in thinking some charity shops are abit too choosy about what they take

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Took some stuff to the charity shop yesterday. I went to age UK as i had to pop to Wilkos and it happened to be a few doors down. Anyway drop stuff in, i had a big bag of stuff and then a changing mat loose. Woman took bag off me and snapped we can't take that for hygiene reasons whilst pointing to changing mat so i said ok and left shop with the changing mat (left bag with her), i was gonna gift aid but she didnt ask and she was so snappy i didn't like to ask. Anyway changing mat is virtually new, in fact i'm not sure if i did actually use it or not, i had another one when DS was small and it split so i got this one but DS was of such of an age by then that i didnt really use it, anyway i ;d may have used it once or twice but it looked brand new!! Anyway today i went into the mind shop (as it was next to aldi!!) and i had another bag that i couldn't manage to carry yesterday) and the staff couldn't be helpful enough, and they had some 2nd hand pottys on sale (so i'll assume they'd take 2nd hand changing mats) AIBU to be pissed off with Age UK, i know the staff are volunteers but i'm sure they could have looked at my perfectly clean and practicallly new changing mat and throught 'we'd get at least £2 for that, instead of sending me out feeling like i was trying to offload something unclean

Yanbu, I'm fed up with many of the major charity shops round here, volunteers are often rude, picky with the stuff they take and charge a lot of money for many clothes items including more for some stuff than it is new in the shops (particularly supermarket clothes).
I now always donate to smaller charities.
AND when my girls were small I had to buy a lot of my stuff from jumble sales, so I would always expect to clean items before use and was always pleased to find things like changing mats.

I always take my stuff to Red Cross as they always seem grateful for it.

However it is worth remembering that charity shops are not just a dumping ground for old tut you don't want, like video tapes.

I always take my donations to the Salvation Army. I don't know if it's just ours or all of them, but they take everything (including clothes only fit for rags, which I always mark up), and they employ local people with intellectual disabilities to sort and stack. Plus they sell things on for reasonable prices because their mission is to local poor people, and don't price things up to a ridiculous level (Oxfam, I am looking at you).

This is who I volunteer for

I take all our stuff to Barnados, because I like the cause and they have a parking space outside. It really makes all the difference to the sorts of items we are able to donate.

Sorry you had a poor experience OP, sounds as if it was a customer service issue at heart. If a CS has policies about what they are unable to accept, it's sensible for them to publicise that with a polite sign. Many don't take electrical goods, for example, and they usually put up a notice.

I second the Salvation Army shop. My friend volunteers in our closet one. It's not actually that local so I save all our stuff up and fill the boot up and take it over. I take everything and separate the stuff that is for the "rag bag". They get good money for the worn out shoes because the "rag man" pays by weight. The proceeds are spent locally and the shop is well supported. Their good are not sold at stupid prices either.

I had an incident where I donated some (virtually new m&s) bras and the lady actually got one out of the bag, held it up in front of her and went "wow" at the size. I was much bigger of nork before losing weight. She was a wisp of a thing. I know she didn't mean to but I was so embarrassed. Dp was

I agree with the point about many workers lacking social skills. The majority of charity shop volunteers in my small town seem to be people I'd imagine would struggle for employment elsewhere. Happy to support that.

i only ever donate to one charity shop and here is why back when i only had one child and i was in an abusive relationship the guy who worked there always had a sale on when i went in 5 items of kids clothing for £1 he realised my dd had no new clothing and i was trying to eek out the pittance i was allowed of my own money to clothe her i wasn't the only one apparently he had seen it all to often and tried to help when he could even if it meant having an occasional "flash sale"

this is also the charity shop which takes everything but videos and throws them away if they are no good

ive just given them three boxes of tagged and good quality stuff i can't do it always but when i can they go there more than any other charity shop

I used to manage a Cancer Research shop. Musty clothes are a bit of a problem because they stink the shop out and have to be washed/dry cleaned, usually at the expense of volunteers or the manager.
We too had bags with dirty underwear in... knickers encrusted with blood was a particular favourite, but not nearly as much fun as the bag filled with fleas. I had to get the entire place fumigated at great cost.

I got so sick of the charity shops over here that i put everything in the salvation army bins for them to do with what they please.

Why is a 2nd hand baby mat disgusting. When my dc was in nappies I used many changing tables.

Why is a 2nd hand baby mat disgusting. When my dc was in nappies I used many changing tables.

I love our Barnardo's shop. The dropoff centre is slightly out of town with parking, and the shop itself is in the town centre near several big car parks. The shop is laid out like ... a shop ... rather than a jumble sale, to the point of using proper wooden hangers with size pegs on them (which they keep when you buy something, obvs). Lovely shopping experience so you go often.

Surely you can understand why a shop wouldn't take a second hand mat though? Fair enough if you want to sell it yourself second hand - but donating it to a shop and being surprised when they say no due to hygiene reasons is ridiculous. Obviously they aren't likely to want it! Would you expect a once used mat returned to Mothercare to be put back on the shelves?

I left the charity shop I worked at because I was getting fed up at the managerial involvement - the sheer prices they expected us to charge for tat and the wastage of stock.

All sorts of volunteers were welcomed, but usually staff (esp sorting staff) were made up from people who had social difficulties or were in some way vulnerable.
Unsurprisingly your average charity shop worker will not have a retail qualification and, politeness aside, I can't believe the level of service expected from someone who is accepting your unwanted items!

Deaky: there certainly are some kind people around.

trufflesnout but it is not a 'level of service' that is expected, or anything that requires training for. It is just common politeness to say 'thanks' surely? You write as if the charity is doing the donor a favour. I thought it was the other way around.

Although I do know that some people donate dirty/unsellable items and that is not on, but most people are making a kind gesture. They could sell on ebay instead, or just bin the stuff.

Mrsdavidcaruso... Charities have been exempt from collection charges at any council I've worked with. Which ones are charging, out of interest? I'd be surprised if a council would charge them and the charity should contact their environment department to check that.

I agree with Nadia. You aren't expecting much, just politeness and a smile.
I think it comes down to the individual working in the shop.
A few weeks ago I took some items to a Cancer Research shop. The woman was very nice and talked me into gift aiding. A couple of weeks later I had another bag so went back to the same shop.
The woman was quite grumpy and when I said I gift aided she let out a big sigh (more work for her I suppose) and I felt embarrassed that I had mentioned it.
She had no idea what was in the bag (some nice children's books, signed by the author amongst other things).
DiL took some things to the Salvation Army the other week and they said 'We've had too much in today we don't want it.' Again the tone was rude. DiL took it to a small local charity shop and they were really pleased.

I agree with nadia too. Manners cost nothing.
I had an assistant in a charity bookshop who was rude to me. I asked if they sold book lights and he happily told me that they did and showed me the display stand. He was quite chatty and I happened to mention that the light was to use with my kindle. He nearly exploded and told me it was selfish people like me who were putting book shops out of business. I suppose he's right in a way and it was obviously something he felt strongly about but I was a bit and I left without buying the light.

trufflesnout but it is not a 'level of service' that is expected, or anything that requires training for. It is just common politeness to say 'thanks' surely? You write as if the charity is doing the donor a favour. I thought it was the other way around.

I did say "politeness aside", and I agree that they should say thank you, smile and take the stuff - but don't be surprised if whoever is manning the sorting doesn't because it's often the volunteers who struggle socially who are in this role. Rude people are a different matter entirely.

And as for the donator doing the charity a favour, I'm actually going to go as far to say as you're not really. The amount of stuff we received was massive. We were very grateful for all donations, but it was definitely not a case of favours being done. That attitude is particularly annoying among donators esp when they're bringing in boxes of dirty laundry and soiled toys

I don't get the bit above about the donator NOT doing the charity a favour.
Without donations there wouldn't be a charity shop? And if its not doing them a favour donating your unwanted stuff why do I get thousands of bags through the door begging for it?
And there is annoying attitudes on both sides.

And if its not doing them a favour donating your unwanted stuff why do I get thousands of bags through the door begging for it?

Because those come from the management or the charity, not the shops themselves.

Of course charity shops exist to accept donations, and yes, if every single person stopped donating there would be no charity shop. But to be completely honest, when someone waltzes in with the attitude "but surely you need my things", I took great pleasure in thinking (not saying - that only happened if it was used changing mats or broken tvs or dirty clothes) "no not really, you daft bint".

Lyingwitch sorry that's not actually true we are allowed a certain amount of bags which the council will take but any extra and we have to pay them to take it away, so when I had a load of boxes of videos once it was too much for the free collection and my charity was invoiced for the rest.

I saw the invoice as I had to send it to finance to be paid

I would have happily taken up the fight for you, Mrsd. It's the one positive bit of PR about waste management in the councils.

I know that I would have visited you and suggested that videos are most definitely household (which they are) and that household waste is charged to the householder as part of the Rates/Council Tax... and therefore NOT chargeable again. I might have suggested to you to siphon them off and next time you were passing a civic amenity site/HWRC, drop them off with any other rubbish you were taking.