Why can't charity shops accept donations left outside?

[Paintpalette]

I'm forever seeing SM posts and increasingly bigger signs in the windows of charity shops near me who absolutely CANNOT be expected to accept donated bags which have been left on the porch.

Can anyone tell me why they are so furious about this?

When I've taken bags in to drop off directly with staff, they haven't made me wait while they check through every item to see if it meets a standard and I'm sure there have always been the odd unsuitable things that must be disposed of.

For what it's worth, I haven't left anything there or had it rejected, but if it was more convenient to drop off, I would donate more. Ironically enough, it means I fill the plastic bags put through my letter box which are collected from outside on the doorstep, which is apparently safe enough for them!

Once you dump it there they have to get rid of it. I heard one volunteer saying that when he came to open the shop it took him over an hour to sort out what had been left on the doorstep.

Imagine turning up at 830 to open up and you're single handedly trying to move stuff in, especially if you're an elderly or disabled volunteer.

Then you have to decide whether to delay opening up as well to finish getting it in and safely stored.

You can't be that naive OP, surely? People have and will use charity doorsteps as a dumping ground for any old crap. I've seen a humongous amount of bags waiting for the poor staff in the morning. Also, the bags will get rained on. The bags might get set alight. The bags might attract vermin. People will rummage through them and leave a huge fucking mess for staff to clear up. Homeless people might use it as a bed/toilet for the night (it has happened). Drunks, dogs or foxes might piss on it.

So, if you feel part of the staff's job is to deal with that shit in the morning I hope your job involves something similar. Otherwise, just wait until the bloody shop's open.

I wasn't too sure of the answer either OP but from reading through the answers I'd summarise it as "cos people can be c*unts"

I accept not all of the reasons are to do with humans but I'm disgusted that so many are. A locker or container would be a good solution but could humans then be trusted not to break it open/dump stuff in it they shouldn't/insert bodily fluids 🤢

It gets rained on, the local street drinkers will wee on it, others will have a good rummage in order to remove anything of value, and then before you know it your local high street is strewn with destroyed, disgusting bric a brac which the shop volunteers will then have to spend the start of their shift clearing up.

The bags you leave on your doorstep are rarely actual charities, they are for-profit businesses who make a small donation to charity out of their profits and they'll roll in disposing of useless stuff into their cost of doing business. It's not comparable.

Fair points I guess about bags being an obstruction or opened and contents strewn around a public place, but I just can't imagine this being common. Milk bottles and collected charity bags all manage to remain safely on doorsteps on the same street, without interference from the things mentioned.

All of the above! Plus when my Mother ran a charity shop piles of bags would be left outside the door, sometimes rained on, which she would then have to move to actually open the door to get in!

It's called fly-tipping!

Fair points I guess about bags being an obstruction or opened and contents strewn around a public place, but I just can't imagine this being common.

It is very, very common. People see the bags, they have been abandoned so it is not even stealing. They tip them out hoping for something they can use or sell, then usually find it is valueless and leave it strewn about.

My local charity shop (in the last few weeks) has had a knackered old sofa and and exercise bike c. 1978 dumped outside of it. The kind of things you cannot give away for free on marketplace. I wonder what goes though people's heads. The shop does not take furniture of big bulky items like this. They either knew that and didn't care (the tip is a 5 min drive away - and great, rarely queues!) or are so out of touch they genuinely though these items had value and the note in the window saying NOT to leave items outside the shop didn't apply to these gems. Both were there for at least 10 days, just left there...

Donating to charity shops was a lovely idea. Now it is used by lazy, entitled people to get rid of their shite.
If you don't want it, ask yourself will somebody else want it?
If yes, clean it, pack it nicely and donate and gift aid it.
Most staff are volunteers. Why on earth should they lug heavy bags full of absolute dross into a shop?

Charity shops have to pay commercial rates to get rubbish collected. People rarely leave decent stuff on the doorstep (even if it's not damaged) so it's almost certainly going to cost them

Because they have to pay to dispose of your crap, that's why. I used to work next door to one, and the volunteers would often be pulling their hair out with stuff left around the back that usually gets wet and takes them hours to sort through with most needing to go in the bin. Commercial rubbish is horrifically expensive.

BTW, I’ve heard that the bags you leave on your doorstep, go to huge warehouses for sorting and weighing. “Rags”are sold by weight, the £ from which goes to the charities, not the clothing!

If in doubt, when you donate your Chanel jacket, ask where it will end up. I hope I’m wrong but it’s worth checking if it might bother you.

@PashaMinaMio "some little twit with the IQ of a geranium" that properly made me laugh and I will be using it going forwards 🤣

@PashaMinaMio

what's a geranium ever done to you? They're way more intelligent than the pond scum that cause these problems!!

The bags get ripped open by people or animals. They get pissed on by animals (and drunkards no doubt), they can't fill out gift aid paperwork, people could illegal stuff..... there's a long list of reasons.

Some charity shops also take for ragging. I usually take a bag of good condition clothes and a bag marked "rags" and ask "do you take for ragging?" Volunteers are sometimes pleased I have pre-sorted it. I hate sending stuff to landfill so prefer if it can be reused. If it is left outside the charity shop it will get trashed though!

Even a real designer bag? Something that would make the charity 100s?

Dogs piss on the bags, they get wet and the contents ruined, people pile them in front of the door/fire exit so you can't get in or can't get out, foxes rip the bags apart and scatter the contents all over the street....

They don't want to encourage people to leave piles of crap outside the shop.

It’s technically dumping and you can be fined by your local authority.

Agree that if you are simply unable to get to a charity shop when they are open, there are other options. Some will collect, I think Salvation Army and BHF do in this area. Some charities have donations bins in supermarket car parks, if they are branded with a specific charity name, then they will collect and use the donations. The doorstep bags are entirely different, they are the folks who give tuppence ha'penny to charity for a tonne of clothing. But most charity shops are open 6 days a week, the Oxfam, Cancer Research and Barnardo's near me is open 7 days a week.

For one thing, it's different on residential streets to shopping areas

But anyway...it doesn't matter what the (many) reasons are for not doing it, people have been told asked not to and that should be enough!

We had donations left outside our charity shop that included a set of knives. Luckily a passer by took them in and contacted us. If a child had took them god knows what could have happened. Donations left on the street outside on a Saturday after closing would not be taken in until Monday morning. Not nice if you lived on the street or close by.

Mainly because they get ripped open and strewn about. But it doesn't matter why, does it? They're a charity working for their beneficiaries not a handy place for you to dispose of stuff to save a trip to the tip and to feel you've done good. If you want to help the charity, do as they ask you to, because that's the way they need help to be given, and if you do it the way you want rather than the way they ask, you're not helping.