Charity shops

[Namechangexxxchristmas]

I'm fully prepared to be told IABU

I've had a good clear out of unwanted things. Most things were either new or extremely good condition. They were also good brands. I messaged the charity shop on Facebook asking if they'd accept what I have. I sent a photo, they said yes.

So this morning I took the things. I didn't have loads. I had one bag. And I went round the back of the shop. I explained to the workers that I have some new things and have spoken to someone on the Facebook messenger about donating these items. I was met with a groan, a huff, and not even a smile. I explained again that I had spoken to someone on the Facebook messenger and that I can always take them to another charity shop. She pulled them out my hands and huffed saying well I suppose we could and rolled her eyes at another worker. I said thank you and was huffed at again and didn't say thank you to me, the door was shut in my face.

I understand charity shops get given lots of things which they have to sort through and I'm sure they are given non sellable things but I explain mine were new and they even posted a post online saying they accept donations recently, also given I had privately messaged them too. I even offered to take them to a different charity shop if they weren't accepting.

Is this how charity shops are now? It takes not even 2 seconds to say thank you and I certainly won't be donating to this charity again nor will I shop in it. Anyone else had this experience?

That person was rude @Namechangexxxchristmas.

Don't write the whole charity off because of that particular volunteer though, if it's one you otherwise like to support.

What gets me is that people posting take one or two experiences and then we have all the generalised "I won't go to a charity shop" brigade join in. What about all the good these places do and how much they support services that a lot of vulnerable people rely on. Always easy to be negative, too many armchair critics around these days. Same applies to posts about teachers.

That worker/volunteer was rude, and if that were to happen in future I hope you'd feel confident enough to say "You seem like you don't want any more donations, I will take this to another charity instead."

I adore charity shops and spend a fair bit of time rooting round my local ones, so I often get to know the staff a bit. Lots are fabulous, and cheerful. But quite a few are managing long term health or mental health conditions, and this can sometimes be quite obvious in how they relate to customers. I now go in with the attitude that although I go in because I enjoy browsing secondhand things, part of the set-up is that I need to be kind and patient if a volunteer is struggling.

But that's my approach as a shopper. As a donor, I don't think a bad attitude is ok.

Most charity shop workers are volunteers. They are often struggling with long term debilitating physical and/or mental health issues that prevent them from being able to commit to a paid role where you must be reliable.

They are also working for free by donating their time. They are actually bigger donors than you are with your bag of unwanted stuff.

I think if that, as a fellow donor, you feel entitled to thanks & a pat on the bank from someone in much worse off straits than you but donating more value than you, then you should be thanking them for their service first.

Saying ‘thank you’ is arranging a parade?? Really?

Local charity shops are keen to get my GiftAid number & no one ever huffs or seems grumpy. I never hand over anything amazing to them.

Honestly if have said I'll not bother then and taken it elsewhere.
Round here you just walk into the shop when it's open and take them in. Never had to prearrange and go round the back - of you need to do all those maybe it's a sign they have too much stuff. Still, she was rude and ungrateful and ome not typical of the shop staff.

Re the having to get rid of unsaleable stuff, I was told at a local (small) charity shop that they accept clothes and bedding even if it's not saleable as they can still get money for it. So I took in old shirts and duvet covers and they were pleased. She said it goes for e.g. mattress stuffing.

I doing a collection to take to West Africa. Even items not accepted here are gladly received. The fact is that Charity shops here get a lot of donations. Sorting and administering that is a lot of work for them.

Yup.

It's an odd pattern here lately.

The behaviour was indeed, rude, but it was one rude person; its a bit of a leap to assume that this says anything about charity shops and their volunteers in general.

It's also silly to boycott a whole charity because of one volunteer.

I think, as PP have mentioned, it's probably a very busy time for donations with people have clear outs after Christmas and very overwhelming for the staff who have to deal with it. But having said that, I've had a similar experience in a charity shop before and it's not very nice! On the other side of things, I was buying something from our local charity shop a few weeks ago and whilst I was queueing up to pay, a van pulled up and dumped an old completely knackered sofa outside and drove away! The staff said it happened all the time and didn't seem the least bit phased, I just couldn't believe it! They said they'd just have to add it to their tip run that week, very cheeky of the person, essentially making someone else dispose of their rubbish.

I agree it's becoming a hassle to donate at many of the shops so now I use the bags that folk deliver for charities and you leave stuff outside on a designated day for collection. No refusals, no interaction, no rudeness.

That doesn't really excuse rude behaviour, though, does it? It might even do some of those people good to learn to be polite.

@ClaudiaWankleman "those people" 🙄
To be honest there could be 1001 reasons why the person seemed rude and grumpy during that 2 minute exchange or as I said upthread - some people are just miserable people.
In the big scheme of things - does it really matter? The OP achieved what she wanted to do (get rid of stuff).

I once tried to donate a sledge to a charity shop and the person behind the desk was horrified and said they would never take anything 'like that' and seemed shocked that I would even try to donate it.

@willowthecat do you live in an area where it regularly snows?

Yes this exactly.

I’m not sure why people expect charity shops to be grateful for donations? To my mind, they are doing me a huge favour. How else am I meant to get rid of stuff I don’t want? Selling/giving away via FB local etc is a huge hassle. I could take stuff to the tip, but then I have to accept lots will just be destroyed and/or I will have to wander round each section putting items in the correct places.

Charity shops are by far the easier option for me and I’m always so grateful when they accept stuff.

Average levels of snow and it was winter at the time, the hill near us has sledgers most years - I didn't really mind them not taking it but it might have been better to say 'sorry we won't be able to sell it' I thought it was health and safety related in case a sledge accident led to legal action - perhaps sadly not too far fetched

Yes - those people referred to above. Perfectly normal use of English. What's your point?

We took some toys - a lot of them brand new - into a charity shop in early December. There were 2 workers in there. They were very pleased with the toys, so that was fine.

We also took in some lever arch files. All in very good condition and some unused. One said to bring them in, and the other said they weren’t wanted (we asked first as we weren’t sure).

I guess they may have had different experiences of what might sell in the shop, so maybe that’s why they gave different responses. (It was the person sorting who said no, so we took them
away. I might try again in August for “back to school” time.)

@willowthecat do they normally sell large outdoor play equipment though?
But who knows why that person reacted like that? Some people are just.....odd?
(not you - the charity shop person)

I find it a complete lottery as to whether they will take donations so always check beforehand, not sure why a previous poster found it odd that OP checked by messaging the store. I always phone having been burned so many times, loading up the car, finding somewhere to park, staggering along with several heavy bags to find they dont want it

The small ones are the worst.

Wow. How bloody disgusting especially for that charity.

I just meant it as a light hearted comment, I really was not upset just surprised but I love charity shops and their staff and my mum used to work in one and she said never to donate any men's clothes as they never sell or only for factory rags so there's something else to avoid. I think being given numerous bags of cleared out rubbish is probably more common now so must make their lives very hard. I think standards in charity shops have gone up since my younger days when there often was a lot of 'junk' - prices were a lot lower as well though