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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

49 replies

clam · 20/04/2008 21:25

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?

OP posts:

oiFoiF · 21/04/2008 08:25

I was talking to someone in one of our local charity shops and at this one they get the delivery from chelsea! (we are in the darkest m,idst of kent) It means we get good stuff but it also means someone else gets our kent crap

Caz10 · 21/04/2008 10:01

the only one i know about is oxfam, and if the volunteers want the stuff there they have to buy it, they do get to grab it first if they spot it before it goes out to the shop, but with the number of volunteers and the volume of stuff coming in, quite often a volunteer won't even see certain things -they can be processed, put out and sold in the space of an hour or so.

also as several people have said, the items don't necessarily a-go straight out or b-go out in that shop.

random egs - blankets etc coming into oxfam at one point were going down to be sold at glastonbury etc for people camping to buy them. sometimes baby clothes might go directly to the countries oxfam works with to be distributed there. poor quality fabric gets recycled and made into blankets, cloths etc, again for people in the countries oxfam works with.

loads more egs but dd is too heavy in my other arm to type more at the mo! nothing goes to waste or is nicked by the volunteers anyway.

snice · 21/04/2008 12:13

I didn't mean my MIL was nicking the stuff fgs! Just that the volunteers bought up all the top quality stuff.

Flibbertyjibbet · 21/04/2008 12:22

Well my MIL was nicking stuff. Or to be more precise, if someone brought something they are not allowed to sell, ie electrical or a pram, she would either take it home for herself without making any donation.

Her SIL (who was the charity shop manager) used to take these things and car boot them , keeping all the proceeds.

It was pre-ebay days.

Their argument was that a) the manager was topping up her low wage and MIL volunteered so she ought to get some kind of reward
b) we aren't allowed to sell these things so its not like we are depriving the charity of money
c) sometimes people come with heavy stuff (ie lamps) and they would be really annoyed if we didn't take it and they have to trail it back home.

Can't possibly say on here whether or not it was me that shopped them in case anyone knows me in RL
But they don't work there anymore.

Original poster

clam · 21/04/2008 12:39

Flibbertyjibbet!

Well, I think I'm going to choose to believe that, somehow, the charity has benefited, regardless of who's in possession of the stuff now. As I said, they took a task off us that we weren't up to, so.......

OP posts:

Flibbertyjibbet · 21/04/2008 12:44

Clam, the things my mil pinched were only items that they weren't allowed to sell. Your MILs items don't fall into that category.
If I took stuff to the charity shop and it wasn't there 2 weeks later I would just assume that it all got snapped up quickly.
Nothing wrong with the charity shop workers getting first pic imo, they are volunteers so if a perk like first pick helps to get volunteers in then thats fine isn't it?
After all, on another thread I am on, people are telling me to volunteer to help at the NCT sale I am sending stuff to - PURELY so that I can have first pick!

Double standards anyone?????

widgypog · 21/04/2008 17:41

my sis runs a cancer research shop and they have a HUGE storage area upstairs and put season appropriate clothing downstairs. don't worry it will be sold

PosieParker · 21/04/2008 17:42

Maybe they've sent it to a more suitable store?

Chase131 · 30/05/2015 22:44

What is MIL?

That is bang out of order what that person did.

AnyoneForTennis · 30/05/2015 22:52

Why on earth did you find and post on this ancient thread?!? Just why?!

usualsuspect333 · 30/05/2015 23:00

The zombie thread warning really needs to be at the top of the thread.

I'm baffled as to how Chase found this one though.

Fluffyears · 30/05/2015 23:01

In the shop my mil volunteers at the staff can't buy any items until they have been on sale for a full 24 hours. They cannot 'scoop up the good stuff for themselves'

Oldsu · 31/05/2015 01:21

My DH manages a charity shop and I volunteer with him on Saturday (otherwise I wouldn't see him )

All bags are sorted as soon as he gets them, Gift Aided items (as long as season appropriate) are put out immediately, season appropriate clothes are sorted into bags to be put out either when the rails need filling or replacement stock for rotated items (that's when clothes which have been on the shop floor for a couple of weeks are removed and replaced with fresh stock) clothes not season appropriate are bagged up including the GA ones which would have been stickered with the GA numbers.

However last Saturday a bag with really good clothes - per una monsoon and noa noa came in, must have been twenty items all were sold by the end of the day

pointyshoes · 31/05/2015 16:45

I volunteer in a charity shop. Yes, we do get first go at the donations, but we have to pay the going rate. Equally, if we have really good stuff donated, it is sorted, priced and put out asap. It can easily sell almost immediately (with 10 minutes). Some stuff goes to ebay but not much. As others have said, sometimes stuff is kept back to be sold during the right season or for a special event like Mothers Day, Fathers Day etc. Whatever happened to your donation, and it may be that the stuff sold immediately, the charity will have benefited and the volunteers will have been pleased to sort through bags of nice, sellable stuff instead of some of the rubbish left outside!

BIWI · 31/05/2015 16:54

Chase has posted on three zombie threads, all about charity shops.

FluffyJawsOfDoom · 31/05/2015 17:58

At ours it can take months to reach shelves, they actually have s big backlog of women's clothes - it just gets stored in bags til there's room. They also circulate stock between several stores in the area to keep stock "fresh"

Penfold007 · 31/05/2015 18:29

I used to work for a local hospice for the volunteers manager. She left written instructions at all the hospice shops for volunteers to save designer clothing in her family's sizes. I told her what I thought and resigned.

In fairness I took a lot of my late aunt's Jaeger etc stuff to Barnardos and they did openly tell me it would all go to a central sorting depot.

EponasWildDaughter · 31/05/2015 18:34

Where's the ZOMBIE WARNING MNHQ?

It says nothing on my screen. Even in above the message box.

Oldsu · 31/05/2015 18:50

pointyshoes yes sorting through nice stuff is great however I am glad we get gloves and masks to use - you don't want to hear about the used knickers, pooey kids clothes and used and unwashed sex aids - oh and DH had a Gun in one donation - real one according to Police.

sherbetlemonD · 31/05/2015 19:04

I work in a charity shop.

Our stock is on a 3 week rotation- it goes out for 3 weeks and if it doesn't sell then it comes off and is sent to other shops/put away for later use. Are the clothes wintery at all? It might be that they have been bagged up for winter- just like "normal" retail stores- charity shops sell according to the season.

It also depends what sort of area the shop is in- if your talking say a working class area it is unlikely the likes of Jaeger etc will sell in the shop and will be sent on.

And please- no snide comments about volunteers buying clothes. I put in over 30 hours a week sometimes, completely unpaid (I don't even get my travel expenses!)- so if I want to buy something using my 25% staff discount, I will do without feeling guilty. I doubt there are many of you who don't use your staff perks if you have them.

BabyGanoush · 31/05/2015 19:11

The "nice"volunteer ladies may have "bought" the cashmere for £2

I know some volunteers who think it is their fair reward.

ragged · 31/05/2015 19:26

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

But then what did she do with it? Couldn't have worn out a new bag full every week (could she?) And if she did always wear new stuff, then she must have sent at least some of the same stuff back to another charity shop after a few wears, no? Because nobody has room to store so much stuff (do they?).

I rarely buy anything and I still have bucket loads of clothes more than I need. I have trouble storing it all so how do clothes crazed people manage?

Sparklingbrook · 31/05/2015 19:29

Ooh a 7 year old thread. My nearly 16 year old would have been nearly 9. DS2 would have been 6.

Those were the days.

WeAreEternal · 31/05/2015 19:32

The zombie thread warning disappears after so many people new people have posted.

I have no idea why this thread was revived though.

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