To think that charity shop should use the nice stuff we gave?

[clam]

We cleared out late MIL's wardrobes recently. Beautiful clothes - cashmere sweaters, Jaeger suits etc... Gave them to charity shop, but when I went in a week or two later, there's nothing of hers on sale. I doubt it's been and gone - too much there for a start, but what else would they have done with it?

they ebayed it probably

staff prob bought it.

Or maybe they distribute it to other shops. Ask them. I'm sure they wouldn't just chuck it.

I think they redistribute posh stuff to posh areas.

OR - they've sold them to a dealer.

OR - those nice volunteer ladies have nicked it.

I bet staff bought all the stuff that was really nice and the rest is still waiting for shelf space to become available.

The volunteers buy up all the decent stuff before it goes out on the shop floor. Most shops have a pet antique dealer who calls in from time to time to look over anything like watches/jewellery/vases/china that might be valuable.

They do distibute to other shops..also they save nice things for a special display every so often. Like lots of evening wear at once, or wedding outfits etc. So long as the staff pay the fair price I think it's reasonable for them to get first dibs.

oxfam ebay nice and posh stuff (heard spokeswoman talking about it on radio) sell medium stuff in shop and sell crap quality (apparently primark stuff) as rags. The system gives them best return.

at least they have to staff to sort through and get the most for the item though.

The nice volunteer ladies will have had first dibs on it all, def.

It will have gone to a good and loving home, clam

It could have been and gone.

as long as the charity gets the money (which they do, in all the above cases) -why do you care?
sorry that sounds rude, but you know what i mean? money goes to the charity at the end of the day!

If it's winter stuff it will be stored until September/October.

If the items were good they would have lasted about 2 days on the shop floor. They might not even have been put out yet.

Some charity shops have to cull anything that is out for longer than two weeks. (Either rag it or send to another shop). This means that in those shops items sell very quickly and after two weeks on display an item is considered unsaleable.

So I would imagine that your MIL's stuff has been sold already.

people are always trying to give my charity (homeless people) clothes and we really can't cope with it, can't store, control supply, clean, work out sizes... far better to give according to what the organisation can deal with/needs. for us a box of new socks is a delight.

what charity was it clam?

I know, Caz. That's what DH says. It doesn't really matter, I suppose, because at the end of the day we had to dispose of it somehow and didn't have the time or inclination to ebay it ourselves. And we're happy for the charity to have benefited, as it was relevant to her illness.

Cancer Research UK, fishie.

i know someone who took all their late mother's stuff to a charity shop miles away becuase they were worried they might see someone else wearing it.

a big charity like cr will probably have all sorts of policies and arrangements for sorting clothes, to get them the maximum amount of money and the best from your mil's clothes.

I buy things in a charity shop near me that I KNOW won't have come from the local population! Makes sense to me though to distribute good stuff around to their shops in less affluent areas as it gets snapped up quicker!

I always understood (but not sure where I heard this) that they sell on anything that can make more cash to clothing sellers. And why shouldn't they, since they are a charity?

Bit galling if the staff do just nick it all for themselves though... Mind you, they volunteer usually so perhaps they have to have some perks?

There are actually charity shop "designer" stores.
any designer gear they get gets sent to these specialist stores to be sold at a more deserving price.

They also pass the stuff that has been donated in one store around to different stores to prevent people from being embarassed by wearing their neighbours cast off's.

We get loads of donations so stuff might be sitting around for longer than 2 weeks before its looked at. Some stuff is ebayed or sent to other shops. Really nice stuff is often bought within a couple of hours of it going into the shop. Clothes are kept for the appropriate season so some things will be kept for winter. We aren't allowed to swipe stuff for ourselves but we can buy it after it has been out in the shop a week or two.

the staff get it all first. I live in a really nice area and I know for a fact that many of my neighbours donate really nice clothes none of which ever gets into the shop.

All you ever see in the shop are old peoples clothes.

The charity shops that I know of have a record book that the manager has to update every time a member of staff purchases an item with the price paid. The allowable purchases per month are minimal.

Of course, the volunteers can come into the shop at any other time and purchase like a normal customer but while they are working the above applies.

My MIL used to work in an obviously less principled shop as a volunteer and came home with bags of stuff every week

Charity shops don't always put stuff up for sale immediately. If it's winter stuff (like the cashmere) then it will sell better in autumn, and sometimes shops store up a particular kind of clothes to have a "special" - like having all the jeans for the year on sale at once, to draw people in.