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?

It's a business raising funds, not a food bank

I actually read an instagram post a few months ago complaining that skinny people are buying all the plus-size items in charity shops to wear oversized and they should leave them for actual plus-size people

When I had very little money and was choosing between buying electricity or hot water, I wouldn't have been seen dead in charity shops or places like Aldi. Once I was a bit more stable, I had no problem shopping in any of these places.

It can be a weird self conscious thing.

@Minimumstandard quite a few of my son's Christmas presents last year we're second hand (Thomas engines and sets). I spent about £50 for things that would have been nearer £200 new and he still plays with them most days. It's just common sense to me.

I have been poor and would have rather bought less from cheaper brands than even get something second hand. However I had plenty of friends who had no choice but to visit charity shops for everything - they used to always complain about how the best stuff for their kids (essentials like clothes / books/ backpacks) were always gone by the time they were able to visit (weekends). To try and combat this at the time many local charity shops restricted kids purchases to weekends only - but that was back in the day when charity shops saw charity as the most important thing. Many now just look to make a profit and so wouldn’t do anything about students buying things cheap to sell on at higher prices.

But they exist to make a profit!

Many now just look to make a profit and so wouldn’t do anything about students buying things cheap to sell on at higher prices

What do you think the purpose is of a charity shop?

It's to raise money for a charity.

I agree that charity shops exist to make money for charities and should be supported accordingly - however, some charities do have exorbitant "overheads" and salaries paid to CEOs that can sometimes make one a little twitchy about how much money actually goes to the recipients of said charity - there are tax breaks and other concessions that help them maximise their profits - if they achieve their aims and do the good they claim then brilliant.

In our town we have alot of charity shops - some national, some small and individually focussed - they are doing pretty well in most cases while small independent businesses fold around them.

If it wasn't for charity shops, car boot sales and ebay I'd have spent most of my adult life naked and certainly not able to hone my own style (Vintage Goth if anyone cares).

I run a niche independent Bohemian Goth shop and am hanging on by the skin of my teeth. Some of my pre-loved / vintage stock is sourced in charity shops - things that mainstream people will by-pass but my clientele will love but not necessarily find because they don't necessarily go to charity shops. I'm trying to make a living without recourse to benefits and charity myself, and it's tough at the moment - we're now the only "interesting" shop anywhere near our town centre and we have surprisingly held our own - just - since the end of lockdown. I'm hoping we can keep going.

My take on it is this - money is a tool - it's an exchange mechanism. Someone somewhere will make a profit one day, someone else will make a loss - charity shops are there to make money for their cause - I am trying to keep my head above water. Right now my landlord is the one in profit - as I build my business I might be able to spend more in charity shops and at other suppliers and someone else will benefit from that.

I'm probably not explaining this very well, but ultimately, the circulation of money in our capitalist model is the important thing on the ground. If the end result is ultimately positive and helpful that's a win and far preferable to people off-shoring their piles of money in case of what exactly?

People should shop where and when they choose for what they choose - the end result is usually a positive for a charity shop. If I buy a nice Goth jacket for 8.00 in a charity shop, and sell it on for 16.00 I've donated to charity, given someone with 16.00 the opportunity to buy it, been able to pay my rent and not had to apply for benefits. It's a many layered subject and the author of the original idea seems well meaning but naive.

And environmentally this helps. If I refrain from buying that jacket because I'm in a position of relative privilege, and no-one else fancies it, it will end up in a rag bag - it may go to landfill or be re-purposed to make someone else a profit and the charity (I know charity shop managers) would get less than 8.00 for the entire bag potentially.

Sorry, this is something that got me thinking, but I haven't changed my mind - charity shops exist to make the charity money, people of any stripe can get a bargain, and the economy keeps turning. It may not be ideal, but it's working to a degree, and frankly, with the world in the state it's in right now it's the least of our worries.

however, some charities do have exorbitant "overheads" and salaries paid to CEO

Some do

Many don't.
Many are hanging on by their fingernails. Many have had incomes reduced because fundraising has stopped such as the Marathon
Footfall is down in shops
Service delivery is affected at vital times.
Staff are being made redundant

I'm probably not explaining this very well, but ultimately, the circulation of money in our capitalist model is the important thing on the ground. If the end result is ultimately positive and helpful that's a win and far preferable to people off-shoring their piles of money in case of what exactly

True

And if people start saving money instead of spending it, there will be economic consequences

I shop in charity shops to 1. Support the charity 2. Help the environment 3. Because I’m reluctant to pay full price when I can get something decent for a fraction of the price.

Our local shops have piles of stock so there is plenty for everyone who wishes to shop there. I’m lucky to live in an area with very good charity shop stock - latest find was £150 Ash trainers for £12.

@chomalungma

I'm probably not explaining this very well, but ultimately, the circulation of money in our capitalist model is the important thing on the ground. If the end result is ultimately positive and helpful that's a win and far preferable to people off-shoring their piles of money in case of what exactly

True

And if people start saving money instead of spending it, there will be economic consequences

Agree with both of you.

@OldQueen1969
I hope your shop gets through all this ok.
I love finding an independent different shop in an otherwise boring samey high street. The vintage goth look is pretty cool too. I remember an old style goth friend in college. She used to look fantastic.

@BoudiccasBoudoir

When I take my old hand me downs to the charity shop, nothing would give me more pleasure than some young student plucking up my cast offs and selling them on Depop in order to pay for their rainbow coloured gin, 5 inch coffin nails and Spotify subscriptions, and giving someone else a treasured vintage Depop purchase to feel fabulous in at 90s night in some awful night club where they meet their future husband, or whatever. Stories like that make me really fucking happy. I'd love to think of my old crap off having a new life much more interesting life somewhere without me. Enjoy my pretties!

Anything but landfill. Please don't let anymore shit go to landfill or get dumped in the ocean.

I felt like that when I saw someone buying one of my old CDs in Oxfam. It was a bittersweet feeling but at least it was going to a new home.

We’re fairly well off and I love charity shops! I buy all my sons nursery clothes there, and I’m obsessed with cut glass, and often get pieces from charity shops for £1 or £2

I've found some great books in charity shops too. And music, if you're one of those old farts like me who still buys CDs.

For those saying' they can't believe some people on here think the charity is about the customer in the shop' well sometimes it is. It depends on the charities purpose and strategy, many also have a social mission regarding the local community. Over half of low income people shop in charity shops and the average spend is around £6. Those shops specialising in particular types of items of course will be different. .

'Giving Something Back notes that at the North Birkenhead Development Trust (NBDT) shop, situated in one of the most deprived parts of the Wirral, residents frequently donate specific items which they know another person in the community is in need of; a winter coat for example. The sale of affordable goods, then, is closely inter-linked with their objectives to support social networks in the local area and help its low income population.- Report from the Charity Retail Association 2014.

There are alot of charity shops in cambridge. They sell fashion, lots of it is vintage, one had loads of formal wear for student functions. The majority of the stock is probably shipped in form other areas.

I think lots of people don't realise that many well off people are used to wearing/reusing hand me downs, be it clothes, furniture or any house hold goods. If you had a family home that was handed down through the generations you didn't redecorate or refurnish it every few years. My children got bursaries to a very posh prep. school. There was a well run second hand uniform shop that everyone bar a few 'new rich' used. Children always handed down their clothes to their younger siblings and sports equipment could be found in the shop too. So the well off are used to second hand stuff. I have several friends though who have come from a different background and always insist on having new things as if it signifies their standing when in fact it doesn't at all.

@valtandsinegar I read the same sort of thing on a Facebook post today. Someone had bought a lovely item to repurpose into another item of clothing for her daughter. She was told that she shouldn’t even think about buying clothes that are size 16 when she is a size 8 as it’s hard enough for bigger people to buy these sizes in charity shops and she is basically hurting others and being sizest or something to that effect. I mean, ffs!
I love charity shopping. I much prefer to buy stuff second hand. I buy the majority of my presents for others second hand too. It’s a great feeling getting something for cheap! I tend to buy kids clothes and toys the most and craft supplies!

I am well off and I don't shop on High street unless I can't find something I need in the charity shops. I do it for environmental reasons. Couldn't care less if someone thinks "I need to check my privilege" for shopping in charity shops.

I have tried and failed to shop in charity shops, always overpriced so when it's constantly trotted on MN for budgeting ideas, I don't get it at all!! Furniture and nick naks on the other hand, I have picked up a bargain or two.

Depending on the area, you can buy very good quality, hardly used charity shop clothes (and other stuff), at reasonable prices. I used to buy a lot of lovely stuff years ago when I was hard up and it was fun too.

People are entitled to shop wherever they choose. Very often you can find unusual things in charity shop. Just because a student is Oxbridge doesn't mean they are well off and even if they are, so what? They will still have a budget and what they save on some items leaves them with more to spend on other things. It's their choice.

I've never shopped in a charity shop tbh.

@combatbarbie

I have tried and failed to shop in charity shops, always overpriced so when it's constantly trotted on MN for budgeting ideas, I don't get it at all!! Furniture and nick naks on the other hand, I have picked up a bargain or two.

As I said before, there are posh charity shops in posh areas. The MNers you've been talking to might have been to one of the posh shops and found really good things for a discount price. Go to a poor area, the type where the whole high street is dominated by charity shops and it's a different matter.

" back in the day when charity shops saw charity as the most important thing. Many now just look to make a profit"

I think you've misunderstood how they work. Their 'profit' goes to charity. They're not there as a service to the local community unfortunately.