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.

YANBU. I had a friend a few years ago who volunteered in a charity shop to improve his CV after a stint of travelling. A 4 hour 'shift' for him involved rooting through the stuff in the backroom and picking out what he wanted for him and his girlfrend and paying a nominal amount- before the stuff had hit the shop floor. I remember meeting him after work for a drink and he had two bulging bags of designer, nearly new stuff which he had paid a fiver for total. The charity shop could have sold it and made at least £100 for the cause. There were designer dresses, brand new kurt geiger shoes and a chloe (or something like that!) handbag etc. I thought it was a damn cheek! There should be no perk but that of doing some good for others.

Well my teenage son volunteered in our local charity shop to get some work experience. They worked him pretty hard to be honest; carrying bags of clothes and boxes of toys and books up and down three flights of stairs all afternoon. The thing that annoyed him the most was that they discarded a lot of decent toys that weren't in the original packaging. Also the old ladies had no real idea which music, books or DVDs were current enough to command a good price.
My son occasionally came home with the odd CD or film that he'd bought with his discount but I think he certainly earned it. The volunteering definitely helped him get a paid part time time job though.

They're supposed to be volunteering to run a shop, not to take the stock home themselves. This practice will lower the overall quality of stock, so customers will see the shop as being less good quality. Then they will visit less often and spend less.

When people donate items to a charity shop they expect it to be put on sale and to make as much as possible for the charity.

My DM's friend volunteered and helped out in about 3 local charity shops every week. She fancied herself as a bit of an antiques dealer and quite openly said that she only did it to get first dibs on any 'good stuff' coming in. As a volunteer she was only asked to make a donation as to what she 'thought' it was worth.

My DM was horrified but unfortunately was too bloody polite to tell her she's a parasite. She doesn't do it anymore as apparently people are too clued up about the value of stuff and they only get worthless junk donated now.

My ex-mum-in-law worked for free at a charity shop.
She told us she could pick what she wanted first and just make a small donation.
She would give us loads of stuff and I used to feel quite bad so I would give it all back (to a different charity shop) a few weeks later.

When I was in my teens, I did some volunteering at our local Cancer Research Campaign shop. I don't remember any of the volunteers cherry picking donated items but the manager often had friends visit her in the stock room who'd then leave with carrier bags full of clothes they hadn't paid a penny for

The manager never got into any trouble over it, as far as I know, although she ended up being sacked because she nicked some of the shop's takings and claimed there had been a burglary. Obviously that's just one person, many years ago and it's not the same thing as volunteers paying a fair price for stock but it's still left me feeling slightly uneasy about donating stuff.

I volunteer at our NCT sale and get first pick. People complain - balls to them, I give up a whole day from 9.30am til 5.30pm, shift heavy tables and equipment, run round like a loon for most of the day.... I reckon I deserve a chance to bagsy some good bargains!

Have you ever worked in a charity shop...do you know how deadly dull, disgusting, unpleasant it can be? Ever had to sort out someone else's underwear and crusty cutlery and sticky toys....ever had to deal with angry/crying customers when you're just volunteering? I'm not saying it's the pits, you put up with it, but sorry, I think we can have some perks.

Plus, what's the best for you is not necessarily the best for others. Loads of times I rescued stuff I use all the time now (walkman on its last legs- managed to eek out another year on it) that the others (old ladies! I thought they were meant to be thrifty and all waste not want not) just threw in the bin. They threw away pictures they didn't like, beautiful books which had a musty smell or a name in the cover, clothes with the labels torn out....
I certainly didn't grab all the designer stuff/shrink wrapped DVDs that came in, just because. And anything remotely old (LPs, memorabilia) had to be put to one side to be valued. You could put it in a bag with your name on it but if it was worth something in the end you wouldn't see it again.

The point of volunteering is to give without expecting any reward. That's what most volunteers do, in fields no easier than shop work.

I volunteer at a charity shop 1 day a week and buy loads of really good stuff. I think it's a good perk of the job. I have bought stuff that hasn't been put out yet, but I don't feel guilty. I don't take quality items to sell on ebay, the shop is getting it's money, I'm getting some really good bargains and volunteering my services. so I see no problem in it.

A friend's mum volunteers and takes home a lot of things that don't hit the shop floor. The manager is her friend so she only ever pays a nominal amount. She resells and makes money from it. Shop was Cancer Research so not a small indie one.

It does bother me that when I donate - and I donate an awful lot of good quality stuff - that the charity may not be doing so well out of it if there are people like my friend's mum working there! Especially as I donate to Fara specifically because i want my donations to help kids in orphanages.

Also know that 'collectors' and dealers in things like old vinyl/comics/vintage fur, will come in each month and collect bags of the stuff for nominal amount like £10. They build relationship with shop and this stuff also never reaches shop floor.

Agree the point of charity and volunteer work is to donate your time without expecting anything in return. Would hope all shops have policies in place where manager prices items and staff purchases are recorded, and only available after having hit shop floor for a day.

But I signed up for this without knowing about the discount/food/choice. I stayed for two years because I thought that it was stupid doing it just for six months and I would have felt bliddy guilty if I hadn't been volunteering anywhere. I know it wasn't a comment specifically directed at me, but I can't imagine people would want to work in one of those places just to get some reduced price clothes. We didn't expect anything, least of all a reward. Drop the holier than thou attitude and go and work there if you want to see what it's like. There was still plenty of good stuff on the shop floor, which sold.

We had a 'regular' who used to come and empty our CD rack, and flog the lot on eBay. But we hardly had any good stuff in (no, not held back by us). Frankly it was a favour to get them taken off our hands- singles from the 90s, collections, easy listening music....

I volunteer in a charity shop, have done for about 5 years since i was at uni, now ive graduated i run my own business but still go in (mostly to see the people as i work alone all week). yes i do get some bargains but then again i work really hard the day im there, someone will sort through the bags which is uaually around 50 in a morning, most of that will be disgusting clohes, stained, stinking etc.

Im now pregnant and have got some really good bargains for the baby, lots of little designer bits and just yesterday i bought a fisher price playmat which was on the shop floor for £8 i bought it for £5. our shop is a well known british chain but were still not allowed to buy anything that would make the shop a good profit or hasnt been out for a day.

on the other hand i visited another equally well known british firm yesterday to find their pricing structure ridiculous, a coast top out for £2.99 and a george at asda top out for £5. i also saw the manageress talking to a volunteer about a ysl scarf that had just come in, volunteer takes rips the box open and ties it round her neck. nobody batted an eyelid, also saw them coming onto shop floor to try stuff on in changing rooms, i think fair enough if your going to do it but dont flaunt it in front of all the customers...

Someone mentioned clothes with buttons missing etc - don't forget there is a good price for rags so charity shops can also use worn out clothes to make money. I wash n bag separately though

I think that it all hinges on paying the price that it would be when marked up. If the charity isn't getting any less I can't see that it matters-if they are cheating by paying less-then it does.
I wouldn't want to spend my day sorting all the bags-experience tells me that some must be horrible,so I wouldn't begrudge them first pick-as long as they are going to wear it and not sell it on ebay.
Therefore as long as the charity is getting the maximum they could get for it I don't see it as a problem.

I think that it's a fair 'perk'. People get discount when they work in paid retail jobs after all. I did lots of other volunteering without perks.

IME it's not usually the 'best' stuff that goes to the staff anyway. I often took home stuff that for various reasons couldn't be sold and would otherwise be thrown away - the chain I volunteered at has very high standards so lots of donations wouldn't make it to the shelves. I still asked my supervisor to price it for me though.

Then there is the stock rotation. A massive amount of stuff goes unsold (and that can't be very unusual - the branch I was at is currently the most successful in the country for our massive chain) and a lot of it could get thrown away! I guess they see it that it's better to have somebody pay only 75% of the price than to see it go in the bin.

As an aside, in the charity I worked for all paid staff were banned from having eBay accounts - there are regular checks on this.

It is after all open to all-OP could go and give up her time once a week!

They aren't taking everything. My partner works as a driver collecting the stock (ahem, who said they all look dodgy?) and he sees a lot of what happens. They do put aside things that they would like but they pay for it at the end of the day. They don't sell manky stuff either, they sell on the crap stuff as rags to another company who recycle it. The amount of nice stuff in the shop really depends on the area the shop is in and what type of people are donating to it.

Back to the drivers, make sure that they are actually from the charity itself. A lot of the bags seem to be from charities but aren't eg the bag says Great Ormond Street Hospital on the front but if you look at the small print you will see a registered company number rather than a registered charity number and it will say that the company donates x amount of money to the charity (usually a tiny amount). These are the ones to avoid as the charity is getting pretty much nothing. From what I've seen the only charities that genuinely collect for themselves are BHF, Cancer Research, Oxfam and Fara (in London).

"People get discount when they work in paid retail jobs after all."

This is usually about 10 per cent, isn't it? So I think a 10 per cent discount would be right for charity shop staff too.

I work in a charity bookshop and the only rule we have (as far as I'm aware) is that any book from the shelves or good enough to be out on the shelves, you pay full price for. (ie the price we would have given the book, not the original full price).

Shabby books which would get chucked anyway (we have quite a strict quality control policy) we can keep but most people make a donation to cover this.

Nothing gets taken away for free. No staff discount.
Yes I have in the past snaffled something before it went out on the shelves, but I paid the same price as it would have been if it been sold to a member of the public.

I've found loads of great things in charity shops over the years so they can't be taking it all.

Mil works in one and often brings home nice things that have come in but she pays for them. She works very hard giving a lot of her time voluntarily and has had to sort through some pretty grim bags sometimes.

What happens to the stuff AFTER I donate it is no concern of mine. Its no longer my property.

Would you say the same about a monetary donation of equivalent value?

If it was a problem there wouldn't be anything worth having in charity shops and this isn't the case.