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!

I can assure you it is common. I'm in NZ and a local charity eventually had to fence their whole yard off to stop people leaving stuff there. I used to see people going through it sometimes when I was passing, and they would just toss aside anything they didn't want. Also people would drop things off on a Saturday evening and by the time the staff got there on Monday beds, furniture, clothing etc. was often soaking wet. They also got a lot of rubbish dumped there, stuff which was unusable.

Pretty much all the reasons have been covered, but to add to them, here's a couple more.

I used to volunteer in a charity shop on a busy high street and the pavement outside was rather narrow. Anyone dumping things there would be causing a dangerous obstruction.

If bags of clothes/soft toys etc got wet from rain, they could potentially be very heavy to shift. This is very unfair on the volunteers.

It's interesting that the people here arguing that we should be able to dump donations outside when the shop is closed are coming at it from the angle of 'it inconveniences me from getting rid of my junk/unwanted stuff' rather than 'I would like to help out this charity.' 🤷‍♀️

I think this attitude is the problem, you're doing it as you think you're doing them a favour rather than wanting to donate for the goodness of donating. Everyone thinks their cast off's are worth something, when usually it's all junk. I have a local page where the neighbours are trying to sell things where no one would even take it for free (and I live in a 'naice' area)

It's lazy and messy and I expect most of its stuff fit for the tip. We have plenty of donation bins where we live.

Could the reasons not be logically worked out?

It’s fly tipping for a start. As pp have said the contents could be damaged or spilled over the pavement before anyone gets a chance to retrieve them.

Why would it be junk just because it’s second hand? I think most people donate because that’s better than throwing it away but there are other options such as selling it yourself on Vinted/EBay.

sometimes charity shop just cannot take donations,
leaving outside is a mess for them to clear up

There is a tip about 6-7 miles from me which also has a charity shop in it. So if doing a big clear out.

Unsure if the tip staff find things themselves and donate

Wrong. Not all of us are content to have our viewing choices dictated by the bosses of the streaming services. Some of us like to be able to watch an obscure film or TV series that wouldn't be deemed popular enough to stream, and don't care if the director or producer or assistant to the assistant key grip has been 'cancelled'.

There's also a long list of things that cannot be sold for hygiene, health & safety and practical reasons. One is duvets for instance (unless brand new sealed) and people dump them outside, people simply don't want to buy second hand duvets and they are so bulky - the cost to clean them is more than buying a new one!

Also baby equipment, you can't sell it unless it's properly checked for safety and serviced, most general charity shops don't have the expertise

That's interesting to know about baby stuff. I didn't know that. I'm not sure why anyone would think someone would want their smelly old duvet!

We sell a lot of DVDs where I volunteer. There are holiday parks near by and people buy them as a wet afternoon activity.

Also not all charity shops sell all items. Where I volunteer we don’t sell electrical items, household linen, children’s clothes so leaving these type do items outside the shop mean we have to sort through them, donate somewhere else or dispose.

It’s fly tipping at it’s finest.

Annoys the hell out of me when people fly tip where I live even though there’s a tip a mile away.

There’s a family a few doors down from a colleague and had a freezer (under counter sized) on their driveway for 6 years. Can’t use Covid as an excuse.

Couple of points...

Charity shops are changing. People seem to have stopped donating and I have found recently that a lot of charity shops seem very low on donated stock. Figures show that quantity of donations is holding up. QUALITY of donations on the other hand is on the slide. The area where I volunteer is affluent, people will still give us decent stuff but it is so easy to sell on platforms like Vinted for clothing or Ebay/Vinted for bric a brac, or Facebook marketplace that some people are choosing to do that instead.

DVDs - OK, so some people don't have streaming services and want them for their motorhome. But is that number of people worth us keeping shelves and shelves of DVDs in the hope that a motorhome owner or someone without streaming, iplayer or anything else decides to pop in and buy some DVDs? Especially when we could fill those shelves with stuff that does sell?

Agree with everyone else that all shops have a long list of what they can't/won't sell. Legally we are not allowed to sell fakes/counterfeits, toys which do not have a CE mark, food items, plug-in electricals as our shop can't test them. Policy is not to sell any safety gear like bike/horse helmets, lifejackets, car seats - we don't know they are safe. Also we don't sell anything with fur, war/military toys as the charity supports children in conflict zones and it's not appropriate, anything "adult" in nature, opened/half used toiletries and cosmetics, any uniform/company branded logo (scammers love to buy these to masquerade as a roads worker / |FedEx driver / council worker), mattresses, duvets.

Lots of people donate duvets, they are large and bulky and would half-fill a standard domestic rubbish bin. Often the clothing banks at the supermarket are clothing/footwear only, no bedding. So rather than take it to the tip, they generously donate it, for us to get rid of.

It really is common. Try volunteering with a charity shop if you want to find out more about this.

I remember someone on here saying that, when they accepted bags left outside, there would be so many that the volunteer couldn’t get to the front door to open.

People will leave absolutely crap if they can do so without having to make eye contact with the volunteer. People hate disposing of things and are weirdly convinced that broken / stained / bobbly stuff will still be useful - after all, it cost them money at one point.

Wait till about the 3rd January when the piles of landfill appear.

In the past, I’ve been involved in second hand uniform sales. It really is amazing what people will donate - stained, torn uniform with a load of buttons missing, stuff that isn’t even uniform.

Because it could be or could be interpreted as fly tipping

Even before the unrest of recent times, I’d have said fire risk. Blocking fire escapes and causing people to create fires.
Sorry if that has already been said.

Because they're responsible for stuff left at the door. It's done when the shops are closed and it's seen as fly tipping, basically. The shops get charged when the council has to take it away, or if they find it on the doorstep the next day, they have to throw it out as they have no idea what might have got in those bags overnight. And that costs them too. In theory, they could be fined.

My dad volunteers at a charity shop. He says it’s because the items often get soaked and are unusable and the responsibility falls on them to dispose of them. Also it’s fly-tipping.

I regularly leave a small bag outside the charity shop
Double bagged and only in dry weather
No way does it get binned
Often see the stuff in the window that I have donated