Is this Facebook post reasonable or rude and ungrateful?

[Cantheowneroftheredcorsapleasemovetheircar]

Opinions in the comments are split. What's yours?

YABU - rude and ungrateful
YANBU - understandable

What a bunch of unpleasant cynics claiming that people who donate to these things only do it "to make themselves feel better" or so that they can think they're "doing a good thing".

Does this apply to the volunteers who work there too?

And actually, doesn't everyone donate to charities because it's doing a good thing?

What a bunch of unpleasant cynics claiming that people who donate to these things only do it "to make themselves feel better" or so that they can think they're "doing a good thing".

You have misunderstood. It's the people who donate without actually caring about whether they're helping or hindering that are doing it for themselves.

Very rude. There are ways of saying things or they could redirect the person bringing them to a service or people who would appreciate it. It’s been done with kind intentions and there isn’t enough kindness in the world.

It’s literally costing them money to throw away! Did you not read the full post?

Accidentally pressed YABU. It’s not ungrateful at all. They need certain things, mostly shelf stable items that can be distributed as needed.

The cynic in me says it’s someone from the supermarket dumping it on the doorstep so they don’t have to dispose of it properly.

I didn't vote because I don't think it's ungrateful if it is costing the charity money, but the way it's worded is rude and unnecessary. Someone obviously thinks they are helping by donating fresh food instead of tinned. Unless you are a volunteer or work in that sector, you're not going to know they can't take fresh food.

Dumping stuff instead of donating it isn't done with kindness. At best it's laziness but it's probably quite a calculated way to fly tip unwanted items while having a defence of 'I was trying to help!'.

Did cross my mind it could have come from a supermarket employee, but I still think it would have been with the best intentions. It would be easier to just bin the out of date stock than take it elsewhere.

Even if you don't work in that sector though, no one thinks leaving stuff in the street is actually donating.

Have you ever donated anything? Did you somehow know not to leave it in the street at night?

Completely reasonable. Most of not all food banks don’t take fresh food. They usually have lists of what they need, that’ll come down to storage facilities and what is needed. It is costly and time consuming to dispose of inappropriately donated items.

wher I live the supermarkets contact the community fridge to let them know they have a collection of food to be picked up. It’s not a food bank it’s to reduce food waste and is open to all. The volunteers often do collections at 8-9 at night and open up the community centre to allow people to collect food. They can only store so much they have stuff going on during the day so don’t really want it left there overnight. They definitely wouldn’t want it if it’s been left out in the rain.

I didn't see anything in the Facebook post that said it was left at night? Obviously that would be ridiculous. Not kept at the proper temperature and attracts vermin.

I assumed it was being left for them opening, hence me mentioning if you didn't know when/how/what they gave out you wouldn't know not to give fresh food.

Years ago I worked in a supermarket in the evenings, and we put out of date food in the bin outside the building at the end of the night so wasn't a hassle to dispose of.

I remember thinking at the time it's a shame it went to waste as fruit/veg is best before and not use by. Someone would have been grateful for fresh food that was still perfectly fine.

It’s not unreasonable if the donations cannot be used and will cost them time, effort and money to dispose of.
Only criticism is it could’ve been worded slightly more diplomatically.

The point is fair but the message extremely rude. That person is going to feel horrible.There were so many ways to say it in an unhurtful manner.

Reasonable

anyone with half a brain would know sandwiches are out of date before they can be used and that it would mean the charity would have to pay to dispose of them

They do have a point. Sandwiches are no good for a food bank!

But they could have been a bit softer and kinder in the way they asked people to not leave sandwiches. That was a bit brusque!

It could have been worded much more nicely! Just a reminder about what can and cant be donated, and the cost of having to dispose of waste impacting the charity, but it sounds like it was written by someone who has forgotten that the bread donator was acting from kindness even though mistaken!

Yep this. ^ The village my cousin lives in had a community hub - an old bus shelter - that was turned into a community place where people could leave books and DVDs and video games and jigsaws...

People soon started bringing other stuff like electrical goods they didn't want as they'd got a new one (the other one still worked but was shabby, and potentially dangerous.) Also, lots of old clothes and shoes and shabby toys and dolls kept appearing, and 100s of bits of lego that made nothing, as the bits weren't matching.. They were just random. Then there was a broken 6 ft high bookcase, knackered pictures in chipped picture frames, old and used dish drainers and bowls for the sink... Also a huge ugly fire surround, a rusty fireguard, and a really worn, dirty, manky armchair..

It resulted in the people running the hub having to go and do skip runs every other week. It got completely out of hand, and the shit hit the fan when someone dumped 3 old quilts, and 6 sets of knackered, faded bedding/duvet sets, and 3 bagfulls of manky clothes, odd socks, and old pillow cases! No-one was going to have them. Even the charity shops would not have had them, as no-one would have bought them!

It was shut down because of the idiots fly-tipping!

I am voting 'understandable'. You often see signs outside charity shops 'please don't leave donations'. Or people who dump 'donate' grubby dirty books to the library. No one is going to borrow them. There isn't the people power in these organisations to process and sort out other people's junk. It's frustrating and actually feels like the donator is sticking two fingers up to the organisation. Have a think about how useful your donation is going to be, how it will be added to the system and how it will get to the end-user. Perishables such as sandwiches require immediate distribution. It's very high-handed to think volunteers have the time and resources to respond so quickly. And indeed that people are going to want to eat sandwiches left in bags on the pavement.

The message is ok but the wording sounds a bit stroppy. Would have been better to message after one week of sarnie dumping, when less exasperated.

From the facebook posts it looks like it is an Olio collection from Tesco (collected in the evening) that is then dumped outside the food bank while they're closed.
The volunteers then have to bin it all as it's out of date and has been left outside!

No one is actually donating this food to the food bank, it's being dumped outside for the volunteers to find whenever they are next in.

Quite reasonable, not rude.

Exactly

It’s not always what you say but how you say it. The delivery was too brusque and rude. Wouldn’t have cost them to be nicer about it.

OK seems it’s more of a dump than a donation so maybe they’re sick of explaining.