..re. charity bags posted through doors?

[HubbabubbaT]

We seem to receive on average 3-4 a week of these.. from a variety of charities. I've tried filling a few of these and leaving out on the days noted on the bags .. but they've never been collected. In the 3 years we've lived here we have accumulated hundreds of these bags! They've been used for storage in the attic, bin liners, to take items to charity shops etc, but it seems a monumental waste of time and plastic to keep posting these through doors ! This morning we had one delivered very carefully and quietly halfway through our letterbox at just after 6am... AIBU to think there's something suspicious about the whole thing...?

Suspicious? No

If you can't fill the bag, you're supposed to leave them outside anyway on the date.

I'm fed up of filling them because they keep getting stolen. It's got to the point where the charities are asking people to only put them out 1 hour before the time on the bag.

The whole concept is a complete con - the clothes are not going to charity at all, people make money out of them and give a couple of quid to charities to justify the name.

I find the bags very useful, I could do with a lot more - but agree, it's a complete waste of plastic if you look at it that way.

I don't think there's anything suspicious, but I choose not to use this service. In my area there are gangs that know what charities are giving out the bags and what day they are collecting...then they drive round early and collect the bags before the charities can get hold of them. If I have anything for the charity shop I just drop it off next time I'm passing. If I have a free bag from that charity then bonus, I'll use that to package the stuff.

Look on the bag to check if there is a registered charity number on it.
Unbelievably some will say they are collecting for a child/animal/alien cause but in small print will state they sell the clothes and then donate a % to that cause ( usually tiny )
You will be ok with the big recognisable ones.
I personally do not give anything to door drop ones and prefer to take to charity shop of my choosing.

It says on them that the clothing gets sold and a % gets donated.

My Nigerian friend recognised one of the Charities. The Charity had a stall once a month, on market day. Obviously none of the clothing was available in Nigeria, so it waa very popular, even if second hand.

I just use them to bag up clothes that I take to whatever charity of my choosing. Very handy.

Presumably the people who deliver the bags are paid to do so, which makes me wonder if your early morning deliverer is doing it in addition to working a normal job during the day.

I also wonder how effective the scheme is. I have rarely seen any bags left out in my area and can't imagine it's worth the cost of petrol to drive round in the hope of collecting a couple of bags.

Excellent as bin bags.

I was suspicious at the very quiet early delivery this morning partly... We've had a bit of crime in this area recently and I was thinking it would be easy for someone to collect bags and then put halfway through another door to see if it gets removed (if someone is living there)... I am a bit paranoid as we had a burglary not that long ago!

Interesting about the % going to charity!! I didn't realise that..

@TheMobileSiteMadeMeSignup

That's what i do, the contribution to the charity is pitiful so I'd always prefer to take my donations to an actual shop.

One company , very generously, give £90 (including VAT) for every TONNE of textile collected

It's a very profitable business when you are in it. My kids school organise similar collection, and is paid at least £1k every couple of months by the collectors. Proves that there's money in there!

It's a bit of a con in that they only give a tiny percentage to charity. We did give stuff once because I wanted it out of the house and it would have been very heavy to carry to a charity shop; they've earned their money then in the same way that we've given metal to the vans collecting it. The waste of plastic from all those bags annoys me, weirdly I hadn't considered using then as binbags but will from now on (still a waste of plastic from the outer layer).

It’s a known scam in our area - they pick up the bags which are filled and take them to one of those shops where you get money for a certain weight of clothes/rags and the money doesn’t get given to charity.

@HubbabubbaT The majority of bags that come through peoples letterboxes are fake. They are scams to try and get you to give them household goods and clothes and bric-a-brac, that they then sell on. NOTHING goes to the Charity they are claiming to represent.

If in doubt, call the Charity - find the number on the internet NOT the one written on the bag - and ask if it's genuine.

Or if possible, take your 'stuff' to the Charity Shops yourself.

We used to have the same problem,dozens every week.But they seem to have stopped,maybe because no one in my street put anything out and once i saw the " charity " chap in the early morning and tried to return dozens of bags - but was told " they do not want em back " . Even thou it says on the bags please return bags - its all a con,like a lot of the shops .
Also have tried filling them and taking stuff to charity shops but got told they can not accept items in a different charity bag.
Weird - its like they think i have stolen bags at the roadside to take to the shop .
Perhaps they had too much tat to sort out . Nowadays they have big signs asking for donations but i do not donate anything anymore ,just too fecked off with the snooty staff.

Every time I've done this they haven't been collected.

I only put anything in the ones from the British Heart Foundation. I know they're legit, I've subsequently seen things I've donated in their shop, and they come round early in the morning (8.00) to try and stop theft. I don't put the bag out until about 7.30 anyway, we're not in a high crime area, and I've never had a problem.

Having said that, we don't get many from other 'charities' anyway.

There used to be a couple with an empty pushchair who used to walk around our estate on the mornings that the charity bags were due for collection and they used to sort through the bags and load stuff into the pushchair
More recently, we are getting the bags but no one is collecting them so I’ve just given up on it

Same as you, OP. I've never had any of my bags collected, despite them being well-known charities (BHF etc.).

I was suspicious at the very quiet early delivery this morning

You expected them to rattle the letterbox and make a lot of noise about it?

I use them as bin bags

I’ve never had any of the bags collected either

I’ve left full ones out several times and ended up taking them to the charity shop as no one picked them up

I always leave unused ones out but they’re never collected either. There’s loads of them sitting in my porch at the moment, some have been there for months

Some, I have noticed, aren't charities at all. They're businesses and they donate a "percentage" to charity... there's one where I live whose bags and vans have logos that look like cancer research. But they're not.

I was getting 3 bags a week too on average. I put a stop to it by ordering a red sign off amazon for my letterbox that says "no junk mail, no charity bags," and I rarely get any now.