Charity shops....

[Thefearlessfreak]

To expect charity shops to take your donations when you struggle in the door with them?

Even if they have loads of stuff it just seems rude to be told to take it all away!

And: is it unreasonable to expect that they charge charity style prices? e.g Often, Primark clothes are for sale in charity shops for the same price as when new.

You still have to think twice about a purchase because it is no longer a bargain to buy second hand!

[mumfor1standmaybe2ndtime]

I hate to see new things in charity shops! Takes the fun out of looking for a bargain. A charity shop by us closed down recently and did an offer of filling a carrier bag for £1. They sold out in just a couple of days!

[Nagapie]

It saves a lot of bother to get rid of electrical goods through Freecycle - charity shops just don't want the hassle to have to test and then have to sell the goods ...

I knoe the British Heart Fondation takes furniture and appliances ...

[rebelmum1]

I'm going to give everything away through freecycle from now on.

[purits]

I tried to take a bag of stuff to a shop but they refused it because they said that they didn't have the space to store it. This was at Xmas / New Year - if it was you, wouldn't you be expecting people to be dejunking at that time of year and make plans accordingly for all that lovely new, free stock.

I haven't donated to them since, it goes to more grateful charites.

[casbie]

charity shops don't pay full-price business rates...

as far as i know it's 50%.

that's why there are so many on the High Street.

what i hate is now they sell cheap, new, tatt, which is obviously slave-labour products in charity shops now. like stools with abc on, or jigsaws etc

that is just SAD.

: (

[expatinscotland]

i freecyled a brand new printer and a nearly new slow cooker recently.

and loads of the girls' old toys.

can't be bothered with picky people or charity shops.

[expatinscotland]

all clothes go the Salvation Army bin in town.

[Eddas]

I can't bare the chairty shops any longer. They don't even say thank you in a way that leaves you with any impression that they mean it

Re the salvation army clothes banks, where do the clothes end up? I might well start doing that. Have reems of the stuff! Have freecycled some but would rather just drive it all somewhere and off load TBH!!

[expatinscotland]

i have no idea where they end up, as long as they're not in my home anymore i don't much care, tbh.

everything else gets freecycled.

there's only one charity shop in town and you have to leave stuff during office hours and they close for lunch.

too much faff for me. i'd rather have someone come and pick it up.

[beansmum]

We were in stornaway this summer and they have the BEST charity shops, actually cheap and good quality stuff, not just supermarket clothes. Everywhere else I have been it has been cheaper to buy new clothes. I searched every shop in town this week for stuff for ds, and in the end I just went to asda and got his entire winter wardrobe for £16.

[zippitippitoes]

charity shops beat the credit crunch

[potatofactory]

Yes! new crap! Why. Someone said it must be difficult to sell everything at 50p (price everything) but I would be much more likely to buy SOMETHING - I usually walk out without buying anything, so that's clearly not working for them.

[LazyLinePainterJane]

I put all my stuff out on those kerbside charity collections...only proper ones though, not the scammers

Generally I only buy books from charity shops, keeping an eye out for other bargainous stuff. I do resent paying too much though.

[TheCrackFox]

My dad volunteers one day a week at a charity shop. He sorts out the books for them. Most of it gets binned - anything with a brown cover they don't even bother to sell and if a book doesn't sell within 2 weeks they bin that too! I find it very sad but apparently this policy maximises their profits. Considering they don't pay full rates and their staffing costs are negligible I do think they take the piss with a lot of their prices.

I freecycle most stuff nowadays and any baby gear just gets given to friends.

[Tanee58]

Binning books argh ! DP had to do that when working in our library over the summer - he said it made him weep and he brought a lot home.

[expatinscotland]

i wonder if, because of so much book binning, it might be wise for councils to offer book recycling?

i've sold plenty in book sales using the 'carrier bag full for 50p' or 'buy one, chose one free and it's only 10p' but i operate under the something is better than nothing policy and most boot sales around here are usually about £3 for sellers to enter so you always come out in the black and more junk free, too.

[AmIWhatAndWhy]

Tanee I agree, argh!

There was recently a post on freecycle, someone had posted that the local library had just thrown out two big bin loads of things and anyone who was interested should go look and grab them (the bins were on the street)

Some people went and reported back that they were stopped by library staff as it wasn't allowed, and it was theft of council property! wtf?

[purpleduck]

"but the charity shops are brand savvy - and often charge huge amounts more for branded stuff" -custardo

I was in Oxfam the other day when some people came in to donate....the volunteer working there practically tripped over herself getting to them, didn't even say hello, just said "Is it Marks's"



I did get a nice little handbag that was PERFECT for a wedding I was going to though - 1.99

[DrNortherner]

I went to one of our local charity shops recently and they were selling a ladies GAP duffle coat for £19.99!

I nearly fainted.

They are becoming vastly overpriced.

[noddyholder]

They have become expensive I agree

[AmIWhatAndWhy]

It depends what it is. I got a pure wool MaxMara coat last winter, gorgeous and perfect condition for £39.99, It seems a lot, but would have cost so much more brand new so I didn't mind. Rather that than a nylon jobbie from Primark.

[evangelina]

This is a MN view of charity shops though- there are also a lot of donors who take the piss and use them as an alternative, and closer dump (they also get fantastic donations too though).
I have a close relative who works as a manager in a charity shop and she works ridiculous hours with volunteers who let her down at the last minute plus loads of shoplifting and verbal abuse from the public.
With regard to pricing, they usually face a lot of pressure from head office and are set high targets.
The points made about lack of storage are absolutely true- you should see the back room of some of these shops.

[Nagapie]

But Evangelina, short staffing and lack of space is no reason for the volunteers to be rude to would-be donors...

Pricing charity donations at the same/above the cost of new is not going to get customers in the shop or a way to meet targets ..

[notcitrus]

I've given my local Oxfam lots of stuff, and they're lovely - but the (nice but stressed) manager is constantly on the phone to head office being asked stupid questions and trying to talk sense into them. Last time she was trying to tell them that Indian-made bric-a-brac didn't sell at all because anyone could get similar items better and cheaper in any of a dozen shops along the road - so please stop sending it!

I've put stuff into the back room and it really is jam-packed, and that's just the stuff that's deemed saleable. They do have a sign with pricing guidance warning that nothing should be below 99p as the effort to price up cheaper stuff isn't worth it. But this shop generally has a clue about pricing, whereas other Oxfams I've known have been clueless and obnoxious to people (the trouble with working with volunteers...)

The best charity shops seem to be either in posh areas (I got a fab as-new Monsoon winter coat for £20, would have been over £150 in the store), or in poor areas where people appreciate getting cheap stuff and staff know the value of goods. The ones in middle-type areas seem to be the ones with least idea of pricing and most snotty staff.

[Tanee58]

AmIWhat, DP had to rip them up and put them in the outside bin. Presumably the ripping was to prevent people helping themselves to the bins. He offered to take them to the nearest Red Cross bookshop, but yes, he was told it was 'against regulations' - though it was ok for him to take them home. Imagine that - a council library decreeing that books should be destroyed rather than recycled to help charity. Has the world gone mad?

So anything he brings home and we don't want gets taken - guess where?

I also buy a lot of books from charity shops - but only the cheaper ones. Oxfam is the worst with their dedicated bookshops. They're not cheap at all. Am afraid that the targets they're being set are making them less and less a resource for people on low incomes, and only encourages us to buy in to the slave labour of Primark .