Shoplifting in charity shops

Happylady2025

Whilst I obviously dont agree with shoplifting in any shop the price charity shops charge these days is extortionate and the salaries of the people in charge are obscene when day to day, on the ground, it is run by hard working volunteers. Our local charity furniture shop charges more for some items than they cost new. I dont give to, or buy from them and choose local charities instead.

If by salaries of people in charge you mean the CEOs running the charities:

While comparatively large when compared to the average working person's family, the charities typically pay their CEOs significantly less than they would receive if they worked in the private sector.

The CEO of Oxfam currently gets a salary somewhere between £120,000 and £140,000. Oxfam is an organisation that turns over millions and millions of pounds. A private sector organisation turning over a similar amount of money would pay the CEO at least £300,000.

So when compared to what private sector organisations would pay, the salary of charities' CEOs is significantly less.

I don't agree that it is obscene to pay a charity CEO £140,000. Such charities are large organisations with huge turnovers and running the charity takes a high degree of skill, expertise and experience.

They need to offer a reasonably high salary in order to get the qualified, experienced and suitable people. If they offered a salary of, say, £50,000, the most qualified people simply would not apply. In the long run, charities would lose more money if they gave a low salary but, as a result, ended up with a CEO who wasn't up to the job.

Regarding the pricing of items in charity shops - I do agree that some charity shops overprice to an extent, but people also can't expect to get items dirt cheap (say for 50p or £1). A charity's purpose is to try to make as much money as possible for the cause (after wages and other running costs). They are a charity for the cause, not the customers.

In the past, some charities may have seen themselves as having another, unofficial purpose in helping the public get cheaper stuff, but if so, that line of thinking has largely changed. Big charities are pretty much solely concerned with getting money for the cause, rather than helping people in the local community get exceptionally cheap items.

Given that the items are donated, there does need to be a significant deduction, but if a book (I volunteer in an Oxfam bookshop) originally cost £12, then I think a reasonable reduction is to 25% of the original price. Which would make the book £3.

You say the price is exorbitant, but is it in fact what the item is worth? A fair price for what is being sold?
Having had a lot of stuff to get rid of, I have been reluctant to donate it to charity shops knowing it will be sold for peanuts, or stolen.

Whilst I obviously dont agree with shoplifting in any shop the price charity shops charge these days is extortionate and the salaries of the people in charge are obscene when day to day, on the ground, it is run by hard working volunteers. Our local charity furniture shop charges more for some items than they cost new. I dont give to, or buy from them and choose local charities instead.

Something about that is just annoying

Shinamae

Magenta8

Peaseblossom

I think that shop assistants should be allowed to use pepper spray if they know that someone is taking something, and that will give them enough time for the police to come and sort them out. Although they'll probably just get a slap on the wrist anyway. If there's a sign on the door warning that this will happen, maybe it will stop people.

Pepper spray is a poison and it is illegal in this country for very good reasons.

It can kill people with respiratory disease and cause severe symptoms such as corneal ulceration.

It can take over an hour and a half to recover from the burning sensation and shortness of breath in people with no co-morbidities.

Does nicking stuff really merit such barbaric treatment?

I would go further than that further than pepper spray I would have them tasered.
I would have a specialist in the store with a taser and I would have huge notices all over the store saying if you shoplift you will be tasered, (have to do it in several languages I expect) but something has got to stop It’s complete madness
We’re already the laughing stock of most of the world and this is just another thing we can be judged on..
“Just nicking stuff”? It’s a lot more than that, and I don’t think it should be trivialised…

You clearly have a different perspective. I view harming people as far more serious than theft of property. In other words I put human welfare above material possessions.

This does not mean that I condone or trivialise theft in any way as civilised society has to be based on standards of behaviour that do not permit "nicking stuff" (not "Just nicking stuff" as you mis-quoted).

That's just awful Primrose53. Apparently lots of people are stealing from churches now. I'm aghast at some of the stories on this post.

I know there's a cost of living crises etc. but we don't know what real poverty is. Try going to India and many other countries where if you don't work, you starve. These thieves usually have smart phones, Sky t.v. and enough for a larger and packet of fags.

My friend was tending her parents grave recently and accidentally left a small pair of clippers at the grave. They were her late Dad’s so had sentimental value.
She walked home, about a 10 minute walk and realised she had left them behind. She went straight back and they had gone!

She went into the Church in case someone picked them up and put them in there. She immediately put a message on the village FB page but has still not got them back.

You dare not take your eyes off anything these days.

I saw a woman helping herself to goods intended for the food bank the other day. I wonder if shame is becoming a thing of the past.

I work in a supermarket . Two of my colleagues on self service stopped a shoplifter yesterday who was trying to walk off with £110 of goods. We are a big store with local and remotely monitored cameras watching shoppers and staff . All these costs are added to shoppers bills . We need stronger punishments to act as a deterrent.

TakeThat7

Charity shops seem to overcharge in some towns people looking to save money go in them Where I live there are a lot of charity shops charging just a pound for a lot of things which means they sell more and not much gets stolen

It doesn’t work like that. Thieves are thieves be it in the £1 bins or a cashmere coat.

Isla71

I meant to qualify my initial post... if our managers (leaders) set the tone, then what can we expect the rest of British society to be like! As for some foreigners... it is a way of life in their own countries irrespective of religious teaching.

Some countries chop their hands off, but that's barbaric 😱😫.

I was upstairs in Boots a year or so ago, there was only me and a young man looking round the baby aisles, no staff about. All of a sudden he put half a dozen jars of baby food and a couple of tins of formula in his bag, and swiftly left. I actually felt sad about it, he looked like a father in need of feeding his baby and I felt sorry for him. I turned a blind eye. I thought "there but for the grace of God go I". I am lucky that I've never been in need and I'm happy to give to the poor. Charity shops are there for the needy, even though people from all walks of life use them, me included. Stealing from charity shops is the lowest of the low. I'd rather give something away than have it stolen, and often do.

Charity shops seem to overcharge in some towns people looking to save money go in them Where I live there are a lot of charity shops charging just a pound for a lot of things which means they sell more and not much gets stolen

I meant to qualify my initial post... if our managers (leaders) set the tone, then what can we expect the rest of British society to be like! As for some foreigners... it is a way of life in their own countries irrespective of religious teaching.

barmcake

Primrose53

I volunteered in a charity shop for years and we had people take clothes into the changing rooms and swap them for their tatty old stuff then hang them up !

There was a Romanian Big Issue Seller who stood nearby and he came in loads of times and did that, stealing nice boots and trainers and leaving us his old worn out rubbish. He did the same with coats and hats. Our Manager was lovely and very kind hearted but would not challenge him as he was a big bloke. He did it as bold as brass! He used to get dropped off in a nearly new BMW.

I used to think it was a myth about beggars being dropped off in fancy cars until I witnessed it myself.

The only thing to stop it is zero tolerance. Our society is now too liberal. Human rights have destroyed our ability to punish anyone for anything. In fact people who tackle shoplifters are punished and the shoplifter is portrayed as the victim. You couldn't make it up - just crazy.

You are spot on with your post 👏👏👏👏👏

It’s horrible people steal from charity shops. I’ve only ever seen it in our more affluent town though. In one out suburbs they just put loads of stuff in large containers for £1 an item (it’s still good stuff) and I’ve never seen anyone steal from them

(But I have a full time job. I imagine the shop staff may tell you otherwise ) anything I put free on Facebook I let go on face value

Magenta8

Peaseblossom

I think that shop assistants should be allowed to use pepper spray if they know that someone is taking something, and that will give them enough time for the police to come and sort them out. Although they'll probably just get a slap on the wrist anyway. If there's a sign on the door warning that this will happen, maybe it will stop people.

Pepper spray is a poison and it is illegal in this country for very good reasons.

It can kill people with respiratory disease and cause severe symptoms such as corneal ulceration.

It can take over an hour and a half to recover from the burning sensation and shortness of breath in people with no co-morbidities.

Does nicking stuff really merit such barbaric treatment?

I would go further than that further than pepper spray I would have them tasered.
I would have a specialist in the store with a taser and I would have huge notices all over the store saying if you shoplift you will be tasered, (have to do it in several languages I expect) but something has got to stop It’s complete madness
We’re already the laughing stock of most of the world and this is just another thing we can be judged on..
“Just nicking stuff”? It’s a lot more than that, and I don’t think it should be trivialised…

Witzend

It’s not just charity shops - shoplifting is rife, and the law/government just shrugs its shoulders.

Since when did blatant theft cease to be an offence?
A massive crackdown is needed, and those gangs who come from abroad specifically for the purpose, because they know we are so stupidly soft, should be deported immediately, with their biometric details recorded so that they can never return.

I totally agree with this……

JdotJ

Over 35 yrs ago I walked back to the car pushing my laden trolley, daughter in the seat of trolley and as I lifted her out to put her in her car seat a bag of apples appeared.

I was mortified. I left them in the trolley and came home but all these years later I go cold thinking about it.

I did exactly the same when my son was a tiny baby - when I lifted his car seat off the trolley I found a chicken under it! (before I was vegetarian!)
I felt my stomach roll with fear and my face go hot!
I said to the woman loading her car next to me "I'm not stealing it, I'm going to go back and pay for it, honest!"
She said "Oh, I wouldn't bother, it looks like you've got away with it".!
Needless to say I DID go back and pay for it - my conscience wouldn't let me do otherwise.
Once, when I'd missed lunch and dashed into Tesco with my then I think about 4 year old son sitting in the trolley, I took a bite out of the sandwich I'd bought while finishing the shopping and my son said very loudly "Mummy, you can't eat that if you haven't paid for it, it's STEALING!"
I told him I WAS going to pay for it and showed one of the checkout operators what I was doing and she laughed.
"That makes a change, usually the mums round here just send the children in to grab something off the shelf for their lunch or dinner and don't pay for it so they kids think that's normal!"

Primrose53

I volunteered in a charity shop for years and we had people take clothes into the changing rooms and swap them for their tatty old stuff then hang them up !

There was a Romanian Big Issue Seller who stood nearby and he came in loads of times and did that, stealing nice boots and trainers and leaving us his old worn out rubbish. He did the same with coats and hats. Our Manager was lovely and very kind hearted but would not challenge him as he was a big bloke. He did it as bold as brass! He used to get dropped off in a nearly new BMW.

I used to think it was a myth about beggars being dropped off in fancy cars until I witnessed it myself.

The only thing to stop it is zero tolerance. Our society is now too liberal. Human rights have destroyed our ability to punish anyone for anything. In fact people who tackle shoplifters are punished and the shoplifter is portrayed as the victim. You couldn't make it up - just crazy.

I always wonder about the numbers on a thread like this, are we just quoting anecdotes so I looked it up - the number of shoplifting offences has risen significantly since the pandemic (over half a million in 2024-25, Cleveland has the highest rate) while theft offences in general are falling.

Most stolen Items: meat, alcohol, confectionery, baby formula, and cheese, over 75% of shop staff have experienced abuse, the government has pledged to scrap the "£200 rule"—which previously treated stealing goods under £200 as a lesser offence—to tackle the "epidemic". I didn't realise the latter was the case, I thought the police just didn't have the time or staff to cope with so many offences.

Fraud and online crime is rising, I don't know about 'the poor' being always with us but nicking things clearly is, it's a bit immoral stealing from charity shops I think and online crime similarly is quite likely to affect those less savvy. My cousin who lives half the year in Thailand says there is no shoplifting as armed police arrive almost instantly, can't help thinking that's better than shrugging at items worth below £200!

There's a graph here if anyone likes those www.statista.com/statistics/303563/shoplifting-in-england-and-wales-uk-y-on-y/

It used to be something ,which was extremely shameful .
Now it's commonplace .

Isla71

The manager of a shop selling bedding and woollen throws, where I once worked in the Derbyshire Dales some years ago, used to load her daughter down with carriable goods every so often. Eventually, when the owner implemented stock checks, this manager blamed shoplifters. She had a large turnover of staff, too. I was one of them!

This happens a lot. I worked in a charity shop in Chelsea ages ago. Bags full of designer clothes used to come but never seemed to find their way to the shop floor.

Peaseblossom

I think that shop assistants should be allowed to use pepper spray if they know that someone is taking something, and that will give them enough time for the police to come and sort them out. Although they'll probably just get a slap on the wrist anyway. If there's a sign on the door warning that this will happen, maybe it will stop people.

Pepper spray is a poison and it is illegal in this country for very good reasons.

It can kill people with respiratory disease and cause severe symptoms such as corneal ulceration.

It can take over an hour and a half to recover from the burning sensation and shortness of breath in people with no co-morbidities.

Does nicking stuff really merit such barbaric treatment?

I do not think these comments are particularly racist. However certain people who wear certain clothing enable them to steal and conceal their ill gotten gains. Yes you might see some slipping things into shopping bags but others conceal it about their person. Many, many years ago when I was a young teenager I was left in charge of the unisex boutique where worked. There were three of us working there. One girl was just Saturday staff. Anyway a group of about 30 Skinheads came into the shop. My 1st thoughts were they are just going to take stuff off the rails and stuff them under their Crombie jackets. I approached them and asked who wanted to be severed. Their ring leader sauntered forward and said he did. So I turned to the others and just said 'OK you lot out!' they just sort of sniggered so I raised my voice and repeated 'You lot get out!'. To my relief they turned tail and walked out. Their ring leader took a cursory look around and left. Now tell me how could I have written this memory without mentioning Skinheads? They were a certain group with distinctive attire. I suppose I could have given a description of a gang of youths, their hair cuts what they were wearing but by labeling them Skinheads everyone knows what I am talking about. Do I think all Skinheads are thieves? No but I can sense when some are up to no good!

when i was manageress in a charity shop we had two regular shoplifters.
first was a lady who would go in the changing room and stuff as much as she could in her shopping trolley and walk out. we did not have the powers to challenge her
the other was a prominent lady who had a shop in town but she would stuff things in her handbag
i used to get frustrated finding parts of sets missing when i knew they were complete when they were put out
we used to have people taking cds and leaving cases out we checked every day but they still did it nothing worse than someone bringing a case to the counter then finding it was empty