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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be annoyed the charity shop would not accept my donation

643 replies

Bearbehind · 21/01/2018 13:49

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.

OP posts:
barefoofdoctor · 21/01/2018 14:49

Curiousaboutsamphire are you in the UK? All the charity shops round where I live gladly accept prams and pushchair and sell plenty of them.

Slartybartfast · 21/01/2018 14:50

yanbu, if they are open they should have been able to accept the donations.
petty people.
i donated to salvation army using their Banks, if it is clothing you could do that instead

k2p2k2tog · 21/01/2018 14:53

God I haet the nastiness and sneeriness about charity shop volunteers.

Any charity shop volunteer will tell you that in January we're totally snowed under with donations. Not just a few extra bags, snowed under in a completely can't move for stuff sort of way. Everyone has a post-Christmas clear out. Everyone takes their stuff to the charity shop. This year it's even worse than ever as people are feeling guilty about chucking plastic so dump it on us to dispose of instead. And to compound the problem, nobody's buying so the stuff just piles up.

Often the manager (paid a salary) in our branch will by in 9-5 on a Sunday even though the shop is open 11-3 only. It gives the staff time to clear stuff without manning the till and having to cope with a constant stream of stuff coming through the door.

A wee call ahead of time is always a great idea - when I'm in on a Monday I speak to 3 or 4 people calling to ask whether we take electricals, or furniture, or books, or when the best time to drop things off is.

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 21/01/2018 14:54

I realise they’ve probably been told not to take donations when they’re shut, I just don’t understand why that would be the case.

I spent a little - very little! - time in some local charity shops as part of management training. They had to process donations within a time limit of them arriving; for safety reasons. They wouldn't accept anything out of hours for that reason; but did publicise an address that you could take things through if you couldn't drop it off whilst they were open. That does require some dedication from a volunteer though...

I'm not sure if that's still true; but I thought it was worth sharing!

Italiangreyhound · 21/01/2018 14:56

Take to a different shop another time, it seems rude they would not take your stuff.

LaurenCooper · 21/01/2018 14:57

Maybe they had a huge backlog of donations to sort out already, it would explain why they were in on a Sunday but not officially open. I used to volunteer in a charity shop and sometimes the back was so full you couldn't see the floor so we had to turn donations away. We did explain why though and most people understood that we didn't have enough staff to sift through everything fast enough.
I'd try again in a few days

MissP103 · 21/01/2018 14:58

Yanbu op. How very rude of them to refuse it. I mean you were doing something kind. I've had similar treatment. I packed 3 suitcases worth of really lovely clothing and my dh and I took them to a charity shop. The suitcases were in great condition as well as we get them through my dh work so we have too many. So we were donating everything including the suitcases. They staff looked irritated as it was probably a big load to go through.
We just left and I contacted a shelter instead who were so grateful.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 21/01/2018 14:59

Curiousaboutsamphire are you in the UK? All the charity shops round where I live gladly accept prams and pushchair and sell plenty of them. Yep. And they haven't been accepted round here for quite a few years.

The big BHF and Emmaus do, but that is all. The smaller local charities do not.

Not sure why you don't believe me... a quick Google shows it isn't unusual!

DeadGood · 21/01/2018 15:01

“It’s obvious that no one here has worked in a charity shop. The backs of charity shops are usually full to the brim of dirty, unsuitable items that need disposing off. Many items are donated needing washing and ironing. It takes so much time to sort the items out that on the days where the shop is shut these jobs have to be done - for free. Yes the website should be updated but that isn’t the workers job to do so. It is extremely entitled to think that they need to just accept your items and be grateful.”

It sounds as if you think charity shops should stop receiving donations all together.

SukiTheDog · 21/01/2018 15:01

I recently took some stuff in and they said no, we’re not taking, at the moment. I said “that’s a shame, some of this has tags on and there’s some nice Boden shirts which my son flatly refused to wear as they were the wrong colours”. The woman practically fell over the counter, so keen was she to have my donation.

I suppose they can’t take everything but in your case, I’d just take to another shop.

Bollooooooocks · 21/01/2018 15:02

YANBU op, I wonder if they did the same for cash/cheque! Hmm

silvousplaitmerci · 21/01/2018 15:02

YANBU. How hard it is to graciously accept a donation?

SukiTheDog · 21/01/2018 15:02

Can honestly say, have never taken anything that wasn’t at least washed and often, ironed too. That’s grim, taking dirty clothing to charity shops.

barefoofdoctor · 21/01/2018 15:04

K2P2 not 'any charity shop worker' the Mind shop in my town is very very low on stock at the moment. They really aren't all over run with goods after Christmas.

HadronCollider · 21/01/2018 15:07

Agree with you OP. I recently had the unedifying experience of dropping off a ton of books in virtually mint condition to a local charity shop. they were really heavy( several boxes) worth and the manager looked aghast and said 'not mooooorrreee books. Well I'll see if we'll use some of them but I end up chucking loads out each week'Hmm

WitchIwasaWitch18 · 21/01/2018 15:07

My stuff is always washed, ironed and neatly folded. Unless it's books of course! I always offer the locally library our books. What they don't use for their shelves they sell on and raise a little money.

Kalinka16 · 21/01/2018 15:08

I know that in some charity shops, they have to print labels out for Gift Aid and then you get a notification (eventually) as to how much your donations made for the charity. Maybe these volunteers didn’t have time to do the paperwork/computer process.
But I agree about it being annoying to load the car up, shlepp to the shop and find you have to take everything back home again...

Ruffian · 21/01/2018 15:09

It’s obvious that no one here has worked in a charity shop. The backs of charity shops are usually full to the brim of dirty, unsuitable items that need disposing off

Do you seriously think people have bagged up their 'dirty unsuitable' items just to dump them on a charity shop? They could have just binned them if they knew they were so unworthy but in fact they have made a special trip to the shop to hand them in so presumably they believed they were worth something to someone.

k2p2k2tog · 21/01/2018 15:10

It sounds as if you think charity shops should stop receiving donations all together.

Donations are wonderful - but ONLY if they're things we can sell. If everyone donating to a charity shop asked themselves whether they'd be prepared to buy what they were donating it would solve a LOT of the problems.

Would you buy an adult colouring book with half the pages done? What about a mug with a big chip out of it? Or would you buy a half-used toiletry set? No? Then don't give it to us and think you're Lady Bountiful.

Clothes which are stained/dirty I don't mind as much as they all go for recycling and sherdding. We love donors who hand in that sort of stuff labelled as "rags".

Lanaorana2 · 21/01/2018 15:10

If someone at a charity is grumpy on a Sunday, they're working too hard and for free, believe me. We volunteers are a cheery lot on the whole, but sometimes it shows when you overdo it.

After Xmas and the nation's clearout, you get so much stuff inward bound you can't reach the stairs or get to the loo etc., at which point you have to refuse any more. But every charity shop can tell you where else to go nearby that is taking donations, we always do.

Lovesagin · 21/01/2018 15:10

Yanbu but there again I no longer donate to my local, once favourite charity shop after they asked me to hang on while they started to sort through the bags I'd given so they could give me the stuff they didn't want back! Think they regretted it because as soon as I said forget it and started to take the bags back one of them pulled out a designer bag it was a gift and hideous and then started to say it was fine "they'd just take the lot to save me hanging on" but I said it was too late I'd take it all to the one next door. It's not the first time that's happened either.

Some charity shops forget their purpose I think.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 21/01/2018 15:10

taking dirty clothing to charity shops.

Oh... I am sure I am not the only charity shop worker who could tell you tales of horror!

Like the shit filled nappy in the very middle of a donated bag of nice clothes... the decaying rat in a bag of kids toys... a group of men and women who 'rushed' us, in the front door, out the back door into a van and off, taking everything they could carry, including our own coats and bags... the woman who spat at an 80 year old volunteer who hesitated when making change...

More people than you might like to imagine treat charity shop workers very, very rudely. It can be really weird and uncomfortable sometimes!

TrinitySquirrel · 21/01/2018 15:15

@Lovesagin their purpose isn't to wade through bags of people's tat and broken items and unsaleable clothes. Which is what they end up doing so they have to check in advance now it's not just shit to go the tip.

Ebay killed the charity shop and the carboot.

RhiWrites · 21/01/2018 15:17

OP, I feel for you. I’d be annoyed too. But it was a risky move doing it on a Sunday even though the website indicated it was okay. (The websites are all done by volunteers too.)

Try to put it out of your mind and remember if their bosses have said no it’s no. It’s not their fault.

Lovesagin · 21/01/2018 15:17

I don't believe i said that was their purpose?

I've never come across another charity shop 'chain' that demands the donor wait while they decide what to take in.

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