To think people are quite petty to object to charity shop staff getting "first dibs" when they are BUYING the items?

[SorcererGaheris]

For context, I am a volunteer in a charity shop myself, and if I see something that I want, I will purchase it. The shop doesn't give staff discounts, either; staff pay full price - the last item I bought, a book, cost me £40.

Anyway, I COMPLETELY understand people objecting if volunteers were to just take donated items for themselves, but I've seen some online discussions in which people complain about the staff getting first pick of donations when they are paying for them. I really don't see the problem in this case, and think people who object are rather out of line. Other retail workers surely sometime purchase items from the shops they work in, so I don't see why volunteers should be begrudged that. A volunteer is a customer as much as any other.

It’s fine imo as long as there is still plenty of decent things to go out on the shelves. If staff were buying loads then maybe there would be an issue and the charity could put a cap on the amount that can be bought.

Ah, I see. :)

I regularly donate nice, new items to charity shops because I want people to be able to treat themselves to something they otherwise couldn't afford.

If you can afford the time and money sacrifice to work for free in a charity shop, you're unlikely to be as much in need as the people shopping there.

That's fair enough. All for charity shops doing whatever works and I'm sure that varies wildly.
We've got 3 on our local highstreet. I'll spend a tenner most weeks between 2, the other I don't bother going in. Overpriced and never any good stuff, I always wonder if they actually make money, but I imagine they must.

I manage a charity shop that gives volunteers discounts but none of our volunteers buy that much. Usually only if they need a new jumper or whatever and they see one in their size and style.

No one is siphoning off the good stuff. In fact the volunteers like it when customers compliment us on all the nice things we have, they like it when they put things out for sale and customers buy them.

I don’t see the issue. There never seems to be a lack of stock in any of the charity shops locally.

The thing is - while I'm sure that numerous struggling/low income people buy from charity shops, charity shops are not ONLY for low income people. Anyone can buy stuff from them, and relatively well-off people often buy from charity shops.

It seems like you would prefer your donations to go to a specific demographic, and while I can get that, it's not typically how things work when they're donated to charity shops. The shop is concerned with getting money for the cause, so they don't care whether they have a millionaire buying their stock or a poor person.

Most of our volunteers are pensioners or between jobs or unable to work in paid jobs because of disabilities or health issues. They probably have less money than most of our customers.

I donated a jacket to a charity shop in December last year, went past a few days later and it was advertised at £50 less than retail, retail being close to £300!

I had only worn it about 4 times

The only time I ever got pissed off was when a charity shop volunteer came out the shop to root through my car, saying “oooh good, I needed this, and this, and this” and proceeded to take everything over to a car, unlocked the car, and shoved it all in. Not take it to the charity shop she volunteered in a metre away. Denied it when I complained to the shop manager that I was donating it to THAT shop because it was for a hospice my father died at. Sadly never donated again to that particular shop.

I would also say that it shouldn't be automatically assumed that anyone who works for free in a charity shop (for the record, we do have two paid staff as well, a full-time manager and part-time deputy manager) is necessarily less in need than non-volunteer customers. Like I said, in addition to those struggling, you get fairly well-to-do people making purchases in charity shops. It's not uncommon for people who are on unemployment benefits to volunteer in charity shops, and most people on such benefits are not so well-off.

What a sadly ignorant, naive opinion.

I can see how it could be a conflict of interest though, if the people that price the items are the same people that can buy them first then how can you guarantee that some charity shop staff aren’t just buying up all the nice things on the cheap.

It’s ok for other retail staff because the stock was bought, in charity shops then items were donated in good faith that they would be sold for the best price to benefit the charity.

Exactly. There will be some volunteers who are reasonably comfortable, or very comfortable, but there will also be many who have quite low incomes.

But the financial well-being (or not) of the customers shouldn't really matter, IMO. If people want their donations to only go to those who are in need, then I'd say that they need to find a way of donating directly to the needy, because charity shops do not dictate that only those on low incomes can buy from their shops. Numerous people who are not in need buy stuff from charity shops, simply because they like to support the cause and/or get something cheaper than they would if it were new.

I never used to bother going into the charity shop near exMIL. I knew it was full of shite and if I wanted to find any decent stuff all I had to do was look up MIL's eBay account.

Was less impressed when I saw her let a boxed Millennium Falcon go as a job lot to 'the nice man who bought the figurines and offered to take it off my hands for £100'.

In the specific shop that I volunteer in, the staff do not get a discount. So anything we buy, we purchase at the same price that any other customer would buy it for. Volunteer purchases (as well as the prices) all have to be recorded in a book, as well.

Like I said, the last item that I bought from the charity shop I volunteer in was a book for which I paid forty pounds. So certainly not buying it on the cheap.

I'm absolutely happy at the thought of volunteers in charity shops getting the first pick of donations, provided, as others have said, they are paying the price that they would be sold for.

If people are jealous of volunteers getting first pick (and playing full price) then maybe they should consider offering their services for a day a week for no pay, too.

I'm surprised people object to staff discounts. They're a very common perk in retail jobs for all kinds of shops / brands

Taking from the food bank/refuge is totally different - that’s stealing form people in need, which is really low. However, legitimately buying items from a charity shop is absolutely fine.

Most charity shop donations are sold by weight to rag traders, who sell them on to Kenyan market traders. Only the best stuff ends up in the charity shop. I don’t mind if that volunteers buy the donations, but I’d like them to pay a nominal amount for them, which they don’t always do. .

Yep, that's the thing - when volunteers like myself buy something, it is officially being sold. The volunteer essentially doubles as a customer; it's rung through the till just like any other purchase, and volunteer purchases are recorded in a special book.

I also don’t take issue with charity shop volunteers getting a small discount. They’re giving their time up for free so I think a small perk like a bit of discount is fair. It would cost the charity much more if they had to employ more staff.

My own most recent purchases (from the shop I volunteer in) were as follows:

Book - £7.99
Book - £40.00

Both books were looked up online, as one was an academic book about Tibet Buddhist magic and the other a quite unique book of Icelandic spells. I bought them both for the going price they were listed as online, which is what the shop would have put them on the shelves for.

My mother used to volunteer in a charity shop. Every year before we visited she would buy assorted toys for the kids and extra dishes. Then she would donate them to the charity shop when we left. So yes she got first pick, but she was rarely even buying, she essentially rented the items for full price.

my daughter grew up thinking that grandma had a garage filled with perfectly sized bicycles.