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 agree that people give absolute rubbish so they don't have to feel so bad about throwing it away, but I think it's overly charitable (no pun intended) to say they don't know they're giving crap. I've heard people say 'I'll eBay the good stuff and then give the rest to the charity shop' many many times. If you know it won't sell on eBay (or will sell for so little it's not worth your time) why do you think the charity shop will suddenly be able to sell it to an eager public?!

I worked in charity shops for over 10 years. I don't miss the utterly random stuff like a half filled jar of odd screws or half of things. I especially don't miss the dirty clothing. Shoes maybe but filthy clothing still gives me the boak

Sorry to derail slightly, but another excellent thing to do with used bras is to donate them to a homeless shelter. My local one takes used bras, pants and socks as long as they are in good condition.

people need to stop with the 'they ought to be grateful for my donations'. Most people who work in charity shops are volunteers with no actual stake in how much gets sold. They are giving up their own time to help the charity. Why should they be grateful to have to sort through crap? I have sorted out some truly horrible stuff at times. There is lots of good advice about what is good to donate and what isn't. If you genuinely want to help the charity rather than just see a means to clear your house without guilt then please heed the advice.

It's worth remembering as well that there's an awful lot of poor quality clothing that can be bought very cheaply new these days. No one wants to pay £1 for a greying out of shape vest when they can buy a sparkling white one in Primark for £1.99.

ILostItInTheEarlyNineties

When I donated good, quality clothing to a local charity shop and it was of the Primark brand, they were selling it for the same price as Primark..

Yes I've seen Primark or Supermarket brand clothing in charity shops for similar prices as new.

I must be in the 1% who found a genuine Hermes scarf in a charity shop Luna, mybest ever charity shop purchase!

I'd love to have the time to volunteer in a CS now, I did briefly in 6th form but didn't have the time to go more than a few times with my A Levels and a part time job.

The "same price as it was new in Primark" thing always comes up on charity shop threads.

Remember that many charity volunteers are older, many of them retired. They are not familiar with fashion brands. They will have heard of Primark, but Primark do not use their shop name on their brands - their items are Atmosphere, Cedarwood State, Denim & Co. Same with supermarkets - you have to know that Tu is Sainsburys, F&F is Tesco and Nutmeg is Morrisons. We have a sheet up in the back office saying roughly what items should go for. A women's top/blouse for example is £2 for supermarket, £4 or £5 for mid-range and anything over £6 for premium/designer, depending on condition and lots of other factors. But the system hinges on people knowing that Top Shop, Zara and Oasis are mid-range and Hobbs, Jaeger and Karen Millen are more expensive than that.

Nobody is trying to rip you off by overpricing items. It's not in the charity's interests to have things overpriced and sitting around the shop. On the other hand, we have to maximise income for the charity. Charity shops in posher areas can charge more. The manager's mantra at our shop is "price to sell" and that's what we do - people are happy to buy a Debenhams blouse for a fiver.

I will echo the plea on behalf of homeless shelters.

Think about who you are donating to, they don't want dirty stuff either.

Very few will be size 40 waist either.
High heels etc, not appropriate.

Oh, I don't think charity shops are trying to rip anyone off by selling Primark clothes, Luna.
I was just pointing out that someone donating a fairly old worn top from somewhere like Primark isn't a great donation as the shop can ask for very little as it was only a couple of pounds new.

Another thing.

Don't abandon your expensive donations outside the shop overnight, and then complain on MN about how you're boycotting the charity forever because they disposed of it. MNers, you know who you are. I bet there was a notice on the door.

Anything could have happened to it overnight, from pissed yoofs pissing in it, rats urinating in it or people sticking used heroin needles in it. This is why many shops have H&S rules not to accept bags left over night, and they make perfect sense.

Oh I see what you mean about the Primark stuff. Yes we get loads more profit from the expensive items but we need volume too, impulse buys at cheap prices which get people through the door and browsing. Every time I'm on the till serving someone with a massive bag of purchases they claim only to have come in for a card or a paperback!

Some charity shops get paid for the stuff they send to the rag man

As for volunteers being old and not knowing fashion brands, that's a horrible generalisation. I'm sure most managers (who usually set the prices) would know anyway

I'm just going on what I have seen with the older volunteers in my shop. They know all about Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Country Casuals, less about Hollister and Forever 21. And when they're only in a couple of hours a week it's not like they're seeing brands every day.

Also, yes the manager sets the pricing policy. The manager (there's only one of her, and she's not there every hour the shop's open) cannot physically price every single item, it's impossible. And having a pricing policy does not stop someone identifying "Atmosphere" as a top-end high street brand and Hollister as cheap and cheerful supermarket items.

I'm just making the point that age is irrelevant. I wouldn't have a clue about clothing brands and I'm 46!

Some people haven't a clue but don't assume they do or don't based on their age please - my
Mother works in a charity shop and knows most of the fashion brands!

People probably don't know a piece of a jigsaw is missing. They are donating it because they don't use it, and probably haven't used it for some time. Do you seriously expect people to do a 2000 piece jigsaw to check it's all there before donating it?

I'm not a charity shop volunteer, but I do donate stuff a lot when I'm having clear outs.
Why wouldn't you do a jigsaw first before giving it to someone else?
I would.
That's just pure and utter laziness, and if you can't be arsed to do it, just chuck it.

So does nobody else have a rag man who collects all the crappy stuff and pays a little for it?

In fairness, @glitterazi, doing a 2000 piece jigsaw is not a quick job - but people could count the pieces instead.

The charity I volunteer with has its own recycling plant. Stuff is sorted there and if it's good enough to sell, it's sold. Stuff which isn't suitable for the uk market is sold by the tonne to merchants who sell it on in Africa or other parts of the world. Damaged stuff is recycled for sofa filling and similar.

That's all FINE. We don't mind getting textile rags. I do personally mind getting other items like broken plastic toys or chipped plates because they can't be recycled and we pay to dispose of them.

I would estimate that textiles (clothes, bedding. Tablecloths etc) are only about a third of donations by volume - maybe less than that.

Not RTWT but OP YABU! A charity shop I go to regularly told me it makes a lot of money from selling for scrap and rag, things like bits of keyrings etc.. they sell that to the scrap man. Tatty fabric: sold for rag by weight. Let the charity shops themselves chose what they want and don't want and ignore the OP.

Things like toys get bought by the ragman too - might be worth investigating

Laughing at the idea of counting all the pieces in a jigsaw - we simply wouldn't have the time. You'd have to have a full time piece checker given the
number of puzzles handed in and there aren't many charity shops with so many extra volunteers for that to happen.

X post!

The problem with OPs like this is that it will make people think twice about donating (although possibly about volunteering as they don't want to be thought of as old and a bit thick)