To disagree re: charity shop shopping

[toconclude]

Read an article in a student newspaper saying better off students (we are talking Cambridge here) should 'check their privilege' and not buy clothes and homeware from charity shops so that poorer students and townspeople can buy them. But honestly almost no one I know who is on a really low income wants to shop there - they prefer sales, fewer clothes or hand ons from friends and family. So is the writer right(YABU)) or am I to carry on shopping in charity shops for the odd item - which often aren't that cheap anyhow?

That's a fundamentally flawed and pretty dim attitude. Maybe it says more about the writer...
Charity shops exist to make money for their charity, I doubt they care much about who buys it. Frankly, who cares if it gets sold on either, well done to the kids making it turn a profit for them.

Ridiculous.

Cambridge is expensive; doesn't mean the students have money.

They are a twat. That’s the worst sort of virtue signalling - picking something where someone is doing good and find a way to shit on it. Charity shops exist to raise money. They turn away loads of stock. I spent £60 in two charity shops today - I got stuff I wanted, they got money. I didn’t buy antiques I bought books, DVDs, dresses and Halloween stuff. Better from there than primark! Ds wandered into the backshop and as I pulled him out there’s was stacks of stuff.

Cambridge charity shops are weirdly shit though. They defy the posh places = good stuff. Best charity shops are in the midlands

If I were someone receiving services from one of the charities running shops, and those services were reduced because of loss of income through retail, I'd be pretty fucked off.

When I meant antiques I mean I haven’t ripped anyone off by buying granny’s heirloom for pence. I bought bog standard stuff for my bog standard family. No selling on!

I am guessing it was written by someone who is wealthy themselves, and imagines that the 'other half' live by trawling charity shops for clothes. In reality, they never run short of donations, the more people that spend money in there the better for both the charity and the environment.

I buy from and donate to charity shops, it is a very neat relationship. If I were dropping off several bags of clothes and books I might also buy one or two things. I am mainly a sucker for books, but these then go back to the charity when I have read them. Buy my Christmas cards there. Buy dresses, which always seem to be lightly worn (and will be lightly worn by me and go back). What I mean is, you end up giving to that charity by both donating and spending, and it is ongoing and I benefit too. Seems ideal to me. It is incredible to ask anyone not to use a shop, surely the message should be, 'don't forget to donate to us too!'?

The benefits theory could apply to charity shops. As long as certain benefits are universal, people don't feel bad about claiming them (eg state pension, or how child benefit used to be). As soon as there is a perception it is only for the poor, a proportion of people don't want to be associated with it (hence the negativity towards people in council housing, because others think it is related to being on housing benefit). So long as fairly well off people are shopping at the charity shops, it makes it socially ok for poor people to. As soon as charity shops are seen as on a par with food banks (you should only use it if you need it) the status goes down, the prices go down, the profits go down, and the operation stops being financially viable.
So let's all buy something from the chazzer to keep them in business for the poor of the future!

I’m sick to the back teeth about the term ‘privilege’ being thrown around Willy nilly! That’s all I have to add.

I can afford most things I buy in a charity shop. But I very much like the idea that I am helping to recycle things that are of good quality and have years left in them, the idea that I am stopping things from going into landfills and the idea that I am contributing to a charity and probably supporting jobs of the staff too.

It's a student newspaper, it's not proper journalism, ignore it. It's toss

As anyone who shops there knows, there's NEVER any shortage of second hand clothes in charity shops.

I would hope though that they donate their stuff, rather than sell it in ebay or Facebook sales sites

@ithinkiveseenthisfilmbefore

Ridiculous.

Cambridge is expensive; doesn't mean the students have money.

Got any stats on the socio-economic backgrounds of Cambridge students?

Why do people think students at Cambridge are all well off?

@m0use

The issue is the number of older teens/students buying bulk from charity shops, to sell on at a reasonable profit on depop. There's nothing wrong with more well off people choosing to buy from charity shops, but in some areas the above practices means there's very little left for the people who need it

Do you have a link to the research that shows this is happening on a scale sufficient to impact on people on low incomes?

Do you resent students who will finish their degree ten of thousands of pounds in debt trying to make some money where they can?

@GoudaGirl

I think perhaps if the students are bagging the best stuff because there are hoards of them doing so then yes. However without real facts and figures its hard to say because of unintended consequences of advocating any 'policy'. I don't buy from charity shops in poorer areas for this reason though as I think it is unfair. I also don't buy food priced down in case some poor old lady comes along looking for a bargain and I hate seeing people take the whole pile of what's on offer. I live in quite a low income area though and am reasonably well paid.

But the charity will move donations to the fast selling stores. "Right uni term start is comming up send all the cookware you cant shift in stores in the posh commuter village to stores by the halls"

@NicholasTopliss

Why do people think students at Cambridge are all well off?

Don't think people think they all are: but (full disclosure) I went there (not rich but certainly comfortable as both parents worked - not so common then) and there was a majority of privately educated (again not me) , well off students.

The person who wrote that article would probably be the same person telling us not to shop at Primark because it's unethical. But 99% of high street clothing is made unethically. So where exactly would this person like us to buy our clothes from? There are ethical clothing brands around but they are fairly expensive and don't always fit very well.

I've also known of people on low incomes who couldn't bear the thought of going to charity shops for various reasons. Charity shops are sometimes perceived as a "last resort" for some people, whereas going to Primark or other cheap shops makes you a "normal" shopper.

The moment the phrase 'check their/your privilege' is uttered, I know it is utter wank fodder and total word salad!

@paintmywholehousepink

This is such a non issue.

So are many threads here but I don't feel the need to post on them to say so.

This reminds me very much of that time a woman on Twitter strangled herself with her own wokeness by saying that showering was classist.

@ladybee28

This reminds me very much of that time a woman on Twitter strangled herself with her own wokeness by saying that showering was classist.

that is classic! I don’t even understand whether or not showering means you belong to a higher class.