AIBU to issue a plea on behalf of charity shop volunteers?

[LunaLoveg00d]

We know it's the decluttering season and we know that lots of us are chucking out stuff the kids have grown out of or have got bored of to make way for the new stuff they got over Christmas.

But please, no charity shop wants a jigsaw with bits missing, a colouring book with half the pages scribbled on, a doll which has been given a "haircut" by its previous owner, trainers encrusted in muck, odd socks or cushion covers which someone has spilled red wine over.

Just CHUCK THE BROKEN AND MINGING STUFF IN THE BIN - if it's not good enough to be in your house any more, why would you think it would be good enough for other people's??

(Frazzled after a morning trying to sort out the lovely, quality donations from the post-Christmas crap.)

I had a lady in the charity shop try to haggle me down while I was haggling up I thought/knew it was worth more than the price and she thought it was worth less than the price!

It was a spode Christmas tree cake plate, and we have a lot of that set so I grabbed it as soon as I saw it, it was perfect condition but with no box and priced at £5. I tried to offer £20 and she tried £2 or £3, in the end we agreed on the ticket price and I put the rest in the collection box!

The two volunteers were convinced it was a lid to something (and looking underneath you could see why they would think that) and wouldn't be told that it was a cake plate, I only knew because we already had one though

So I left the shop 1 box, 3 bags for life and £20 lighter but with a new spode cake plate

Agreed OP. And can I ask all charity shop workers to please...arrange the shelves in your tiny, narrow shop when the customers aren't trying to look at the stock there.

I keep going into charity shops and trying to look at things only to find some determined and often a bit ignorant, shop assistant is rearranging the items on the shelf and won't let me look!

Would be lovely for there to be so many volunteers that they can stay after 5 or come in before 9 to sort shelves. Unfortunately charity shops have to work with the hours people can give, which are hours the shop is open.

I always apologise though if I'm sorting shelves where someone is having a look and try not to do it, but it's not always possible.

I volunteer in ACS and can relate to the frustration of the people who have been there for so long they think they run the place and won't take any advice. Like not pricing primal clothes at more than they'd have cost new. Some of it is frustrating but it is still the best thing I can do with my limited amount of time available to be doing work type activities at the moment.

We rag shoes so would encourage unwearable ones to still be donated.

Over the last few weeks I have donated about 13 bin liners worth of good stuff as we are moving to a slightly smaller house (and I dream of minimalism). I received my gift aid summary for what i donated last year just before Xmas and it was around £150, so look forward to seeing what I've made for the charity recently.

Landfill guilt... is clearly a 'thing'. It makes me sad to think that even if I bought nothing new for a year, aside from all the unwanted gifts we receive (not being ungrateful, but for the kids it really is too much), out there somewhere all that tat is still being mass produced and has to go somewhere at some point - where does it stop? Where does it go? Do we really need all this stuff? When we go on holiday with our lives in 4 suitcases I realise how little we can happily get by on.

My local charity shop have greeted me with a smile every day this week (a bin liner a day!)

And this thread has also made me want to volunteer.

often a bit ignorant, shop assistant is rearranging the items on the shelf and won't let me look!

Are they really being ignorant or could there be a command from head office that book shelves be totally organised in a certain day, and constantly restocked throughout all the other days, and they have many other tasks to do with not very much time? Some of the processes are mandated from on high...

Well I took MILs stuff to the charity shop today and they couldn't have been nicer. We had 7 sacks of sorted and folded clothing, 28 complete outfits on hangers, 18 pairs of shoes and a sack full of bags, belts and hats.

I was telling them that the next stop was recycling and they said to give them everything because they can get money for all (except electrical) items even if they are unsalable.

Oh OP you could ask mumsnet to move your thread to a different topic so it will break the link posted in the Fail article.

Luna the assistants that I see aren't "sorting" things but faffing about! Adjusting displays etc. Also, I've worked in many shops and when I'm tidying shelves and someone wants to look in that area, I bloody wait! I go and do another job till' the area is free.

Common sense really. I have all day or all afternoon to do my job...they may only have ten minutes to spare.

"I've worked in many shops and when I'm tidying shelves and someone wants to look in that area, I bloody wait! I go and do another job till' the area is free. "

That's good customer service, and a 'customer is always right' approach, but in countries where this isn't the attitude they often carry on and the customer has to wait or look at something else. I can see why unpaid volunteers might do this as well.

Gwen but my shop experience has all been in the UK...same as my customer experiences.

www.escentual.com/help-and-advice/about/give-and-makeup/

For those who want to send their toiletries and makeup somewhere, thought this link might help some of you

I volunteered in a charity shop one summer as a teenager and had most of the problems mentioned.

One guy turned up with a carload of miscellaneous electrical gubbins, including light fittings and random wirey bits and threw a tantrum when I told him we couldn't except them because we couldn't sell electrical stuff. I told him to try at one of the other charity shops along the road, one of which did take electrical and furniture, but he insisted on chewing my ear off for another ten minutes before storming out. He seemed to think that not only Scope, but I personally, should be humble and grateful.

can someone please give me the dailyfail link for the article? I don't want to spend too long browsing around there

Boots, all you need to do is google "Mumsnet charity shop donations"

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4109946/Charity-shop-volunteers-reveal-worst-donations-ve-received.html

It's one of the first links and you can see DM posts on Google in order of publication. So this was published on there 2 days ago.

thanks.
I've never been quoted before.

Watch out....they once got in touch with me via Mumsnet....MN then sent me a message asking if I wouldn't mind if a reporter phoned me up to "Discuss the issues I'd had with my previous employer" who just happened to be a very large, famous British institution.

I'd said ONE negative thing about it and the DM were on it like a starving dog on a bone.

eeek

I've never been quoted before...Hmmmm.

Didn't know this thread had been picked up elsewhere, so I'm not posting where this is. Suffice to say there is a door behind all those boxes, but the volunteers might struggle to find it...

Should have said poor charity shop volunteers. It's peeing down with rain too, so the boxes will be soggy and useless mush.

And by tomorrow morning at 9am, everything in that pile by the door will have to go straight into the bin, which will cost the charity money.

Thanks for the interesting thread, it's given me food for thought.

I'm presently decluttering my entire house, would you say that it's best to take all the 9000 fucking boxes at once, or in dribs and drabs to local charity shops? I have already sorted rags and naice clothes out, would it be helpful to separate fiction from reference books? Or is that being precious?

And do fuck off Daily hate Mail. No one likes you, you utter shits.

I'd phone the charity shop first. Some can deal with loads at once and some can't. I wouldn't worry about sorting the books out :)

Yeah, pretty much as I thought, thanks