Published on 12, July, 2020
I went to take some clothes to a charity shop yesterday, the first one I tried don't take donations on a tuesday, the other one asked me if I had an appointment, I was confused and asked why I needed an appointment to drop a few clothes off? The woman went round the back and asked another woman if they could "fit me in to take the clothes", the second woman came out and told me she'd have to see if they had an appointment space available, I told her I'd never had so many problems giving stuff away before and that I had other things I needed to do that day, she went off on one told me I was rude and that they have to have appointments for donations as all the other charity shops are full and they're the ones who get dumped on. I walked out, I don't want to give them stuff if thats their attitude, which is a shame because they're the local hospice.
All these charities go on about wanting donations and yet they seem to be getting ever fussier about what they'll take and when. It all seems to be the givers fault too, for not knowing thier rules, I was chased after by one charity shop worker because I'd donated some cutlery and they no longer take knives, I thought you could of done more damage with a teaspoon than the knives as they were just normal eating stuff. I've seen clothes sold more expensively in charity shops than they are new and many of them are no longer taking books, even though they sell well.
It's really peeing me off that it's easier to throw good stuff away than take it to a charity shop and they seem so ungrateful and rude, I don't expect a medal, just a thank you.
What's your experience of charity shops?
I agree about people dumping stuff out side of the doors, I thought charity shops used fabric recycling places that pay for rags?
I don't want to throw away good clothes, 3 items were suits, all in good condition and all the charity shops keep on asking for mens clothes. We can put ragd and old fabric stuff out in our weekly curbside recycling bins as well as the tip and a couple of other places, I do use them. But I'm extrememly reluctant to throw away clothes that have hardly been worn, like suits, I wonder how many men desperately need a suit for an interview or other formal occaision and can't afford one? Not being an FB user that's an avenue not open to me, our local freecycle site seems to make it difficult to use, I think thats FB only now too.
I see using charity shops as having a lot of benefits, we get rid of clothes we no longer need, they get money for reselling them, people in need of clothes who are skint can get cheap clothes and the environment benefits from less waste and landfill. I should be a win for everyone, but only if they all play fairly which it seems they don't.
Okay, just to speak in defence of the charity shops.
A lot of people donate products that are not resalable, often leaving them at the door where they get damaged. And a lot of charity shops can't sell all the products they receive.
They then have to dispose of these products, which they have to PAY FOR. This is a huge thing for them to consider and as a result they are trying to reduce the amount of unsellable or surplus products they receive by controlling the intake. These are all volunteers, they don't have infinite time to sort through donations. And yes, it does take time. That's why they have to have appointments.
If you find this unreasonable, there are fabric and clothing donation bins in many other places such as council refuse yards which don't pick through it and are less picky. Or you could use something such as facebook market place of vinted at extremely low prices or free, and see directly how easy it is to find people to take your stuff.
I'm lucky that the charity shops near me (and there's a lot of them) seem to be grateful for any donations.
I think the attitudes you experienced were shockingly rude - acting as if they were doing *you* a favour by taking your donation :-(
And as for expecting you make an appointment to drop off a donation!? :-O
Most of our local supermarkets have a charity book stall, nobody asks questions you just put your on the table and away you go. There's always people having a good rummage through them too, they ask for a donation to the charity they're supporting that year. As we have a nearby ferry port and are a holiday destination people are always looking for something to entertain themselves on a journey and these stalls do well.
Ours charity shops are the same - I once called ahead to check they were taking donations and it took the lady who answered almost a minute to list all the things they no longer accept. Another time, when I dropped the bags off, they made me wait while they picked out what they wanted then tried to hand the rest back. All of it good quality and clean items. As for books... none of them will take books and even our library is getting picky about them. I cannot bring myself to throw them in the bin!
I guess some chairty shops are afraid of being accused of enabling small children to put small lego bricks up thier noses or gouge each others eyes out with teaspoons, or have jeans brought back because the purchaser didn't know they were artfully ripped and splattered by fashion shops. I think people need to take a bit more personal responsibility, especially for what thier children get up to in shops. I've had people come into a salon and expect us to entertain thier kids and get stroppy with us because we didn't, a salon is a place where there are lots of dangerous things, sharp objects, chemicals etc. I like the sign behind the till of one of my favourite shops 'Unaccompanied children will be sold to the circus!'
How weird! I wasn’t aware of this. Although many years ago we had a huge collection of Lego that we wanted to donate/give away and that was very difficult - so many issues that in the end we gave to a relative because we couldn’t find anyone to give it to. Our relative is quite well off (and we’re not) and we wanted to give it to an organisation/charity instead - but we couldn’t find anywhere that would take it. This was pre pandemic btw. It is frustrating.
I had a similar problem myself a few months ago, i bought some Jeans from Tkmax that were reduced from £60 pound, they were slightly too big for me but i thought i could shrink them in boiling water. I tried but wasn't able to shrink them enough. They were ripped designer Levi jeans with paint splatters on. I never got to wear them. I took them down to the charity shop and they didn't want them lol
To be fair I was very busy, and I get fed up of everybody elses time being more important then mine, seeing as you were not present with me, you have no idea of the general attitude of the staff which was hostile and rude. I'm sure many people wouldn't want their time taken up like this unexpectedly, what if you've got to go to work, pick up your kids from school, get home for other reasons, have 101 things to do. Why is it always the person who ends up having to wait for ages always in the wrong?
I mean to be fair that was kinda rude. She was only trying to help you at the end of the day. You didn’t need to say that you had other places to be etc. that kinda makes you sound more important than everyone else who has to wait for an appointment. Just a bit of advice maybe try going into these situations with a level head it’s really not a big deal or something to get so worked up over. It’s only old clothes they probably get tons of old clothes and get paid minimum wage or work there as volunteers and probably don’t need someone giving them hassle over old clothes.
I like the style of dump and leg it.
TheCatWoman said:I dumped the stuff and legged it
Love it!
A few years ago the local charity shop had a jumble sale and everything was 50p.
Think charity shops need to do a walk through, pull out item haven't been sold and have another jumble sale. Also rotate stock if its a chain eg. Cancer research.
British heart foundation shop got three pricing levels: cheap, middle and expensive.
Some of ours still take them I think they must have an electrician who volunteers to PACT test them?
I did manage to drop the stuff off today at the one that was closed for donations yesterday, I dumped the stuff and legged it, in case they came chasing after me again asking me to take the donations back.
I think nearly all the local ones and the ones in Bangor are expensive, I miss jumble sales where you could have a really good rummage and get stuff for pennies. One of the things I found out some years ago is that an area manager decides what donations are "good enough" for your local branch, or rather that should be crap enough as they'd take anything of good quality and leave the "rubbish" which was good enough for us apparently.
Many of our charity shops have closed down, they've not been replaced by other shops or anything, theres just boarded up shops. I don't know if it's a lack of volunteers or what, but I suspect it might be to do with the increasing professionalistion of charity shops. In layout they seem more like "normal" high street clothes shops with everything laid out just so, they still seem to be full of tat though and expensive tat at that.
Should charity shops be more professional or should they be left as places where bargains can be obtained at fairly low prices if you're prepared to have a good look? Personally I'd prefer to have more stuff in the shops at lower prices ans I certainly don't want somebody looking at me all snotty because I've not bought something.
Most charity shops stopped taking electrical items.
Prices are really expensive e.g. branded top £9 which is sale price in a retail shop. Absolutely ridiculous as people are struggling with cost of living.
I'd overheard that some volunteers are refusing donations (the manager had words with the volunteers); assistant store manager moaning about lack of volunteers (since covid); and taking personal phone calls. Ended up walking out due to the talking.
Prefer one local charity shop which prices things cheap. I look for good quality and any faults. Also you take the donations to the community hub.
Knives and scissors usually put in the recycling bin and wrapped up.