To not want someone going through my charity bag I’ve left out?

[Namezerchangezer]

As I was walking back from the school drop off there was a woman who had emptied a bag and was looking through each item and laying them on that houses fence, my bag is packed with my children’s old clothes and 1st of all I thought well if she needs them what harm is there, but then I thought what if she’s selling them on, plus the whole emptying the bag outside someone’s house felt a bit inappropriate to me. Thought please I’m conflicted.YABU - it’s fine YANBU - she shouldn’t be doing that.

It’s completely inappropriate. You have chosen the charity to donate your things to. Someone else can’t just decide that they’re having them instead.

Its why I don't leave charity shop bags outside. Too many chancers who just go through them

Don't leave it out then.

YANBU, she definitely shouldn't be doing that outside your house. I'd be marching up and asking her what the hell she's doing. That said, my local supermarket has a large clothing bank for Oxfam and if I see people going through the (overspill) bags of clothes then I don't say anything. Maybe they need them, or maybe they're selling them, but the fact they need to do that makes me sympathetic. Not outside my house with my own clothes though. It feels different.

Well you shouldn't leave bags outside for the charity shops. It turns them into a dumping ground and free loaders will take advantage. Just wait until the shop is open and then take stuff in and it won't happen. Our local charity shop is always asking people don't leave bags outside as I swear some people just see it as an alternative to the tip.

The OP didn't leave the bag outside the charity shop, it was outside her own house. We get lots of bags through the door asking for that type of collection (e.g. leave outside your house next Tues).

Don't leave out charity bags - take them directly to a charity shop so that they get all the profits, instead of some private collection company.

I think the safest bet is just taking them to a local clothes bank or charity shop. She was a bit of a chancer you’re right. Equally you were ditching them anyway so no harm, she wasn’t stealing.

Do you mean those bags that come through the post and say to fill and leave on the curb on X day? I thought majority of those were scams, very little goes to the charity (if anything at all) and are often collected by other scammers?
YABU to use them and should donate directly to a charity shop instead.

OP didn't..? Its one of the bags that regularly come through letterboxes for clothing to be left outside your home.

I agree, when you look at the small print on most of these charity bags that come through the door the charity only gets a tiny percentage ....

A lot of charity shops dont take clothing or they want you to seperate it because they dont want kids clothes or ONLY want kids clothing its easier with doorstep collections especially in a cost of living crisis when wasting time fuel and effort feels personal

Yeah I guess it's not appropriate but I also wouldn't care. I just want the clothes out of my house and not in landfill.

I thought the clothes in the bags they collect from your door are usually sold by the kg as fabric and not actually sold in shops? I might be wrong though.
I would have the biggest problem with her putting my clean donated clothes on a dirty old fence, but I don’t think I’d mind that much if she’s selling them on. I don’t think people are leaving designer gear in charity bags so she’s probably not making loads from clothes she finds on the street. And if I wanted to support a specific charity, I would take my items to that specific charity’s shop

That's why I never bother filling those bags. They get exposed to the elements, potentially getting damp and very cold, potentially wee'd on by passing animals, and, as you found, rifled through.
Those charity bags are also through third parties as well. They may well say "Cancer Research" or whatever on them, but if you read the small print, they're actually third party sorting places. Little more than those "We buy clothes for cash" huts you see in carparks where they pay by weight. Or those clothing bins in supermarket carparks.
Personally, I think you're better off just taking it along to a local charity shop.

In my house, those bags get recycled into bin bags.

She left the bag outside her house, not the shop, doh, so climb down from that high horse you're on and read the original post properly next time.

I don't even think this was outside the OPers house, just a random one they were passing.

OP no it's not really the done thing, but unless you ask them you'll never know the reason.

I never fill those bags unless all the items /money received from selling go straight to the charity, the small print on some state this isn't always the case.

I think thank God I’m not in the position where I feel any need to go through peoples old clothes in the streets. Then I move on.

Username checks out. Have you genuinely never had a charity bag through the door? 🙄

Same. Imagine what a nightmare your life must be for that to be necessary.

If it's marked as being for a charity collection then nobody should really be going through it. If they do then at least do it subtly.
She may have thought, no harm done. But it's not the same as taking things from bags they've flytipped outside of charity shops.