Charity Shops Making Donations Uncomfortable

I agree. I am now more choosy about where I donate.

Sadly seems like I'm not alone in my charity shop experiences, I fully understand that shops have limited space and that there are items they're not allowed to sell but a simple thank you and an explanation as to why they can't take the items would be absolutely fine. I also realise that the shops are staffed by volunteers but having been a volunteer and volunteer manager myself that is not an excuse to be rude to customers, there's no use volunteering if you end up putting people off the charity. There is an onus on charities to ensure that volunteers are properly trained and they pay volunteer managers to carry out training and monitoring. That said I know there are fantastic volunteers and great charities and they are the ones to support.

GreyDuster
My friend left her managers position at a hospice charity shop after 6 months. Reason being, the constant ( every day sometimes several) dictats from the powers that be from a team of people who have have probable never worked in a charity shop.
When she told her staff she was leaving that weren’t surprised.
They said no manager ( or volunteers) last long here.

Of course even a tiny percentage is better than nothing for the charities.

Anglo Doorstep Collection is a commercial business (part of Anglo Recycling).

They collect unwanted goods for free, sort them at their warehouse, and ^sell them on to commercial buyers worldwide.

I have tried to discover how much they actually donate to the charities but it doesn't seem to be a fixed amount or percentage. Because they are a private company we can't see how much they make or pay themselves either.

They say, after "running costs" ​"Since 2021, we've raised over £467,000 for UK charities and planted more than 62,700 trees."
Of course we don't know about pay and bonuses which are "running costs".

If you can get your items to a charity shop I would do that.
I admit they are an easy option though.

Sad to say Sago, but I imagine many charity shops are inundated with full dinner services, Royal Doulton or similar.

We shall all have to start hosting dinner parties again (Aagh!)

Magenta8

I have had mixed responses to donations to charity shops. Mostly they just smile, say thank you and take the goods.

In one Oxfam shop an officious old woman made me take out the items one by one to be inspected. She screwed up her face in disgust at most of the items and said "We don't want that." Then without saying another word, she took the few items that passed her scrutiny into the back room and after an uncomfortable few minutes I realised that she wasn't coming back so I left.

Clearly she only accepted the items she considered good enough to discreetly squirrel away into a bag to take home when she finished her shift......

Ours are great at the local hospice shop.

When clearing out last year prior to our move, I went into a cancer charity shop, I explained I had a lot of bags and boxes, (a full Royal Doulton dinner service in one).

I asked if they could wedge the door open for me whilst I lugged it all in.
They said no as it would be draughty, 1 young man and two women watched as I carried the first lot in and didn’t even hold the door open.

I was livid so I took it all back and watched them open mouthed as I left.

I drove to Sue Ryder who directed me round the back to their loading area and got two volunteers to help me.

Most of our local charity shops are good, but I’m minded of the time when my DD and SiL were moving house and he took two bags of very good clothing down to the local hospice shop. They had been cleaning and packing all morning so he looked a bit scruffy. The assistant looked him up and down and said “I’m sorry we can’t take any more today”. He said it was all high end stuff (they were a professional couple and have never worn “tat”) and invited her to look, but it cut no ice. He sat in his car and watched as others took donations in and came out empty handed. He then went to another charity shop and they were very grateful to accept his donations. It was very disappointing because this particular hospice is much loved by most people and they need all the help they can get.

A pity Anglo Doorstep Collections don’t cover our area either.

BlueBelle

Please don’t judge us all by one, we have lovely welcoming staff and are always very grateful for the thousands of donations, good and bad that we get.
Unfortunately ‘miseries’ can serve in any sort of shop
We have about 30 volunteers and for the most part we get on with our customers extremely well and get some great remarks about our friendliness.
It’s like saying all dentists are butchers or all doctors are useless

Here hear BlueBelle
Our shop is home from home to a lot of people. Lots of customers just pop in for a chat and a cup of tea.
Some help us carry the rag sacks out.
I pick up and deliver donations from people who have no transport for heavy goods.
To be honest I’m very aware of the attitude in some of the big charity shops.

crazyH

Anglo Doorstep Collection.
Just put stuff into bin bags ( separately ofcourse) - and leave the bags by your doorstep.
I have just got rid of 2 bin-liners full of books , another bag of clothes. Excellent service.
Just Google them. You will see how easy it is

I second this. Much easier than lugging stuff to the charity shops.

Gosh Magenta I wouldn’t donate there again we must have a friendly town as I often donate to Charities other than the one I work for and have only ever had thank you’s !
Some of your accounts are awful we take in far more than we should and there are some things we are not allowed to sell
( mainly safety items, helmets, bedding unless new, underwear etc ) it’s always done with pleasantness and often guided to where it can be taken.

One word of warning never ever buy a suitcase or backpack to travel overseas with, from a charity shop. I bought a back pack about three years ago from our charity shop, clean and bright, I used it on the beach and for shopping sometimes, then I used it for an ‘in cabin bag’ on a short flight. At passport control the scanner picked up something and I spent a very uncomfortable 20/30 minutes being interrogated by customs and the police obviously there must have been some long gone residue of having drugs in it in the past, might have been used at a festival or anything really.

I learnt a lesson the hard way so passing it on to you

I always nip into the shop first and ask whether they are receiving donations because sometimes they are over supplied and can take no more.

Also thos working as assistants are often too busy, including keeping an eye out for shop lifters that all they can do is acknowledge your arrival and indicate the stockroom at the back.

Actually I am always far more grateful to the shop for taking my stuff than they will be for receiving it. Like others all clothes are washed and clean and with plenty of wear. Old worn clothing gets put in a carrier bag and put in a textile bin in the local car park.

I will be round at one today, butI will go by car and park in the delivery bay behind the shop and deliver directly to the back door.

I don't take a huge amount to charity shops, but I have always received what I think are genuine thanks for donations.
Perhaps the 'uncharitable' staff were overcome by the heat; charity shops all have that smell of dry-cleaning about them, intensified in this hot weather.

I have had mixed responses to donations to charity shops. Mostly they just smile, say thank you and take the goods.

In one Oxfam shop an officious old woman made me take out the items one by one to be inspected. She screwed up her face in disgust at most of the items and said "We don't want that." Then without saying another word, she took the few items that passed her scrutiny into the back room and after an uncomfortable few minutes I realised that she wasn't coming back so I left.

I had some beautiful wooden toddler toys and puzzles to donate all in immaculate condition. I took them to a local charity shop but they said the didn’t have room as the toy shelves were fully stocked.

Fair enough, except they were full of brand new plastic tat the shop had bought in!

The next charity shop I took them to were so pleased they displayed them in the window.

Not all shops are the same.

We have, or had, seven charity shops in our little market town.

I noticed the other day that one had closed.

I tend to donate at two in particular, they always seem to be pleased with stuff. But I don’t take in bin bags full, just a few items a time. Everything freshly washed and ironed. And clean bags of rags, clearly marked as such.

I bought a couple of pairs of shorts at one of them last week, M&S and Maine. Very pleased with them, and they can be taken back if not suitable as long as you have the receipt.

Not necessary, I soon washed and wore them this hot weather.

Yes/no. Depends on the volunteer behind the counter.
My really bad experience was, when moving house, we took a carload of really nice things, clothes, etc., only to be really aggressively asked to gift aid the items. When I said that I didn’t pay tax, I was given the eye, then ignored. Not even thanked. They must have made a mint. Never shopped there again.

Marg75

I have found that, I think a thanks would be nice, just an acknowledgement that I've brought some things in for them to sell. I haven't had that and always leave a bit deflated.

Seems to be the norm.

A charity outlet I used to use - but definitely no more - was increasingly staffed by what appeared to be bored-looking students who couldn't/wouldn't make eye contact and barely managed "what?" or "eh?" by way of verbal communication.

The overall impression was that customers were just another of life's irritations!

I think some of them get given a lot of junk which they have to dispose of so I suppose that makes them suspicious. We have a lot of clothing bins for donations round shopping centres where you don’t need to see or speak to anyone. In the shops they seem to be reasonably pleasant mostly but there are always exceptions!

BlueBelle

Please don’t judge us all by one, we have lovely welcoming staff and are always very grateful for the thousands of donations, good and bad that we get.
Unfortunately ‘miseries’ can serve in any sort of shop
We have about 30 volunteers and for the most part we get on with our customers extremely well and get some great remarks about our friendliness.
It’s like saying all dentists are butchers or all doctors are useless

I agree, some charity shops are lovely it just seems that recently some have adopted the attitude that people making donations are a bad lot to be treated with suspicion or indiffence.

Please don’t judge us all by one, we have lovely welcoming staff and are always very grateful for the thousands of donations, good and bad that we get.
Unfortunately ‘miseries’ can serve in any sort of shop
We have about 30 volunteers and for the most part we get on with our customers extremely well and get some great remarks about our friendliness.
It’s like saying all dentists are butchers or all doctors are useless

Just checked Anglo Doorstep Collections, looks like a great idea but unfortunately they don't operate in Northern Ireland.