Charity bags

[AndWhat]

Every other day I get a charity bag posted through my door. I used to bin/recycle them as I generally donate to a local charity shop that I support.
I returned from a holiday to 8 different ones posted through my porch (which is pvc so you can see them!) why do they insist on posting them when they clearly aren’t being used? What a waste of the charities money! AIBU to think if you can see an unused one you don’t post more?

i have loads. I just use them when i am having a clear out. then put them in the clothes bins at supermarket. they are useful.

They really don't care, once they have been posted they are off their hands, and the bag they use to carry them, is lighter.

Can you leave a note on the door?

I love the bags, they are great for emptying the kids bins upstairs. Just the right size so nothing falls out onto the carpet.

However I agree, it does indicate no one's home.

I use them for bin bags now

Have you ever tried filling one and leaving it out for them to collect on the specified day? 9 times out of 10, they'll still be there two weeks later.

Do the charities never actually evaluate the success of their campaigns? Do they never stop and wonder why they've managed to collect so few donations for the thousands of bags that they've supplied and distributed until somebody says, "Wait, what? Collected, you say? Are we meant to do that too?!"

Not that it is often charities as you'd recognise them - most of them are companies that sell the clothes on by the ton and donate 0.5% or whatever of their profits to the charity or cause emblazoned across the bags. Which is what makes it even more astonishing that they distribute so many bags and yet never bother to come back and collect them. Most of them don't even bother to put collection dates on them, any more!?! It's like the old joke about the company that employed one worker to dig a hole and another to fill them in again, but had never thought to get a third person to plant the tree in between.

I have had a similar experience with filling and leaving these bags. I'm normally dubious about the charities, but this was the Salvation Army, so just for once I filled one; I had some decent men's clothing left by my late father, and it saved the schlep to the charity shop. Still there the next day, and the next, then a heavy downpour rendered them quite useless.
I actually took the time to ring the number printed on the side of the sack, as I felt it was rather a waste; the pleasant lady I spoke to was apologetic, but apparently nothing could be done about the disorganisation.
Cynically, I suspect that the only time they are collected properly, it may not be a genuine charity.

I'm a bit dubious about these like PP have said, often the ones I get are not nationally recognised charity brands and have small print that says '2% goes to the charity etc'. Not all of them, but some of them seem to be private companies who profit from the sale and only give the named charity a small percentage. The ASA has tackled it before:

www.asa.org.uk/news/new-guidance-for-door-to-door-charity-collection-bag-companies.html

I prefer to give directly to charity shops.

I read the small print and decided not to donate to charity in this way. So I keep them around for camping bin bags.

Agree that very few of these "charity" bags are run by charities in the way you'd think. We had one this morning from some company claiming to raise money for children's cancer charities. No charity number on bag. Says that they'll donate something like £50 per tonne of clothes collected. Seeing that the market price of waste textiles is over £300 per tonne, they are in no way generous.

Total scam - don't fall for it.

The only ones I've seen round here that I'd consider using are the Salvation Army as they are indeed a genuine charity. I always take things to a charity shop. They recycle anything they can't use and all the money goes to the charity.

Just had a charity bag through the door, the first in a while actually, and it is for a small charity called Woodlands Cancer Care in association with a company called Audosta. I wouldn’t mind donating to the charity, but would they actually get much of the proceeds, anybody know?

10% or so would be normal.