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Original poster

So what would you tell a charity shop manager?

248 replies

Supersimpkin · 28/03/2019 09:38

I volunteer in a charity shop and want to hear it from the horse's mouth - ie the customers. Colour blocking - yay or nay? Prices? Boutique or rag-and-bone decor?

Am feeling smug as anything as have just won an award for volunteering, so let rip, I can't be offended by anything right now.

OP posts:

PatchworkGirl · 29/03/2019 17:43

“I tend to look in charity shops for specific things I need before going to a proper shop if I cannot find anything”

I do too. I'm a regular in my local charity shops so I'll just keep an eye out for whatever it is I need. Recently, I've found a black tie, a bathroom scales, a set of bowls to replace ones I'd broken, and a denim jacket. All found within a week or two of realising I 'needed' them.

Dottierichardson · 29/03/2019 17:46

Thank you to you and your volunteers for the work you do to raise money for causes that need support.

MikeUniformMike · 29/03/2019 17:50

I wouldn't either. I go in to see if there is something I'd like that would fit me. I might have an idea of what I would like e.g. a dress I could wear for work, or a pair of jeans. If I wanted something like a light green cardigan to match a dress I already had, it would probably be less noticeable on a rail of green tops than it would in a rail of cardigans.

booksandcaffeine · 29/03/2019 17:59

Clean, tidy, not cluttered (that includes the stock room, especially if customers can see it). Don't put stock out that you know won't sell, especially if it's been out before and there was no interest in it.

With books, cds and dvds, have them in alphabetical order and if you have time, put them in genres 😊

MoaningMinniee · 29/03/2019 21:32

I 'do' the charity shops about once a fortnight in local market town. I was going to do them today but ran out of time. My favourite is Shaw Trust, which I think is a semi local one (West Country) ... changing room is roomy, and curtains close securely. Books are sorted alphabetically. Clothes are sorted into mens, womens, childrens, but also a patch of evening wear and fancy dress wear. Bricabrac is all on solid toddler proof shelves. Hats, bags and shoes are all on shelves. Shoes are always already in their pairs. And sizes are always clearly marked.

DontCallMeShitley · 30/03/2019 00:36

I mentioned this earlier but yesterday, once again I passed Cancer Research to see 5 bags of stock put out for the rubbish collection, could clearly see 2 bags were toys.

And I forgot to mention, that same shop has snooty stuck staff that swan about as if they own the place and either totally ignore customers or look down their noses at them. Too busy playing horrendous crappy music at high volume to actually do any work. It is one of those that had the makeover to try to pretend it is an upmarket boutique and as a result has barely anything for sale. Heaven forbid someone should go and actually buy something there. I have suggested they donate the toys elsewhere rather than dump them on the street, the result was to get big bins to put the unwanted donations in, for the council to take to landfill. I hate Cancer Research shops and their attitude.

TheMarbleFaun · 30/03/2019 07:55

Where do you suggest they donate the toys to DontCallMe? If they don’t have CE markings nowhere will take them
Also did you see what condition they were in? A lot of donated toys are only fit for the bin and many charity shops are used as a dumping ground.

JuniorAsparagus · 30/03/2019 08:12

My neighbour used to volunteer in a charity shop. She loved it. But she did say that a lot of items brought in were totally unfit for sale and had to be dumped.

SileneOliveira · 30/03/2019 08:30

Most charity shops don't want to dump anything - it costs us money to have rubbish uplifted. CDs and DVDs we can't sell go to music magpie, we recycle textiles, recycle paper/card, separate out metal to be recycled.

But you can't sell a doll with its head missing, a plastic board game with half its pieces missing or cars so battered and played with that the wheels don't go round. They are unsellable and only fit for the bin, yet people still donate them.

Equimum · 30/03/2019 08:34

I’m not a fan of colour-blocking either.

Pricing is also an issue. There’s a charity shop near here that wants £15 for a kids Next winter coat which is worn at the cuffs. They also routinely charge £5 for Orchard Toys games, which are sometimes discounted to around that brand new. I don’t expect something for nothing, but I’m not prepared to pay high prices for used items.

SheChoseDown · 30/03/2019 08:39

Volunteers are so flippin angry, rude, miserable. Wtf is wrong with them all?? Stop volunteering you hate everyone and everything

PrinceOfPies · 30/03/2019 08:54

Volunteers are probably fed up of people thinking they've done something marvellous by dropping off a bag of garbage for them to sort without so much of a hello.

They aren't staff. They aren't being paid. You're not doing them a favour. They are doing the community a favour. It's a bit rich to expect them to work for free and always walk around with a smile on their face.

Retail is shit enough without adding people's broken toys and dirty clothes tk the mix.

If they stop bothering because they can't spend the day with a smile plastered on their face, charity shops would cease to exist.

Charities would lose out and so would poor families who rely on the stocl

thenewaveragebear1983 · 30/03/2019 09:34

When I am out running on Sunday mornings I see the mountain of crap that gets dumped outside our Salvation Army charity shop simply because it has parking outside and a covered porch (being an old community hall). It's clearly the boxes of stuff that whoever couldn't sell at the local Saturday car boot, I bet almost all of it goes in the bin and some poor volunteer has to face that every Monday morning. They can't even get in the door without climbing through it. Nothing but respect for those volunteers.

DontCallMeShitley · 30/03/2019 20:32

Where do you suggest they donate the toys to DontCallMe? If they don’t have CE markings nowhere will take them
Also did you see what condition they were in? A lot of donated toys are only fit for the bin and many charity shops are used as a dumping ground.

As I have said before, they could go to a children's charity, refugees that have no toys, refuge, or one of the charities that takes them, refurbs and passes them on to children with no toys.

Yes, I have seen them, have even picked them up when they have been kicked along the street after someone opened the bags to see what could be stolen, perfectly good items, just not good enough for that particular stuck up shop. They could even have passed them to the shop opposite which happily takes anything useful, and puts it on sale, and keeps as much stock on show as will fit, charges reasonable prices and thanks you for donations. Cancer Research is the opposite of this and there is rarely a customer in there, just lots of space between the sparse colour blocked rails of over-priced clothing. They have no idea what a charity shop is in there, they think they are competing with Harrods.

SileneOliveira · 31/03/2019 08:12

As I have said before, they could go to a children's charity, refugees that have no toys, refuge, or one of the charities that takes them, refurbs and passes them on to children with no toys.

But as a charity shop volunteer, I know that a lot of the stuff we are given is only fit for the bin. Children in refuges don't want a Monopoly game with no money in it or a headless doll. Plus there's the added issue storing all this stuff, and physically getting it to another charity.

Namechangeforthiscancershit · 31/03/2019 09:05

As I have said before, they could go to a children's charity, refugees that have no toys, refuge, or one of the charities that takes them, refurbs and passes them on to children with no toys

Is that possible without CE marks? Surely most organisations will have the same duty of care to provide something safe?

viques · 31/03/2019 11:23

i don't understand what is meant by a "children's charity" if you mean a children's hospital or hospice they don't want soft toys because of infection control.

A charity shop passing on the stuff they can't sell to another charity is blumming daft. People should stop equating giving to a charity shop with taking your stuff to the dump but with a feel good factor.

TheMarbleFaun · 31/03/2019 11:30

People should stop equating giving to a charity shop with taking your stuff to the dump but with a feel good factor
That’s it in a nutshell viques

Prun · 31/03/2019 11:41

This reply has been withdrawn

Message from MNHQ: This post has been withdrawn

DontCallMeShitley · 01/04/2019 18:22

With regard to the children's charities, there are some that accept cuddly toys, they ensure they are clean and in good condition and they go to children that have no toys. I assume they are CE marked. I saw one such charity not long ago as I have some toys to donate and need to find it again. I am also unsure if it was for UK or overseas, think of the children that have escaped atrocities and have nothing, they provide these toys so that each child has something to cuddle. These charities are online, on Facebook, so much better than going to landfill.

I am not talking about the heaps of old broken crap that gets donated along with the bags of vegetable peelings and dirty underwear, worn out shoes, ripped dirty clothing etc. I am referring to the perfectly good teddies that certain charity shops refuse to take, such as the ones I retrieved from along the high street after someone had emptied them out of the bags dumped on the pavement for the bin men to collect. Branded toys, useable and clean. They were just not acceptable to the Cancer Research shop. Out of all the charity shops we have they throw more stuff out than they accept.

My point was not to just dump the unsold stuff on another shop, my point was that if they don't accept teddies, there is a shop opposite that does, and they sell them at low prices, people buy them and would buy the others if they were in that shop. If one shop thinks it is an upmarket exclusive little colour blocked boutique the customers go to the one that has assorted items at affordable prices. The one on the other side of the road which is always busy.

It seems that not many people on this thread know about donating teddies for rehoming. I found out about it from the manager of a charity shop.

bearlyloved www.bearlyloved.org/

The Teddy Trust www.teddytrust.org.uk/

chillpizza · 01/04/2019 19:15

I pop into my local one every weekday, because the books are £1 and I will gladly take my children in every day for a new book at only £1 each, it then suckers me into buy more stuff so win win for them.

I hate charity shops that buy in brand new things (beds/dining tables/outside furniture) to sell laughably higher than our local b&m!

Clothes sorted by type and size, don’t over price them.

Regular sales to clear out old lingering stock.

Stop moving everything, I don’t want to go in Monday and women’s clothes is behind the door to the right but by Thursday it’s to the left at the back!

Sadly my local one is dwindling in children’s games/books so I’m starting to go in less when I know it’s being donated so clearly shifting it off to another shop.

ChicCroissant · 02/04/2019 09:06

Agree about not using a Charity as a dumping ground for stuff you want to pretend you are recycling rather than face throwing it away yourself!

I have pointed this out on a FB organisation group I am on as well. If something is at the end of it's life, it needs to be dumped not passed on! But that doesn't go with their 'I recycle or donate everything' standpoint.

ChicCroissant · 02/04/2019 09:11

That's not the group's standpoint btw, only of the person that is posting - the group does recognise that some stuff is only fit for the bin!

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