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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To stop donating things to my local charity shop because I don't agree with their recent price hikes?

45 replies

MarmaladeShatkins · 25/07/2014 21:14

Expecting to have my arse handed to me...

I've noticed over the last year or so that our local hospice shop has become REALLY expensive. I'm talking £6 for a child's Primark shirt when they are only about £4 brand new and yesterday, a Sainsbury's maxi dress for £9.50.

I've been a loyal supporter of the hospice as they cared for my aunt in her last weeks but I don't agree with them pricing out people that rely on them as a cheap way to clothe their children and buy books etc. I'd rather use a charity shop than Primark because it's recycling and not feeding into the child labour cycle BUT I won't be taken for a mug, either!

They are appealing for stock but I really don't want to hand it to them, I'd rather find a women's refuge and give it to them.

AIBU? I really don't know.

OP posts:
MaccaPaccaismyNemesis · 25/07/2014 21:25

I think you are well within your rights to be miffed. There are two near me- one is reasonably priced, the other extortionate. Guess which one I go to?!

I do think that they need to be mutually beneficial- to make the charity money and to save the buyer money. I'd rather give something away than sell it in many cases.

Original poster
MarmaladeShatkins · 25/07/2014 21:29

All of the ones on my town are really pricey now! I don't begrudge it on a personal level because I am lucky enough to be able to buy in new shops if I need to but I feel sad for pensioners and people on very low incomes who like to use them.

OP posts:
redexpat · 25/07/2014 21:30

As an ex volunteer who had a wonderful shop manager, that sounds like poor management. We had to keep our prices low because otherwise people would just go to primark. You should be aware though that there are different grades of charity shop, and it depends on what kind of area they are in. Is it a big charity or a one off local shop?

Sparklypants · 25/07/2014 21:31

I agree! I use charity shops a lot for books and clothes. I only go, and donate, to the ones that are reasonably priced. I think it's disgusting that I can't buy a book for under £4 in some near me!
On the other hand there is a bloody great little barnados near me that has a huge book selection at only 50p per book. I quite often go in and come out with a fivers worth of books, which I read then re-donate.

PleaseJustShootMeNow · 25/07/2014 21:34

I wonder if people pay the higher prices. If they do then surely that's what they should charge as their reason for existing is to raise as much as they can for their charity.

KnittedJimmyChoos · 25/07/2014 21:35

I would mention this to management or even area management we had this too, really strange pricing...

Prices in some are ridiculous and would cost less, new in the places some of them come from.

Original poster
MarmaladeShatkins · 25/07/2014 21:39

Redexpat, it's a local hospice shop but they have about twenty-five shops locally. Our village is middle-range (?!) really. Not poor, not wealthy. I do suspect that the manager thinks that she's running the antiques roadshow though as I saw a glass carafe with 2 missing shot glasses on sale for £14.99 Wink Not even a noted glassmaker.

The Cancer Research shop in my town has adopted a new pricing structure; £3 for tops, £4-5 for dresses etc. I came out with four dresses last week and a few bits of bric-a-brac. They're doing it as a trial to see if they make more by lowering prices.

OP posts:
HerrenaHarridan · 25/07/2014 21:39

It annoys the hell out of me.

Once upon a time when i was very very poor used to get food out of supermarket bins, I also used to go through the charity shop bins.

I could have set up provided 20 home set ups with an exceptional array of good quality crockery, why not offer it to social services or women's aid?
I saw two huge bin bags of Enid blyton collection, why not donate it to a school library, give them to kids home or again women's aid.
Several huge bin bags of knitting machine wool, donate it to the local knitting club ffs

I still have a Thomas the tank engine wooden train set that I got from that bin 6 years ago

These things were donated in good faith to be put to use not to be landfilled.

The only reason they didn't sell them is they were overpriced in a poor neighbourhood.

One of the things I took out of there was an ikea serving platter. Brand new still with its big ikea sticker "£1" with a little red bhf sticker next to it "£2"

Somewhere along the line it seems to have been forgotten that charity shops are not just there to fill the coffers

Original poster
MarmaladeShatkins · 25/07/2014 21:43

Oh yes, this is true as well, Herrena.

I helped set up a vintage shop for this charity and the manager there told me that the stock gets rotated so many times before being sent to be destroyed! Shock

Why not just plonk it all on a table and say a quid for anything on the table?! Got to be better than binning it all?!

OP posts:
17leftfeet · 25/07/2014 21:48

I tend to find the big ones like BHF and oxfam way over priced -you regularly see clothes at more than their original retail price

Original poster
MarmaladeShatkins · 25/07/2014 21:50

Our Oxfam is the exception! All of their bric-a-brac is dirt cheap (ace for a china/glass collector like me!) and their books and records too.

I know that elsewhere in the country they can be pricey, though.

OP posts:
TheLovelyBoots · 25/07/2014 21:54

Shouldn't they try to maximize profit for the charity?

Original poster
MarmaladeShatkins · 25/07/2014 21:55

But they're going to maximise nothing if they deter customers from entering the stores in the first place.

OP posts:
HerrenaHarridan · 25/07/2014 21:56

The cancer research shop near me had a 50p table.

X time in the shop and on to the 50p table. It's great for stocking fillers and I often go in there to check it out. It's right in the window. Very clever marketing if you ask me.

The amount the throw out disgusts me. I actually cried when we got caught and the police made us throw back lots of wonderful books :(

foreverforaging · 25/07/2014 21:57

Totally agree with you.

£25 for a pair Phase Eight shoes and £25 for a Kipling purse in one of the shops near me...

MaccaPaccaismyNemesis · 25/07/2014 21:58

Bearing in mind it's based on donations and largely staffed by volunteers/reduced rates etc etc the very nature of a CS is profitable IMO. Unless I've got that totally wrong?

VanGogh · 25/07/2014 21:58

Because boots, it's only a profit of they sell it and a lot of shops are pricing themselves out of selling.

Original poster
MarmaladeShatkins · 25/07/2014 21:59

Ha ha! The Help for Heroes shop has had a pair of DISGUSTING silver brogues from Dorothy Perkins at the price of £15 on the shelf since about March!

Give it up, guys. No-one wants them!

That's awful, Herrena. A crime to destroy decent books.

OP posts:
Original poster
MarmaladeShatkins · 25/07/2014 22:01

Absolutely, Macca.

No staff rates (except managers), usually rent-free and reduced utilities so even if they make £5 on a dress instead of £9.50, that £5 is all profit!

OP posts:
Coachbuiltprammama · 25/07/2014 22:01

i know it seems awful they are hiking the prices up but i think the reason they do it is to pay the rent on the shop and have money for the charity and a lot of people just don't shop in charity shops anymore its a shame but i think i'm onto the truth......if everyone started shopping in charity shops the prices would plummet back down again because they would have more business again

Catmint · 25/07/2014 22:09

YANBU, it's totally up to you where you make your donations.

I recently found out that I disagreed with the charitable objectives of a place where I had donated some of my old stuff, which I had also gift aided.

Then I had a letter from them saying that legally they had to offer me the money back. ( I had never heard of this). So I wrote to them and said I was very sorry for messing them around but I had discovered I didn't agree with their objectives, so I exercised my right to ask for the money. It was over £100, which I used to sponsor various people doing things for charities I prefer to support.

Catmint · 25/07/2014 22:10

Obviously I don't donate my stuff there anymore either...I was sorry to cause them inconvenience but I felt much better when I had done what was right for me.

Sparklypants · 25/07/2014 22:14

I don't even go into my local oxfam anymore. Their prices are ridiculous!

thenightsky · 25/07/2014 22:17

Our local BHF and Oxfam seem to think that 'Atmosphere' is a designer label Hmm

KillmeNow · 25/07/2014 22:18

Our local cancer research shop had a period of several weeks of pricing most clothes at £1 . Shoes,coats and evening wear were more expensive but still cheap.
I took to going in and picking up a couple of bits each time I went past. I spent at least a couple of pounds each time and didnt mind if things didnt fit or werent right. I just put them in the charity bag .

The shop was thronged every time I went in and the turnover was really fast. I think they were using other shops stock that had been taken off the racks.

When they returned to the normal pricing I went in out of habit and dint buy one thing. Im not potentially wasting £4-5 on a top that I wont wear and I never take stuff back. The shop was empty - at lunchtime by the way.