Charity Shop Manager AMA

[Thegardenismine]

I've seen a lot of posts on here and other places that can be a little negative towards Charity shop staff/volunteers. Although to be fair I love it when there's a thread about unwanted gifts and everyone piles in to say give to Charity shop .
I've left now , but was a Manager for six years so feel free to quiz me

Did the volunteers ask for certain things to be put aside for them if they came in? If so were they priced up or free or low value?

Was it tricky finding the right price for things? Eg I've noticed sometimes that 'brand' dresses will be £10 or £15 despite being in shabby condition. Or Primark tops will cost more than they would've new.

@GenericHamster
Did the volunteers ask for certain things to be put aside for them if they came in? If so were they priced up or free or low value?

Was it tricky finding the right price for things? Eg I've noticed sometimes that 'brand' dresses will be £10 or £15 despite being in shabby condition. Or Primark tops will cost more than they would've new.

Volunteers and staff will always see something that they'd like or need. When I first started they was a self pricing culture amongst them . I immediately put a stop to that. I priced items fairly and they could buy from shop floor only and get their 20% discount. Although many chose not to take discount as they supported the Charity wholeheartedly.
Head office gave a rough guide to pricing but ultimately it was up to me. As the manager I was the only one in store to price. So it was consistent. Regards Primark etc , unless it was new with tags it didn't go on the shop floor. I prided myself on having an ethos of if I wouldn't wear it ( quality not design) then why should others.

Did you ever open a bag of donations to find something grim?

What happened to the items you didn't put on the shop floor?

Do people dump a load of crap that you can’t sell and costs the charity / volunteers time and money to dispose of?

I often see stuff dumped outside our local charity shops, despite signs on windows asking people not to do this.

Did you have avenues for the very best stuff to be sold online for more money?

@Kennehora I sincerely believe that I treated my volunteers with the upmost respect and to be honest I was in awe of them !
These are people who give up part of their week , whatever the weather and support a Charity that they invest their energy and time into.
I made amazing friends, some for life and will always look back on that job as the best I've ever had because of those lovely people.
I too have been in Charity shops where staff have been horrible to volunteers and I normally have to say something

@Justkeeprollingalong oh yes ! I could fill a whole thread about the really awful things! Unwashed underwear still inside jeans. Tablets in bags. Filthy baby wear, unwashed pots and pans still with Sunday's roast burnt on , smelly shoes and socks. Bags of rubbish that had obviously been sorted from a teenage bedroom including wrappers and empty pop cans.

@SlimGin
Items that couldn't be sold are sorted into several areas.Some are obviously straight into the bin but actually we managed to resell , making £ for the Charity in other ways.
For example, I had a company that would buy old broken china for recycling. Another who'd buy old books.
Some other items that legally or we didn't have room for and we couldn't sell went to other charities ( but frowned upon by HO) in the local community such as old duvets to the dog rescue.

@Loopytiles the bane of anyone working in a charity shop is climbing over piles of stuff that have been donated overnight!
Although to be fair we found some absolute gems that way. But mainly its people who can't be bothered to go to the local tip.

I would find it hard not to get very angry with Joe Public.

DD volunteers in a charity shop and loves it. The shop manager is lovely.

Selling online is a difficult one to get my head round. It hadn't been introduced when I was there but I think they may start.
My shop was rural/village and supported by locals and sometimes tourists. But I think if you get something fab in then you should price it to sell in the shop for someone to enjoy or even get a bargain. I do think that some charity shops have been greedy and are putting off customers with their high prices.

@TapasForTwo that's lovely to hear.

@Kennehora I'm obviously not indiscreet but I hate the way some managers treat their staff . I certainly didn't differentiate between staff and volunteers. All there to do a job , a good manager will take time to nurture their volunteers and find out what they feel comfortable in doing. For example just because an ex librarian volunteers doesn't mean he'll love to sort books!

Not a manager but a longstanding volunteer and echo a lot of what the OP says.

Any decent charity will have a robust policy for volunteer purchases. In our shop you're not allowed to price anything you are thinking of buying yourself, either the manager does it, or a longstanding volunteer. We do know that for example Kate is always on the look out for 1950s teasets or Sue likes Joules in a size 14. Everything bought by a staff member or volunteer is written in a special book with the receipt number so there is an audit trail.

I don't think it's the policy of any charity to allow managers to speak to staff like dirt. But as with every job, there are some people who aren't suited for it. Working as a charity shop manager is in a lot of ways a LOT more challenging than a standard retail job where at least you know when people are due in and you aren't faced with the situation of a volunteer refusing to do a certain task because they don't fancy it.The charity I volunteer with (Oxfam) has a policy of not accepting any volunteers who are sent there by the job centre. They have to be there of their own accord.

Pricing - it's an art, not a science. Something which comes with experience and knowledge. Most charities will set starting points for items for that particular shop, based on what has sold in the past. In our shop, which is in a fairly affluent area, that;s £3 for trousers/skirt, £5 for a top, £6 for a dress. If it's Primark it has to be brand new or like new to go out, and it would go out at less than the starting price. (So typically £2 for trousers, £3 or £4 for a top). Things like M&S, Zara, Debenhams get the starting price. Reiss, Hobbs, Whistles, a bit more. If something is 100% silk or cashmere, a bit more. Our policy is always to start with the highest sensible price. If you price a 100% silk Monsoon dress at £12, you have room to reduce that if it doesn't sell to £8 or £7 after a couple of weeks. But if you're starting it off at £7, you'd not be doing your best to get maximum money for the charity. But obviously mistakes happen and you get a 14 year old D of E volunteer with no sense of money/value pricing Primark at £10 and Reiss at £2.

@DonkeyHohtay hello lovely volunteer, you've said it all much clearer than I have. We also didn't take from Job Centres mainly because we were very rural and had lots and lots of lovely local volunteers but I alway made an exception for DofE and the local woman's refuge clients.

@Kennehora I was going to ask but then didn't, also the Red Cross haven't covered theirselves in glory. I was lucky to work for a small but vital charity needed in a rural farm community.

Exactly! Although the Charity I worked for was absolutely (life saving )vital it had no government funding. Wage costs were expected to be low . But even so the salary of the higher bids including the CEO was astonishing! But they would argue that their role was pivotal to getting in the funds raised in other ways than the shops.

Bods not bids

you consider volunteering for a different charity after it turned out that Oxfam was spending its funds on prostitutes in Haiti and then institutionally covering up for staff who used them?

No I didn't. And yes, you're derailing the OP's thread.

do you think a charity shop's primary purpose is to raise money for the charity or provide cheap goods for those who are struggling? I know that Oxfams can charge really quite a lot for, for example, their books.