Why do charity shops do this?

[LuLuLemonadeDrinker]

A couple of local charity shops near me both constantly have signs up outside on an A-Board, saying that they are not taking donations. However, both of these have very little stock inside, and are both very overpriced. For example, a worn, very bobbly Primark jumper for £7, and a Boohoo polyester dress for £12.

One in particular is just depressing to go into; I went in the other day for the first time in two months and some of the overpriced clothes that were there then were still hanging there, still for sale. The rails were also pretty empty. The board was outside as usual requesting no donations. There were 5 members of staff in the shop.

I really don't get it; surely it would be far better, and raise far more money, if they had more stock out, and priced it at lower prices for a quicker turnover. I really can't see the shop I went in yesterday raising much money at all, as there's never anything in there really to buy.

I'm sure some posters will reply saying it's a 'charity shop bashing thread', and yes, it is! I want to support charities and want to buy pre owned items but shops like this aren't exactly going to raise any money!

Good on you, same values I myself have

I had friends and family visiting this weekend and week and when going through mums clothes, I held back some items that I knew would be appreciated

Ive one top which I got wrong :)

I was just passing on my thoughts, what Im seeing, I see supermarket clothes - with bobbles, for not much less then you can buy new, whereas 5/6 years ago you could buy good quality , or better quality then your every day budget . I got a beautiful Hobbs dress for half the price it costs to dry-clean for example , nowadays its hard to find those sort of bargains

Now I walk into a charity shop and the labels are shein ( rarely worn ) temu and primark. I dont live in a deprived area as such, when I first moved here Id get mid level designer but now , nope

My favourite Non Bargain in a Charity Shop was an empty glass jar that would have contained Cadburys Roses .......which cost more than a brand new glass jar full of Cadburys Roses .

Now before you say "It'd be worth more empty" this was when they were delicious and the jars were glass not plastic.

I used to work for a company in Birmingham in my late teens as a delivery driver and go round to charity shops and jumble sales buying unsold garments which we would turn into industrial wipes for engineers to clean down machinery on the shop floor. For a box of denim wipes we would charge £16 for a 10kg box and that was in 1989.

https://www.davisandmoore.co.uk/industrial-cleaning-rag-wipers/

If there's five of them, the shelves and rails are empty, but they're not taking donations then I'm sorry, that's just utter laziness by the 'staff'.

I read an article about the horrors of sorting through the charity shop donations. I feel for the volunteers - they must feel so jaded that they have to rifle through so much junk.

I also had a stern word with my DH as he used to put worn out crap into the bags as he thought that the unwanted, scruffy stuff would be sent to other countries! I think he felt better believing others would want these items rather than them ending up in land fill.

I put things up on vinted. If they don't sell within a time frame, they are sent to charity. Bulky stuff goes to charity as well as can't be bothered with the hassle of P&P. All of these items are good quality, just no longer wanted/fit.

I have also seen a huge surplus of temu, primark etc tat being sold for £5+. It's really sad that clothes are such terrible quality these days.

But @HangryBrickShark there were a lot fewer pairs of jeans in 1989 than there are now, and the ones which were around were much better quality. Add in the very high price of fuel and some shops in rural areas really struggle to get their textile waste collected at all.

I agree, I don't think everything has to be priced at rock bottom but sometimes it's ridiculous. I've noticed a few times now used paperbacks of books published in the last couple of years being priced as more expensive than brand new copies on amazon! One was £10, a decent but obviously used copy of a book published in 2023. I first noticed it just after new year and its still sitting there unsurprisingly.

There are few shops like this in my local towns, I’ve stopped going in them. We have a few where everything is £1 or £2 and then one where there’s nothing over £4, these are the ones I shop in and are the busiest

I've only just learned that the local shops don't re-sell the stuff we donate- it goes to a head office to be sorted. Safety, fire-proof, quality has to be checked. Most gets dumped.
Local recycling websites drive you mad with requests back and forth.
Post free on Gumtree, quick and simple. Gumtree is a godsend.

A lot of people buying decent stuff from charity shops aren’t going to be in a position to donate decent stuff. That’s why they’re using charity shops.

Gosh massive assumption that charity shops are running scams. I worked as a shop manager for Cancer research for many years and can assure you that it's no scam. The money made went into research for Cancer prevention and cure. Please don't make these assumptions based on zero evidence as it could give charities doing good work a bad reputation.

All sorts of people shop in them.

I know that. But it should be fairly obvious that many charity shops customers aren’t in a position to donate decent stuff.

I posted Why don't these people complaining donate some decent stuff?
I'm pretty certain that the people on this thread complaining are in a position to donate decent stuff.

Years ago I used to put clean but poor quality clothes in the charity bag as I had it in my head they would get rag money for them if they weren’t suitable for sale. . I now know this isn’t the case and will only put in things in really good condition but I wonder if a lot of people still think this. No excuse for dirty underwear though - that’s beyond minging.

I agree. They would be better to get all the 'junk' in, pile it high, sell it cheap and make some money. If there's stuff lingering after 8 weeks/6 months, throw it away, recycle it, do whatever they do because they were going to throw it away anyway.

I bought some plastic Christmas trees from a charity shop in Petersfield because that Christmas I wanted to make a diorama. They were originally supposed to be Christmas tree shaped bulbs for a string of lights and they were ....unlovely but were perfect for what i wanted. The volunteer said they had been kicking about the shop for two years and would have been binned that January but they were perfect for what I wanted once painted and fiddled with.

One mans junk is another mans treasure and we would all have the enjoyment of mootling through stuff. That joy has gone entirely form most charity shops now.

There’s now 2 out of town charity shops near me. They have big doors to take donations (they do close when they are full). The shops are cheap and turn over is huge.

Are they a front for a Turkish barber?
I should probably go to bed...

Frankly, I think all charity shops are like that - very strange. I saw this in a local shop, but it was 'no electricals' and a woman was turned away with what looked like a cherry-red KitchenAid mixer, she was very frustrated - no electricals though.
Another charity shop had an antique chair, thin legs and armrests, absolutely gorgeous-looking, soaking outside in the rain. When I asked 'why' - they said 'it has no fire safety label, so they can't sell, will go in the skip'.

And then there are crazily expensive charity shops - all of King's Road ones. They price designer stuff crazily. Just crazily. It reminds me of an article in the Guardian a few years back, about charity shops, saying 'if you see a crazily-priced item, ask for a discount, because charity shops serve two purposes - raise funds and let those who don't have money, buy things they otherwise would not be able to afford'. Basically, King's Road charity shops had designer pieces for the same price they can be bought in the sale, new. I often wonder who would buy a worn jacket at £500? Even if it is designer. Seriously.

their insurance policy probably doesn’t cover them to sell electricals. And the law prohibits them from selling furniture without the fire safety label. So, sadly, they were right to refuse the kitchen aid and to bin the chair.

@Feis123 , they aren't allowed to sell them if there's no fire label. It would be illegal. Why do you find that so hard to understand?

Personally I’ve seen the £7 bobbled Primark jumper and the like on many occasions in many charity shops and clearly I’m not alone.

I wouldn’t agree with any of the rest of it although clearly the volunteers’ pricing skills do need some work- that doesn’t mean they’re clueless old biddies though.

Resellers haven’t helped - charity shops have caught on that resellers look for low priced items to sell on Vinted for a higher price.

Ive donated loads lately and then was in the charity shop just browsing and saw 2 of my dresses on the rail. One was up for £4.50. Its a tesco dress that probably cost about i quid new.

I also have much more expensive dresses on vinted that would be lucky to get 3 quid for.

The shoes they had for sale were literally battered old shoes, that i cannot see anyone buying.

We now have a free book shop!! It’s run entirely off of donations and people are limited to three books a day (I think!) such a lovely idea!