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.

Exactly, the one local to us (with the overpriced dinosaur toy) there’s no point going in more than once in the space of 2/3 weeks as nothing changes, even though we pass it almost daily.

One of my local charity shops has started pricing all clothes at 99p and kids clothes at 4 for 99p.

The manager told me that she makes more now than she did before. I’ve got a whole new wardrobe for very little money and it’s always busy.

Yeah I agree. I had a look in one of my local charity shops last weekend and they had some SHEIN items priced the same kind of price they’d cost on the SHEIN website new!

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.

The answer is right there. I don't know when you were little, but even if you are only in your twenties, two pounds in 2000 would be worth around £5 now. So £6 for a substantial toy is not unreasonable.

Volunteers in charity shops are usually older people. They probably don’t know how much some labels cost new and are just doing their best.

I’ve never heard of Max studio, but when I google it, doesn’t appear to have a UK website. It directs me to Amazon US with prices in dollars.

Why do you assume the £30 dress has been there for ages? Charity shops generally keep a close eye on stock control, particularly given that they are regularly given much more than they can sell. I suspect the reality is that the dress has only just been put out; it it hasn't sold within a week it will be reduced. They really do not leave stock on the rails unsold or weeks on end.

Max studio is sold in John Lewis so I don’t think it’s a tkmaxx fake brand

Insane prices. I went into Oxfam book shop and the prices were mad.

all the kids paperbacks were £2.50 each. It’s cheaper to buy new from the works.

I volunteered in Charity shops in the 90s and they all had a 2 pronged mission back then - provide cheap clothes/goods for poor people as well as raise funds. Oxfam I worked in regularly gave mums coats/shoes for kids for free or massively 'reduced'. Then it changed, paid managers arrived with a sole mission to maximise revenue, so the prices went up massively.
I don't even donate any more, I gave 2 new dresses to a local shop to see them in the window for MORE THAN I PAID! I went in and politely told them assuming they'd made an error and was told "Yes but to get to Next you have to get the train which is £7 return so this is the right price" Just so mean! I do a car boot once a year now and donate the money to a local charity.

I live in an affluent area and as expected the charity shops prices are on par with regular shop prices. In one shop I can often get reasonably priced puzzles, books or flowerpots and in another the prices are ridiculous, but the stuff goes quickly, so they have no reason to lower the price. I understand they need to make money, but for some it's a necessity, not just an option. But in my area a basic Yale key costs £24 to get cut, so I think it's part of the course.

They really do.

As other posters on this thread have already stated.

Why???

I used to search Portmeirion in charity shops and my husband used to search vinyl albums but £20 for a vinyl album in a charity shop ... You're having a giraffe 🦒 buy it on discogs for £7.

We have a chain of shops connected to our hospice.
CEO salary £175k.
Not enough business to pay for nurses apparently.

Some of the chain are boutique others general. There is a price guide for new stock.
I left when the SLT refused to do anything about the staff stealing. Many donations did not make it to the shop floor and not entered into the staff sale book.
I do donate but only to disability charities now. I don't get involved. I gave thirty pairs of shoes to them this year. All unworn, most £100 a pair or more. I hope people had a chance to buy them.

Some years ago as parr of her series “Mary
Queen of Shops” she did an episode where she went to a charity shop and encouraged them to charge more for items that were worth more than they would.have charged previously which was probably right up to point but it seems some charity shops have taken it a bit far!

Ermmm....yes, it makes sense. Everything is going up. Charity shops are subject to the same inflation everyone else is - labels, hangers, cleaning, waste disposal, utilities, insurances, minimum wage for paid staff on the increase as is NI, business rates (even if discounted)....and probably loads of stuff I'm not aware of. Of course it makes sense they will try and get more cash in. Some will do that by pricing lower and hope for a higher turnover. Some will try to get as much as they can for each item. Managers have targets - same as all retail outlets. How they reach those targets undoubtedly relates to individual experience. Where I live a local hospice charges higher than most others but the quality of their shop displays, the o really feel of the shops is far superior to others. If I go in, I know I'm paying more than the one literally next door which has more of a pile it high and see what happens approach.

@DancingonmyOwn88 if you brought dresses that you paid eg £80 for them with tags, and then for whatever reason would you be happy for a charity to sell them for eg £2 ?

I don’t agree. I have explained in two of my previous messages that I don’t think the inflation is reasonable, so we can agree to disagree.

But inflation is a fact? You can't keep a shop open if you're not covering costs

Ive worked in a charity shop for years. We are a chain but not a national one.

In ours clothing is priced below £3, dresses £4-6. We rotate stock every week and have a very high turnover and great sales. Those who say stock is sat on the shop floor for weeks on end are dreaming. No shop would leave the stock out, over priced and just sitting there for weeks. They would have to close down as they would not get enough turnover.

There is so much rubbish talked about pricing in charity shops. We know what our customers will pay. We are in a small town, one of our other branches is in a large town and they price their items 50% higher than us because they know they can achieve that price, We have had sock priced at 2.50 which has not sold and been transferred to the other shop where it has sold at £4.
Another of our shops in a more upmarket town prices items at double ours and they are one of the best performing shops we have.

Its all down to what the customers will pay We are there to raise money to keep the charity going, not to give away items.

We do get loads of donations but at least 50% is not fit for sale. That all costs money to dispose of.

As for customers not being able to get the bargains for their families, a lot of that is due to the hoards of customers who are first through the door every morning and stand in the shop waiting for new stock coming down, all armed with phones to scan and price for resale.

Its all the dealers that are spoiling the charity shop bargain experience for everyone. They will stay in the shop over an hour sometimes longer just waiting to grab what they can.

A lot of what’s donated makes its way into a skip out the back, they’re really fussy about what they take 😣

Are you being deliberately obtuse? I haven’t said it isn’t, I have said I don’t think the price hikes many charity shops have been putting in recently match with the inflation they are dealing with. I have said this three times. You think it does match, I don’t think it does, let’s agree to disagree.

@letmebetheone

Some charity shops absolutely do overprice items and let them sit in the shop for weeks at a time. Just because your shop doesn’t do this, it doesn’t mean others don’t. I have seen this with my own eyes. I’m not dreaming 🙄

Yes agree, post small Sussex town near me was selling Barbies with ratted hair for £6. This is brilliantly explored in this month's Spectator magazine

https://spectator.com/article/the-charity-shop-cartel-is-coming-to-an-end/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAT8A_VjbGNrBPwD13Bkb2YFZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQMMzUwNjg1NTMxNzI4AAEeupFubu26Rsgo5Qe79_PqoE0HVmukshU1TQUIfxtfDby2-wudSyGWmjicvtY_aem_vlKRGiYk5hN6QwIdUOzVgA

Yes absolutely this.
I worked for a dementia charity for a while, they did one support group a week and everything else was fund raising or training.
Often feted with awards ceremonies and Buckingham palace garden parties but absolutely ripping off people who gave money in good faith.
I really wished that the money they raised could be given to the NHS or social services, who despite not being brilliant themselves are a million times more organised and efficient.

Some big charities are like the biggest pyramid selling scams ever.

We are lucky to have a fab charity shop where I live that funds a small local wildlife shelter. I don't mind supporting them.