To think charity shops are charging too much and are losing their way.

[TheoriginalLEM]

I appreciate that they are wanting to raise as much money as possible for their various causes but they are charging way over the odds for many things now.

Clothes from primark and tesco - £5?? really? probably cheaper to buy it new.

But what made me really sad tonight was walking past a charity shop window and seeing toys being sold at really expensive prices. Some mega block dragon sets £15 £17 for some hotwheels tracks. Both really bashed up boxes, obviously secondhand.

Now charity shops have become trendy, i think they have forgotten, that whilst this isn't their primary aim, they used to be a godsend to parents with little money. They could go to the charity shop and pick up some half decent toys for their children for christmas etc. I'm lucky, i can afford to get my DD new toys, i would have bought the megablocks if they had been reasonable, as an extra but not at £15 - sale lost.

So where do parents with little cash have to go now? poundland? cheap plastic tat that wont last five minutes. When they used to be able to pick up half decent stuff in charity shops.

Like i said, their aim is to raise money but ive seen back rooms of charity shops with bag upon bag of "stuff" ready to be sorted and put on the shelves. I have lost count of the times ive left something on the shelf because ive been unsure of it, but if it were a couple of pounds i would have bought it and taken the chance. I can't afford to shell out a fiver on something that might not fit and i don't always have time to try things on if i ve just popped in. So whereas i might have gone and bought 2 or 3 tops for a £2 each spending £6 on stuff they were GIVEN, i leave with nothing because i think either, no, not taking the chance, or fuck that i can buy it in tesco for that price.

Its the toys that have made me feel sad tonight.

[LEMtheoriginal]

Ok so just a bit freaked out now...the first zombie thread on active this morning and I was the first to respond (in 2013!!).

Then I spot this in active., opening it thinking yep, I agree -turns out I was the OP.

My views haven't changed!

[thatonestaken333]

My husband works in a charity shop in Bristol, he says they have assessors who come in and take all the best stuff and dispatch it to a warehouse in Avonmouth (Bristol) and it all gets put on ebay. absolute disgrace.

[ToadOfSadness]

Cancer Research are bad for over-pricing and they throw loads of things out, bags of cuddly toys which could have been washed and donated to families with children or a refuge, I have seen the cuddlies being kicked along the street. They also have this smart, minimalist image so there are very few clothes on the rails and horrendously loud noise blaring out. They also dump stuff at the backs of their shops so that the thieves help themselves after dark, even in the storage sheds.

I won't even go in there now, it is horrible.

[MyOtherUsernameisaPun]

What's with all the zombie threads today?!