To get cross when people offload their old junk on charity shops?

[LifeHope11]

Where I live there are quite a few charity shops & I regularly see things left outside when they are closed, that look like junk - shabby clothes, rusty old buggies, broken toys etc. This despite many of the shops having notices requesting no donations left outside 'because they may be stolen' (or maybe the real reason is 'because we don't want to have to dispose of all your old rubbish').

Yesterday I was walking home from work & outside one shop was a big old computer, it looked like a vintage 1980s model so big that people were practically tripping over it in the street. Who knows if it even worked....anyway it was being rained on so probably wouldn't be working by the time the shop opened. Surely it must be a nightmare for the staff (volunteers?) to have to deal with 'donations' of this kind?

I think the people do this are selfish and thoughtless, maybe they have had house clearouts and can't be bothered to dispose of all their junk properly....so instead of donating good quality, usable things (which they maybe flog on ebay) they dump their rubbish at charity shops and go away feeling all virtuous. However they are too embarrassed to hand the stuff over when the shops are open.

When I volunteered at a charity shop I was under 18 so they never let me sort through the clothes because of the list lololizzy has just posted!

This was in London lololizzy and was a animal charity.

Island it's from friends who work/volunteer in the bigger charity shops who have given me that info about 'keeping' stuff for themselves.

My mum once saw a lady drop off some items and noticed something she liked the look of.

She asked the lady on the counter if she could possibly buy it there and then. Lady said yes, but just give them a few moments to sort, log, price up etc.

However the other volunteer point blanked refused to let her have it because she wanted it herself

I know that could be an isolated case but all the same, my mum and the other customers were very at her attitude

This is the problem...you are not allowed to put textiles in your regular bin. Council could fine you. So if someone's shat the bed...they don't want to deal with it and it's handed into us. This happens a lot....especially after weekends (eg puke, shit) I would imagine some of it is students, who don't want to take it to launderette?? but some i think is elderly people. Most is left outside..but...some is handed to us.
We took one woman up on it. She handed us a bag of kids clothes, all covered in shit. One of my old ladies did her nut, and ran after this woman. The woman was completely unrepentant at my poor volunteer having to stick her hands in this bag, and said ' but it's for the poor kids in India'. For one, we are not a poverty charity. Two, it goes to poor people in Africa if we can't sell it. But....NO ONE deserves shit covered stuff., no matter how poor. We are not allowed to sell it for rags anyway. It has to be binned. The next week, she gave us a bag of household rubbish

we're outer London but not animals! wonder if its the same gunman!!! was it from a clothing bank source?? if so...could be!!!

Fruity thats awful and certainly NOT something my Charity would condone and we are one of the bigger ones- hopefully isolated as we do have procedures that can land a paid memeber of staff in trouble and could lose a volunteer their job.

Lololizzy in our case a chap was clearing the loft of a house that he bought
and the gun was in a suitcase that he hadnt even looked in, as we had signed him to gift aid we had his address which we gave to the police, he came round next day to apologise as he would hsve handed ot to the police himself had he seen it.

Dont know if it had been used in a crime didnt hear anything else about it afterwards

why cant we have an edit button - my spelling looked awful in my post

ours was definitely a concealed crime as the bullets were for the gun but put in separate bags , different times, all in clothing bank so anon. The police never told us if they were traced to someone though

All charity shops I know of get free rubbish collections.
I also know of a married couple that drive around in the evenings picking out the best bits from donations left outside, and taking them to a carboot at the weekends for profit.
People should not leave stuff outside a charity shop. But, one persons' rubbish could be another persons' treasure, so I think in that respect you may be a little U.

I second most of that list - thankfully my small-time Oxfam has never had a gun though! But we did get a whisky tin once full of whips and handcuffs once, also a game called 'penis hoopla'. The worst thing I saw was a used butcher's apron with blood on, typically of these things it turned up on a shift full of vegetarians...

I think its sad that the police don't crack down on what is essentially fly tipping.

Yabu, I volunteered in a charity shop and the things that couldn't be sold still made the shop money, someone would come round once a week and collect all of the old stuff to recycle/sell on. He was called 'the rag man' because some of the things would be falling apart and we'd still be given money for it.

I find this post and responses fascinating. I have only given good clothes to charity shops ( when open!) am amazed that some people are so gross. Shit stained sheets? Why don't the people just shove in washing machine, has to be quicker than taking it to a charity shop? Madness!!

And wrt dumping outside, some people may work full time Monday-Friday and most charity shops here are shut on a Sunday so there's only one day a week that it's possible to drop stuff off, what if Saturday is a busy day and so it's a case of leaving it outside or not donating at all?

My mum used to manage a charity shop and regularly got absolutely filthy items/medication/nappies etc. Once a woman came in with two suitcases and said she was donating the contents but she'd call back in half an hour for the cases. Inside were clothes covered in food, urine, poo. We had to put it all in bin bags and straight in the rags. Sure enough she came back for the cases. My mum didn't thank her!

mrsapplepants, I had to wear rubber gloves when sorting through clothes donated because of skidmarks etc, you never knew what you'd find!

I'm shocked at the skiddy pants etc people leave for charity I wash my clothes before donating them!!!!

Spy - do you really think it is OK for people to leave their filthy old rubbish outside? It may be true of the shop you worked that money could be made from it but may not be the case everywhere....as many specifically request people not to leave stuff outside, their requests should be respected.

And I don't accept that people have no opportunities to leave donations when the shops are open....if they want to donate they will find a way. Most of the charity shops where I live are open 7 days a week anyway.

indeed! i can't imagine not washing stuff, let alone handing over soiled things.

wtaf are people thinking?
I'm all at all you lot up to your elbows in poo!

There was a Guardian article about this once and the strangest one was that Oxfam had had urns, complete with ashes, donated.

I am absolutely speechless about the used sanitary towels in pants and the shit covered bedlinen. Disgusting

MrsApple, high student population here. I would imagine its easier for them to dump than to drag to launderette. As we get them so often left on Sundays, I reckon it's the students after a dodgy saturday night kebab with student uni beer.
It's the hazardous stuff that annoys me the most..the kitchen knives left inside donation bags, unwrapped. The needles. eg you unroll a jumper and a carving knife rolls onto your foot / hand. The fact that it's been donated with no concern at all for volunteer's safety. And NO gloves are going to help with sharp knifes and needles.
We get customers pee in the changing rooms and change nappies and leave them.
There's been similar threads to this before so excuse me if you've already read this....last year my worst experience. About a hundred bags were delivered from the stinky smelly clothing banks (you know, the ones you see in car parks). A bag on the top of pile touching ceiling, was so heavy it rolled down. The reason so heavy, it was filled with clothes, but also urine. Someone had weed in the bag and sealed it. As the bag toppled, it split and covered me head to toe in stale urine (the bags were probably a few months old) I was soaked all over. I cried! I had to strip off completely, and go and help myself to clothes from the shop. Dirty hair all day. I didn't have a washing machine then and couldnt bear to bring my clothes home...one of my elderly volunteers was so sweet and took them home for me and washed them.

Celstial, I've had cats ashes in an ornamental urn!

Nine times out of ten.....items given unwashed. It's lovely, when they are washed and folded. We do iron (steam) all that goes out.
When people go on about perks...getting first dibs...it's not like that at my shop as has to have a chance on shop floor first...BUT...could you really resent someone who works for free and handles poo and mouldy dog blankets etc etc daily, getting first dibs?!

Have you offered to volunteer in any of those shops then to try and help out a bit? Or do you just tut at the binbags outside then walk on?