Volunteer or Scrounger?

I don’t see a problem with people buying to sell. Or of staff buying items. My only issue (not a tizz ) is with items being creamed off cheaply before actual customers get a chance to even see them.

That doesn’t mean that I am too stupid to understand that volunteers are giving their time, that they are difficult to come by or anything else. It just means that I think the donors give with one expectation and sometimes that is not what happens.

As I have already said, only of the items have already been put out for the general public.

Even a small shop may have a volunteer workforce of maybe 60 or more people. Many elderly volunteers only want to work half a day shift. Being on your feet all day is tough.

If you want two people out back sorting, labelling, ironing etc and two out front, till, rack and shelf replenishment, changing room duty etc you need eight staff per day x six days a week plus back-ups for holidays and other absences.

If you have sixty people of all shapes and sizes taking first dibs on stock before it goes out, it serious depletes the stock available to the public.

If you ascribe to the philosophy that charity shops provide an opportunity for people with lower incomes to buy, then allowing a first dibs policy is effectively denying those people the opportunity to see the full range of saleable donations - and that isn’t right or fair.

I think the arrival of eBay in 1995, Vinted in 2008 and other online outlets for sellers plus the growth of Primark, IKEA and similar cheap retailers has put the charity shop sector in a difficult position over pricing.

Too expensive and people say they can buy new goods cheaper; too cheap and shops become the haunt of people looking for goods they can sell on for personal profit. And that isn’t right either if donors give expecting goods sold on their behalf to raise as much money as possible for the cause.

If I can see that a shop has a maximum price policy, whether it’s £5 or £10, I simply won’t donate quality items to them. I’d rather sell them on eBay for the proper market value and donate the cash; or send them to Oxfam online who do price sensibly.

Again, returning to the Mary Portas series, it was clear that elderly staff at Save the Children did not know one label from another and would put a current season Jimmy Choo handbag on the shelf for £5. Rich pickings for sombody.

Big charities all have heads of retailing and area managers. I do wonder what they think their job is - whether they think they have any responsibility at all for training staff, brand awareness or even what the law is on charitable donations.

To be clear: The charity has a legal obligation to offer the donor the right to claim the proceeds of sale. On that basis how does it explain that goods that were donated to be sold have been given away?

Hopefully, matters have improved in the fifteen years since the series but from the variety of posts here, it seems that practice is far from standard and the goodwill of donors is being abused.

hubby worked a night shift in a well known DIY shop ( 20 yrs ago now) . The night shift did the markdowns and the staff could get first dibs on any goods at the marked-down price before they went out on the shop floor. They were not allowed staff discount on sale items but hubby did come home with a few bargains over the years.

Tanjamaltija

It is understood that those who help out get a discount - but not freebies. In return, they sort / wash /mend / clean items, and keep the shop clean. This is only fair, I think a barter system of sorts, because they could have stayed home and watched television...

That would be me. I take home clothes to be washed. I do the repairs. I take online sold goods to the post office.
Where a customer buys say a whole tea/ dinner service and has no transport, I deliver it.
We have a lady who makes cushions for us. We strip down duvets for the filling which she uses. I deliver that.
No one is paid in our shop. We have sole discretion as to cost.
We are in a poor area and do give some goods for free.
When we get an overload of children/ baby clothes I take them to a local food bank. They are free.

I agree with a lot of what you say, TinSoldier, and would add that the idea that charity shops are doing people a favour by taking things off our hands may heave been true when they would collect, or would accept assorted goods and sort through them themselves is a bit outdated. That used to be true, but now, for all sorts of reasons it is not the case. My High Street has a few charity shops, but none of them collect, some won't take books, others won't take electrical items. None take furniture, and so on. Two have specific days when they will take donations and turn them away on other days. Some want clothing sorted into types, with shoes paired and clipped together, and so on. I am fully aware that there are operational reasons for the restrictions, but a combination of them means that donors can't easily follow the advice of decluttering and simply bag things as 'chuck', 'keep' donate'. They have to be carefully sorted, taken to the shop (not necessarily easy for those without cars or shops with parking near enough to lug heavy bags) and timed to arrive on particular days with specified goods.

Donating is not as easy as it was, and as has been mentioned, there are other outlets for better quality items. The decision is with the donor as to whether giving to a shop is going to yield more than the profit on a Vinted sale. Knowing that there is a good chance that the items won't even make it to the shop floor might not be a consideration if you only want the things out of the house to save you going to the tip, but if you really want to help the charity it is not unreasonable to assume that they will be sold at whatever the local market expects for second hand goods.

I cross-posted petra. I wasn't contradicting your post, just saying what is the case where I live.

The people who do the mate's rates/ keeping things back would also be the ones who'd possibly put less than the going rate in the honesty box at a roadside veg stall -they're a 'certain type'.
Probably quite entitled and unaware, definitely would assume that everyone else is out for themselves. Met a quite a few over time (not just when volunteering)

Our local Oxfam shop is small with not a lot of storage space and you actually have to book a slot to donate.
Each donation is gone through in your presence so woe betide you if it's grubby or broken.
There is a salaried manager and scores of volunteers.

I love to find a bargain but anything which looks like it's worth something is selected and sold to an antiques dealer. ;(

I disagree that charity shops are all about making money for the charity.
That's their main purpose but they are also a very important source of affordable clothes and household goods for poor people and a sociable community hub which helps prevent isolation for volunteers as well.

If we lost our charity shops, I'm not sure what we'd do.

keepcalmandcavachon

The people who do the mate's rates/ keeping things back would also be the ones who'd possibly put less than the going rate in the honesty box at a roadside veg stall -they're a 'certain type'.
Probably quite entitled and unaware, definitely would assume that everyone else is out for themselves. Met a quite a few over time (not just when volunteering)

I can understand you thinking like that, and up to a point I agree; but I don't think my mum falls into that category, and from what I hear, neither do her colleagues - not really. They were told that was the system when they signed up years ago, so they don't know any different. My mum didn't work after I was born, so wasn't used to anything in the workplace, and just took for granted that this was how things are done. She is very law-abiding, and as this is the 'law' in the charity shop, it is just the way it is. A bit like my father having a company car, or people getting bonuses.

A lot of people don't question rules. I'm not saying that's a good thing, but it's true.

i worked in a large salvation army shop, there was a manger and two full time paid staff, clothes and bedding got sorted downstairs and then we priced them upstairs in a large back shop, everything had to be tagged and dated with set prices for blouses, skirts etc, we stood round a high table dong this then hung on racks to be steamed, i am a quick person and would fill and send out a rack every hour, some of the other volunteers only really came in to stand and chat (that was fine with me) but i wanted to work, i was told off several times by other volunteers to slow down, the first day i started the manager told me if anything came to be priced and i wanted it then i could take it, she said it was her way of saying thank you, with such a big shop. she could not run it without volunteers and a few times it had to close for the day, a couple of times she called me to come in and serve as a member of staff had taken ill. some of these shops can't run without volunteers so it is there way of saying thanks and it would cost them a lot more to have paid staff.

This thread makes me very sad. I remember donating some unwanted Christmas presents to a charity shop and wondered why I never saw the items on display, but just assumed they had been bought very quickly. Perhaps they were grabbed by a staff member.
I volunteer with the local food bank. Some of the items we receive are donated by the local Tesco and include items past thir best before date such as bread or pastries and even bunches of flowers. If they haven't been taken by the end of the afternoon they are offered to the volunteers as we only open twice a week so they wouldn't keep 'til the next session. I wouldn't dream of taking anything that was wanted by the needy clients but have taken the odd loaf or bunch of slightly tired flowers that would otherwise go in a bin.

A friend's daughter donated several bags full of virtually new designer clothing and shoes - she has an excellent salary. She registered for gift aid and was astounded to receive an email some months later telling her that the amount raised was around twenty five pounds. Clearly something had gone badly wrong - each item must have raised only around fifty pence, and after several approaches to the charity HQ and no response, she decided to sell any unwanted clothes on ebay and give the cash to a local charity.

Sorry Doodledog, my post was overly harsh, no disrespect intended to your mum and other volunteers who were told that was the system, remembering a few 'chancers' from my past led to me being a right judgy-pants.

Even while I worked full time I volunteered for my favorite charities and events. I don’t know why some old people get greedy, grabby and feel entitled to certain things.

It’s a disgrace and I look at them like they are aliens. I don’t want to know them and I do not want to work with them. Chances are they grew up with some kind of ungrateful attitude which seems to accelerate as they get older.

They are giving a bad name (by association) to ALL the WONDERFUL volunteers who contribute time, help, joy and friendship. Organizations cannot operate without them. Hopefully the person in charge of Vols can put some policies in place so all abide by the rules.

You’re not the grumpy one - they are. You’re doing a great job. Keep up the good work!

keepcalmandcavachon

Sorry Doodledog, my post was overly harsh, no disrespect intended to your mum and other volunteers who were told that was the system, remembering a few 'chancers' from my past led to me being a right judgy-pants.

No worries. I do understand your point of view.

everything is open to corruption,charities are not immune.

LovesBach

A friend's daughter donated several bags full of virtually new designer clothing and shoes - she has an excellent salary. She registered for gift aid and was astounded to receive an email some months later telling her that the amount raised was around twenty five pounds. Clearly something had gone badly wrong - each item must have raised only around fifty pence, and after several approaches to the charity HQ and no response, she decided to sell any unwanted clothes on ebay and give the cash to a local charity.

The items may have been not in season , in which case they’d go into storage until that season . Many people have a sort out at the end of summer or winter and the items are not of that season.
Also were they clean ? We’ve had gorgeous designer dresses donated with fake tan or makeup around the neckline or sleeves . We don’t have a washing machine, so the clothes go into the rag bag .

I shall rethink my volunteering after 6years.
What a tirade.
Not one at my fellow volunteers would steal.
We sort at times through filth, work very hard sometimes without a break.
Put up with some difficult customers, shoplifters etc etc.
Revealing to read how we are thought of.

Oh, not again. How much selective reading can one thread have?

Nobody is saying that all volunteers are thought of as anything. Just that the culture in some charity shops is such that not all donations are sold at full sale price to the volunteers.

If the shop where certain of you work is run properly and above board, and you stick to those values, then I don't see why anyone would be upset at this thread.

It obviously isn't aimed at you, is it?

I worked for a well known charity for 25 years.

Yes, we were allowed first dibs but the manageress had to price the item for you. We didn't get any discount which I was fine about, each item had to go through the till in a recorded book with your name on, price of the item and till receipt number.

But did see some volunteers quite openly putting items in their shopping bags/handbags and not paying which I was angry and sad about and did speak to the Manageress about but honestly don't think she did anything about it.

I did challenge a customer once in the shop for taking an item and not paying and when I confronted her she got really nasty and shouted at me "Well it has been given to you" The cheeky madam and sheer gall of the woman.

There's a notice in our charity shop saying:
Shoplifters will not be prosecuted
I rather like that.

Ellylanes1

I shall rethink my volunteering after 6years.
What a tirade.
Not one at my fellow volunteers would steal.
We sort at times through filth, work very hard sometimes without a break.
Put up with some difficult customers, shoplifters etc etc.
Revealing to read how we are thought of.

Don't let people who say such nasty mainly unfounded things put you off. In most areas of life there will be the occasional bad apple but I am sure that most volunteers like you are not like that, I see how hard the cold work in our local charity shops. As for people complaining they don't see their goods on display, good stuff gets bought quickly, I pop into my nearest ones frequently, always worth seeing if there is anything I need, and in just a few days there is such a turn round of items in the shelves that there is always something new. Always new things on the racks you have to buy when you see them otherwise you will probably be too late. One of ours in quite big premises I think often sends stuff to one of the other shops, as parking is so easy, it is in a supermarket carpark so they get too much stuff for that shop. Which makes a lot of sense. I have to say I'm glad if I don't see stuff I bring on the shelves or on the rails, because if I did I might buy them back, especially if it's been a hard decision to let them go.
I have to say though the other day when I did a drop off it was nice to hear one of the ladies say what nice books they were and how well the sewing stuff would sell .

Don't let people who say such nasty mainly unfounded things put you off.

Why would people saying things about other people put anyone off anything? That would be like me saying that I wasn't going to post on GN any more because someone said that some posters are x, y or z. If I didn't see any of that as applying to me, I would ignore it, and if I did see it as applying I would either have the courage of my convictions or try to change.

Absolutely nobody has said that all volunteers are dishonest. Nobody.

We gift aid, so get a regular account of how much our donations have raised - and so far we’ve always been pleased with the amount. Occasionally I pop in and take a look at the price tags on some of the higher value donations and have always been pleased to see they’re valued appropriately. However, when I was running a local charity for homeless people I was pleased that some charities were very supportive and would donate items or sell them at a lower rate.