So what would you tell a charity shop manager?

[Supersimpkin]

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.

Re. jigsaws - a charity shop I know uses volunteer customers to assemble jigsaws and check all the pieces are there before they go on sale. A win-win because the volunteers get to enjoy putting the puzzles together at no cost, and the shop can be confident they're intact.

I used to do that in the last second hand shop I worked in. I was quite heavily pregnant so I enjoyed the chance to sit down on the sofa and work on the puzzle. I spent a lot of my time sat on the sofa there, we didn't have many customers but we did have a tv

Having sorted books for a charity and put many many books in bags for by weight recycling....do not sell annuals that are written in, books that have been badly chewed or torn are not wanted. Also travel books check the publication date if they are more than five years old they really aren't useful. But please please shelve books alphabetically or so you can actually see them. As someone mentioned up thread the spinners are truly awful!! One of my local shops has a 50p box of books which is always worth a rummage!

Shrunk wool and cashmere jumpers are in demand for upcycling. Have an upcycling basket.

Put information on window displays. I'd to know label, size and price of the dress in the window without having to ask an assistant!

I have no strong feelings about colour blocking as I rarely buy clothes, books are my main reason for visiting. But reed diffusers would make me turn and walk straight back out again. Decent lighting is good too, a lot of charity shops here are gloomy and dark.

No tat, stuff organised by items not colours ie skirts, tops ect. No stained or missing bits. Also pricing, I love charity shops but prices vary so much. One local store is fantastic for kids stuff. All in a bucket 3 for a quid whatever the item but then the rest of the clothes are priced like they're new do don't bother.

I won't look through colour blocked rails, i find a great big block of colour offputting, but i'll happily rummage things ordered by type and size (e.g. rail of dresses, rail of coats).
Price things cheaply and they'll go. £1 bargains means I'll buy lots and redonate the mistakes.
I dislike buying hardbacks because they are heavy but will buy paperbacks and take them back after I've read them.
Sell children's clothes cheaply. Same with bric-a-brac.
If it's quality stuff in good nick e.g. designer stuff ask for a decent price.

Have NC'd and am following as I'm a charity shop manager

Ha UndercoverBoss me too!
Will be back later in the interests of market research...

Check your pricing. I'm not paying £2 for secondhand bowls I can buy for new in the pound shop.
Stop sorting by colour
Distinguish between children's and adults books.
Train staff in how to use tills and how to treat customers.
Don't have books at 25p which can only be bought for cash donations into a little box on the counter. Don't sort your books into "men's" and "women's" books.
Put all the pairs of shoes that are the same size in the same rack/on the same shelf.

Lots of people have commented about prices being too high. Why not do what some consignment shops do and reduce the price after a certain period of time? Knock 25% off after a month, another 25% a month after and a further 25% a month after that. If you've had it for three months and it hasn't sold, knock it down to 20p just to get rid of it and make room for new stuff. When it reaches the right value someone will buy it.

“SleepingStandingUp
Really? I can't think of any charity shops local to us - both chain ones like Cancer Research, smaller hospice ones or independent ones that don't. I wonder if it goes on the poverty level of the area?”

Neither our hospice or air ambulance shops do children’s things and there are some very hard up people.
Barnardos is brilliant though, we have two, one of which is exclusively children’s items. It’s set out beautifully, age range new born to 16 in clothing, lots of toys and nursery items too, never any tat. You wouldn’t know it was a charity shop and I often think it must be nice for young families starting out, who can’t afford everything new but still feel like they’re shopping in the same way as better off people, in a specialist store.
Mine are big now but we had a few lean times when they were a godsend but all charities were really random then, looked like jumble sales and even after several washes the pong still lingered.
They’re generally so much nicer now and I do most of my clothes shopping in them. Don’t really need to now but I hate waste. My more or less all grown up kids have inherited the love for a good rummage too.

sizing. can't stand no sizes on clothing.
shoes to be relatively clean. I know they can be cleaned up when bought but its really is off putting to see grubby looking ones.
decent prices. No primark selling at same price or above its rrp.
no cash tin rattlers at the door please. They practically block the entrance at mine and its very offputting. I would actually spend more if I could get in the actual shop without feeling hounded.

Almost all my clothes, almost all of DC's clothes, are 2nd hand usually from charity shops (else Jumble, friends give stuff).

I would give up quickly if you grouped clothes by colour not size. I barely have time to browse, no time to wade thru lots in the wrong sizes.

Changing room is very desirable (some charity shops still don't have them).

I would love a 10-20p pile of mismatched crockery, single mugs, forks, etc. type items. Often we need just 1-2 bowls or small plates & I'm not fussy about matching with current crockery, but instead charity shops only sell pricey sets of 4, urk.

If you are unable to take toys without a ce mark please consider refusing them and sending to some where that will take them. I worked in a charity shop that binned a massive bundle of new barbie items because of the lack of marking. Gutted to see that type of waste.

Train Janet to use the gift aid scheme. I have a favourite charity shop. They are kind, helpful, appreciative of donations, but one volunteer still hasn't got the hang of the gift aid cards!
Never talk about what the customer has donated while they are in the shop. I have never forgotten that I handed over some lovely children's books in a Salvation Army shop, only to hear one of the volunteers say 'I hate it when they bring in books, don't you?' to another volunteer.
Price items realistically. I am sure pricing is a difficult area, but I have seen items priced higher than they cost in the first place.

Can I ask what motivates you to volunteer OP?

Good works mostly, and getting out of the house as I often work alone thanks to nature of real job.

I've lived in London all my life, and I don't like seeing the poverty there is now, nor do I like seeing the rich get richer at the expense of the poor. Yuk. The homelessness is petrifying now.

Some charities really do improve people's lives - so I work for them for nothing. Why wouldn't you?

Don't situate a changing room in the middle of the shop with nothing but a flimsy curtain to protect you from eternal shame.
Treat your volunteers with respect and kindness - many of them look thoroughly miserable.
I like colour blocking.
Don't write 'designer' or 'brand new' on tags to justify daft prices.

Learn the difference between UK and US sizing, and don’t hang something that’s a US 10 on a size 10 hanger because it’s actually a size 14. I get unreasonably annoyed by this.

Don’t use the changing room as extra storage so customers can’t use it for trying on.

@TheMarbleFaun ooh imagine if we know each other Although if you had the same area manager as me, you know they'll never give up colour blocking!

Ensure staff/volunteers say ‘thank you’ to anyone who bring bags of donated goods into the shop.
So rude when someone just says ‘put the bags over there’.
I’ll walk back out with them and take them to another charity that does appreciate it.

Would people really not pay £2.49 for a second hand book? I would! It has the same words in as a new copy that might cost £7.99!

Accurate sizing, and easy to find things in the right size.

Keep breakable trinkets on higher shelves. I've twice seen toddlers break things in our local Barnados, where the ornaments are on low shelves right next to the toy section.

Organize clothes by size

Don't be the arseholes who profit from people forced to work there by the Job Centre.

I won't use any charity shop - or donate to them - if they're a part (or have been a part) of the Work Programme.