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.

Not meaning to single out Goodwill as a bad thing, as it obviously isn't. It clearly does lots of good work and has many successful stores, I just find it slightly irritating that it is being held up as a paragon of virtue when it, like all other organisations doing good work, has pros and cons with its chosen model. I would be incredibly surprised if big UK charities which run shops in the UK have not looked at what Goodwill does to see if they can learn anything from it. I do not think its entire operation is as seamless and utterly professional as math implies, though, nor that charity shops in the Uk are all as unprofessional as math seems to think.

(Well, actually, I don't think the word "professional" is a particularly helpful one, anyway!).

This thread has been a real eye opener.

I had always thought my donations (always clean and very good condition) were appreciated. It sounds as though some CS workers feel donations are just a hindrance.

I’ll keep donating to the shop I use as the staff have always been lovely. If that changes, I will stop donating.

What a shame.

Downtheroad please don't feel that. It is a perception that has been promoted by people who don't working charity shops, taking what I, and others, have said totally out of context.

We do value all donations, we do all we can to sell them, as we have detailed. If you read back you can see that almost everything gets 2 or 3 shots at being sold before it is even considered for the bin.

But that does not negate the fact that some people do 'donate' some truly vile stuff. I don't necessarily mean torn or broken stuff, but dirty stuff, literally shit smeared stuff. It makes even the happiest of charity shop workers a little bit cautious and occasionally grumpy!

Nor does it negate the fact that the people who shop in charity shops just don't buy less than perfect item, nor do they want to pay much for anything. That too restricts what can be offered on the shop floor.

I think a ripped jacket should be welcomed , as I said before, rags make up a good part of the shop's profit. Also if you thank the customer, the next week they may bring in something amazing.
But I was always amazed at what some people thought we could sell... once had 15 boxes donated (when my back was turned) of corporate gifts.... glass paperweights with a corporate name on and the date (2000) - how could that be welcome? Had to load into my car, two trips, to take to the tip 5 miles each way , this was part of the manager's job and we got no petrol allowance at all (this is on min wage)

I'm getting a bit tired of the posts saying they won't donate any more, or they are surprised that charity shop workers discriminate between different donations. Most of the posts from those of us who work in one have explained that every donor is thanked, that we are polite and grateful, and that most of the stuff gets a shot at making money if at all possible. No need for anyone to take offence or feel they've been let into a deep dark secret.

I did my stint today. A donor brought in a bag of books (one of about 10 donors today). Away from customer view, our books processor went through them.

The bag contained Chemistry text books from the 90s. Two very tatty paperbacks. An oil splattered cookery book. An A-Z of London from the 80s held together with sellotape. A children's picture book with scribbles all the way through. The donor had been thanked cheerfully anyway. The books cannot be sold and will go straight to the bookman for possible recycling (some book materials can't be recycled).

Other books from other donors were fine! But we often get bags like the one I've described. It doesn't matter, really. We'd prefer stuff we can sell in the shop as we make far more money on saleable books.

I'm describing the bag so people realise, and accept, that we are not especially fussy, we are always pleased and grateful to the donor, but some people (a minority) are just unaware of what is appropriate. It does not mean we disparage donors as a whole :)

Goodwill stores tend to be on busy roads, not necessarily out of town or miles from other shopping outlets.

The one I go to is about half way to the supermarket I go to once a month, in the same strip as the Aldi where I do a lot of my shopping. In the same strip there is an auto parts shop that I occasionally go to also, and a large medical office suite.Next door, with a different carpark is a gym and a sports equipment shop. To the south is a large car showroom and servicing facility.

The one in DD3's university town, while a bit far from most of the students if they don't have a car (and if they had a car they might not be shopping in Goodwill) is very accessible to anyone else - large town population and rural area all around, and located about a block from Walmart, Home Depot, sports stores, a few chain restaurants, etc.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, employers can hire disabled people and pay less than the minimum wage, in a 'sheltered workshop' setting. Those employers are also mandated to provide certain services to this category of employee. It's a paternalistic piece of legislation from the 1930s with a basic assumption that most people with a disability would be living at home and would not need a salary to live on as they would be supported by their family.

Fwiw, the minimum wage concept itself comes from a time when it was assumed only teenagers would earn it at part time or summer jobs while living at home and supported by their families. Huge portions of the working population now get by on minimum wage, supplemented by food stamps and medicaid, which are effectively welfare for the companies that pay minimum wage and provide inadequate health insurance (Walmart, for instance, costs each state millions if not billions every year).
www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/12/disabled-people-are-allowed-to-work-for-pennies-per-hour-but-maybe-not-for-much-longer/ Here's a discussion on the topic.

Scroll down to a comment from someone called Terry Collard referring to the services that are provided -
In reference to State Funding it is important to note that of the $2.7 million in funding to Chimes from the State of Maryland, $1.6 million goes to fund Chimes staff doing the direct hands-on work alongside the people we serve, $550,000 goes to transport the individuals we serve. Clinical and supervisory staff account for $250,000. Providing a morning snack and lunch to people being served, many of whom have special dietary needs, accounts for another $180,000. Beyond this are site costs, accounting and insurance.

Nearly all of the funding from the work produced goes directly to pay wages to the people doing the work along with employer taxes and handle shipping and other costs. The end result is almost always no better than a break even proposition.

I don't think it's a completely black and white case of exploitation.

I personally believe that lower than minimum wage employment plus services, special training and monitoring and working conditions, and assessment of work that does not follow the normal rubric can still be a good thing. Imo, the alternative of being absorbed into an unsheltered employment situation and remaining there for long is not realistically going to happen for the vast majority of people who work under the FLSA. It would be nice if employers could be obliged to fund and provide the sort of working conditions that are mainly provided by not-for-profits. If government was willing to offer subsidies, this might not affect the bottom line of businesses. I suspect arrangements like that would generate expensive red tape though, and maybe end up counter-productive.

but some people (a minority) are just unaware of what is appropriate. It does not mean we disparage donors as a whole

Of course we don't - and as has been pointed out nobody's actually said that anyway. But it's not stopping the professionally offend brigade from thinking that charity shop volunteers are sneering and rolling eyes over every bag.

The highlight of my shift on Monday was finding a bag full of high-end high street clothes like Monsoon, Hobbs and Karen Millen, all laundered and folded neatly. Amazing haul and probably worth about £60 to the charity.

The lowlight was a bag from a smoker's home filled with homemade copied CDs and DVDs, very out of date "factual" type books like the Guinness Records and a pack of dried up felt-tips. Not so amazing.

I agree it's not black and white, math - just pointing out that every organisation has its weaknesses and its detractors, so holding something up as better when it is just being done differently is unfair to all concerned. There are some excellent charity shops in the UK and some badly run ones, just like the US. The UK also has very different geography (more narrow, windy roads; green belt; small, overcrowded and old buildings, etc), public transport and shopping set ups - we don't in general have long strips of huge shops on the way to the supermarket with plenty of parking outside (as you probably know!). The closest to that that we have are probably industrial estates on the outskirts of towns or even out a bit in the countryside, with poor public transport to get to them. I think there is a place both for in-town (and village) charity shops and bigger outlets on industrial estates - both would have their own advantages and their limitations. Neither would be quite like the big shops on busy US "strips," though.

I think your idea of scale is a bit off there, Round - the Goodwill I shop at is the same size as the Aldi - roughly 10-12,000 square feet total, with office and donating area, sorting room, computer room for the public, public loo, and changing rooms cutting into floor/retail space. This is smaller than the average UK Aldi, which is about 15-16,000 sq feet total. Other Goodwills I have been to range between US and UK Aldi size, no bigger. It may be that there are huge places elsewhere (this area is very built up). Now I am going to have to look out for Goodwills if I ever venture off way out of town, and take notes.

The reason for both Aldi and Goodwill to choose a strip mall location is low rent plus car park availability (though the carpark in this case floods to about 4 inches depth after a day of heavy rain or fast melting snow, which makes shopping interesting). I just wonder about the wisdom of opting for a location with a higher rent and restricted parking if you had any alternative at all. This would also limit your merchandise to clothing and small electrics.

But by UK standards, 10-12,000 square feet is a big retail space. You can get units on industrial estates of that size. So I don't really get your point, math. Where are there low rent "strip malls" in the UK? Certainly not within a 50 mile radius of my house!

And put it this way, no way am I willing to drive 50 miles to shop in and donate to a charity shop.

There are 3 charity stores in my village of 15k

All in the village centre

Math, I've been to the US and seen what retail is liek over there. Shops are cavernous.

www.rightmove.co.uk/commercial-property-for-sale/property-69389897.html

This is about the size of your average charity shop in the UK. 1,352 square feet.

Goodwill is great as I agreed earlier but just can't compare to the UK with our limitations. For example... could anyone in the UK imagine a charity shop with a public loo? Even having the room? (do those shops have a cleaner too? Unheard of over here ..staff do it) Some of the ones I've worked in didn't even have their own loo on site! Had to go to an outdoor loo in the back yard or take a key and go to one in another building.
The last shop I ran..there were a few others in town but we were the only one with a changing room, and we were the smallest! Also things like parking that many Americans take for granted. This was a small market town, more village sized. There was no car park apart from the supermarket's one (about 8 minutes walk from my shop) and that was always chocka..you had to queue to get out as well as in. And you had to buy something at the supermarket.
We had nowhere to stop for even a second to drop off donations. We had some nice donations as it's a good area but people had to carry them to us in dribs and drabs. So part of my job as manager was to go collect donations from people's houses after work. I lived 20 miles away and often hugely went out of my way if I ended up going in the 'wrong' direction. (also felt v unsafe at times, or ended up with a car full of shit..but I always thanked the donor..hmm) It is a town with an older demographic and my average customer did not drive. So on a cold rainy day footfall was low and takings suffered.
The average american would probably not consider that a customer would walk to the charity shop from their house (as it was in this town) rather than drive there.

I love both countries but retail wise can't compare the two (and I say this working for a US store in Uk now!)

I've seen both sides of it. I totally agree though that if someone has braved the weather to donate then take the bloody donation. There is always room. How long does it take one person to look at, price and steam one bag? how much would it make in sales? I was always up for doing just that no matter how busy but the problem lies in that the manager has a rota. You have to abide by only certain people being allowed to price items (in some places) only certain items going on the shop floor on a certain day. Personally get as much out as possible and price lower than the 'ebay' prices and it sells much quicker.

Depends on the shop as some managers can make up their own rules and most cannot. I found things very frustrating in one job. I was told to rag items rather than have a £1 rail. We'd have made more from the rail and it was a poor area. In fact I did one day as a trial, it worked and I was rewarded with a verbal warning for it. Also mystery shoppers come in... and area managers can drop in anytime unannounced.. I was always the rebel trying to make more money and it worked against me... I quit (not this charity but the next) and won't do it again. Also many shops have a pricing structure for brands (which is a good thing) but aren't allowed to lower any further (in the more boutiquey ones I worked in, I was told no sales as it lowered the tone!) :(

I was told to rag items rather than have a £1 rail
The shop I have worked in couldn't afford a £1 rail. With rent, bills & wages etc you would never reach break even if you had a whole rail taking up space just selling clothes for so little. Normally £5 clothes items would be the cheapest we could afford to sell, anything else was 50p a kilo to the rag man.

Yes - it can be uneconomic to have a £1 rail. You can’t make money with very low prices like this unless you have a lot of space and a very high footfall (see Poundland ). Most charity shops have done their sums on this. We do sell items as cheap as this in the shop I am in but not clothing.

If your shop is so small and your location so central that you can only sell good brands in great condition, with a fairly high price point, and you have to dispose (at your expense) of a lot of donations as a result, then you have to ask yourself if your dream of a charity shop is feasible. The average American would wonder how much of the charity's takings were being spent on rent if they could walk to the charity shop - a high street location comes with a hefty price and lack of parking is a huge problem. You would not make enough to pay the rent in many urban or suburban areas selling second hand clothes, shoes and bags alone.

I think many UK donors would assume charity shops have their act together when it comes to disposal of items that can't be sold and securing a location with a reasonable rent. I think some on this thread who are put off by the charity shop workers they have encountered can be forgiven for assuming charity shops really have done the maths and therefore sending every single thing they can cram into a big black bag.

Goodwill does not have a $1 rail - they have outlet centres where deeply discounted stuff goes if it fails to sell even after a reduction from the original $5.99 (an average price for clothing items) to $2.99 in a store. Prices are lowered at intervals until an item's four weeks on the floor are up in the case of bags, outerwear, dresses, tops, jeans, trousers, footwear.

If it doesn't sell in the outlet centre, stuff gets boxed and auctioned off in lots. I know a woman who buys boxes of unsellable T-shirts to make rag rugs that she sells for quite a profit even after sanitising the clothing. Children's books, soft toys, CDs, video cassettes, albums, ties, belts and hats and a few other categories are priced at $1.00 or 50 cents. The whole shop is a bargain rail really, but the outlet centre takes it to a whole different level.

When I see comments about 'lowering the tone', and having to price at a certain point to break even, afford rent, bills, and wages, etc., I get the impression that charity shops have not really taken reality into consideration. Traffic and volume are key, and accessibility too. Charities are important - though it really is a scandal that a hospice is not adequately funded by the NHS - but it might be that some other business would do better in the sort of locations that are available, and charities clubbing together, finding suitable accessible locations, and rethinking the price structure might achieve economies of scale and more revenue.

The loos in Goodwill are used by the staff and the customers. All cleaning is done by staff. The loo can be used by customers because that is a way to keep people in the shop, loading up their trolleys, and thus moving the merchandise. Whole families come and shop. Many toys are bought by parents who want to keep children happy while shopping. Letting customers use the loo is a solid business decision.

People also use Goodwill to access the computers, search through job listings and do interview training. They could be there for many hours a day. The one I go to also allows quiet and sober homeless people to sit in the book section at the front where there is a table and some chairs, in winter or in heat emergencies in summer. They also use the loo. The place is a charity shop after all.

Alltoomuchrightnow, going alone to donors' homes sounds like a very risky undertaking. I hope you had no bad experiences.

The Salvation Army sends out trucks here to pick up donations like furniture. They schedule your pickup and add you to their route when they are in the area. I will be getting rid of a big teak craft table thanks to the SA in four days. There is a LGBT charity shop within walking distance of me (just under two miles) where I once bought a really nice coat and a pair of sandals - it also sends out a truck to pick up donations of furniture. They prefer dining room sets and vintage furniture or I would have had my big craft table picked up by them. They carry higher end stuff than Goodwill and they have some experienced furniture movers who won't scratch your valuable dining room set.

There are 3 charity stores in my village of 15k
All in the village centre

That is a problem, Rufus.

There is one in the very compact municipal area where I live, population 54,000. It's the first port of call if you are furnishing an apartment or even if you're looking for an unusual Christmas present.

Actually, the SA is also in my suburb though half a mile further from me than the LGBT shop. They cater for two completely different markets.

The loo can be used by customers because that is a way to keep people in the shop, loading up their trolleys

Amazed at the concept of having a trolley in a charity shop.
That suggests a supermarket sized building to me.
The shop I work in has floor space about equal to that of my house.

Yes butterfly

All three charity stores in my village are on the smell side but one has two rooms