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.

If UK charity shops are not trying to imagine creative uses for the stuff that is donated, especially using the SM tools that are available to them (Pinterest for example) to highlight trash to treasure narratives, they are being run amateurishly.

Butterfly, you wrote a good post about why the shop could not take the goods in when it was closed. There are indeed many possible reasons.

Our shop is sometimes open on Sundays and sometimes not - it depends on manpower. I expect if someone looked at the website it might say 'open' which it shouldn't....implies it's always open. Oversight on part of central office. However, there is often someone there on a Sunday, even when it's closed. There might be a session for training, or other business. They might have been told 'don't accept donations' for some reason. Maybe there was nowhere safe to store them? We have volunteers with mild LDs, too, and some who are on community programmes, and some with very poor social skills who we don't put in a 'customer facing position' but who help in other valuable ways....they might not be good at accepting or refusing donations in a socially comfortable way. Perhaps the OP encountered one of them? We have a few volunteers in our shop who are brilliant at some tasks, but they're just not able to cope with customers.

I honestly don't see that the default position on this thread has been to denigrate donors or accuse them of bringing crap. Donors and their donations are very well appreciated in my experience.

I always assumed it was more thoughtful of me not to give charity shops stained, motheaten things - I put them in textile recycling bins, instead. Apparently, though, they will be grateful for everything I give them.

mathanxiety - that is a crass comment if ever I heard one, given that charity shops are run by unpaid volunteers! Of course they are often run amateurishly.

Waiting to be flamed by volunteer charity shop workers myself, now!

We don't have room to sell moth eaten cardigans in the hope someone will get crafty with them or cut off the buttons, math . But - as I've said - truly unsaleable textiles get sold to the ragman. I expect other shops do the same.

Sometimes it is easier for a person to leave stuff in a charity shop than to take it to the local waste management centre

Where I live this is true. From my house it would be a 20 minute drive to the nearest Council tip/recycling centre. Within 10 minutes there are 5 charity shops. It would be much easier to drop things at one particular shop I can think of where you can park right outside. In terms of time and distance the tip is twice as far.

That's not saying ALL people are dumping stuff on charity shops because they can't be arsed to go to the tip. I like to think people have good intentions but are just being hugely unrealistic about what we would sell. Like I said earlier, just ask yourself "would I be prepared to pay money for this?" If the answer is that yes you would, donate it. We'll do our very best to turn it into as much cash as possible.

If however you wouldn't buy a chipped mug or a broken child's toy, please don't bring it to a charity shop - we're not miracle workers, and broken things cost us money to get rid of.

Put mothy, stained textiles in the recycling bin, round. If you give it to a charity shop, someone has to fish it out of the bag, examine it, decide not to sell it, store it, bundle it and pass to ragman. We need our storage space for stuff we can sell at a higher price. It just makes more sense for you to go direct to the recycler yourself :)

As for amateur staff - most charity shops have paid managers. The rest of the staff are volunteers.

I know, tiktok. I admit I was being facetious! I actually think, though, the math makes some interesting points which will at least highlight to people that even stuff not fit for the UK charity shop should not automatically be going to landfill.

Wow, I've been a bit put off donating to charity shops after reading this thread.

Purdys - recycle your used clothing and goods another way, then, just don't put it in your general household waste!!! And donate to charities some other way. Then you have no need to fear you are wasting anyone's time. Just don't think it is a waste of your time to sort out your own rubbish!

I've managed or volunteered in charity shops for years. Please don't put anything except beyond hope, unhygienic stuff into landfill (I'm talking about stuff that is covered in mould, shit stains etc)...
Any decent charity shop should still welcome stuff that goes for rags (by the way, rags doesn't mean it's all cut up/ shredded! It goes on abroad , eg Africa, where it will be worn or recycled) So old socks, pants, holey clothes etc, fine, money for rags is usually a good amount each week.
I was never allowed to turn down donations and this was a problem especially in small shops. Often had to store extra bags in my car waiting to be sorted , not so great with the smelly stuff.
Op's charity shop should not have turned down donation..I wonder if they were in on a sunday to sort out a huge amount of stuff? I was often called in if there was too much to cope with on a Sunday. But they were rude. However , there are other options to land fill.
All clothes (except the skankiest) can make money..on shop floor or as rags.
On another note.. it was a nightmare that plenty of people gave in their general waste to avoid going to the tip. In one town I worked in until quite recently, the tip was shut for 6 months. This caused a big problem as we weren't allowed to turn down donations and you can't check every tied up bag as it's handed over. We got masses of household waste and our bins couldn't cope. It was so unfair especially as you have to spend time sorting or disposing , and at least I got paid (min wage) but not the volunteers. For six months to ease the problem I took rubbish home with me, and my car stunk. One of the reasons why I've given up on this line of retail. Classics included... 7 bags of grass clippings. Dog shit inside rolled up sleeping bags. Raw meat inside clothing (the mind boggles.. but gross to deal with for anyone let alone a vegetarian like me! Lady Gaga, was that you?!)

Tiktok - our shop has a policy of giving work experience to people with LD. I'm valued as a volunteer because I have a dd with LD and so I'm clued up as to problems that might arise and not easily shocked or shaken by a hissy fit or even an epileptic one. It's my speciality, if you like. I do so much mingling with folks who have LD that nothing much surprises me, and it's the so-called 'normal' people who get het up and take umbrage when things don't go the way they think they deserve, or are entitled to. My dd who has LD and her house mates are delightful company. One of them works at a local charity shop under close supervision (for obvious reasons) I'm loving this thread in a way, because I don't think that the general public are aware that main stream charity shops are obligated to accept people with LD and people who have been directed to do community service. I mean, it's not going to be a threat toHarvey Nicks. Is it?

Math anxiety - they are being run amateurishly because they are being run by unpaid volunteers. The US goodwill program is a huge and well run institution. We just don't have the manpower to corral every last battery.

We've also turned up a few sex toys, including a blow up doll. Unused? Who knows? Straight in the bin.

I used to cut off the buttons off manky clothes, especially buttons. Then sell as a collection (button box) or card any matching ones up. But all this is very time consuming. I was only allowed to do this in one store I worked for. That was helping the environment(to extent - and I do hate waste) but really not a money earner!
Charities are there to raise money and busy London stores like some of the ones I ran have a fast turnaround. Can't sit pottering around all day doing craft projects with mouldy castoffs. I mean I was working 7 days a week and still couldn't find time. Math, perhaps you should volunteer in a very busy, central one that has an overwhelming amount of donations..not just from customers but from the donations banks you get in supermarket car parks and the like . Other point being that it's the donation banks that get the shit thrown into them along with good stuff! And I do mean actual shit! And drunken people pissing into them, etc. I would never work for one again that used the banks and I even enquired this when I took my last job!

Butterfly, I (well not me personally!) have been donated loads of sex toys, unwashed, and mouldy jockstraps too. In fact the mouldy jockstraps was a weekly occurrance but he took time to sometimes hide them in his bags..he def got a kick out of it as would always hand them to a young volunteer of mine (female) although a few times he tipped them out for her . I honestly think some people don't do it as a way of disposing rubbish but that it gives them a kick to think of us handling /disposing of such items.
And volunteers are of course unpaid..so of course it's going to be run by amateurs as well as paid staff.. and also some professionals who are job hunting, retired etc..it's a real melting pot of workers...and that is a good thing... do people really expect every volunteer to be a professional?!

Butterfly, amateurs don't necessarily have to be amateurish. It couldn't possibly be that solid ideas from a well run organisation can't be translated into better practices, no matter what the differences in scale may be. Decent management and effective systems are basically common sense.

I think there is a difference in perspective involved. In the UK, charity shops seem to be trying to position themselves as higher end retail resources. I have a hunch this is misguided.

You waste a lot of time and I suspect you ultimately lose a lot of money researching and pricing merchandise appropriately for brand, condition, and age. Customers can be put off by a shop's reputation for extracting the maximum price from donated items. I have seen people here on MN complaining about Primark stuff selling in charity shops for more than it cost brand new. The perception of taking the piss works both ways. You will get more traffic in the door if a shop has a reputation for selling true bargains. You really need that traffic.

You need a way to sell off all the chipped glassware and coffee percolators that nobody wants too, but there are auctions and recyclers and brokers for that sort of thing. If they don't exist in the UK, there is a gap in the market. Stuff can be swapped among charities too, or donated from a selling organisation to one that gives directly to clients. It shouldn't all go to a landfill at a cost to the charity.

pilotonline.com/business/consumer/what-happens-to-thrift-store-donations-a-behind-the-scenes/article_624b929c-dd99-54a3-9698-155fb84eef4d.html

Alltoomuchrightnow- The clothing donation boxes in carparks that I am familiar with have slots that are fairly high off the ground or with complex flaps to hold open, partly to discourage theft and to prevent hooligans from ruining the clothing, and partly to prevent raccoons and other critters from nesting inside (though thanks to the configuration of the flaps, if they do get in they are stuck there, with all the attendant unpleasantness to deal with once the box is emptied, but that is a chance the box organisations felt was worth taking). A lot of people do not put donations in the bins because of doubts about where the stuff goes and who really benefits. People like to feel their donation will benefit local organisations.

Why card salvaged buttons when you could put them in a plastic baggie?

You need a way to sell off all the chipped glassware and coffee percolators that nobody wants too

If nobody wants it, nobody wants it. Big charities are doing loads to recycle as much as they possibly can. All charities will be differing in how exactly they manage their stock but all the biggies have been in the business for many years and have systems to keep a very close eye on performance. I know the manager I work with gets weekly figures broken down by department so she can see how we're doing against last year and against every other shop in the region. She can instantly see if we're not doing well enough on accesories, or ladies' shoes, and do something about it. It's not that they're misguided, it's that the market is obviously different and they're doing what suits local conditions best.

theecologist.org/2013/jun/13/oxfam-charity-shops-ultimate-recycling

Most charity shops are acutely aware of waste and don't want to throw things out if they can possibly help it. Textiles are sold to the rag man, books are recycled, any electricals we are given which we can't sell are taken to a different charity shop along the street by a volunteer. One of the ladies I work with is involved with a refugee project in our city, people arrive with nothing so we put things aside for her like odd cutlery, plates, cups, toiletries which we're not sure have been opened or not. We also sort metal into a separate box which is sold by bulk. Things which are good enough to sell but haven't sold in three weeks-ish are boxed/bagged and sent elsewhere in the chain.

But in the UK there just is not a market for broken toys, empty CD cases and chipped mugs. Even if there is a market elsewhere in the world it wouldn't be viable to firstly store it in a tiny shop and then ship it somewhere on the other side of the world that someone might want to buy it. I don't think the US goodwill model of huge warehouse stores where everything sits in the shop until sold is something the UK would embrace. Personally, I wouldn't want to see stained and damaged clothing on racks alongside high quality brand new with tags items.

That's an interesting article, k2p2k - thanks. Sounds like Oxfam makes good use of its donations! Much better than just throwing stuff in the bin.

math out of interest, did you read my post, and those of other charity shop workers like K2, that explained just how much shuffling of stock takes place, in order to get the most sales?

Your posts suggest you didn't, that you only read the odd posts by people who don't know what they are talking about, and so have an odd idea of just how much knowledge, experience and determination lies behind every charity shop in the UK!

To my last long post about clothing and its journey before it goes off to the rag man I can add that we have a number of local experts who come in weekly to cast an eye over the odd stuff. They either buy it and sell it on at car boots, in their own shops etc... they pay good money but still make their own profits. They also suggest which pieces need restoration or to be sold at auction in order to make the most money... local auction house doesn't charge us sellers fees!

The PAT test man comes and takes electrical stuff away, sells it on and gives us a % of his profits.

The ceramics man; textiles lady; book man and a few others, all wander in, have a peruse, make an offer and add to the charity's bank account.

As we are only a very small, very local charity and we get all of this set up I am sure you can see that some of your disbelief and ire is misplaced, much like that of the OP!

Math, here the clothing banks get full very quickly so bags are then left by it. These can get opened and rifled through, or stolen, but my worst experience is urinated into and then done up again.
I once had a bag fall down from top of the pile of bags to be sorted (at my shop) it fell because it was so heavy. this was because the clothes were soaked with piss. The bag split and on its way down fell all over me. I was covered head to toe with stale urine inc my hair. Stale, I mean could have been months old as some of these bags were taken away and stored in a warehouse before coming to the shop. I had to spend the day like this. My area manager was awful and wouldn't let me go home to change. I changed into clothes borrowed from the shop and I washed the best I could with cold water in the staff toilet but that was all I could do. Definitely my worst charity shop experience. AM told me to just suck it up as 'these things happen'. She had never sorted a donation bag in her life.
There is no market for broken toys here in England but some rag suppliers will take away. Only a few I think. Most will take soft toys but not plastic ones. So I used to take some home and put in the recycling and got left an angry letter. The recycler refused to take any of the stuff as there were toys in there. Also having shit out in the shop lets down the look of the shop especially in a good area. There's one thing having a pound rail (in one shop I put on it for eg, slightly faded designer t-shirts, or a good blouse with a button missing, but no cheap labels) but another having crap a jumble sale would reject on sale. It puts people off. A lot of UK charity shops are run like boutiques since Mary Portas's tv show and most of the ones I've run follow this. The disposal of rubbish was a complete nightmare. We couldn't cope at times. I'm lucky where I live there's a shared large communal bin rather than the normal one wheelie per person but I had to sneak rubbish in there at night so my neighbours wouldn't see it. My shop simply couldn't cope with the amount. My car was wrecked with all the crap I kept taking home. I love the actual work of running the shop but not the rest of it. I will never do it again. It's exhausting and filthy for minimum wage and on average (my experience) about every second item can't be sold. Most of the job is sorting and juggling rubbish. Putting one bag of crap into another bag to be taken away. Has to be stored until then. In my last shop we had no rubbish collection (boss wouldn't pay for it to give the charity more money) so we had to take to the tip ourselves or take it home ...the tip was shut for 6 months hence taking it in my car. In the end I didn't feel I was a shop manager but more a refuse worker.
I did my bit where I could as I'm passionate about the environment so as I said, I saved buttons. We saved decent rags for a lady to make rugs. Our rag suppliers stopped taking electrics but we did at least get them pat tested first..but still had to dispose of the rubbish stuff. It's all just so massively time consuming when you need to be out in the shop but majority of time is out back sorting crap. When the tip closed people used to hide their general household waste in their donations... potato peelings, used nappies, you name it. This was in a posh area in Bedfordshire by the way.
Never again!

You need a way to sell off all the chipped glassware and coffee percolators that nobody wants too

Yeh we tried this for a while. We had a 10p box and then a For Free box. We thought, a good way for things to be taken away. It didn't work and the area manager went nuts when she saw it as it looked so awful. No one wants bust up percolators and chipped mugs when Ikea, Wilkos etc are so cheap.

Bloody hell! If ours ever gets like that I suspect it will just close! None of us volunteers would put up with it, nor would the managers or 'owner'!

I was the manager :( In my last job, both myself and the area manager were being bullied by the Trustees..there was no support , the AM wouldn't help me when being picked on herself. Trustees don't even work in the shops but have the say on everything (in fact this was mentioned in a documentary about this particular charity last year; this is not typical of other charities, I should say!) But I've worked for four different charities now (and about 15 shops as covered many) all had rubbish problems. I would volunteer again , I still donate, I'm still active supporter but I would never be in a paid position again