Charity shops have lost the plot

Hmm I’m I haven’t seen the prices as described on here, but I find since Vinted has taken off the quality and brands are much poorer. I love a charity shop rummage but it’s certainly trickier these days. That said I got a lovely Hawes & Curtis fitted shirt for £6.25 and a Cos shirt for £6 both in amazing condition the other day, so didn’t think that was too bad and I would end up paying more for the same sort of item on Vinted. This kind of morning is a lot less common for me now sadly.

My DD is a charity shop fan and she’d agree - you see Tesco t shirts selling for almost the same as new! We go to the US regularly and she loves a thrift shop there - they are on the scale of TK Maxx and she has some great buys like a real leather blazer for under $10, wool skirt for $2.99 and wool short cape - a fabulous vintage piece - for $8. The most expensive thing she saw (too small) was a Calvin Klein dress for $15. They make money selling volume. Here she still goes but 80% of the time doesn’t buy as not unique enough and too pricey.

I was in Harrogate recently and hit the charity shops

Certainly there wasnt £1 rails , but I was in my element because of the quality of clothes - very little shein and Primark - all good names and good quality

My wee town has 4 local charity shops and a national - the national is over priced by a square mile. I live in a deprived area, so most of the offerings are supermarket/primark/shein so I won't pay the prices the national are asking - although they are great for the "new' things they sell - got a lovely card and gift bag for 75p yesterday

When I was sorting out mums stuff when she passed recently, whilst she had her preferred charity shop that she always donated to, I by passed it for most of her stuff as they would only charge 1 or 2 quid, and a lot of mums stuff was good quality, barely if ever, worn So I donated most to the shop that priced decently - not ripping off, but making a decent amount

Agree.

And they like to see new stuff when they drop in to browse. Very few people will make a third visit to a shop where they've already seen the same old items out on the previous two visits.

There's another model that might be even better at raising money for the charity, i.e. the uniform pricing/ rapid turnover one.

They often get sent to other branches where they’re more likely to sell before they’re reduced in price.

They are volunteers and probably do not know what exactly everything is worth. Perhaps you can donate some of your own spare time and do it better than them?

I’m fairly rural.

The big ones, exact same.

We have a small, local area charity shop.

It thrives. A committee of trustees. Paid staff, then all profit goes to local requests. Twice a year groups, organisations, schools, whoever can apply for the money.

The only time a request is turned down is something like

I want a shed, I might then give a tomato to the food bank.

every one else tends to get around £1000 per year.

Locals donate their good stuff there, volunteers help, it’s the hub of the community. Once a month everything is one pound. Then they restock.

brilliant local model.

You're likely to make more money letting the odd valuable item go quickly because it's cheap and then using the space to shift more and more cheap items than having it sit there for weeks not selling and not letting you display and sell more stuff. People entering a charity shop are not looking to spend significant amounts.

I think Oxfam has a lot to answer for. Their pricing is insane! They also "adjust" their prices depending on the area they are in.

Mary Portas' doing

In the same way, a charity shop manager knows more about managing a charity shop than you do.

I've spoken to the manager of our local shop that piles high and sells cheap. She happily tells customers that this approach makes the charity a lot of money, because the stock changes regularly and it encourages people to keep coming in and browsing.

Do you not think that charity shops know a bit more than you do? They have the benefit of knowing what their outgoings are and what they are likely to sell. It is literally their job to sell stuff to raise as much money as possible. Don't you think that if they were really pricing people out, they would lower their prices?

I have no idea what you do for a living but I'm sure you know more about it than a charity shop manager would. In the same way, a charity shop manager knows more about managing a charity shop than you do.

Most charity shops in my area are so full during clearout seasons, e.g after Xmas, spring etc, that they flat out refuse any donations, turn people away. You have to go to 4-5 shops to find someone to take your stuff.

They can't handle the volume of junk that people own and try to offload on others...

The shops selling items at low prices tend not to clean, sort and display them, so that argument doesn't quite hold. Jumbles sales used to make quite a lot of money, same principle applies.

One of my favourite charity shop bonkers pricing examples was a first edition Harry Potter book that someone had decided was a collectors item and worth £££. Fine if had been book 1, but it was book 5, which millions of people (including me) have the first edition of

Yeah this has put me off some charity shops. I miss jumble sales - got loads of great stuff at those in the 90s!

It's not really a paradox, because I think lower prices encourages loyalty and reciprocation. Most of the charity shops have closed down near me but there is one that is further out of the centre with great prices that my mum is always getting clothes from for a quid or two, so that's where she decides to donate to.

Why is it ageist? It’s a fact that older people buy fewer clothes, and particularly from fast fashion brands. Obviously if you don’t shop in those places yourself then you’re less likely to know how much stuff costs 🙄

In the 90s I dressed in 20p t shirts and grandad shirts from charity shop. The odd sheepskin coat and a pair of levis (models own) and I was so happy

Not what Sir Alan Sugar would say. He would stack it up and sell it cheap. No one is going to pay £60 for a branded welly that looks like its been on a season of Clarksons farm.

I agree, I noticed tatty children's books were £2.75 in my local charity shop. They cost £4 or £5 online brand new. I know the point is supporting a charity, but they used to exist to help those who were hard up too.

If the item doesn't sell, it will be reduced and they'll make a big deal about having a sale on.

Charity shop isn't there for you to get a bargain!

Agree. And they have far too many donations around here, so its pointless allowing stock to hang aeound so long by over pricing it.

Why have charity shops become so far removed from what they’re supposed to be- a way to shop sustainably and feel like you’re getting a bargain because it’s not new? Yeah I know they want to raise money as well

No their entire purpose is to raise money for their cause. Nothing else.

They have to cover their costs and turn a profit and that profit is for the charity.

Their costs are going up just like everything else so they have to put their prices up.

Its that simple.

But hey ho another week, another charity hating thread.

Let’s just hope you and yours never need their services.