To disagree re: charity shop shopping

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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?

@GhostCurry

“But it's a charity shop not discount shop. Its purpose isnt to provide cheap goods it's to raise money for charity“

Exactly. Can’t believe there are still people who believe that the “charity” is aimed at the customers of the shop

Yes, if there are that many well off students competing for the goods they should be putting their prices up.

So, you should also never buy goods in sales, reduced price stock in supermarkets etc, in case someone on a lower income could benefit?

That's impossible to police for a start.

@Krampusasbabysitter

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

Yep!

@KnightsofColumbusThatHurt

What a load of patronising shite. These people are so obsessed with appearing kind and compassionate and woke that they never actually stop to think about what they are saying.

'check their privilege' says it all, really.

The prices in charity shops have definitely gone up last few years and lots have wised up and adjusted their prices which obviously is a good thing.
But I don’t understand how they can sell Primark or Tesco for £££s when it’s probably cheaper to buy new from those shops.
I did see a jack wills hoodie recently in the window of a charity shop. It was £40 which I thought was excessive. It was new with tickets the tag said £54. Personally I thought that was overpriced.

Oops, posted from page 1 or 2, hadn't seen the previous comment to mine!

you can try on at home and return for a full refund. I didn't know you could return things to charity shops

so people should only buy at the very top of their budget?

I have never heard anything more bonkers.

I have heard this before and it's very condescending and counterproductive. There was a blog I read ages ago by some middle class women who wrote how people shouldn't buy the decent brands from charity shops so poorer people could buy them. She told some cringeworthy story of a women who brought some shoes from her charity shop. So condescending to the working class person who are just so grateful for their second hand converse. Like some victorian story of the guy doffing his cap to the kindly rich man.

Charity shops have got crazy expensive in my area anyway, it's sometimes cheaper to buy new.

@neversayalways

So what these privilege checking tossers want is for charities to lose income so that they can feel woke?

its hard to think of a clearer example of how this new 'ethic' is all about personal purity rather than actual social good.

I feel the same when people ostentatiously 'agonise' over getting a cleaner for similarly patronising reasons. They don't seem to consider that cleaners don't make a living off someone else's self absorbed 'privilege checking'. They live off the wage of a perfectly respectable job - cleaning.

I love charity shops and regularly browse through my local ones - but when my budget is low I choose to shop at the specific charity that means the most to me. It's my way of donating to the charity.

Another overlooked fact is we shouldn't ever assume someone's circumstances. Just because someone comes from an apparently affluent background or has a middle-class accent doesn't mean they haven't fallen on hard times.

Also, I find Primark and similar places cheaper for clothes than many charity shops.

I would disregard middle-class posers telling me how to behave. The command “Check your privilege” is a giveaway: watch out for purity spirals?

What a ridiculously self-righteous attitude from the student paper. There are loads of reasons people shop in charity shops: to support the charity; to buy recycled stuff rather than more mass produced things that damage the planet in their production. And charity shops are often stupidly priced. A Primark Tee costs £2. The same tee, worn and stained in a charity shop costs £2.50. Same with chine etc. The poorest students are better off buying from Wilko or Poundland than trying to find bargains in city centre charity shops.

Oh @thinkingaboutLangCleg - please indulge us and tell us what a purity spiral is.

I bought stuff from charity shops as a student in Cambridge because I didn't have much money (esp as Cambridge doesn't allow students to have paid jobs)...then I graduated and magically transformed into a non-student with a entry level job in Cambridge who also didn't have much money but was then presumably "allowed" to shop there?

Chazzers were too expensive for me when I was broke. We shopped on ebay and facebook marketplace.

What a load of crap, charity shops fulfill a huge need within our society, I am sick and tired of people telling us how to lead our lives or set new rules, as a volunteer and avid user of my one of my local shops, I know for a fact that there is plenty of stock at the moment. Who buys it is completely irelevant, the charity gets to make money and someone is happy to walk away with an item they want for a cheaper price than they would have paid for in a shop. Most people are now aware of recycling, can you imagine the amount of items in landfill after a summer of people house clearing if charity shops didn't exist? I buy lots of books and clothing from the charity shop, not because I can't afford to go to a retailer, but because I love the variety of items available, the knowledge of supporting a good cause, I usually donate as much back as I buy, so fulfilling a more ethical way of living. However I'd be lying if I didn't acknowledge the fact that buying a M and S work dress for a fiver instead of £50 and the latest paperbacks for 50p instead of nearly £7 isn't a great feeling and leaves me with more disposal income for my winter heating bill !

I think that anyone who shops at a charity shop is helping in two reasons: 1) with the money going to the charity and 2) with less clothes going to waste.

I think this whole 'check your privilege' thing has gone a bit far, if I'm honest.

I know I live a privileged life. I know much of this is due to luck because I was born a white English girl in a decent area.

However, I would never wrestle a 50p t shirt from a poor person in a charity shop. There are PLENTY of things for people to buy, so to tell a 'richer' person that they shouldn't shop there just seems ridiculous to me, and could be reducing the amount of money the charity eventually get.

I listed a 1970s retro dress online for the charity I volunteer with last week. It sold within a day for £75. I would have been diddling the charity had I put it out in the shop for a fiver.

That's ridiculous. Yet another fool yammering on about "privilege".

By this logic, I suppose people who are "well-off" (and what's the criteria/cut-off for that, I wonder...) should never shop sales and should always choose the most expensive option in order to leave the cheaper things for "the poor".

I shop where I want to shop, as should everyone.

Ha! I can’t even afford to shop in the charity shops in Cambridge - the prices in there are ridiculous, so the students are welcome to them!

I did see a jack wills hoodie recently in the window of a charity shop. It was £40 which I thought was excessive. It was new with tickets the tag said £54. Personally I thought that was overpriced.

But if you have a teen whose birthday is coming up and wants Jack Wills, then you save £14 on what you would have spent and the charity is £40 up. Also pricing at £40 gives you the wiggle room to reduce to £35 or £30 and still make a good whack for the charity.

Privilege is a thing.

But there are no barriers to stop anyone shopping in a charity shop.

Unlike in other areas where your privilege gives you an advantage.

Charity shops exist to make money. Get the shop right, get the atmosphere right and you can attract certain people more and hopefully get more money. But some people might not like the feel of the shop.

Get the atmosphere wrong, and you might not get people in, they might not like the feel of the place and you don't make money.

And yes - donations are often thrown away. Because they are torn, dirty or generally unlikely to sell. I imagine that some people just donate them unaware of this. Or they are very aware.

You would need to be a super rich Oxbridge student to buy stuff in our local charity shops

@whirlwindwallaby

I think charity shops especially need to lower their prices now that you can't try on the clothes (as no option to try on at home and return).

My local Mind shop is absolutely fine with try on at home and return. 2 lovely pairs of Pure brand velvet trousers £4 a piece, thank you so much !

Just curious where this utopia in the World exists when there isn't "privilege" for certain people.