To dislike charity shops who arrange clothes by colour

[JaceLancs]

Just that really!
I shop in charity shops frequently and really dislike those who put all the same colour things together
I don't mind sorted by size or by type of garment
When I go in a shop I usually have an idea of what I'm looking for - so at the moment knitwear and shoes
I don't go in a shop and think I'm looking for something green or any other colour for that matter
Today I went to two different areas charity shops and walked out of about 1/2 of them without looking round properly due to this

I love it. But then I go in for a browse rather than a purpose

I volunteer for Oxfam and we have our ladieswear organised by colour. We do have separate sections for long hanging coats and dresses and these aren't organised by colour and menswear isn't either. Or children's wear. We do try to organise bags/shoes by colours too.

It does look a LOT neater and more shop like - everything chucked on rails looks like a jumble sale. It also probably does help sales as people are browsing through. We have little cubes with the size on the hangers so that you can easily spot your size.

Why not give up an hour of your own time to help then and you can arrange it to whatever way floats your boat? Or you could, you know, continue bitching about how someone who has most likely done free labour for a good cause has slightly inconvenienced you.

Ah, see it works for me as I only wear certain colours; mainly black, grey, blue and green. A jumper or whatever might be lovely in all other ways, but I'm not wearing it if it's pink.

I'd normally be right behind you Mango, because people who whinge about the way that volunteers have decided to do something whilst not actually helping out themselves normally irritates the hell out of me. But in this case the charity is not being run for the OP's charitable benefit - from her POV it's just a shop - and it's not being run in the way she dislikes due to lack of volunteers, probably au contraire, and if she did volunteer for an hour a week there's bugger all chance that she'd be able to change what's probably a well evidenced and nationally set policy.

It's a choice they've made. It suits some customers (e.g. Me) and not others (e.g. The OP). It probably makes them more money than the alternative so the customers it doesn't suit have to lump it. However they're still allowed to have a petty moan - what else is AIBU for?

I do agree with you yes in that it's petty whinging.

it's not being run in the way she dislikes due to lack of volunteers, probably au contraire

How do you know that? Genuine question. Maybe it's less time consuming to do it that way and they are short of volunteers. I have no idea obviously just speculating. But to suggest that basically there's no point volunteering because what difference would it make...well that's a fairly sad attitude!

Obviously volunteering would help raise money for the charity, but it's not going to get the shop layout she desires, because I'm sure they're not doing it by colour because they don't have the manpower to do it the way she likes it - just from a bit of knowledge of the sector they're doing it for aesthetic/marketing reasons.

Whoops silly me. I naively thought one of the main points of volunteer work was to help raise money for charity!

I dislike it too, though it never occurred to me until you mentioned it that that's why I walk in and straight back out if its like that. I just can't be bothered.

I work in a charity shop. Our head office decides store layout and we used to hang by colour. Although it looked pretty it was impractical, our shop is small and very busy so hung by size works better. All departments are separate so browsing is very easy

It doesn't bother me at all. I can't stand it when sizes are all mixed up though. Something in a nice print might catch my eye and I'm disappointed when it turns out to be six sizes too big.

The worst thing to me though is the "vintage" rail in my local chazzer. There's loads of Primark stuff there, as well as anything tie-dyed or flared. I don't mind paying an extra couple of quid for a genuine vintage item but not for a Primani 40s look tea dress. Grr.

I find it. Much quicker to check if there is anything suitable. Rarely is in my local but I do prefer it.

Thinking about it more it would be so bad if they had them in size order as well as by colour. But faced with a wall of green it's too much effort to look at the size of every single item.

For those posters who have commented that perhaps I should volunteer in a charity shop - I have done so in the past
I also work full time for another charity, and do a different volunteering role for 2 other charities
Most charity shops I'm aware of have a paid manager and even s deputy manager sometimes - some employ merchandisers - most also employ van drivers etc
The decision as to how to order the shop is usually made much higher up the chain and may even be policy of that charity
As far as I am aware this is AIBU and it seems that a reasonable proportion of posters agree - I certainly didn't expect everyone to
I will just continue to avoid certain shops as I would on any high street

I don't go in shops that do this.

We have one paid member of staff in our shop, no merchandisers and no deputies. Volunteers do the windows and display.

I would imagine that ALL charity shops which are part of a larger chain have guidance about how items should be displayed. Head office will supply point of sale posters, and things like hangers and shop fittings like hooks or rails. Every shop in the chain will probably start with the same basics. Hanging by colour or by size is also probably a national policy.

From what I've seen though the managers do have some responsibility and flexibility over their stock. We will often switch around where things are hanging in the store (to make people look around more) or if we are suddenly deluged with coats for example, we'll move everything around and have a coats rail at the front of the shop where nothing is organised for size. At the moment we have a "party section" at the front of the shop with lots of glittery dresses and tops.

It;s all about maximising money through the till for the charity and the arranging by colour must take more money than arranging by size or garment type, or they wouldn't be doing it.

Hate it. I may love a particular colour but loving a colour wont magically make it fit. ALWAYS by size!