Charity shops have lost the plot

[DancingonmyOwn88]

Had a bit of time to kill before work earlier so had a browse in a charity shop. Surrey town but more commuter belt than anything salubrious. Shop was a run of the mill one not one of the boutique type offerings.

Nice green and white maxi dress, casual summer type thing, the other dresses were priced around £8 pounds which isn’t really a bargain but as I liked it a lot I picked it up- only to see it was priced at £30. Yes it was ‘Max Studio’ but those dresses aren’t going for anything like that on Vinted etc.

I asked why it was priced so high and the lady said ‘it’s designer’.😐

Probably been sitting there for months!! Where’s the sense in it?! Why have charity shops become so far removed from what they’re supposed to be- a way to shop sustainably and feel like you’re getting a bargain because it’s not new? Yeah I know they want to raise money as well but surely they’d do that a damn sight quicker if they actually shifted stock and not stuck eye watering labels on things.

I’m still annoyed from last week from a different shop as well when my little boy picked up a toy dinosaur figure and the label said £6. We put it back and I told them why but they didn’t care obviously and it’s still sitting there as of yesterday. How greedy to price children’s toys so high. When I was little you could always find a pocket money toy for a couple of pounds and come away feeling chuffed.

Ive heard lots are going out of business and my sympathy is somewhat limited. Serves them right. They seem to be terrified of people grabbing bargains to resell but then they’ve forgotten that some people on lower incomes are using them to buy clothes etc too.

Given they receive an 80% reduction on business rates and high streets are struggling, I'd argue they DO need to provide value for the communities they are sited in.

They lost the plot when they got Head Offices and thousands of pounds on marketing.

I avoid the big chains as just yet another scam. I won't even donate to them any more.

I prefer to help by buying from mums and skint people like me, at car boot sales.

However the Salvation Army and some (but not all) small and scruffy charity shops are still in the original and true spirit of charity and you can find bargains.

However the Salvation Army and some (but not all) small and scruffy charity shops are still in the original and true spirit of charity and you can find bargains.

The Salvation Army have been giving away free school uniform throughout the holidays in their charity shops, and I think that's fantastic. Especially when you hear that other shops are charging £3 for a single polo shirt, like another poster mentioned.

With the dinosaur toy, it was one of those nice quality Schlieh ones. I knew that, but my son just thought ‘ooh, plesiosaurus!’ They do retail around £3-6 on Vinted secondhand depending on how sought after they are or the size (this one was small) . It’s more that someone who works there has looked at it, priced it as high as it can go and ignored the fact that a child will see it and want it for what it is rather than the brand. And now it’s still sitting on a shelf rather than being played with at our house with all our other charity shop dinos. It just feels mean.

And yes I’ve seen all the ‘charity shops aren’t there so you can get a bargain!’

Well that’s shortsighted really. There has to be a balance. Instead of that particular charity having some of my money, they didn’t get any. Almost 90% of my son’s toys are secondhand, but I won’t be fleeced.

Bit of a stupid question, but is this second hand donations, or new stuff for families in need. I have a ton of stuff I put on Gumtree for free, but nobody uses it anymore and I've moved from the local area the school was which is probably why. I don't want to just bin it.

Both.

They have some new and loads of second hand items, and anyone is able to take them. (Although some stores have limits on how many things you can take)

I agree. I was looking for a smallish bag and the charity shop was asking £45. I bought one for £20 in the Fat Face sale. Yes, people go to charity shops then re-sell but that's because they have customers who are prepared to pay that much for a second hand bag. A little charity shop doesn't have that kind of outlet. The charity shop needs to give people the feeling they're getting a bargain otherwise they'll just buy new in the sales.

@Whingethanks didn't know that but that's another tick in their favour. Let's hope the marketing people leave tbe SA well alone.

Can you put the stuff you don't have space for in a bargain box outside for £1 each or something? Just to shift it. There must be a way to return to the charity shop as a source of clothes for people who are genuinely in need while it also being a place for people who will pay £10 for a nice dress. I agree with the pp who said charity shops should be contributing value to their local community as well as to the charity they support.

I don’t know, maybe I’m a mug, but £6 for a dinosaur toy that I’m assuming goes for £20 or so new does seem like a good bargain to me!

You can’t compare prices now to what they were when you were a kid. If you got those kind of toys for a couple of quid 20 years ago then £6 today is probably about right, no?

And £30 for a TK Maxx dress is ridiculous but £8 for the other dresses does sound good to me, yet you still seem to think that’s too much?

They don’t go for £20 new.It was priced at the higher end of what you might put it up on Vinted for someone who collects them. They are almost always worn and obviously played with, which is what they’re for. I might have says a couple of quid is what I’d have been given to spend back in the day, but in retrospect it was probably more like 50p or a couple of quid would get you more than one toy.

£8 is still too much for a lot of those dresses, that have been worn, washed etc, made of polyester.

Fair enough! I’ve bought my nephew a few of those Schliech dinosaurs when out and about and they were £20 but maybe he always picks the biggest expensive ones because he sees me coming!

Those big ones do go for a lot but I love them! Probably worth the investment :)

Can you put the stuff you don't have space for in a bargain box outside for £1 each or something? Just to shift it

No criticism, but this sentence makes it very clear that you have never spent any time in a sorting room. Anything worth selling goes on sale. The stuff which is not worth selling and only worth ragging is just that - rag-worthy. School polo shirts which were once white now grey and covered with pen marks. Skirts or trouser with dubious marks or bust zips. Well worn knickers. Hoodies so bobbly that you wouldn't even wear them when gardening. Odd shoes. Chipped crockery or mugs with handles missing. Ripped books, or "how to" manuals for Windows 95. Endless battered ring binders and box files. Dried up felt-tip pens.

Honestly, charity shops are generally pretty good and having methods of disposing of waste and getting money for it. Most have a rag merchant who pays pennies - like 50p or 60p per black bag. Metal goes to vintage cash cow or similar scrap merchants. Foreign coins ands postage stamps are sent away to specialist companies. Paper/card (so your ripped books and jigsaws where half the bits have gone) can go in the regular recyling. But you are left with a lot of stuff which is just rubbish and should have been put in the donor's own bin.

Nobody is going to buy an odd shoe for £1.