Do they keep donated stuff?

cake staff?
Cake stall

Jalima1108 Thank you, sadly most of my trust has gone but I do shop in a few charity shops and it clear the good practices. I worked very hard for 3 years hoping my work would make a difference but I would watch someone open a abg and if it didn't seem like "a goody bag" as they would say they would close it and let someone else sort the rubbish usually the special needs kids.
My late husband would tell me to just leave . I tried to blow the whistle but no one wanted to know the area manager was every bit as bad . All I can hope is that one day this charity shop will be found out but speaking to another lady that has just left things are very much the same and i left over 3 years ago now.

But your story is solely down to bad management Pinkj it’s entiely up to the manager to make sure good practices are adhered to by all workers We have a few special needs folks working along with us but they are treated as valuable members of staff and not given any jobs that the manager herself doesn’t do Our manager works on the sorting floor with everyone else We have one chap with autism who likes to do the same job each week so he works with the CDs and DVDs Another works along side the PAP tester and one who enjoys working with the books others will work alongside another worker unfortunately it won’t change if no one takes it on but just leaves with a groan
I think it’s a shame that some of these poor experiences make it seem as if every shop is run the same way in my experience the vast majority run every bit as well as ordinary shops

I have to add I think your experience was a very rare one Pinkj I have volunteered for two different charities and have friends at other shops, none thankfully have ever had experiences like yours. We have a core of mostly elderly retired volunteers plus a few special needs sone from the job centre ( mainly with mental health problems) and even Duke of Ed youngsters We have never had drug users or thieves sent by probation a retail would probable be totally the wrong place for someone who is serving probation for shop lifting or some other form of thriving BUT again that is down to the manager as they can’t make you accept probation volunteers is is entirely up to the manager
If you have a dodgy manager you will experience dodgy dealings in general and that is a fact for any type of job

BlueBelle Sadly this went much deeper than a management problem and the charity head office ignore concerns made by many people including one group caring for special needs.
I am sorry if you think I am suggesting "that my poor experiences make it seem as if every shop is run the same way" I am not I can not i am only speaking of the 3 years i gave to this charity on my weekends, half terms and school holidays . I didn't leave with a groan I left very distressed with a heavy heart and I had a break down.

nanasam the charity probably couldn't use the tablets because there were rules against it. In general terms the danger of deliberate or accidental contamination of products used in the home from toiletries to perfumes must be guarded against and would anyone shopping in a charity shop buy a packet of dishwasher tablets/fluid/powder. I do not think I would.

I wasn’t meaning to downgrade your horrible time Pink it just isn’t in my experience the norm and I m really keen for people to not go away with the feeling that it is like this in every charity shop because I m absolutely sure the vast majority are happy places to volunteer/ work I don’t think I’ d have lasted one year let alone three in the environment you describe and I m sorry it was obviously a completely distressing time for you
I can’t wait for my three days to come round ( I work with different sets of people each day) we have fun lots of laughter and banter and all get on with whatever tasks we ve been given to do, with really good spirits

I wish you could come and work at our shop

Pinkjj27 that sounds awful and I hope it's the exception not the rule. Certainly the charity shops in my town seem well run by cheerful and polite volunteers ,some of whom I know. I'm sure the ladies I know wp5uld not countenance behaviour such as you describe. I'm not surprised you were disillusioned.
But I repeat, why shouldnt the staff also buy stuff,as long as its the same price -the charity is still getting the money.
I man (woman?!) a stall at the village fund raising fete and it has been discussed many times whether stall holders should be allowed to buy stuff before the public arrive. I am of the opinion that its only fair to allow it as the money is still being raised and stall holders work very hard. The counter argument is that all the best stuff goes before anyone else has a chance to buy but I repeat , why does that matter (if true) - is our money any less useful to the charity?

My late Mum used to wash clothing that was handed in to the charity shop she volunteered in. She did it for free and even though she was entitled to first pick if she paid for it she never took anything for herself. She always said it would be depriving people who could not afford new things.

Neliemoser
given to the charity for the benefit of those who need the item
No, the purpose of the charity is to get as much money in as we can. The volunteers money is as good as the customer who comes through the door.
We don't turn anything away and I would say that at least once a week we are flaunting fire regs with the amount of stuff we have.

mrsmopp
Re your donations. If it was clothes, could it be that they were out of season, or they thought they were good enough to put on eBay. That's one of my jobs in our shop, plus spending hours scanning books/cds/ dvds for which we can get money from online companies.

I worked part-time in a charity shop for seven years. The rule was that an item had to be out on the shop display for four days before we were allowed to purchase it, and then only with a very small discount. Although most of the bags of donations we had to sort through were fine, a few were definitely not! It's unfortunate that the OP had this problem but I would hope it doesn't put people off donating to very worthy causes.

I don’t understand the objection to volunteers purchasing items for sale in the charity shops. The purpose of the shop is to sell things, so their money is as good as anybody’s. I appreciate a discount may be given but hardly a fortune in the scheme of things. In my experience of volunteering it is very difficult to get people to do the jobs, so we must not create a hostile environment. What I do object to, however, is the people who turn up on Antiques Roadshow and the like, having found a pretty brooch for example, that was sold for tuppence and found to contain diamonds. I bet they don’t go back to the shop with a donation !

I did post before, last year had 4 runs to the charity shop, all excellent quality, some new. I received notice that my donations had raised just over £6! Spent more in petrol. I have now changed my charity. I have no problem with volunteers purchasing items, think it must be a perk of the job but they should make a contribution otherwise they are not volunteering as such.

vickymeldrew they might go back you don't know.?

mrsmopp I didn't think of that. I must ask them do they use ebay.

My friend worked for a while in a charity shop and was disgusted by the staff who checked out donations kept what they wanted for themselves and family and friends without even making a donation.
There used to be a local place where I took donations and they were only given out to people who were referred by social services. Sadly when I moved back to this area it seems to have disappeared.

We use eBay a lot with any donations that we feel will make more that way and we do make considerable money

annep
If they're not, they should be. Last week someone donated a brand new Cath Kidson bag to our shop. That went straight on eBay.

A friend was a professional shop manager with Oxfam some years ago. Everything coming in was reviewed by her and if she thought some items would sell for more through other outlets they were sold that way. Some things were sent for auction, some went to Oxfam shops elsewhere. She had access to professional valuers, when she was unsure about the value of antique or collector items that came in. If fur coats were donated, an item that wouldn't be sold in their shops these were sent to a central facility which had a trade outlet for them. More recently I have bought items from Oxfam through ebay and Abebooks.

I am among those who can see no problem in volunteers purchasing things before they go in the shop. Their money is as good as anybody elses and when my DM worked for Oxfam they did not get discounts, just first pick after pricing.

Overall the amount of stock bought by volunteers is going to be a very small proportion of all the stock passing through the shop.

annep. Of course you might be right. I’m just an old cynic

I agree with everything that bikergran has said. Perhaps those that criticise the volunteers could spend an afternoon or two volunteering in a shop. It is hard and sometimes dirty work but very rewarding.
Most of our customers whether buying or donating are repeat customers and the end goal is that the charity raises vital funds towards research that might benefit anyone of us.

Thank you Bonnie I m finding it quite hurtful that some people actually think the shops and volunteers are riddled with thieves
One example can get so generalised
These shops in my opinion are run as efficiently as normal shops We have a PAP trained voluteer who tests all the electrical good, a person dedicated to ebaying, a man who comes in to price records a lady who checks and prices jewellery, volunteers who take some nice but dingy items home to wash or sew a button on or mend a toy We sell everything especially kids things at very low prices We are always busy and meet some lovely customers
None of us buy items without consulting the manager or undermanager about them a lot of volunteers who buy kids toys actually re donate them a few months later the same with books and jigsaws
We keep a volunteers ledger where our purchases are written in and we get a receipt

Please acknowledge us as useful workers not thieves

Telly, I think that sometimes the charities are not always that efficient about keeping a proper tally of exactly what as been sold to tie back to known givers. i signed up for several of these schemes and I got emails for the first year, but for the last three or four, nothing.

It is, of course, possible that some of your donated goods didn't sell. We may think that everything we donate, will be snapped up by an enthusiastic buyer, but that aint necessarily true.

I back Bluebelle all the way. I have never worked in a charity shop, but a number of people close to me have. No system is perfect and charity shops are no exception.

Sadly there has been a lot of bad publicity over the last few years about ludicrous salaries for top executives and the less than honest behaviour of a tiny minority of employed people in charities. It's disappointing enough to read it but to work for an organisation, giving your time freely in order to support a cause you feel strongly about, and then read of corruption must be so frustrating.

Charity shops around here make me sick. I live near Exeter and have several local and most of the national charities within a couple of miles. There used to be bags put through our door when I lived in Plymouth, but when I enquired of several of the people collecting them from my house what would happen next, I was told it automatically goes for rags, with no sorting. I was donating mostly brand new stuff, all clean and pressed, all from places such as Next, M&S etc. What a waste, I thought and stopped donating. Any bags that now arrive on my doorstep are summarily binned . I have tried to ask in the local charities what happens to their donations, but the best responses I get are sketchy, to say the least. It seems nobody in Devon sorts a damned thing; all just become rags. I currently have 3 enormous bags of beautiful stuff under my bed that I would love to donate - but not to make rags from.