To be annoyed the charity shop would not accept my donation

[Bearbehind]

I've had a bit of a clear out and had some stuff to take the the charity shop.

I checked on line it was open today then took the stuff into town.

You can't park right outside so I carried the stuff, in the snow, to the shop only to see a sign which said they no longer open on Sundays.

Oh well, I thought but, all the lights were on and I could see at least 3 people inside so I knocked the door and someone opened it.

He said they were shut and I explained I didn't want to come in, just drop these donations off.

He outright refused to accept them, because they were shut, and I'd have to go to another branch of theirs that was open today or come back tomorrow.

AIBU to think that if someone has made the effort to bring a donation to a charity shop and if there's are people there, they should accept them.

I'll be buggered if I'm taking stuff to them again.

Donating to charity shops involves people going out of their way.

No it doesn't.

I have a large bag of donations to take into one of my local charity shops. I called them yesterday and asked if they were accepting donations and said they were, just drop them in any time during store hours. I have a dentist appointment in the town centre on Tuesday, I will just take the bag with me and stop in at the shop on my way past.

I have not had to go out of my way, nor has it required a special trip (if I didn't have a dental appointment I'd just take the bag with me next time I go into town) and I know that my donations are what they need/want and will be put to good use to raise money for the charity I have chosen to support.

It does involve people going out of their way.

I could choose to be wasteful and just bin a top of my child’s when it’s too small.

Instead, I launder it, keep it neatly until I have a full bag, and then take it in.

Because it’s the right thing to do. But it’s not without effort in comparison to chucking it in the bin.

Of course it usually involves people going out of their way melj

I have no reason to go into it he town where the shop is other than drop this stuff off.

Funny that you know your stuff is what they want and need yet the rest of us just send shite?!

For instance I have an old bag of towels that I know people wouldn’t buy; all clean and folded but some with bleach marks and just a bit shabby.

So they went on Facebook and a local cattery owner is collecting them. Still effort in comparison to binning but much better all round, and not dumped on a charity shop as I filter my donations.

Funny that you know your stuff is what they want and need yet the rest of us just send shite

I just ring up beforehand: 'I have a bag containing x,y and z, is that something that you can sell at the moment?'

Yes = I take it in.
No = I ask if it is a temporary or permanent thing, and then either wait or put it in one of those large general donation containers at the local car park, depending on the answer.

The items are still going to charity which is good (check for a registered charity number on the bag).

I have heard people say that they have stuff which is too good for the charity shop 😳

I filter my stuff before i donate anything I would never give them a bag of odd socks or used knickers - although I believe some shops can sell old clothes on to local business to use as rags.

I do ask family first and if they don’t want it then I donate it to a charity shop. Although I have started using freecycle if I want to get rid of larger items.

YANBU. How hard would it have been to put the bags somewhere to be processed on Monday or whenever. If there was another reason like they've run out of storage space he should have said that as presumably that would also be the case during opening hours. Sounds a bit 'jobsworth' to me.

The sheer number of excuses not to accept the very items that they exist to sell makes me think it's not worth bothering, so in future I won't

Well you have a hissy fit by all means but most of what is donated to charities is not saleable. This is precisely why the charity my DM volunteered for changed the way they accepted donations.

They were getting typically, 50% total trash (think dirty knickers and broken toys, electricals which can't be resold) which they had to pay to get rid of.

Another 25% was serviceable items which were simply unsaleable - shops have limited space and some items simply don't sell, even if they had time and money to redistribute them to more likely areas.

About 25% were saleable items, including some which did need cleaning by the volunteers.

After Christmas the ratio of tat to saleable was even worse as everyone had a clear out and expected their cast offs to be received gratefully.

The tat was just as likely to come in an a Range Rover from the affluent as from anyone else.

If you genuinely want to contribute used items to a charity shop check up what kind of donations they can sell and are taking before you make your onerous trip. They all keep lists or will advise on request.

Actually, I think charities do sometimes send out pleas that people only donate things to charity shops that are in a reasonable condition. Board games with bits missing, clothes with large stains on, smelly unwashed items, broken electronic gadgets leaking battery acid, scratched CDs, all cost more in time, washing, sorting and/or disposing of safely than they can be sold for, so cost money to the charities and lose them volunteers who get fed up with volunteering being much harder work than they expected. If you therefore know you have some lovely stuff that looks as good as new, then it is worth persevering, because you will not only help the charity, but also people who could not have afforded the items you donated when they actually were new. If, on the other hand, your stuff is a bit worn and frayed, then it would be better to put it in one of the bins in supermarket car parks that sends stuff straight off to organisations that sort out what can be sent overseas and what can be turned into something else useful. They may not be charities, but they are performing a useful service by reducing what goes to landfill and are recycling what is still useful.

Hear hear C8H.

I’m genuinely shocked that they wouldn’t take your bags OP - no matter how busy they were it wouldn’t have taken much for whoever answered the door to say thanks and take them from you.
The charity shops round my way would have bitten your hand off - they’re all advertising for stock

chandlersfraud - every extra donated bag of stuff is extra work for someone at some point. Of course there is minimal effort involved in smiling and accepting the bag, but if the reality is that there are not enough volunteers to cope with it and they are having to shut up shop on Sundays in a desperate attempt to bring things under control, then it may on the surface be more polite to accept the bag, but is actually more wasteful than politely asking the person to take the stuff elsewhere that is open, because they know that they don't have time to sort it, so will probably end up just throwing it away themselves.

This is precisely why the charity my DM volunteered for changed the way they accepted donations.

So what do they do now?

I was actually helping my DH today he runs a charity shop and as he is on Holiday next week came in to clear all the sorting so his assistant is not inundated with bags - January is a very bust time for donations so wanted her to have a 'clean slate' to start the week off, the shop doesn't trade on Sunday and he doesn't get paid for working Sunday and of course I am a volunteer, as it happens as he was unlocking the door this morning someone wanted to donate 4 bin bags he took them, but for the rest of the time we were in the shop kept the shop lights off.

Of course people looking in could see a light on in the back and we had people trying the door, banging on the door, kicking the door, if we had been in the front it would have been pretty annoying, now as I understand it the OP had checked the website so I understand her annoyance, DH shop has an opening times poster that clearly states the shop is closed on Sunday plus he put a large notice in the window saying the shop is closed Sunday, but still people tried to get in.

As it happens DHs Charity is a Christian Charity and it is in his COE that he does not work on Sunday so if any ones feels the need to complain about him being in and not opening the door and not accepting donations he could get into trouble (people have been disciplined for working Sunday)

BTW the 4 bin bags were full of damp smelly clothes which were binned

I think Bearbehind should be banned from charity shops for her selfish attitude.

Whilst they might be 'charity' shops they are run as businesses and if they dont make a profit then they cost the charity money. If the shop I worked in allowed unlimited donations then we would be bankrupt. I think the op just can't comprehend what a 'charity' business has to do to make money.

When the shop is closed you regularly get people knocking on the door asking to leave donations or to buy a lovely jacket they see in the window. How are the volunteers/staff supposed to get any work done if they have to open to the public anytime someone knocks on the door?

I can see dozens of reasons why the staff couldn't accept your donation on a Sunday. It encourages you and other people to bring stuff when the shop is shut and encourage fly tipping. It is unsafe to leave donations sitting around on the shop floor. They would be unable to gift aid it. It could be against policy to accept donations outside opening hours for legal reasons. The staff in question might not be trained to accept donations (they could just have been measuring up for new shelves). The shop could have suspended accepting donations. They could see it was crap that would have to go straight in the bin and therefore cost them money.

There are so many reasons but the shop has rules and if they dont follow them they dont make money. So suck it up and donate when they are open or dont donate at all.

Ah, so if they want to make money then they need to refuse to accept donations

I've got it now julie

That's a cracking business plan for a charity shop.

Along with the fact that it turns out virtually everyone who donates to charity shops is a dirty skank who only goes to the trouble to give them shite because they are too lazy to place it in their dustbin.

This thread has been fantastic marketing for charities.

That's a cracking business plan for a charity shop

Yes Bear it is, and that is why PPs have said a lot of people on this thread have no idea what goes into running a charity shop.

It costs money to accept donations and if the profit on the sellable donations is less than the cost of running the shop and processing the donations then the shop is taking money away from the charity to pay for your waste disposal.

So your being selfish to expect a shop to pay for your rubbish disposal at the expense of their charity.

julie, the posts of you and your comrades are deeply offensive.

The issue was not about what I was donating- they didn't even look at the stuff.

It's far from rubbish disposal - it was new/ nearly new, clean items.

I'm disgusted that the default position of charity shop workers appear to be 'oh no, here's more shite'.

I'm Incredibly pissed off that I'm deemed to be the selfish one for attempting to donate quality goods to a charity.

I am honestly not going to bother in future.

There's been way too many charity shop workers and others who poured such scorn on donations that it's not worth it.

Agree with PPs about unsellable items being donated to charity shops and the time/money spent sorting through and disposing these.

Just a reminder that if you have clothes not quite up to scratch, often those clothes recycling bins you find in rail station car parks etc will take broken/ripped/stained clothes as they recycle them and sell on the stuff they can, so you can decrease landfill and help charity shops by using those too 🙂

round, you have no idea how I spoke to the people in the shop.

The fact is I was so astounded they wouldn't take the stuff, even though they were there and the door was now open, that I said nothing.

And I don't know how many times I've said their refusal was not because they were inundated- the shop is huge and half empty- it was simply because they were shut.

The 'twats' round here are the superior arses who are making out all donations to charity are tat and all donors are using the shop as waste disposal.

julies comment to that effect has truly disgusted me.

It seems not everyone agrees with you round because I certainly didn't report that post.

Bearbehind What have I said that is offensive?

I agree the issue isn't about what you were donating. A shop can only process so many bags a day. And they have no way to know what is in them until they start processing them.

The issue is your indigence at a charity shop not bending their rules and accommodating your demands. Also your inability to grasp that a charity shop just cannot warehouse, store or turn unlimited donations into money like some fairy godmother. To do so would bankrupt them.

So your being rather offensive to people who work/volunteer at charity shops with your uncaring attitude to whether or not your donation costs or makes them money or breaks their rules.

Hi folks. Just nipping on with a reminder to post with a little peace and love in mind. If you are feeling het up by what you are reading here, do feel free to step away from the thread for a while. .

The spitefulness from the OP and a few others is quite ridiculous. Why punish those who benefit from the charity based on some anonymous comments on a social media forum? Obviously the charity doesn’t mean that much to you.