Am I being unreasonable to be mad as hell about a scam going on at this charity shop?

[Bunpea]

Am I being unreasonable to think there is a scam going on at a local charity shop?

I took three bags of things to my local charity shop for a well-known mental health charity. My OH took the bags in to the shop at the front. The bags contained ‘good’ stuff (mainly nice clothes, with some new bedding still in the cellophane wrappers). All good enough to have sold on eBay, but I want to support this charity.

The shop has a car park round the back you can pull in to. I drove round there to turn around and wait for OH.
In the car park was a man sorting through boxes and bags of goods, putting some things into three large zip-up shopping bags, and everything else he put in a skip.
Into the skip went lots of kids toys which looked in great condition - plastic ride-ons, a small dolls house, soft toys, toy cars, as well as books and other stuff. He kept testing the weight of the bags - presumably he was taking them somewhere.
He seemed uncomfortable that I was there, lit a cigarette, picked up a few random pieces of small litter (but did nothing about the bigger mess) and generally hung around.

Just as OH appeared at the side of the car, the shop manageress opened the back door of the shop and handed the man one of my bags.
I got out and asked her if the stuff I had donated was no use to them, that I was never sure what was useful to donate, and if it was no good would take it back and deal with it another way.
She hastily grabbed the bag back from the man, saying it was ‘being taken upstairs to be sorted’ (no it wasn’t), and that ‘we sell it all’.
Hmmmm.

I can understand that charity shops probably use dealers for disposing of some goods they can’t sell, and that some stuff goes for rags. Or that they move stock from shop to shop. But this didn’t look like that. And all the good stuff that had gone in that skip…
Am I being unreasonable to be mad as hell about a scam going on at this charity shop?

I remember years ago spotting a ballet book which I had been after for years in a local charity book shop and the woman behind the till was incredibly reluctant to give me it . It was on display and when I asked the price she advised me it was very expensive (turned out to be £8) and basically her whole attitude towards me was very snooty . I bought said book but I actually emailed their head office to complain about her . I wondered if she intended to take the book herself and sell on . I’ve been a huge ballet fan since childhood and the book in question was one I used to see in the library and had always wanted but it did make me suspicious of her.

Maybe.

But it’s reasonable to want to know before you donate.

🥵Vile.

Puts me off donating. But then I’m very cynical. Always 😏that the charity CEO’s get paid ridiculous sums.
CEO dogs trust £160k.
Had more donations recent few years than ever before.
Take in less dogs than ever before!
Fudge figures so they appear to be rehoming loads, but they don’t advertise the amount of dogs returned to them for one thing or another.
They pay staff a pittance, because staff that work with animals are usually VERY committed.

Same as the council. Pay staff very little.

We've just been clearing out my late parents house. We gave lots of good stuff to local charity shops. I would be very upset to think they'd just been skipped.

A lot of good quality stuff in its day has no market now. I've seen loads of very good condition Ercol furniture in charity shops, but no one wants it - which always surprises me as it ought to have come back as retro by now.

If you clear out an elderly persons house, there's a good chance that most of it has no value at all.

better off giving them away for free on Facebook marketplace. I always do this now, it's more convenient and people are always so pleased to collect

My local giveaway page has frequent complaints about non-collectors. Seems to be rampant. I once forgot to collect something (bag of scrap wood) at 11am. I apologised at 5pm & Giver said the item had gone to another. Fair enough. But then... I found out that at 4pm Giver had posted a public complaint about non-collectors. Upset that she had stayed in all day which ruined her plans to go to the garden centre (I don't know who asked her to stay in all day). She was 89 years old & people in her day would never be so rude. She had raised her own children properly. "So disgusting!" "Name and shame!" "I can't understand why this keeps happening to you, Mabel." were the replies. I can be grateful Mabel did not name and shame.

So, I have made a note to ignore Mabel's offers now. Actually I'm reluctant to get any offer. I still usually deliver anything I offer :).

@lljkk she seemed pretty entitled to complain as she wasted a whole day trying to go a good deed and you didn’t bothered to tell her you weren’t coming…

I take stuff to storehouse local charity that people can go to of referred by SS and get things for free.
Or I take stuff to local refuge, mainly due to increased charity shop prices and things like you have mentioned.
I feel even charity shop prices near me are out of reach for many people.

Thanks @Sunshineandrainbow, that sounds a good idea . I’ll start looking for a local charity that operates along those lines.

Surprised about the Ercol, I thought it was quite popular

Ercol is incredibly popular, there are collectors groups on facebook and loads of specialist dealers who scour charity shops, I have good friends who make an amazing income from doing this.

I’ve had the same thing happen too.

I live in a town in NZ that has a large organisation that takes anything. Everyone from the town (and surrounding areas) takes all of their stuff there when they don't want it anymore. It's an incredible place to donate and to shop at. Everything from single screws and old sports equipment to beds and designer clothes. There is very little that you cannot find! It's all set up in containers and a large indoor shop for the clothes and toys/books. Their whole business model is based around one person's trash being another person's treasure.
It's always the first place we head to when we need anything and the prices are so so low. My partner got a brand new barbour wool jumper for less that £8 last year.
The world needs more places like this!

TBH , to avoid this you’d be better selling your stuff on eBay then gift aiding the amount you to sell it for to the headquarters of the charity.
I”m always suspicious of giving actual goods to charity shops anyway, as certainly in the past they used to dump a lot on the ’ third world ‘ putting their local tailors etc out of business ! Look how many photos there used to be of girls in the ‘ third world ‘ wearing old M&S bras! ! 😡

That’s really sad @Bunpea what a waste. They should be telling people if they have no space for donations before throwing it away!
maybe people could donate toys to nursery schools I’ve worked in a few that would of appreciated donations and think of alternative places to donate..

i think a lot of people use charity shops to get rid of stuff that’s not great but they shouldn’t assume that without even looking

I'd email head office... Clearly something on toward is going on here..

But then I thought the bras donation was a good thing and we were encouraged to send our bras to a charity as certain cultures couldn't afford a bra and were getting harassed by men

I’d be annoyed, that does seem odd. I think I’d contact head office to enquire if this is usual practice

If it’s a large charity they will have somebody called Director of Retail, or a similar title. Email them and copy in the Chair of the Board of Trustees. Names will be on their website.
I suspect there is a innocent explanation, charity retailing is more complex than many people think.
‘if you aren’t happy with the explanation forward the correspondence to the Charity Commission.

L

It is absolutely her business because the basis on which she made the donation is clearly not being honoured.

Id speak to head office for sure. The charity is being defrauded.

Sound suspicious. Contact head office.

Our local Barnardos often puts out a sign that they can't take any more donations that day. Why don't these others?
If he was weighing them up, that's ridiculous as the cash for clothes cabins pay way less than the charity would get for selling individually

SunnyQueen What do you mean immediately ragged?

When I give to charity shops it's not just to give to the charity but so that people can get a bargain. When my children were small we were all dressed from charity shops as we couldn't afford much. But our local oxfam started charging big prices ( students and affluent town) so I started using Freegle instead. It's brilliant as things go quickly (there always seems to be someone who wants random things like half full tins of paint) and you know it will get used. Also fits with the green agenda (now I can afford more I've always tried to get second hand stuff from eBay so I'm recycling). It feels more direct than charity shops and this thread makes me feel it's a better way sometimes.