She didn't really understand what the toy was, but did understand that that if it was on sale at that price new that they needed to change their price.

Different shop but i saw some baby items that would have been in a multipack priced at something like £1. I can understand why a volunteer may have done that, but the item was from primark and was a pack of 3 for £2.50 when new - the manager was nearby so mentioned it - she thanked me - she was going through checking the pricing of items when I said it, because some of the volunteers had got a bit muddled and prices things differently to what they should have done - this item included.

I always assumed they counted the pieces rather than actually do the jigsaw!

Jigsaws are more interesting than most TV!

We have an elderly couple who take all our jigsaws home and actually do them (even the totally hideous ones) and mark up as complete or piece missing. We sell the latter for £1 and mark up where the piece should go. Presumably they find tv boring.

I buy all my jigsaws from charity shops. My favourite charity shop labels all those they know are complete (I'm guessing a volunteer is as much an addict as I am!) If I get one (unlabelled) with a piece missing, it goes in the bin when I've finished. Complete ones are passed on to friends or back to the charity shop.

So glad to hear you've calmed down.

A plea to donors! Please, please don’t donate jigsaws with missing pieces. It’s so unfair on people who buy them. We who work or volunteer in charity shops don’t have time to check them, we have to assume they are intact. The one I’ve just done is not complete, and of the last ten I’ve bought, three have gone in my bin.

I am tempted to send you both to your rooms, u til you are willing to play nicely again, @Bargarran and @hamsterchump! 😉😀

In Gran Canaria, and feeling great. You?
😄

Are you feeling better now? Less confused? Do you know where you are?