AIBU to remind you to check out your local charity shop over the coming months?

[PoppyPopcorn]

I'm a volunteer in a charity shop - one with lots of shops across the country.

At the moment, our shop has a whole rail of Halloween costumes for between 50p and £2, for kids of all ages. Why spend £15 on a new one which will be worn once and by next year, won't fit??

We have some lovely things which would be perfect Christmas gifts - lots brand new with tags. Just this morning I was sorting out lovely things like cashmere stripe scarves, jewellery and scented candles. All never used and brand new. If you buy Christmas cards, getting them from the charity you want to support ensures that all the profit goes to the cause rather than buying the supermarket charity cards which donate very little. Also, if you're looking for tableware or decorations pop in at the beginning of November - if your local shop is anything like our we're bursting at the seams with tinsel, baubles, tablecloths and the rest of it.

Don't add to the mountain of "stuff" bought every Halloween/Christmas and then chucked out. Wouldn't it be lovely if everyone bought just one or two things from their favourite charity shop rather than a mass retailer - better for the planet and better for the charity too.

Fluffy pineapple I respectfully disagree that volunteers are 'cashing in.' Where I help, we are allowed to buy items for a reduced price- the charity has a staff discount that is applicable to volunteers as well. We are occasionally allowed to take things home for free if an item we like is not going to be put out for sale i.e. binned, or to try clothes on (ours doesn't have a changing room) but if we either didn't bring it back or didn't pay for it, we wouldn't be allowed to again. Also, items would not just be binned so volunteers could take them home - the managers would never agree to that

I 'respectfully' disagree.... I know for a fact that Charity Shop 'Volunteers' are free to take donations home. Would you like me to expand??

I'm not looking to start an argument but I can assure you that where I work we aren't, unless it is one of the reasons (and only those reasons) I listed above. It isn't necessary to expand- unfortunately I can believe that some volunteers do take donations for free They give the rest (hopefully the majority) of us a bad name, but please don't tar us all with the same brush. I personally would never dream of just taking a donation for free, and I wouldn't think much of anyone who did!

Tbh although most are lovely people/hard workers, there is always at least one cheeky one, e.g. a couple that I know of that come in for a few mins, have a chat, maybe some biscuits if there's any (and never bring any in themselves), don't actually do any work and leave because they 'don't have enough time' but somehow always have time for the chat/snack plus any nights out eg christmas. I do think that if they were allowed to they may try and take donations that could be sold for free, but like I said my managers don't allow it, and maybe optimistically I think that my managers can't be in the minority. Obviously, it's up to you to decide whether or not you want to donate your items, and it's none of my business, but I promise we aren't all awful

Fluffy - did you know that putting gift aid stickers on non gift aided items is breaking the law and would be considered fraudulent?

Old - I think you're really talking to me! Unfortunately I know it's not right- I haven't done it myself (I'm on the till, whereas others do all the sorting etc), although I know others have, as they have been told to do it by management. And when I say management, I don't mean the managers in the shop itself, I mean the area manager and those higher up! We just do as we are told - after all if the shop doesn't do well consistently, it's at risk of being shut down, which means the managers lose their jobs, and volunteers wouldn't be able to volunteer there anymore. Of course we could go elsewhere, but I think for some, volunteering in the shop and working with the other people is one of the only forms of meaningful social interaction they have and they might struggle to rebuild that, so it's in everyone's best interests really to keep the shop doing well and therefore open.

I don't agree with it at all, but it goes back to the whole run like a business thing- those at the top only care about making money and not about anything else, which leads to those at the bottom of the chain being pushed to do things like that. I'm sure we're not the only charity shop that does it, and I do think it would be great if people discovered how common it was over the industry as a whole, and exposed it. Maybe then if there were consequences the pressure would reduce? It's obviously disgraceful, and completely goes against the nature of charity but it's a situation of damned if you do, damned if you don't iyswim?

*fluffy' has a 'friend' who can take anything they want so it must be true

On the other hand I received a phone call the other week from the HO of a charity shop that I donate on a regular basis I gift aid so they have my details on record, the charity I support through my donations help the homeless amongst other things, but the money raised goes nationally and not locally, I had been sorting out OHs old clothes and culled his coat collection, not designer but high end high street like Debenhams Maine and M&S Blue Harbour, I wanted then to be distributed amongst local homeless men, so I popped into the shop to see if they would take them and get them to the people I wanted to help, the Manager was very helpful he said if I dropped them in he would deliver them to the local hostel, so that's what I did along with bags of other things that he could sell.

Apparently some busybody has seen him load the bags into his car outside his shop assumed he was stealing and reported him to his HO, of course it was sorted quickly with my evidence and the evidence of the hostel, but that does show the consequences of people making ignorant assumptions and accusing a very nice man of theft

Always the same things come up on threads about charity shops.....

Price of goods - charity shops aren't really there to provide "cheap stuff". Their aim is to raise funds for the charity. Larger chains have systems in place for setting prices, guides to be adhered to, ways of telling whether things have been sitting in the shop for weeks not selling. No charity shop wants stock not selling, so the mantra is "price to sell". That doesn't always mean price cheap. Sometimes volunteers will get it wrong by not realising that Atmosphere is Primark, or not spotting a stain or missing button. Charity shops which have a policy of consistently pricing used stock as more expensive than new are not going to be around long.

Volunteers taking stuff - I'm sure it does go on but I haven't seen it happen where I help out. There are rules about not pricing anything you want to buy yourself and all staf purchases are logged in a book.

Stock - no, we're not in a city centre. We're in a suburban area close to a large city where there is a fair bit of cash sloshing around. Much of the stuff we get with tags on are things which have been bought in an end of season sale and by the time the next summer/winter rolls around, the purchaser has decided they don't want it.

Moving stock - we do this too but it's not creaming off. Transport is pricey and it's always best to try to sell it locally first. If things haven't sold after 3 or 4 weeks then that's the point they're bagged up and sent somewhere else.

Donations - most are fine. Some are fantastic. Some are totally grim. If you're donating a bag of old pants or used socks then just mark it "rags" so that some poor bugger doesn't have to sort through it.

My family used to do a charity shop secret Santa (sadly it stopped when my mam passed away). All the older children & adults took part. We each got a name & had to spend £15 in charity shops on that person. It was great fun. I rediscovered a love of shopping as the stock is so different, unlike the chains where everything is samey. We could buy loads. We always ended up with new games to play on Christmas day. Anything the person didn't like could just be redonated to charity & it was a win win situation.

My local charity shops sell ancient m&s t, shirts for £5, video tapes and memoirs by people I have never heard off.

Ysolla I love that idea and have considered it before.

I like buying 'last season' costumes etc. so your kid will definitely have a different outfit to others.

We have a backlash locally because charity shops take up empty shops, but I'd much rather that than the empty lot.

I volunteered in a charity shop for a good few years. It was a local charity which ran 3 shops in my county . We never had anything for 'free' as surely that is just another word for stealing. The person who donates is doing so that money can be obtained from the goods they have given. Also items that are dirty,damaged or just not suitable are usually sold off by weight ( will say at a very cheap rate ) to a rag man that collects from charity shops. So another reason for never receiving 'free ' items. Any item we wanted to purchase we had to put to one side for the manager to price. ( She came in once a week ). I only volunteered for a morning a week so certainly didn't have the opportunity to always get the best stuff as often criticised on forums. In the charity shop I worked in we didn't get discount either. I know in some of the larger ones they even put stock around the country I.e the tat in poorer areas, designer donations in more upmarket areas to maximize the cost.

Goldfish what do you do with unwanted items then?
Charity shops try very hard to sell stuff or recycle it because it costs them to dispose to landfill. But the issue is with people giving them unsalable tat in the first place!

Totally agree with Columbine - some stuff to landfill is unavoidable. Most charity shops do their very best not to throw things away. At our place any clothing or bedding which is too damaged to sell, ripped or stained is sent to a central location where it is either sold in bulk, or shredded and recycled into things like mattress stuffing. Books are sent somewhere else which sends books to the developing world, or recycleds the paper in books which really are fit for nothing. Homeware, toys and toiletry sets which we aren't sure are new are boxed and sent to a local organisation which puts together "starter packs" for refugees, care leavers or homeless people getting their first accommodation. We even keep the carrier bags people donate stuff in and use them as stuffing in handbags to make them look better on the shelves.

We really don't like throwing things away but it;s often unavoidable. You would not believe the total dross that people give us. I think people are more aware of the landfill issue and feel guilty about putting stuff in the bin themselves so prefer to pass the problem on to someone else.