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.

i have bought a gravy boat today from a charity shop, it is beautiful
i dislike those charity shops that order in colour rather than size
and those where there is nowhere to try on.
i remember the snooty woman when i tried to bring something back suggsting that i swap it for something else, she seemed quite affronted. so i dont bother now, if i can't try it on i dont buy it

the worst culprits are those who order books in colour!

where do the rags go?

Thing is the rrp on the book is very rarely the price I find them for in shops and say places like the works they always have deals on and bundle this and that. 10 books £10 on the children what I call floppy books. Or the 3 for £7.50 range.

If they want say captain underpants I’m not searching the charity shops I’m looking for that book alone likely via Google.

Charity shop books for me are oh that could be good while I’m in here and it’s cheap so the works 3 for £7.50 would fit that and has filled that space when I’m in there grabbing craft stuff.

But that over exuberant mistake costs customers which in turn loses them money. Surely just because most are volunteers you shouldn't just brush it off. Many charities are run as businesses.

where do the rags go?

Probably sold 50p per kilo or in landfill.

@SorcererGaheris yes I love the Oxfam and BHF bookshops.
They are like a "proper" bookshop rather than a charity shop.
I actually don't mind paying a higher price for books if it's a particular book I am looking for.
Cheap prices doesn't mean sales.
A charity shop near where my mum lives has children's books for 10p. I went there at the tail end of the summer holidays and then just this weekend gone (so 6 weeks ish later).
They still had some of the same books (children's books is my thing so I am always having a really good look).
10p and not sold. Why? Because they are all dumped in dusty baskets, no order (so teen books with baby picture books) and just a big mess.
Keep up the good work @SorcererGaheris 🙂

@MumChp

Lower than it was pre-Covid. To be fair, I think there are numerous factors for that, and it's not just to do with charity shop prices. A lot of people are spending less in general.

I do think that Oxfam is on the pricier end when it comes to charity shops, and I can see an argument for pricing things a bit lower - but pricing the stock dirt cheap ultimately wouldn't help either, I suspect.

I think pricing at 25% of the original price would perhaps be a better bet, but it's not my decision to make.

@nomas

Why would it put you off donating more valuable items? Since staff are buying them, the charity is still getting the money, which is presumably the reason you donate the items in the first place?

Where I volunteer, yes, if staff see something we want to buy while sorting, we are allowed to buy it straight away - BUT we don't get a discount. The item must be priced by another member of staff at the same price that it would go on the shop floor for. Staff purchases are also recorded on the till.

Of course, while I'm placing stock on the shelves, I'll also sometimes see a book that's already been put out for sale that I want to buy, and go and buy it then and there.

so who buys the rags?

i use a clothing collection, they come to your door and collect no charge. I can’t be bothered with the local charities, too inconvenient in terms of their times, what they accept and just incredibly fussy all round. I don’t have time lugging bags from door to door as well.

@nomas , if you work/volunteer in a charity shop, why shouldn't you be allowed to buy something? I doubt that they buy much. `

Because I have this romanticised image that a customer will browse the rails and shelves and come upon my donation with happiness. The customer wins, the shop wins and I win.

That rose-spectacled image is somewhat ruined when you think the staff have claiming rights.

I agree it's not a totally rational view.

@nomas , it's not a rational view, and your idea of the staff pouncing on anything half-decent is not rational.
If your cast-offs are so wonderful, stick them on Vinted.

@Livelovebehappy

That's why I try to correct it when I see it (our literature pricer now MASSIVELY overprices 'his' books after being pulled up by the managers for under-pricing.) The managers are aware that he now ridiculously overprices and they say they've spoken to him about it, but it hasn't had any effect.

So I'll sometimes check literature and change the prices on the the books that I know to be overpriced. But I can't do it all the time - I have other jobs to attend to in the shop. So a £14.99 book in the literature category will get placed on the shelf with a £10.99 price on it...you get the idea.

Not surprised. They have got very expensive. Don’t even bother going into my local one anymore. I can get far better deals on vinted.

Most people are downright fed up with donating to charities that spend so much on head office staff and donate very little to the cause. Their stock is free, their shop staff are free( other than the manager) and many of the stores are on reduced rates yet they charge more than the original price for some items. Folk are fed up with charities.

@nomas

But we don't just claim then, we BUY them. For the same price that any other customer would.

If you like the idea of a customer coming into the shop and seeing your donation with happiness, why don't you like the idea of a volunteer seeing your donation with happiness and then buying it? Why does it matter WHO buys it? What's wrong with a volunteer 'winning' (by purchasing an item they enjoy) as well the shop?

Yes, probably lots of reasons.

I won't give the prices for second hand children's/youth books around here and that's of course my choice.
I give our discarded books to the local recycling station after the local second shops no longer take books regardless of condition. The recycling station has shelves of free books as good as the second hand shops.

If you read my posts, I've always said the staff buy them, I've never said they take them. By claiming rights, I mean first dibs i.e. the stuff never goes up on the shelf.

It doesn't put me off donating, it just puts me of donating the more valuable stuff.

But yes, you're right, staff should be able to have the joy of buying a bargain too, especially if they're volunteers.

@CrostaDiPizza

And even if all the staff did act like vultures (which many do not) it surely doesn't matter when they are buying the items at full price.

I presume that most people donate to charity shops so that they can (hopefully) sell and bring in money for the shop. So WHO buys them is irrelevant; it doesn't matter if that person is a regular customer or a volunteer. (And when a volunteer purchases something, I would argue that they are then in the role of a customer themselves.) The item sells and the charity gets the money, so purpose served.

@nomas

Yes, I appreciate that you haven't blanketly accused staff of stealing. I just think that the term 'claiming rights' could be misread as implying that they're being taken without being paid for.

I am still confused as to why it would put you off donating more valuable items. Why is that the case? Are you opposed to volunteers buying the more valuable items? If so, why?

I would be glad of a bin somewhere for clothes which are too shabby for charity shops or Vinted, but usable for rags. It seems wasteful to put stuff in non-recyling - and I don't do that much dusting!

I'm not sure that rags are bought any more (though I don't know for certain - the shop I volunteer in doesn't have rags.)

My presumption is that rags have to be thrown away or sent for recycling. If the latter, then they'd have to pay a company to come and collect them.

I do agree that there’s something not quite cricket about staff skimming off the best donations.

For any Miss Read aficionados, the term used is “buying in” when jumble sale organisers get first dibs. Also there is a bit in one book where Miss Read is helping on the cake stall at the village fete and stubs her toe under the tablecloth, only to find the best cakes stowed there that the volunteers have bought before the fete has opened.

@MaturingCheeseball

I don't think it's accurate to say that staff are "skimming off the best donations".

Staff don't buy items because they're the best/highest quality, we buy the items that we actually want to own for ourselves.

The items that we wish to purchase are sometimes (in fact, quite often) NOT the highest quality items.

Because (for me, at least) it's not about the quality of the donation, but whether that item (in this case, mostly books) is something I desire to own.

There are numerous donations of good quality that the staff don't buy, simply because we have no interest in those items.

But what are the best donations?
for some it’s a knitting book, for others a pair of size 4 trousers, for others it’s silk tie…