To be angry at this??

[Yummymummyyobe1]

So I sorted out the family wardrobes and placed the items in various carefully selected charity bags and placed them outside the front of the house. On coming back into the lounge there is a women stood in my front garden pilfering items from the bags (mainly baby clothes and bits). Anyway I go out and ask her what she on earth she thinks she is up to and to return said items as what she was doing was theft and trespass. She reluctantly handed the items back and I said I was more than happy for her to purchase the items and then money go to the charities in question.

She asked how much an item and I said 20p for the vests, 30p for the babygrows (there were some still with the labels on) and a £1 for everything else (about 60% had the labels on and cost a lot more than a £1). She walked off muttering.

WIU to refuse to let her take the items for free as they were things we no longer wanted. I felt that it was paramount to theft from the charities we had chosen not to mention from us.

Surely if you needed something so badly you would at least have the manners to ask first?

Ithinkitsjustme Thank you I didn't think a £1 an item was a lot to ask and it would have benefited the charity still.

ObiWan I always try to give something to charity and have never considered what they do with them. Surely with brand new items they would sell them on.

nickelcognitothank you

cansu Sorry that this has made you feel My logic is that by the charity shops receiving the items and claiming the gift aid helps more than one person.

It's not a troll.

There have been threads from this poster previously.

Including the toy/nappy one. It's genuine.

yummymummy it's a shame you didnt listen to the replies on that thread talking about compassion and kindness.

A troll?

I can believe people would be this stuck up though. There for the grace of God and all that.

Surely it could of be some random women trying her luck and stealing from charity bags to make abit of extra cash for herself?

Charity begins with not begrudging someone something you no longer need, just because you deem them to be not worthy enough OP.

McKayz I thought it was standard practice for charities to all collect on the same day.

fairyfriend I'm not a troll and have a all most 4 month old DS. I admit I was wrong on the nappy front and then to purchase so much for our DS was less then thoughtful.

EarnestDullard surely rubbish goes into black or in our case vanilla scented bin liners. Perhaps that what she thought who is to say?

MrsKeithRichards they knock around the week before with their bags and often a natter and a scone

cansu I'm not a troll.

EarnestDullard I think you have to seek permission still to remove the items.

It is annoying I agree OP. If she had come and asked you would you feel differently? I used to leave bags of clothes recycling on my drive way behind the bins so no one could see and someone went through those and took things. My issue wasn't the items been taking, they wern't going to charity but the fact that someone was on my property going through my stuff.

Just to point out that it is illegal to take anyone's rubbish without their permission - you can't even take stuff from the rubbish tip!

I'm a bit that anybody would think it was ok for this woman to help herself to stuff in OP's front garden!

IMO she wasn't just stealing; she was stealing from charities, which is even worse! Cheeky cow!

I would have told her to feck off out of my garden, so I think the OP was most reasonable!

Theres been lots of issues with people collecting these bags when they weren't the intended recipient.

I don't think you are being unreasonable op. she didn't know why they were there. They could have been put there for a destitute friend to collect. It's quite easy to ask.
Ernest same with skip diving, you ask for permission or it's stealing. Also with why freegans get arrested occasionally

And PS why is everybody assuming the woman was in desperate need and some kind of charity case herself? She could have just been a thief....

I think you are being pretty unfair to the OP here.

If the woman had knocked on the door and asked about the bags of clothes then fair enough but that isnt what happened.

You cannot justify trespassing and theft because the woman "seemed" desperate, she might just have seen an opportunity to grab some clothes to flog on eBay. You just don't know.

I'm a little bit desperate for a Nissan juke at the moment, so would it be okay for me to take one from my neighbours driveway? No.

I'd say if she looked like she was pregnant and was going to use the baby items for her own baby it would be ok, not ideal for her to just take the stuff, but maybe she was desperate.

If it didn't look like she had a baby I think YANBU, I guess she wanted to sell the stuff on.

BTW I don't think YABU for not liking it but angry prehaps a bit strong.

How unusual that all the carefully selected charities were collecting on the same day!

TallDwarf perhaps I should have thought it through a little more but £1 is nothing for a £35 romper suit.

TantrumsAndOlympicGoldBalloons how are you today?

CuriousMama I'm not at all stuck up I just think it taking a bit of a liberty really.

GragPop in that case then £1 is not a lot to pay as the items she wanted to take sell for quite a bit on ebay.

ObiWan it isn't about whether she was worthy enough at all, more that I would not dream of walking up somebody's front path and start riffling through items that are bagged and tagged.

Thieving from charity bags = scummy. Same as people having a root through what?s left outside charity shops and taking the bits they like.

I can?t believe people think stealing is ok? What about people who fish stuff out of clothes recycling bins to sell?

yummymummy is a regular poster on other threads.

Charities have complained that people are stealing charity bags that have been put out, and then selling the contents on for personal gain so it's not unheard of (this was on daytime telly a while ago)

The woman may well have thought it was worth a nosy to see what yummymummy had donated - if she was desperately in need for clothes why not just take the bag and run to sort through out of sight? Sounds like she was cherry-picking the best stuff and then being pissed off at not getting a freebie to me.

I would have done exactly the same thing as the OP and agree with the previous poster that manners cost nothing, and asking would have made all the difference.

These items were being given to charity, not put out as rubbish. If they were clearly in charity bags then the woman was stealing from charity. Would it be different if the op was putting a quid in a charity box and some random woman intercepted it? Would it be ok if the woman needed it? What about shoplifting? Is that morally acnceptable if the person is in need?

And before I get accused of looking down my nose, I was brought up with very little money, even for food, but it never made stealing ok.

yummymummy I've been better :(

How are you doing? Is everything going well for you at the moment?

Ah ok, fair enough then.

OP, YANBU to be miffed. Especially if they were actually in labelled charity shop collection bags (I think I thought from your OP that they were in black bags). If it were me, and the woman looked like she needed the baby clothes, I might have let her have them. If she didn't, I'd have told her she could buy them at the charity shop along with everyone else :)

Yummy My bags aren't from local shops. They are from Air Ambulance and Breast Cancer today.

I think you misunderstood my comment - you offered her a fair price which was a reasonable thing to do.