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?

This thread makes me feel quite sad that most people's immediate reaction must be that theft is happening and that most people working/volunteering in charity shops are dishonest and only out for themselves

There is a very sneery attitude to people who volunteer in charity shops and the charity shops themselves. Charity shop volunteers are stupid, couldn't get a proper job elsewhere, delight in pricing artificially high, steal all the stock, are rude to customers and are just totally incompetent. It's weird because those of us who are in and out of charity shops week in, week out say we don't identify with that scenario at all, yet MN knows better. 🙄

The poster who said once you have donated it is none of your business what happens to your donation is, I think, wrong. People will stop donating if they feel it is not going towards the cause they want to support. The OP has already said that much of the goods donated were still in their packaging or of excellent condition so it is reasonable of her to wonder what was going on at the back of the shop. It may well be perfectly legitimate but it sounds a bit dodgy to me.

Why all are some charity shops filled with shit!
Primark top that they are trying to sell for £7+ when they didn't cost that much new

People will stop donating if they feel it is not going towards the cause they want to support.

I'd say that probably 90+% of people who donate to us don't care about the 'cause', they just want rid of their stuff. Otherwise they wouldn't donate tat or leave it outside when the shop is closed to get rained on/ripped open by wildlife. If we refuse an item then we have to subtly watch to make sure the person takes it with them an doesn't dump it round the side of the shop or directly into our bins (which we have to pay a monthly fee for).

People can't seem to accept that we aren't grateful for their heavy CRT TV or furniture with no fire safety label.

So it won't sell anything and will close down then, won't it?

Do you really think a charity is going to keep paying to keep a shop open, selling very little? What's more likely - that they have a policy of overpricing and never sell anything, or that the manager is unable to keep on top of everything and mistakes get made?

I've worked in charity shops for the last 7 years (management) and the only things we put in the bin are broken items/toys where batteries have leaked, missing parts that affect use, books that have been drawn in/ripped pages etc, clothes we rag have either got holes in or are stained, everything else, if we've had it in shop for more than 2 weeks goes to a different store, so quite possibly that's what you've seen.
If we ever have too much of something we do special offers or ask other stores if they need certain items.
I'd hate to think anything that's in good condition would be put in a skip when we could make money for the charity

This post could do a lot of damage to the charity you have in mind so I think you should clarify with head office what it is you saw and put it back on mumsnet what was actually happening or else a lot of potential donations will not now be made to charity shops on the back of this post iyswim.There again,if something dodgy is going on perhaps they will now stop it.
perhaps it's one of those companies that but charity bags based on weight?who knows but do think about the affect your post could have.

What a shitty thing to say, a lot of people who volunteer in charity have learning disabilities/mental health issues so to say they are stupid is disgusting, they actually want to work so volunteer as the world won't give them a chance, what is ridiculous are the ones sitting back claiming job seekers and have no intentions to find work, and as for pricing that come from the top so don't be having a go at staff, if you don't like it don't shop there, without the fabulous volunteers (who work for nothing!!) these shops wouldn't be able to run!!!!

This was in reply to kassandraofsparta

I too manage a charity shop and echo all these comments ... it is highly unlikely that this is a 'scam' ... more likely to be trying to get rid of the absolute 'tat' we are constantly donated (yes, along with some lovely items). People find it hard to accept that their donations are 'tat' but I estimate only about 30% of what my shop receives as donations is actually saleable so I spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to get rid of stuff as responsibly as possible. We do turn donations away if they are clearly unsaleable but people get so offended. This week someone tried to give me a load of very old, clearly used A4 binder files ... insisting they would be 'ideal' for students. No student I know would want a second hand ancient A4 file but she went off in a huff and said she would never donate to my shop again .

Much of the general public tend to use us instead of taking stuff to the tip.

I often put out a box of books or DVDs / CDs for 'free' just to create space but still can't get rid of them.

Yeah you've misread that completely, haven't you? Given that I am one of the volunteers.

Let's start a thread for all charity shop workers/volunteers to say what they've stolen from work during their time there. I'll start

The used condom(s) I've found in several bags
The donation which was infested so we had to spend petty cash on flea spray/powder after a few of us were bitten
The knives randomly in the middle of bags of clothes
The used sex toys
The pots and pans with dried bits of food stuck to them, the kettles with water still in and the deep fat fryers which stink of grease.
The used underwear
The used potties
The clothes which stink of stale smoke as soon as you open the bag
The half eaten food in the middle of bags
The clothes which stink of shit/piss
The drugs we found where we had to phone the police to come and collect as they were Class B
The unsafe electricals which are probably older than I am.
The toiletry sets which went out of date years ago (I think the oldest so far was use by 2011.)

We do turn donations away if they are clearly unsaleable but people get so offended.

I very nicely told someone a few weeks ago that we couldn't take their bag of coat hangers as we have to use the ones provided by head office and they went in a huff and took back their other two bags of donations as well. We tried putting coat hangers in a box and selling at so many for a pound but people still didn't want the old wire ones.

@Autumnrain78

This was in reply to kassandraofsparta

You might want to reread their post.

@KassandraOfSparta
OK I'm a tool, I'm big enough to apologise, sorry, I genuinely mean that.
Can I also add that out of a pocket in a ladies jacket, I found a urine sample bottle, a bullet vibrator and a bottle of poppers!!

If you have unwanted, old, torn, worn or unworn clothing, or materials such as cushion covers, duvet covers, tablecloths etc then H&M give you a £5 voucher for every full large carrier bag (think bag for life) you bring in. I fold everything to get as much in the bag as possible.

My mums friend used to volunteer in a charity shop. The volunteers took all the best stuff for themselves.

In this case I would suspect the man is related to the woman in the shop and they're taking the best stuff to sell on.

I would report to head office.

My mother and I were in a Charity shop where the woman had 5 dresses by Ghost and she told us the Volunteers in that shop get first dibs on any donations how else would you expect them to give their time. Another time she was purchasing a Lanvin bag that had been saved for her. We were surprised but then I was more surprised to see her working at another Charity shop around the corner. So basically if you wondered why nothing that exciting is hanging on the rails its because it’s being creamed off. Funnily enough those are the shops I rarely find anything . I suppose the money is going to the Charity although do they get a discount? I prefer the policy where it has to be on the shop floor a certain amount of time passing or they monitor staff purchases in case of being there purely to skim it off as nobody needs 5 dresses of the same brand but she was the manager and it probably ends up on Ebay for personal profit.

@slashlover
You must of heard of the deceased estate that included the urn?
Famous Berkshire based charity. When questioned the lady said I don't want him either, you get rid!
I unfortunately did work with some very dodgy people however we did find diamonds sewn into a hem (SA item) and a bowl worth £47k. I loved my job and would do it again.

Apology accepted - it was late last night!

I have been bitten by fleas. Dealt with bags of cushions which have obviously been used by a cat and were more hair than fabric. Very much recognise stories about people getting arsey when you refuse their "generous" donation of battered ring binders and coat hangers.Very dirty and stained clothing, board games with lots of bits missing, household rubbish. Only last week we had a donation which was a black bag full of rubbish - looked like a parent had told a child to clean their room and it all came to us. Sweetie wrappers, stubs of pencils, ripped books. Lovely.

My mums friend used to volunteer in a charity shop. The volunteers took all the best stuff for themselves.

And there's that phrase again from @Darlingx - "best stuff". Seems to be this idea that we're all kleptomaniacs taking BNWT clubbing gear or hiking boots because they are "best" even though we have no intentions of clubbing or hiking.

I don't have any issue at all with volunteers getting first dibs though. We all give up our time week in and week out, for no pay, we can claim expenses but nobody in our shop ever does. Having the opportunity to BUY items at the FAIR PRICE is the only perk of the position. All of our volunteers are very good customers of the shop too.

Oh and our best (worst?) donation was a machete.

Juist the sort of thing you'd put up for sale in a suburban charity shop. Couldn't put it in the bin either as an "offensive weapon". So a volunteer had to give up even more of their time schlepping around trying to find an open police office to hand it in.

@Darlingx as a volunteer, I’m so busy on my shifts its rare I spot anything I want to buy. If I do, then yes I would get a discount. I’m often up to my elbows in hot soapy water washing dirty glasses and crockery before they are put on display. A big thank you to donors of clean, useable items, you make my day!

I’d recommend volunteering to other retired people, there are lots of different things to do. Its not just standing behind a till. Clothes are steamed, tagged and priced before display, shoes often cleaned. Books have to be sorted, some are sold by weight. I can’t believe MN posters are amongst those who use charity shops as an alternative to their dustbin. There have been so many posts from paid staff and volunteers about the disgusting state of many donations I’m sure everyone who reads these threads thinks about what they give. It really is an eye opener!

The chain I work for doesn't give a discount to staff or volunteers either. We pay the price anyone else would pay. Anything we take home has to be documented - last week I brought a crate of proof coin sets home to google and price up, had to be written up in a special book and signed by the manager.

@KassandraOfSparta Sounds just like our shop! As a 70+ pensioner, there’s little I want to buy these days, I’m more likely to donate. 😊

@slashlover and the man who would come and try on women's underwear in the changing room, and how noisy and messy he'd be.
Urgh.

Sorry if someone has already posted this. Two of the charities I donate to send out an email thanking me and telling me how much my donations have raised. It is nice feeling that my donations have helped raise funds for these worthwhile charities.

No you're not being unreasonable. I have stopped putting things in my local charity shop because I am convinced some keep some really good stuff themselves. Well in fact I know they do, I have been told by someone who worked in one for a while. I put a 12 month old vax hoover in, nothing wrong with it, I just wanted to go back to the make I usually use, bedding still brand new in the packets, curtains brand new in packets and 5 dresses with price tags still on. Not one of them was put in the shop from what I could see and thats not the first time that has happened... I give it away myself now instead.