Volunteer or Scrounger?

Following on from what I posted upthread.

I don’t doubt that there are some shops that may be run along more casual lines. It seems to be a general misconception among members of the public that volunteers can take donated goods for themselves. We had the occasional customer who would donate goods and come back a day or so later to check if they were out on the shelves, asking pointed questions if they weren’t. The inference was that a staff member had already helped themself. I lost count of how many times I explained our policy to customers. Also, that we only had so much shop space. We had shelves and shelves of goods out the back, ready to replenish the front rails and shelves and boxes and boxes of stored seasonal clothes. Goods that hadn't sold after two weeks were moved on to another branch.

The charity I worked for had many branches. Managers know the kinds of goods that sell well and those that don't. Similarly what sells well in one branch may not sell well in another. So we had specialist branches for different kinds of goods. We all sold a general range of clothes, shoes, books, DVDs, toys, costume jewellery and bric-a-brac but we also had specialist branches for, say, formal wear, vintage books and music. Anything of that kind was sent on immediately to the other branches.

We sold precious metals and stones via a dealer who gave us a good price rather than put goods out on the shelves or under the glass front counter and risk having them stolen. We had an eBay shop for anything else particularly valuable.

Perhaps other charities don’t have sales targets. We were a small branch open six days a week but tucked away on a fairly affluent housing estate. The quality of donations was good. When I worked there, five years ago, our monthly sales target was £25,000.

The sale of rags and paper to merchants, the precious metals and eBay proceeds all went towards that target but we had to make over £1,000 a day from that and counter sales. That's a lot when most shop sales were for 50p to £5.

No way were we going to let staff take goods that were saleable. It was run on a professional basis like any other business.

My mum used to help in a charity shop and it sounded exactly as the OP describes. The staff would keep things back for one another before they were put on the shelves (eg baby clothes if someone was expecting a new grandchild) and price at 'mates' rates'. My mum would often say things such as 'Maureen got another lovely coat today. It was good as new, and Sandra priced it at a fiver for her, and then she got her staff discount so she got it for £4. None of the helpers saw anything wrong with this at all. They were/are hard-working and gave their time free, as well as enjoying the company that working there gave them, and felt that this was fair compensation.

It put me off giving decent clothes to charity shops. I have no issue at all with a good coat being sold cheaply, but it doesn't sit right with me to think of it going to a volunteer for next to nothing - that way the charity doesn't benefit so much and the shop isn't so much of a resource for the community. I had a big clear out recently, and my husband took lots of shoes and bags to a charity shop over a few weeks. He said that the assistants always asked when he was planning his next drop-off so that they could get first dibs. I never saw a single item in the window.

I remember helping out at a couple of church jumble sales many years ago. I wasn't a church goer and am not religious but I got involved through a friend (long story).

We had some lovely stuff donated, not just clothes but ornaments and the like, some of which were basically antiques. The good lady volunteers snaffled a good portion of everything without paying before it got to the jumble sale.

It properly sickened me.

Exactly Primrose oldfrill and tinsoldier I don’t recognise the shop graaaan is talking about not run anything like ours is

I volunteered for nearly 15 years and the only perk we got was 10% off but that item had to have been out on the shop floor first. We had a staff book and it was recorded in there together with the receipt. The person on the till and the volunteer purchasing something both had to sign the book.

Several of us used our cars to get there due to poor bus service and we also had to pay to park for the morning which was quite expensive. Most of us also donated clothes, books and bric a brac to the charity.

I have managed a shop raising funds for the local hospice. All charities have their own policies. Stock could only be priced by a manager or assistant manager. Volunteers could purchase goods only from stock that was out on the shelves and available to all customers. Volunteers paid the shelf price. All staff transactions had to be rung up by the manager or assistant manager which prevented any fiddling. Head office set very high sales targets to we had to make every penny count. Giving volunteers freebies and discounts wasn’t even a consideration. Who wants to take funds away from cancer care?

I've volunteered in two national charity shops. They were as professionally run as any good retail business. As a volunteer we could have items put to one side but the cost was the same as they would be sold in the shop. These shops were also encouraging volunteers (many with learning/social difficulties to train for the workforce, and were very successful at this.
The level of shoplifting was dumbfounding, and rarely people who actually couldn't afford to pay.

I should add if the item has already been thrown away or ragged we can have it for a sensible donation priced decided by the boss

Not like that in our shop we have a strict policy we can buy with the perk of 20p in the pound off discount It is always adhered too and everything goes through the till with a till receipt
Never have anything under the counter at all there’s at least 30 of us and I would trust every one

I have volunteered, in a charity shop for well over 10 years, but can't believe that some volunteers think it is their right to get what they want for less than a fair price, or sometimes for free.
I volunteered to help raise money for a good cause, and I feel that perks for volunteers should be the ability to purchase previously priced items before they go on sale in the shop. Also to make a donation for unsold goods before they go to be recycled.
I keep seeing things happening that I disagree with, and it's really getting to me, as I am friends with some of these people and my closest, non-volunteer friend thinks it goes on in most charity shops.
Am I a grumpy old granny? Should I turn a blind eye? Any advice welcome

Oh dear, I have no experience of shop volunteering but it does seem a bit immoral. Big but though if stuff is sale why not have first dibs if you’re paying? Or are you saying they help themselves no donation?

I volunteered in a charity shop after my husband died and I was disgusted with the other volunteer staff. They were like scavengers when decent clothes and shoes came into the shop, it was absolutely sickening. They never paid for anything and took all the best stuff home with them. I was only there for a few days then left. In my opinion, many of these volunteers are only there to get freebies.

I always used to donate my Wallis, Hotter, Marks and Spencer etc. items to the charity shops but when I saw what was happening, I just took them to the Salvation Army so they could help people.