200 charity shops closing (cancer research)

[lebopbop]

AIBU to be sad about this as a charity-shop lover?

I don’t have a nearby cancer research shop but lots of other charity shops and I’m worried this is signalling a general trend :(

I do like Vinted etc for pre-loved clothes but it’s so much better to see things in person, be able to try on and not pay postage. It’s also just fun to go and rummage.

@RandomGeocache

At the bookshop in which I volunteer, there is a volunteer who massively overprices the literature. He started doing so after the managers had a word with him about under-pricing (he was putting 50p or £1) on a lot of items.

But since they spoke to him, he now ridiculously overprices - for example, he'll put £16.99 on a £20 book or £7.99 on a book that was £9.99. If I have time, I try to check his stock and correct his prices before they go on the shop floor (or I'll have a browse of the literature that's out for sale and put the correct price on items I know to be priced wrongly) - but I have my own duties to attend to, so I can't do that all the time.

The managers have spoken to him about the over-pricing (and so presumably told him how he should be doing it) but it hasn't had any effect, he just keeps going with the ridiculous prices.

This.
I'd love to support my local CS more but when I can get something cheaper from Vinted, including with postage then it's a no brainer really.

The problem is that so much stuff is cheap when new and designed to be disposable, it has essentially no value secondhand. If a mug is £1.50 new, how much would you realistically pay for it second hand (if anything)?

Unlike an amateur seller on Facebook or Vinted, charity shops have to factor in time, rent, rates, utilities, depreciation on fixtures and fittings, IT contract on the till- all overheads that will need to be covered. I help run jumble sales at my church and we sell stuff for next to nothing, but if we had to factor in overheads we probably wouldn't make very much at all.

The sad thing is that the most likely shops to close will be in the poorest communities and the most blighted high streets. Shops in more affluent areas seem to get better quality donations, and local customers will be less price sensitive.

Personally, I favour donating to the Sally Ann, who seem to take anything serviceable- where I live they have several streams where something can't be used- so bedclothes that almost certainly won't sell in the shop might go their homeless shelter, or to the scheme they have supporting families moving in to social housing with few possessions.

"Unlike an amateur seller on Facebook or Vinted, charity shops have to factor in time, rent, rates, utilities, depreciation on fixtures and fittings, IT contract on the till- all overheads that will need to be covered. I help run jumble sales at my church and we sell stuff for next to nothing, but if we had to factor in overheads we probably wouldn't make very much at all."

Yep - although it's true that charity shops can often get vastly cheaper rental rates than businesses, there are still bills the shop has to cover (heating/electricity) as well as paying a company to collect unsellable and culled stock for recycling, and items that the shop needs to use as part of its trade.

Many shops will also need to cover the wages of a paid manager (my shop has a full-time manager and part-time deputy manager who are both paid employees.)

There's a Tiktok account by a charity shop manager that talks about this. One of the main points she makes is it's difficult for the general population to comprehend just how much is donated. Far, far more than can ever be sold, or even stored and sorted through. Just vast quantities, a large proportion of which ends up at the tip.

And also about the quality. Even stuff with minor defects or wear just will not sell, just as it doesn't on Vinted. It's also hard to shift brands that were cheap in the first place. People donate thinking something is in "good enough" condition, but it probably isn't.

We live in a throwaway society where almost everyone is buying too much and then complaining that no one else wants it. No one else wants it because they are also buying too much! Everyone but the very poorest in society can afford clothes new these days.

@JustJani

"And also about the quality. Even stuff with minor defects or wear just will not sell, just as it doesn't on Vinted. It's also hard to shift brands that were cheap in the first place. People donate thinking something is in "good enough" condition, but it probably isn't."

The Oxfam bookshop I work in does get many good quality donations of course, but there's also a fair amount of stuff that has to be scrapped immediately. Some books have pages falling out, or have so many notations in the pages that we just can't put them out for sale.

I did put out a couple of science books which had notes (in pen) in the margins of several of the pages - but that's only because the books were otherwise in very good condition. And I priced them cheaper than normal to take into account the notes.

Yes, she did an interesting video on books, the main point of which was that they get very large quantities of popular books, too many to sell. Richard Osman books and the other huge sellers of the past five years for example. They might keep a handful of copies but the market for them is quite small so a large proportion have to be binned.

I do agree that people should me more thoughtful with what they donate. I always sort rag and only stuff that's clean and of decent quality. I also try to do little and often.

I think I'd prefer a model where it's just about passing on decent quality second hand items to where it's useful and shops could be more honest about what they want donated. I think that mixing it up with irrelevant charities (that people could just send money directly) just confuses two different issues in a way that's no longer helpful.

People don't want to pay £4 for a bobbly primark top that was £5 new.

They sell them for 50p where I am.
I've had some real gems over the years.

The collapse of the rag trade is also a major factor. Previously, charity shops could always get something for the bags of unsaleable fabric stock that were donated. Now, they have to pay to have it disposed of.

I'd actually say this is a key change - people won't pay any amount at all for a bobbly Primark top because new clothing is so cheap. Five years ago you might have got a couple of pounds for it but you wouldn't sell it for 50p now as no one wants it. There aren't enough people who are poor enough to not be able to afford the cheapest new clothes. It just goes to landfill.

I said upthread about how I prefer buying the non clothing stock from charity shops (books etc) but thinking about it so many of the charity shops just make things harder for themselves for stock to actually sell.
Books displayed by the colour of the spines.
What the actual f is that about?
Yes it looks so pretty but it's a right pain in the bum if you are looking to see if there's a copy of a specific book.
For example I have never read a Jilly Cooper (who has just passed away RIP).
If I went to see if a charity shop has any of her novels I want to be able to look at the shelf and look at the spines under C for Cooper.
Simple.
A charity shop near me actually has a sign up saying "no more books please". They do have 3 shelves of them.
Unfortunately the shelves are all high up (I am 5ft - I have to stretch to reach the BOTTOM shelf). They double layer the books and have several in wobbly piles.
If I could actually reach the books and actually see what there is I might buy some !
Sorry to any charity shop workers out there.....but you really don't help yourselves sometimes.
Grumbly rant over.

I think it's the pricing, people don't want to spend £5 on secondhand Shein or Primark, and people sell their good stuff on Vinted.

I've stopped shopping at thrift stores. Prices have skyrocketed.
In the spring I passed a thrift store with a box of children's books marked down to £1. I bought a handfull but so rare to find..

The nearest one to me has closed, but I rarely bought from them anyway as they were so expensive. That small market town has so many other charity shops, Age UK is the main national one but the other - better - shops are local hospice, local animal rescue, local charities and are better both for prices and displays.

The AgeUK shop is funny about pricing, they have price brackets based on brand names but seem to be a bit muddled as to what constitutes a premium brand. They put anything by M&S at £7.99 or higher!

@Needmorelego

"Books displayed by the colour of the spines."

I agree that that is an unproductive way to display books. It's okay if people are not looking for a specific book, but if they are, then as you say, it makes it harder to see if they have what you're looking for.

Fortunately, as the charity shop I'm at is a bookshop, we don't display the books that way. All fiction (general, crime, fantasy, children's) is displayed in alphabetical order (by author's surname.) Other books are not in alphabetical order, but are in specific categories (science/maths together, several shelves for history, several for religion, etc.)

Yes when my children were toddlers we would pop in every time they walked by and add yet another £1 book to our collection.

Now I just order books on Amazon, vinted or the works because charity shop books can be basically new prices.

@BettysRoasties

As a general guideline, the deputy manager of the Oxfam bookshop I'm in said that books should be a third of the original price. £2.99 is the minimum price, so books up to about £10 would be £2.99, then £3.99 if the original price was £12.99, etc. I'll put out a £20 hardback at £5.99, typically.

If a book is VERY new - for instance has been available for a year or less - then I think the standard price is 45-50% of the original price.

How is your sale?

I think this is a fair point. We have a great thrift shop near us which is taken over and run by various local groups and charities for a week at a time. It’s very much about passing stuff on and reusing. There are free rails of kids coats, wellies, school uniforms. Nothing is pricemarked so you just go up to the counter with your stuff and make an offer. All my plates are vintage bone china from there at £10 for a dinner service.

There’s lots of goodwill and people are thoughtful about what they donate whether they are supporting that weeks cause or just dropping off as local. Clothes tend to turn up freshly laundered and ironed!

I think it’s a really successful model and you want high levels of community engagement. Possibly the groups involved could make more but it’s always a good £1k+ for the week. Each group brings their own volunteers/ cash tin, stock stays but you aim to get rid of at 20% yo make way for the next lot!

What is the policy for shop staff / volunteers selecting from donations? Do they have first dibs to buy? That does put me off a bit on donating more valuable stuff. I just think I can sell it on eBay and continue my usual money donations to my charities.

Charity shops have dwindling income, increased rent and overheads and lack volunteers. It's a shame, but all charities ultimately need to put their funds where they are most likely to generate the highest returns.

I think it's overwhelming for them to receive bin bags full of stuff.

When I have one or two things to donate, I put it in my car and take it in to the shop the next time in the high street and ask if they want it. They've never said no.

I tried buying stuff for me from charity shops and they were very hit and miss, some of the shops stank of BO so goodness know what state the clothes were in!
I then moved to Vinted which was great for a while but over the last 12+ months clothing described as 'new' turns out to have been worn and then just re tagged for sale. I no longer trust sellers describing clothes as brand new.
So I stick with primark and shein, I know I'm not buying a future antique but at least it won't be a smelly, bobbly disaster that is a pain in the arse to send back!
I am not surprised charity shops are on their last legs tbh.