Do people who work in charity shops get first dibs on new stock?

[8tjr9jk47h]

I'm wondering if all the good stuff gets filched before it ever hits the shelves?

Oh and we don't get a discount. We pay exactly the same as anyone else would.

Yes and No. I volunteer once a week for two hours and if I see something when i am there I can ask for it. It has to be priced by another staff member the the transaction recorded in a special book. But I couldn't go in at any other time and ask to see stock before it has been put out. I would also add that most volunteers at the shop are personally invested in the charity (eg they might have a blind child, or a family member with cancer, or have been rescued by air ambulance etc) and are giving something back. This means giving their time and donating lots too. I know I do!

I'm also a charity shop devotee and frequent lots in the local area. Going by the amazing bargains I pick up on a regular basis, no, most good stuff does not get taken by volunteers first.

And it depends how you are defining "good stuff", @MrsBarbaraLangerhans.

If I wrote a list of the top 5 things I would hope to find in a charity shop, and everyone else wrote theirs, they'd all be different.

Exactly! I have an eye for vintage jewellery and know my brand names and styles. I find a lot of these and even when I pass them over they are quite often there for weeks at a time.

So you are suggesting that volunteers steal donations?

Lots of people think that. That all of us who give up our time to sort through their unwanted stuff are loading up the car every week with all the "good stuff".

My sister works in a national charity shop and they cannot buy anything until it's been out on the shopfloor for 24 hours. My mum works in a local charity shop and there is no policy on staff buying goods.

In my experience yes, I don't think it necessarily happens that often as there's only so much free stuff you can take

I’ve always found it incredible how many people seem to have very strong views on charity shops, how they operate and what the volunteers apparently get up to. Practically conspiracy theories!

Maybe it’s just on Mumsnet 🤔

This really annoys me. Why does all the better stuff get sold online? My local charity shops are full of worn out, tatty stuff these days, which is there week after week.

“Why does all the better stuff get sold online? “

Because the goal is to get the best price for the charity.

Do they all have this "buy anything dirty for 5p, because dirty stuff gets scrapped" policy?

I'd happily pay a good price for quality items in the store. But if the stores are full of old tat, they lose their appeal. Not everyone likes buying clothes online, especially second-hand clothes. Maybe it's just me.

We donated a couple of bags of clothing. All clean and decent.. labels like Karen Millen, All Saints. About 20 garments.
We did it under Gift Aid, so got a letter telling us what our donations had raised. Was less than £20.
Either the staff just priced it all dirt cheap, or most of it never made it to the shop floor.

My Mum volunteers in 2 different shops in her town. In 1 which is a national chain, the stock has to go out for a certain amount of time before she can buy it. In the other which is a local charity, she has been able to buy things before they go out but at the full price, there's no staff discount. She has bought the odd thing for herself & my DS but I would say every 2 or 3 months, not regularly.

I don't think it is necessarily clothes that the charity shops put on eBay or wherever unless it has a designer label or is genuine high quality vintage.

A friend of mine's husband does the eBay-ing for a local pet charity. He tends to list things like stamp albums, china figurine collections, signed books, vintage jewellery, antique clocks and that kind of stuff. It reaches a much wider audience that way, so why not?

I gave up 5 hours in a charity shop today, did a massive sort of saleable stock vs stock for the rag man. I found a nice denim jacket, just a high street brand. Got manager to price it for me and paid for it at the till.

That's not how Gift Aid works. They can recover another 25% on top of the price sold. I get those letters too, and the amount they give you is the amount of GA that they have been able to claim back, so if they told you £20, then the goods would have sold for £80.

Oops, I did not know that. Feel like an idiot now!

‘Filched’? You’re suggesting things get ‘pilfered or stolen’? I take offence to that as someone who has volunteered in the past. Why shouldn’t volunteers get the first chance to buy items, they’re the ones giving up their time. Why don’t you volunteer OP if you’re so keen for a bargain.

Either the staff just priced it all dirt cheap, or most of it never made it to the shop floor

Or it was put away for summer/winter and will resurface at some point in the future.

Or the person in the still forgot to scan the gift aid label, or the person processing it forgot to print the gift aid labels, or the labels/bag got mixed up and your labels went on someone else's donation.

Or any number of other scenarios which are entirely plausible and doesn't involve volunteers being thieves.

I don't care. If it raised some funds for a charity, then great. If a volunteer took it home and enjoyed it, that is great too.
Ultimately, we gave stuff the to charity shop because we could not be arsed to go through eBay etc.

Probably? What else will they do with dirty stuff?

(Why would anyone even donate dirty stuff?)

Only the paid manager of the shop I volunteer in can price stuff, if anyone sees anything they want they pay full price if it is asked for before it goes out if it goes on the shop floor after 24 hours you qualify for a 25% reduction. After 7 months there I have bought 8 bowls, 1 ornament, a wok and 2 items of clothing. I have donated far more than I have bought. We have to sign an extra receipt that is kept when we buy something.