To think charity donations aren't appreciated?

[USERJ]

I saw a viral Tik tok of a lady in what looked like a donation centre, going through the bags and making complaints about what people have put in these bags. (Dirty clothes I agree is completely unwanted!!)
But some things she complained about were a pair of high heeled shoes, a religious outfit and some items which can be considered out of fashion. Now whilst I appreciate if you had just lost everything in an earthquake you may not be thinking of high heels straight away but surely they would be of use to someone? Someone who needs heels for a job? For a job interview? Or for any special occasions coming up?
The religious outfit she seemed to mock just makes me lost for words. I then looked at the comments and similar videos were shared from different donation centres of other volunteers complaining for example a sports top that was bobbly...like really?? (My clothes are bobbly!!)
I'm not saying all donation centres do this but AIBU to be annoyed by watching this video?

Just think, if you and your family were suddenly made homeless without any belongings would you want high heels and a random religious outfit? Most people wouldn’t have use for these and most charities work in crisis situations and don’t have use for these items either.

The rule of thumb I use is if I wouldn't wear it, use it, or eat it I wouldn't donate it. Think that every time I see tins of ye old oak tins of hotdogs in food bank collection trollies.

When I do a clear out of my clothes and shoes only 5% I deem good enough to go to a charity shop. The rest gets put in a textile recycling bin or in landfill.

With my DD clothes at the moment 80% of her stuff can be reused by someone even though some of it is already second hand.

There are enough programmes that are available online which shows your dirty, stained and bobbly clothing will be shipped to developing countries to cause pollution as no one wants it.

Shipping vast quantities of second hand western clothing to African countries has destroyed local clothing manufacture and retail.

I really think we need to stop thinking passing on our used clothing is charitable. It really isn't and it locks us in a cycle of buying too much and then thinking we can get rid of it in a benevolent and helpful manner. I wonder if an unintended effect of having so many charity shops is this fast fashion cycle.

The world is full of used clothing. Full. Only a part is worth donating to someone as an item if clothing. Recycling rags isn't act of kindness, it is a simple responsibility.
When it comes to disasters and tragedies abroad, the quality and appropriateness matters even more - why would anyone waste fuel, storage space and time of several people in the chain.

Not everyone has money to buy new stuff to donate - yes, and it is ok. Just don't expect gratitude for the bobbly stuff. It will be dealt with, but the less quality pieces are part of the reality and the real work, not something which should be highly appreciated.

There’s a cost of living crisis going on in the U.K. atm. Giving ‘cash’ isn’t something a lot of people can do, the alternative being to give something that can be used by the people who need it, ie clothes, bedding etc. Warm clothes are what’s needed for the people in Turkey/Syria in the immediate aftermath. Not cash.

Warm clothes are needed

what’s not needed is black bags full of a random assortment of jumpers, trousers and coats being loaded into a transit van with a vague idea of driving to turkey.

Its inefficient, time consuming and causes more problems locally. Leave it to the professionals. Send cash ti the DEC.

YABU

People just use “charity” as an excuse to offload all the old crap they have that they can’t be arsed taking to the dump. Give cash not old junk.

The big charities involved in disaster response say to give money. However well meaning most of the crap people donate will end up in landfill not actually helping anyone.

I'm finding this thread really interesting. I've always had a charity box and most of my things are (what I deem) to be good quality items. I wonder if when we donate, really we are trying to alleviate guilt of being wasteful? The thought of throwing these items horrifies me a bit, but I've noticed in the past couple of years that charity shops seem to all have plenty if not too much in the first place. I now try and give away items on my local neighbourhood site so it goes to people who want the items and I'm not clogging up stores with unwanted goods. I'm starting to feel embarrassed and quite claustrophobic with just how much stuff I have, equally I don't buy that much anymore but I do still buy things that I probably don't need

Maybe this is where you are mistaken though, not everything is of use to someone. That may have been the case, but I don't think it is anymore

Who has spare cash right now? these people think they are helping!!! Maybe a list off things that are acceptable should be posted all over social media so more people think bobbly jumpers and holey leggings aren't good enough, I would never donate something in a condition that I wouldn't buy it.

Oops I didn’t upload the picture of the mountain of donations at this warehouse

We should feel guilty about the amount of waste we produce. Though it seems cheaper to buy online and at primark for example, than to actually buy clothes from charity shops. There's a big gap now in what's right and more education and understanding needs to happen. School uniforms are a big issue for Me, expecting parents to pay more and more for uniform which then can't be recycled because they need everything badged. That's not giving anyone a chance

I know in the past (not so much now as I don't really buy clothes anymore) but it used to make me feel a bit ill mentally calculating how much all these unworn or worn once clothes must've cost. I'm lucky I wasn't a teen in the whole cheap fast fashion, I would've been out of control

I've volunteered in several charity shops over the years and I must say that I had a different experience to many on here in that we were quite happy to have unwearable clothes donated as we would send them to the rag man for money 🤷‍♀️ we also definitely would sell wearable but bobbly clothes for £1 or so, and there was no problem getting them sold (I myself bought many of them!).

We did have enough volunteers to sift through all the donation bags though, so I suppose that helped.

Definitely agree with this

Yes this. If it was for the earthquake then people need to think!

high heels are a total obscenity with no place in the modern world

Piece of military kit designed for remaining on your horse during a cavalry charge, sexualised into an item of clothing that disables a woman

No one should be "normalising" that crap - surely we have moved on as a species

No one wants your old rubbish, Sue.

I think it's unreasonable of charities to expect lots of cash or brand new clothes. Most people would just buy new clothes for themselves if they have the money. Who can afford new clothes for a charity, unless they're very rich? I dropped in a bag of clothes to the charity shop yesterday: all spotlessly clean, in good condition. Obviously leaving used knickers in a bag is a absolutely disgusting but I guess there's no way of sussing out who has done that.

I think a big part of the problem for charity shops is that so many people are selling their nicer secondhand clothes on Vinted or elsewhere. Therefore they only give things to charity shops that aren't worth selling. I don't know what the solution is though.

So what is the best thing to do with clothes that are bobbly but basically OK? I have too many long sleeved plain cotton shirts for example that are bobbly that I wear under jumpers. Do I throw them in the bin when having a clear out or donate them somewhere? I really don't know what is best and I'd imagine a lot of other people don't either.

And another reason charity shops are getting rubbish - for a lot of people (hoarders and those with hoarding tendencies) having a clear out is a very difficult thing psychologically and, depending on the amount of stuff, potentially physically. People may not have the energy to sort things properly, wash them, etc. Not excusing it just pointing it out.

I also think people don't realise their crap is crap. I'm shocked at what some people try and sell on my local community site, stuff that you wouldn't even want for free!

i currently volunteer for a baby charity where we take donations for babies up to one year and toys we are able to sell. I can honestly say I will empty a full donations bin (think dumpster size) and there will only be a handful of suitable items we can use the rest has to be ragged or binned. But the majority of toys we get are either broken/very old or have missing parts. Lots of clothes are dirty or stained or not relevant to our charity. Then the worst which is most days we are sifting through bags where people are clearly having a clear out. Think old pencil cases and there contents, odd socks, mens old boxer shorts etc etc.

mot saddens me as we have to rag perfectly good clothes which are just not suited to our charity.

If I have a bundle of clothes that are past their best, l put them in a separate bag clearly marked “rags” as the shop will get money.

I work in a charity shop. Thank you for marking the rag bags, it helps us so, so much.

Things we have had in the past - used sex toys, bag of clothes with a used condom randomly in the middle, clothes which stick of smoke/weed, bedclothes which had obviously just been taking off of a bed and shoved in a black bag, broken toys, broken crockery, bags of used socks, bags of clothes which kitchen knives randomly inside.

Also, if you're one of the people who dumps stuff outside while we're closed then there's a special place in hell for you.