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?

I'm always a bit confused by our local charity shop tbh. I dropped off a lot of good quality worn by one child baby clothes a few years ago. Lots of Joules, Boden, M&S, H&M, Sainsburys stuff.. all good quality, not bobbly, clean and stain free, less than 2 years old.
I have never seen any of the clothes in the store and the stuff they always have for sale in there is really tatty bobbly stuff which was "new" at least 10 years ago.
How do they choose what they are going to sell in the shops vs what they take in in donations. I can only assume that either the stuff I dropped off wasn't what they wanted (not sure why though), or that they've sold it on elsewhere OR taken it to a different store of the same "chain".
We live in quite an affluent area and our charity shops are full of absolute rubbish tbh.. whereas I would expect some of the local people would be donating decent quality stuff. It just doesn't ever seem to make it into the local shops!

I’m a volunteer and part of my job is stocking the rails so I can answer this one.

95% of our donations are cheap brands, I think lots of people now sell the good stuff on eBay/ vinted.
This means if I put any nice clothes from decent makes out on the shop floor, they literally sell in the next 30 mins. Quite often I have people stop me as I come downstairs with an armful of clothes and want to have a look through for the best things

This means if I put any nice clothes from decent makes out on the shop floor, they literally sell in the next 30 mins.

I've seen this - a volunteer came out and put few P&P fleeces and other good things out, and a woman who was browsing the books shot over and bought the lot. Nice stuff must just evaporate, so it looks like only the same tired things have ever been there.

Oh I never even thought of that.
Are there regulars who know when you restock? Or that come in every day. Maybe my once a month approach is the problem then!!

Things that customers don't see: managers that steal the designer stuff. Staff that pinch the nice things donated. The bullying of volunteers by paid staff. The way they monitor profits at the end of the day. What percentage of profit goes to helping people? I don't know that answer. After volunteering in one, I am very sceptical of them. This was "up North" and probably not what you would see further south. I now hate charity shops. They often hate customers and don't say thank you for donations because it creates work for them. I'm sure there are nice shops, somewhere.

I've got a lovely charity shop 2 mins walk away that is part of a chain and has a warehouse locally. They always politely accept donations even if they don't sell them in that particular shop. I donated a lot to them when my parents died - especially as they were the hospice that was going to take my DF if he had lived to be discharged from hospital.

Not sure I could be bothered with rude and disorganised charity shops.

misquote

From the CharitiesData site “on average, for every one member of staff four people volunteer for small charities.”

That’s HUGE. I think people should just recognise the huge sacrifice from volunteers and stop moaning.

Do children’s clothes and toys sell well in charity shops?

Which types of items tend to make most money for shops?

I am interested to know because I wonder if it would make more sense for more charity shops to specialise? eg. ladies clothing only, children’s clothing and toys only, bric-a-brac only. I know that Oxfam has bookshops but wonder if that model should be used more widely.

One of our big local charities already specialises. They have one shop that is mostly toys and kids clothes/kid books. One that is mostly adult clothes. And one that is more along the lines of homeware/bric a brac and books. It's pretty successful as far as I can see, but would probably be beyond the means of most charities.

@Namechangexxxchristmas

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

You came across one grumpy volunteer.

No that is not what all charity shops are like. One volunteer does not represent and entire sector.

I imagine it's impossible to generalise. There are 6 charity shops in my local town I go to fairly often and they are all quite different in terms of pricing; level of organisation of the stock; friendliness of volunteers etc. (none of the staff are rude but in certain shops they tend to like a chat, whereas others are more businesslike).

I understand why you feel a bit pissed off OP but I wouldn't take from your experience that all charity shops are like this one. I would probably just donate to a different one next time.

To be honest I have never messaged in advance with a photo of the stuff I have, I have always just chanced my arm and dropped stuff off, and the recipients have ranged from indifferent but not rude (which I was perfectly fine with), to actively seeking grateful (which I don't expect but is sweet). Never been treated rudely for dropping stuff off that I recall, so I think you had unusually bad luck there.

As someone said upthread, most charity shop workers are volunteers which I do admire. Doesn't make them perfect people of course. My friend and I volunteered in one for a bit when we were girl guides decades ago, and the manager tool against my friend and bullied her quite badly - my mom actually went in and had a bit of a go at her in the end.....

Good and bad people everywhere. Don't let it ruin your day.

Lever arch files take up a lot space and are worth very little. You can buy them new for £2. Not worthwhile for any charity to accept them.

Lever arch files take up a lot of space and are worth very little. You can buy them new for £2. Not worthwhile for any charity to accept them.

Age Concern: "Oh well, all right since you're here, but we can't take any more."

Barnardo's: "Thank you so much for your donation today."

See if you can guess which of these two charity shops gets all our donations now?

I'm a charity shop manager and I would never and have never stolen anything from my shop . We have a strict policy that only only paid staff sort and price . There are only two of us to cover a six day working week. Our volunteers ( all 70 plus) know they can't buy anything before it goes to the sales floor .
Our job is very physical and most days of the week we have the contents of people's underwear drawers to sort through. We receive every donation gratefully even if it does contain things only fit for the tip which we then have to pay to dispose of .
Nobody sells anything on as most volunteers are not computer literate.
We work hard for our charity and do our best to be as reasonable as possible with our pricing .
Please don't lump us all into the bad egg basket without considering that each charity is individual.

I took some stuff on behalf of someone else to a variety of charity shops in person

Most charity shops stated they would only take a maximum of 2 bags each

One depot took a car load, but I know that they have multiple shops to distribute locally

Also sold some stuff at car boot sale & auction

Everyone said thank you

Better than throwing it away !