to think that charity shop workers should not take all the best stuff for themselves?

[gramercy]

I admired dd's friend's coat. Her mother duly informed me it was a Boden coat which her mother had got from the charity shop in which she volunteers. "I gave mum a list of the brands to look out for - so she can pick them out when stuff comes in. I've got loads of good things."

I know this goes on, but I really don't think it's on. Even if the volunteer pays a nominal price, it means the shop is deprived of stock, and if the shop only stocks horrible old tat then people won't bother to go in. You can't imagine a boutique, say, allowing its staff to buy all the prime stuff first so there's nothing left to attract customers.

I'm an older volunteer in a charity shop. Pricing is done by the paid staff, volunteers do get a discount but I rarely buy anything except the odd book. People sent by the Jobcentre for work experience don't get any discounts. I did buy my Christmas cards yesterday, but we don't get a discount on any new goods.

The shop is open seven days, most volunteers are in on one or two days, and considering the sheer volume of bags that are gone through (by paid staff in our store) there's no way much of the decent stuff is picked off by the volunteers. The manager wants to attract buyers, so it's important to put clean, decent stock in the shop. Every item of clothing that needs it is thoroughly steamed, bric a brac is washed etc.

Worra did predict that it would be resurrected in a year 😂

I saw this and had to comment.I volunteer at a smal charity shop in our small valley but it doesn't work that way for us.
Yes,we can buy items but out of all the voulnteers,i'm the worst culprit for this by far!
I tend to buy books,i'm a real bookworm but i actuallypay more than a customer would.Our books are 5 for £1,yes really !But i refuse to take home 5 books having only spent a quid so i put the pound owed plus an extra pound and any change i have in my purse goes in the donation box.
We are amazed at the things that come through the door,last year 2 different people brought in Kurt Geiger shoes,boxed with stickers on the bottom!
I wrote them down in our 'speciaL book' and i took them home to sell on Ebay but every single penny went back in our till.
Ours is a small Welsh coalmining valley and people don't care if something is new with a hefty price tag still attached,it's still second hand in their eyes and i can't disagree with that.

It's not a secret that i sell online for the shop and i've asked so many customers how they feel about items they donate being sold elsewhere and every single time the reply has been roughly 'But the shop gets the money for it,just more of it?Crack on then and i feel the same,if i donate something to a charity shop and they could get £5 for it in the shop or £25 online,i'd tell them to go with the better option!
It's not all glamour though,since the local rubbish tip closed,some people brfing black bags of their rubbish basically as it's better than driving 10 miles to the closest tip(and obviously we have the rule,you never go through bags of donated items while the person who donated them is still in the shop so we don't know until it's too late!)
Also nwe ask if there is anything electrical in their bags as by law,we're not allowed to sell those but regularly we'll be told no only to find half the items have a plug attached

Lol, just been reading the thread and being tickled that it seems to be the THREAD THAT REFUSES TO DIE
8 years old now. Obviously a contentious charity shop issue still relevant in 2018

I saw this and had to comment

How did you see this

ZOMBIE

kalapattar maybe somebody searching for charity shop threads in the search bit, it'll throw everything up, including the zombies lol
I think my most favourite EVER zombie though was the one a couple of years back about pushchairs I think it was actually replied to her past self not realising it was actually her who posted in the first place

I used to volunteer in a charity shop. Some of the stuff we got in was absolutely filthy - yes, people do donate rubbish. Volunteers got a 20% discount, and not all were grandmothers...
Once I called in a John Lewis on my way to the shop to do a shift. I bought an expensive duvet, and took it in with me, intending to stash it in a locker until it was time to go home. The volunteer at the till said: ‘Ooh! I’ll have that!’ and was most put out when I said that wasn’t going to happen. Most put out; she mentioned it a couple of times that afternoon.

People think charity shops exist to provide bargains for thrifty shoppers - they don’t. Their sole purpose is to raise money for the charitable cause they are representing. If the volunteers are buying at the same price as a customer, that objective has been met. The perk is they get to see these items first.

If you want a bargain, go to Primark, or use EBay. If you like the idea of helping a charity to serve its beneficiaries, keep supporting charity shops.

YABU. If the volunteers are paying for the stuff then why shouldn’t they? They give up their time for free to help the charity so should at least be granted this ‘perk’.

ZOMBIE ALERT!

I manage a charity shop and mine definitely isn't filled with manky crap. It's all down to the managers and training to sort the stock and make sure the stuff on sale is nice. That said if you only get old socks and pants and 10year old bath towels you are going to struggle to fill the shop with nice stuff (again which customers don't understand - you can only sell what you get given). That said I work in a middle class area and our shop is very well stocked. In regards to volunteers shopping that is more than allowed. All volunteers are free to buy anything from the shop floor once it's been put out and priced by a manager. They are paying the same as the customer so it's all the same to the shop. It might seem unfair as they have first pick but they are also the one giving their time to support the charity so seems like a very small perk. And as others have said chairty shops are there to raise money for the charity, not to provide charity to the customers so as long as the money is in the till, I don't mind whose paying for it. On the one where the donor donated shirts which weren't there the next day either the shop didn't need them, so sent them on to another shop (which we do regularly) or actually they weren't very good quality (what you think is good might not meet my standards;manky crap) and have gone to the rag man.

My old neighbour used to volunteer in a charity shop, she never paid for a thing. Anything she fancied went straight in her shopping bag.

I've managed a few charity shops . All had different rules. Some , you cannot just take first pickings, it has to have a chance on shop floor first. Most did not give any staff discount. Some , you could buy 'out back of shop' rather than putting it out first.
If you really don't like it, go and work in and one and see if there are any perks!

Yabu. My dsis does about 20 hours per week as a volunteer. She doesn't siphon off stuff but does get a small discount on purchases. This is right.

They work there for free. It's hard bloody work in a charity shop - I did it for a couple of years, absolutely free. Of course I nicked some of the good stuff for myself and paid whatever would have been the shelf price for it. We didn't get staff discount, if you're super worried about us actually getting any other benefits for working for free and for charity.

oh my god i didn't see the date on the first post LOL

ZOMBIE ALERT!

Wow, I didn't realise something had happened in 2018 that meant charity shops no longer exist. I assume that's happened because, otherwise, there would be no problem continuing the discussion without pointless posts like yours.

.

They're giving up their time to help a charity so yeah, YABU for begrudging them the occasional small perk.

hello !!i worked in one for 9 months really enjoyed it .as far as i was concerned i paid for everthing i took home .after all its charity!. but ended up getting told i couldnt go back because i listed a couple of items om ebay they said i didnt pay for and wasnt to do that anyway!..a lot of good stuff comes in which does reach the shop floor. so now i have this complex that perhaps i shouldnt of took home anything in the first place !they are great places to be mind you..

hello i was accused of nicking stuff after i admitted to listing a couple of things on ebay ..someone was doing it cos i was on my own sometimes i got the blame...

The thread that won’t die is back...

I don't think they just "take" it. When I volunteered at Oxfam ages ago, they told me that the staff can buy something AND they log in in a special book (so if the donor sees it on them, they can show they actually paid for it).

If they just take it without paying, then it;s wrong of course. But I honestly believe this is not what happens.

Charity shop workers both volunteers and paid (they aren't well paid), are usually allowed the pick if something doesn't sell quickly. Doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

love the zombie thing lol!