Charity shop donations

[whitebunnies]

I went to donate some really good quality stuff earlier at Cancer Research. It was stuff I could have sold online but don’t have the time to. The manager of the shop was very rude and said we don’t accept bric a brac and was looking down on me.

It wasn’t bric a brac and she didn’t even see inside the bag. I said thanks and started to leave and then she was being really passive aggressive giving me nasty stares and saying some nonsense about they have enough donations so she held me up and then the bags split outside. I wish I just ignored her and left as the bags would not have split.

I had this hassle 10 years ago at the same branch with someone else there. Do Cancer Research not want to raise money for their charity? I won’t go in their again due to the rudeness of the manager.

I took my bags to Acorns in the end who were really nice and thankful.

@ThisUsernameIsNowTaken - i don’t know if frequency of rejecting donations has increased, but certainly January is always a tough month re space for donations. Sales are low as people have no money after Christmas, rag has not been picked up due to bank holidays and lots of people have a clear out- these three factors together mean space is a premium.

Don't blame a whole national charity for the attitude of one shop manager.

I actually made a complaint about a charity shop manager, whose attitude was putting multiple people off donating or visiting a shop for a charity dear to my heart (I also heard her making a racist comment to another staff member and that tipped me over the edge). I got an excellent and very concerned response from the CEO of the hospice charity involved, and although she explained that, quite, rightly, she would not be able to let me know of the outcome, she would be investigating. I then got a follow up call from the person responsible for the staff and volunteers at their shops.

I think Covid triggered people to start clearing clutter and people are now really a lot more aware that we all have too much stuff and we don’t need more stuff. This is why charity shops have to stop donations. I’m glad about that. My heart does sink when I look at some of the utterly pointless shite in charity shops that will never sell and is just destined for land fill. Things like novelty mugs and tacky holiday souvenirs.

op - take your stuff to the small independent shop.

I have volunteered for over 10 years and in that time I have DEFINITELY seen things change.

Quantity of donations hasn't really changed, but what we receive is changing. It is now so easy to sell on Vinted/Ebay and those locker places are springing up everywhere. It is easier than ever to get rid of stuff you don't want. And if my 19 year old daughter and her friends are typical, this generation is totally on board with wearing/buying second hand. She has a big ball thing coming up soon at uni and is alread browsing on Vinted. Between her and her brother, there is an Ikea bag size of stuff which they have listed and are waiting to sell. 5 or 10 years ago, that would all have gone to charity.

So what we are gettimg is the stuff that people can't be bothered to list online, or is too poor quality to sell online. Shite from Shein which costs £3 brand new is not worth selling online for most people, and isn't worth us selling either. Straight in the rag bag. The rag market is not what it was before the market was flooded with Shein/Temu shite either, which is why you don't see those "cash for clothes" portacabins and shops any more - just not worth it.

However, it always amazes me that people on here bang on all the time about clothing. I'm just looking at the sales figures we get each week broken down by category - our top category was bric a brac, then toys and games, then womens shoes and bags (which was half the amount we took on bric) and 4th is women's tops. Clothing is important yes, but we are making more money on the retro homewares, the board games, jigsaws, Lego, handbags etc than we are on clothing.

I just leave stuff in the clothing bank at a local supermarket. I am too lazy to walk round to my local charity shop with it, it's much easier to take it with me when I am driving to the supermarket anyway.

I always put stuff in the car then go in and ask are they accepting first

Pre- and post- Christmas is always peak time for donations, as people are trying to make space. Many of the charity shops sold here had apologetic signs saying that they weren't able to take any more donations. So I called ahead before packing the car.

And yes, I made sure that everything I was taking was worth selling. The extra good stuff went to a charity that has a more upmarket shop, with lots of vintage stuff. They ask a decent price and people are happy to pay.

Same where I live. If I walk down the High St on a Monday morning there are loads of bags outside. If you can get in your car to flytip, you can get in your car to go to the clothing bank at the supermarket. In fact there is a supermarket with a car park directly opposite this particular charity shop - it may well have a clothing bank, I am not sure as I use a different one.

That’s interesting, I haven’t bought clothes in a charity shop much for years, but I always have a look at the books, bric-a-brac, craft odds and ends, jigsaws, those are the things I most frequently buy (bric-a-brac tends to be unusual glasses or vases etc). Used to get lots of toys and books for the DCs when they were young, also DVDs and CDs until we stopped using them.

I disagree that charity shops have had their day, all ours are always busy, well-stocked, cheerful staff, nice places to be and I always go in a few when I visit a new town or city. .

We take ours to the British Heart Foundation. They're great and all volunteers. I give them my details so they can apply for gift aid too. They always welcome donations.

Couldn’t resist this, sorry!

Agree, it's a nightmare.

A relative runs a charity that takes household stuff for people moving into social housing, but they just cannot take everything that people want to get rid of, they don't have the space to store it, but other items they cannot get enough of.

We have been decluttering, and give them a lot of stuff, but we have ended up just taking a load of stuff to the tip. If people want it they will pick it up from there.

@ExtraDisorganised I actually think charity shops should lose their focus on clothing.
Clothes are easy to move on - sell online, pass on to someone else, donate to baby banks/homeless charities etc.
I like the other stuff in charity shops. The books, toys, collectables, dvds etc.
This is often the actual interesting and decent stuff but is often shoved in a corner for rails and rails of clothes.
I would rather a charity shop that is for non-clothing and they can focus on actually organising these items better.
Books in A-Z. Toys displayed so they don't get damaged (rather than dumped in a basket).

We have a lot of charity shops in our town, but I think sometimes they can get swamped. If there isn't a sign outside, specifically asking for donations, I go in and ask before lugging all my stuff there on the off chance. I got rid of a load of stuff the week before christmas because I suspected they might turn away donations after Christmas. To be honest if I'm.donating it, because I can't be bothered to sort and sell it myself, I don't mind whether they sell for £1 or 10 or sell for rags. I only donate things that I think are in saleable condition

The lady in yhe charity shop was unreasonable to br rude or unpleasant, but it's not unreasonable to say they aren't accepting new donations currently.

The charity shops near me are great. The one I donate to most has staff who are always grateful despite the donations seeming to take ages to sell, especially books.

I usually manage to come back with something brilliant after I've had a good rummage, and I've had things much coveted on MN for less than £5.

I had a declutter of my wardrobe recently and got rid of the clothes I had bought but never worn , brand new ( well last two years ) and still with tags . Took them to my local hospice charity shop only to be told they are not accepting clothes this week and didn't want them .

I'm not saying my clothes taste is super wonderful , but they were much better than some ( well worn ) offerings on the rails .
I took them to the animal charity shop who were happy to receive and vowed to donate future offerings to other charity shops but not them .

@Frostine yes but if they didn't have enough staff that week to sort the clothes, steam clean them, label and put out on display then they couldn't accept them.
It doesn't matter if they were "better" than what they already had.

Weren’t charity shops complaining recently about people selling their good stuff on Vinted.
I sell my unused new with tags on Vinted. I wear the clothes until they are ruined, then use to mop spills. Then I put in rubbish bin.
I donate cold hard cash to the charities I want.

I just use the clothing bins now, it's a lot easier.

I really don't understand those on this thread who take it personally when a charity shop simply can't take and process their donation because they're overloaded. Vowing never to donate to them again is a massive overreaction.

That is pretty mean-spirited IMO. Fair enough to take them somewhere else that day, you had no choice but to say you’ll never donate to them again seems petty.

@Needmorelego I know of a couple of very large charity shops which sell furniture (can deliver for a donation), bric a brac, all sorts of household stuff and books etc but just the odd rail of clothes, they are fabulous. Both are small local charities not the national chain ones.

I sell good stuff on ebay. Stuff that isn't worth listing goes to the charity shop. If they sell it for £1 then that's up to them, it's better than for me to list it for 99p and it not sell.

I've seen several oxfam shops that are specifically for books and vinyls.
We have a local hospice shop solely for homeware/furniture and I've seen a couple of other furniture and household charity shops, including white goods

@Fizbosshoes yes Oxfam and British Heart Foundation have Book/Record shops and BHF have furniture ones.
Much more sensible. If I want a particular book I often go to the nearest Oxfam bookshop to see if they have it. The books are organised like a regular book shop so it's easy to look.
Most charity shops that sell "everything" books are rarely in any logistical order so it's pure luck if you find something you want.
I definitely think a some charity shops need to pick a genre (not the right word but you hopefully get what I mean) and stick with it.

I took three large boxes of good quality things to our local hospice charity warehouse. No thanks, just a lecture from the obnoxious bloke on duty that 'China things should be in bags'. Said china things were two large ceramic planters. It's not the first time I have encountered this unfortunate attitude there. Next time it'll go to the recycling shop at the tip.