Charity shops seem to be unrealistic with their prices and I can't afford them anymore!

[AutumnFairy01]

Firstly, this isn't to do with not giving to charity. I give to charity separately and donate items to local homeless charities, food banks, etc but I've always loved supporting charity shops too. They're great (or were great) for grabbing a bargain and reusing an unwanted item. I love secondhand wherever possible.

However, I've now come to the conclusion that charity shops are largely unaffordable for me now. I browse round charity shops weekly I would say (in more than one town) and the prices are just crazy! I always buy secondhand clothing for myself, dh and children but quite often the charity shop prices seem more expensive than buying new or at best, very little difference. For instance, in Chelmsford the other day, I went into the BHF shop and I saw a very simple baby's top, not designer or anything and it was £4! And then for adult clothing, I couldn't see anything below £6/7.

Boots sales and Facebook marketplace are my go to places more and more now. Sometimes freebay too.

I can understand charity shops putting their prices up a little with rising costs of everything but there has to be a balance surely?

AIBU to think charity shop prices are unrealistic for secondhand items?

Are they becoming unaffordable for anyone else?

The ones near me are 50/50 I'd say. There's one that I love as it's always well stocked with toddler clothes and prices are very very reasonable (I'd even say cheap even for a charity shop) but others I've stopped even looking in because prices have gotten so high, like you say it's not worth paying for secondhand when new is only £1 more!

Charity shops are over managed by layers of people. This has led to over-inflated prices and bullying of volunteer staff. Red Cross for one. I now use vinted and local selling sites instead of paying designer prices for Primark!

The charity shops in my area (Brighton) are crazily high. I once saw a second hand Primark tshirt being sold for £5, when they only cost £3 new. I think a lot of the charity shops look on ebay and see similar items going for a certain amount and put that as their price. What angers me the most is the saleries the CEOs get. A quick google will show their wages are well over $100K 😡

@purplevamp go to the Red Cross on LondonRd, down by McDonalds. They appear to have a flat pricing structure of £2.50 for everything. Some good bits to be had, certainly compared to some of the others, although PdSA not too bad.

I think I can probably work out the charity shops you're referring to. If you mean Little Havens and Fair Havens, I get what you're saying about the area the shops are in and the affluence. That does make sense. However, if you're familiar with the Lions charity shop in Leigh, it's never quiet! And I think that's because the prices are set just right for many people. I go in a couple of times a week and they have a big turn around of items it seems. So even though Leigh is an affluent place, I think there's still a need for a charity shop bargains.

Thank you for sharing that though @POTC. A good insight and I hadn't realised some of those things you mentioned like head offices setting prices.

Charity shops have become dearer, I’ve noticed this too OP.

This story has been picked up by the press, btw.

Everything's become dearer. Interested to hear why people think charity shops are immune from the cost of living crisis.

😂according to some posters, charity shops should be charging less because of the cost of living crisis... quite where the money comes from to do that isn't clear...

Tbh it's not like the stock costs them more to buy...
What went up... Electricity, if fixes ended. Rents are per contract so unless they all also had a rent review as well now than rents are same.
Going by the 10 year leases someone mentioned , considerong the power of the charity, I don't asume rent reviews more often than at 5 years.

You are right. I saw a T shirt for £7 that was still on current sale in Primark for £3. The CEO's salaries means I never respond to the begging letters - anyway I live on a basic state pension so it's not an option. They wanted an odd amount recently for Christmas lunch for the homeless about £29.15 which is what I have for food most weeks. I have had a bit of help from the food bank, it's the bills and insurance that I can't keep up with. I won't get in debt, I struggle on like most in my position

I suspect the real reason charity shops appear to be doing so well is that it is currently fashionable amongst the affluent middle classes to be "eco" and buy second-hand and they can afford to pay whatever is asked. The charities, realising this have ramped up the prices.

The losers here are of course those who relied upon charity shops for affordable clothing.

I had this exact thought myself today! A kids primark t shirt today was marked up at £3, they only cost between £1.80 and £2.30 in primark new off the rail! 😞

The only reason charity shops are still “dying well” money wise is: Resellers too many people buying stuff and reselling for more is the real issue not just with charity shops. But without resellers charities would have priced themselves out of the market. Yet they keep missing things like Bulls starter jackets that are worth hundreds and they let go for less than £20. Resellers in the UK are a serious problem and is adding to the issues with the current economy as they buy and resells for way more instead of someone that is short on funds being able to get a much needed bargain. And I say down with CEOs they don’t contribute to the running of any company so why pay them they are the most useless parasites!

I went in a few last week, fuck me. £8.50 for worn basic tops from M&S.
NO thank you.
I'll buy second hand, but sadly it seems I will not be shopping at charity shops

Not that local, I'm in Suffolk but they cover Norfolk & Cambridgeshire too. Ely is the "Gold" shop and Thetford the discount shop

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/even-charity-shops-become-unaffordable-25394820?int_source=amp_continue_reading&int_medium=amp&int_campaign=continue_reading_button#amp-readmore-target

Can I just ask, is this quite common on mumsnet that threads go into the media? It's the second time it's happened to one of my posts.

I don’t see what the problem is… charities need all the income they can get at the moment to support their work with the homeless people with cancer/people starving in Africa etc. If they manage to sell decent items for good prices then that’s a result isn’t it? If they “overprice” tat, then that’s still good - either it will sell and raise more money for charity, or it won’t sell and the price will be reduced….

As for access to cheap clothes….it’s not easy for any charity shop to compete with Primark, given its prices are so low. If I were really skint again I’d probably try to organise a clothes swap with my mates as a first option, or try jumble sales. When I was in NCT, we used to do mega nearly new sales and the pricing was very reasonable.

I like the concept of them being recycling centres and community based. They are dealing with all the over production and mass consumerism in a productive way. I just wonder if online selling will eventually threaten retail charity shops although the big charities already occupy that space.
We have clothes banks but these get processed so they are not community ones which is probably for the best otherwise you would walking around in your next door neighbours trousers but just like food poverty clothing and presenting yourself as not struggling is so vital to self respect plus charity shops took the stigma away since you felt you were contributing.
I feel like the gentrification of Charity shops is squeezing people in need out and that is the community aspect . Mary Queen of Shops Portas when she started her Charity the website claimed it was supporting deprived areas and ensuring shop units were not empty but her shop venues were Barnes, Richmond, Wimbledon Village, Parsons Green, Chiswick , Teddington they were never ever based in deprived areas . I noticed they changed that statement on their website as it was completely hypocritical . After Covid these areas do have empty units though and one of her shops lays empty in Parsons Green.
I find it interesting that you have a business model of subsidised rates and volunteers but then the CEO is on mega salary and I wonder what percentage goes to the actual charity when they are having branded tickets, bags, merchandising and refits . The theory being the more boutique experience the better for good quality donations. Oh and someone mentioned the heaters over the shop doors with the door wide open. Essentially heating the street.
I think we almost want the Charity shop to be the sharing kindness economy and represent resourcefullness and inclusiveness which Charity shops are moving away from.
The repair stores that are popping up in Shopping centres are maybe the space for this. I think technology poverty can affect education and work and we need repair shops and fix it workshops alongside mending and alteration studios but you need it without the stigma.
Can we not have a space where people learn to sew or fix things including Tools and repairs but as a resourceful space . We have so much consumer waste alongside poverty we have got this all so wrong . Its like throwing away food or letting it rot when people are skipping meals to feed their children.
with all these apps I notice no one can take responsibility for poverty food waste yes but not in response to poverty.
We need to have survival centres embattlement centres against all this reduction of resources. Discount foods, Charity shops the middle classes are inhabiting these spaces now with the help of eco nomics . It’s the new selling space our health food shop now has discount stickers that say be a food hero and the discounts are a fraction of what they were.
It’s kind of tragically funny that even being resourceful has become gentrified because of the squeezed middle along with the buzzwords and higher prices to match.

Yes.

Because some writers can't do any better than copy and paste fromm a forum rather than take it as inspiration and do some research.

I like the concept of them being recycling centres and community based. They are dealing with all the over production and mass consumerism in a productive way.

But as has been explained several times, charity shops are told by the charity commission that they MUST by law raise as much money for their designated cause. The recycling aspect is a by-product of that. There are places already which do the fixing and repairing, there are also places where you can go and buy paint and other DIY supplies

Also my fear is that if you set up a charity with the aim of recycling and being eco, all that would happen is that you'd get even more rubbish to deal with than a lot of us get in charity shops already.

I totally get what you're saying about a community hub with various services including fixing and second hand stuff and it sounds great. We have a repair cafe in Glasgow where you can take stuff to be fixed rather than throwing it away and that definitely needs to be encouraged. I'm just not sure how you'd integrate than into a charity shop. Or if you want a space which doesn't have the aim of making money but is just a space for people to swap/fix, how would it be paid for?

I think many middle class people use charity shops as they also care about over production, especially of fashion items…some people buy new clothes every week…it’s reckless behaviour! I’ve bought second hand from charity shops since I was a student 50 years ago…I continue despite being well able to afford new. I buy my grandchildren second hand toys….we should all be doing this…gentrification? Just a green attitude towards our planet.

If you want cheap second hand british stock.... Go to Eastern Europe and the second hand shops there...
My mum has more Uk shops gear than I do probably.😂

Apart from a couple of knowledgeable volunteers in our shop only paid staff price. Volunteers don’t decide clothes prices. There are standard prices for most books, but one volunteer is skilled at picking out more valuable ones, similarly another has an eye for jewellery and collectibles.

And as for creaming off the best stuff, my favourites are jigsaws, and we get loads donated. I also donate them back when I’ve done them. Note: please don’t donate jigsaws with bits missing, we don’t have the resources to count a thousand pieces before we sell each one. The last one I did was incomplete, glad it was me and not a customer, although we would give a refund.

Yes I agree but the poster and title of this thread is not being able to afford to shop in Charity shops . It’s the rising prices which is preventing people from accessing a resource that was helping them on tight budgets of course we are all in favour of secondhand and recycling otherwise we wouldn’t be buying used items in the first place. Gentrification should we all be doing it along the lines of that phrase its certainly a term of aspiration but what about the grass roots of something where the original concept stemmed from. I think there is very much a community aspect to volunteering by giving your time for free and of course you want to raise plenty of funds but if that alienates a huge chunk of your customer base its become or evolved into something else. I think it’s just an awareness that a sector of the community have been priced out rather like with housing it becomes unaffordable . Going online as a solution is a bit isolating and sad as part of the joy was the face to face and it was quite a democracy at one point if you are inclined to rummage the rails. You would get a wonderful cross section of life which personally I prefer a bit of reality . It’s a charity shop from donations of used goods to raise money for charity funds its not a designer boutique.

I think it depends on area. I don't really go into the ones locally (which is quite an affluent area, so I'd guess there would be more expensive items) but my mum is a big fan and goes into them all the time. I am currently wearing a pair of Monsoon jeans that I got for £2.99 when I was out with her and she got a pair of jeans in the same shop for the same price.