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

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

I volunteer in one.
Good stuff/high end stuff goes online.
Other items go out on the shop floor but sometimes there can be huge backlogs of clothes to go out, depending in how many staff we have in regularly to sort, steam, price and get clothes out.
We can buy things but at the price on the ticket and we are not allowed to price up items we are going to buy (or might buy), and someone else has to put the items through the point of sale.

Of course they do!

My dsis 'manages one!' and trust me she has first dibs

We often have 'gifts ' with the stamp on from the charity. 😂😂

My fellow volunteers are some of our best customers. Charity shops know that people who are motivated enough to give up their time to support the cause also are likely to buy things. Everyone has different interests and tastes, some people get super excited over scented candles, others over jigsaws.

Most charity shop managers are happy to let their volunteers buy with certain caveats - must be a fair price, reasonable volume, not for resale etc.

I used to volunteer at NCT sales, twice a year. It was hard work - a whole day of taking donations, sorting, pricing, letting the public in, selling, then clearing up. We got 1st dibs but paid the same price as public. Its how I clothed my 2 kids for their first 5 years, plus almost all Xmas & birthday gifts too. There was a HUGE amount of stuff.

From the response of friends, it's a mix, some managers allow it, some don't, but they still pay the price that would of been put on it,.minus the company's discount for being a staff member

Totally agree, just want stuff to go to a good home

A long time ago someone on the ebay chat site said she used to buy books and craft patterns from the charity shop she worked in.
She paid very little for stock to re-sell on ebay. She knew what vintage books to look out for and all the knitting patterns were very vintage or by Alan Dart. (some of his patterns can sell for £20+ ) She was making a fortune and I no longer feel comfortable about donating to charity shops.

Should do, No not in my experience , i wish they did though,

I have worked in a few charities shops over the years but I suppose it could depend on what type of manager you have got really , whether generous natured in what way maybe,

Haha same here!!! Although she will often text a picture now but it’s so awkward saying no thank you!

Agree. And if someone does purchase it, the charity has made money (better someone does this even if they onsell to make a profit rather than it sit in the store). I think people profiting off charity shops have some dubious ethics but that's on them and their conscience

Same reason as they donate chipped or stuck together china, ancient, damaged, greasy utensils, broken toys etc. I’m a volunteer, I don’t sort and price clothing, paid staff do it, and you wouldn’t want to put your hand in some bags! At least dirty and damaged clothing can be resold as rag, and unsaleable books are also sold by weight. We pay for collections of other unsaleable items that really should have been binned not donated.

Sometimes much of my shift is spent washing glass and china, because its too dirty to display. We do put some expensive items on sale in the shop, if no interest they get sent to ebay. I buy very little btw, the occasional rag item, or a jigsaw. We get 25% off marked prices, or make a small donation for a rag item.

Most charity shops are short of volunteers, all the ones round here have notices in the windows. If anyone has time on their hands, give it a go!

A long time ago someone on the ebay chat site

So one person, a long time ago, happened to be buying for resale and you no longer want to donate to charity shops? What a weird attitude.

Many charities do have rules against volunteers buying for resale.

As a general concept though I have no issue with resellers. We price things for what we think we can get in the shop, quickly and to keep things moving. If someone else wants to make a few extra £ by taking something home, photographing it, writing descriptions and dealing with packing and postage, good for them. Yes we could have listed it ourselves, but with so few volunteers and so much stuff, my time is best spent elsewhere.

Well, like the PP who bought a North Face coat for 5p, I'd wash it and wear it or wash it then resell for the ££ they make! Literally anything that needs to go through the wash, and will then be fine, staff can buy for 5p?? Is this standard practice?

'Knitting Needles' (interesting name) this woman was a very part time paid member of staff! And she said all her 'stock' came from the charity shop! She used to go round the charitys book banks ( in garages and car parks what you put your old books in)and empty them for the shop..she had a business shop on ebay and sold 1000s and 1000s of books/knitting patterns even jigsaws on there which she said she got from her shop! I just donate cash online now to charitys and keep my fingers crossed there is no fiddling going on with that.

The majority of shops won’t have a washing facility. So bagging stuff up and selling for “rag price” at least covers the cost of handling it, hopefully.

@SheilaFentiman no washing machine, but even if we did, we’d need a dryer, and someone to sort, load etc. We haven’t enough volunteers without adding laundry to the list!

Re damaged stuff being donated...

I'm struggling with DM, she won't bin anything. I've taken embarrassing boxes of things to charity shops. However there's also really good stuff mixed in so that makes me feel a bit better. I know people use broken jewellery and pottery for upcycling, so I hope the charity manages ok.

Re dirty stuff, has no one else ever put 'clean' things aside or in the wardrobe to go only to find a mysterious mark has appeared later?
I wonder whether some marks develop over time.

"filched"? really?
I don't have a prpblem with charity shop volunteers having first dibs on fairly priced items at all!!
Different if they are taking it without paying, or ridiculously cheap, but that doesn't generally seem to be the case from the other replies.

I suppose whoever buys it, staff or customers, there is no stopping anyone selling things online if they can get more money for it, I am sure people also buy things to sell at boot sales.

@pickledandpuzzled it must be really hard with a family member not throwing things away but really you are not helping charity by giving us broken things. We do sometimes sell bags of broken jewellery for craft but not pottery, it’s only fit for the bin. And binning things costs the charity money.

We will “wash” things by giving them a squirt with soapy water or a scrub with a baby wipe. Dirty glasses or crockery gets washed in the sink. But as others have said we do not have the resource for washing and drying. Most of the things we send for rags are damaged rather than mucky, or just really old and misshapen.

I know, @KnittingNeedles. If you could explain that to DM it would be great. When we can, we take it home to bin ourselves.
She's mortally afraid of putting something in the bin that should be recycled, and upsetting the bin men.

Among other things.

I hear you, @pickledandpuzzled. I think a lot of people think along the lines of your mum, kidding themselves that stuff will be good for something/someone when it's really not.

I do hope so! It's a pretty thankless volunteer role-there have to be some perks.

I used to be an assistant manager of a charity shop. Staff and volunteers could buy stuff but only paid staff could price it and sales had to be written in the book for audit. Only me or the manager could put staff sales through the till.

If I wanted to buy something it had to be priced by the manager and she had to serve me. And the other way round.

I used to buy quite a bit from there lots of books and yarn and kitchen stuff.

Expensive stuff went to eBay so that it would raise more money for the charity.

So many people seem to think like this.

When I moved into my current house, the previous owner left behind all kinds of things we didn’t need or want (furniture, crockery, utensils, a broken vacuum cleaner…) We tried to contact her to give them back but she insisted it was her “gift” to us as it was all “bound to be useful at some point”. She genuinely seemed to think she was doing us a favour.

I can imagine she is exactly the kind of person who gives completely unsuitable things to charity shops and tells herself they will be grateful 😬