Charity shops and their prices

No, that is not what I am saying at all (don't know why I am bothering to respond to such an accusation really)

What I am saying is that if charity shops are charging £2 for a children's book which has been donated to a shop probably staffed by volunteers then they are charging too much. They will gain more by charging less and selling more. It's called marketing.
And I would ask that question of the Chief Executives and other highly paid staff on top expenses if they feel comfortable taking that much out of the money raised by well-meaning people for a cure for your mother's breast cancer, your kidney failure, your sisters anorexia, your brothers broken spine, your grannies dementia?

I certainly would not ask that question of a child of 8.

It was not an accusation it was a question. But you are saying here what you would not say to a child and what is the difference? The child cannot hear you? I don't believe anyone here would say it to a child's face but doesn't change the fact it seems acceptable to say it where the child doesn't hear surely ? A pound coin , is it so important ?

Charity shops are in the business of making money for charities and have got very slick at doing so. I wonder why there has been no movement to set up community thrift shops.

Local charity shop had loads of strange diktats from HO. Only I item in window which used to have lovely displays by a retired professional window-dresser. One dress on a model, no shoes, bag or even large vase allowed Sotheby's window always looked unfinished. Door had to be open at all times to be welcoming, whatever the weather or season. Shivering manager huddled under overhead heater. Changes of personnel at HO and diktats no longer applied !
Unless there was an actual mistake in pricing or unnoticed flaw in the merchandise no offers were considered. It was politely pointed out that the money went to a hospice for terminally ill local people. Tbh haggling was regarded as odd and rude. Most customers don't haggle in Tesco or the Post Office either, I wonder why!

Scope yesterday had signs saying 'Everything 3 for 2' and 'Cheapest Item Free'. I chose 3 children's books and a hardback of Victoria Hislop's short stories, all in pristine condition, and was charged £1. The earlier poster's DGD can still get the fun of choosing books with her £1 pocket money there!
Other people were asking the staff whether the clothes were really 3 for 2 and finding some real bargains.

I went into a Oxfam shop in Bicester , to see if I could get a stand for putting cups on £2.50p , as I have a load of books I want to get rid of Oxfam offer Nectar points for anything you give.
Mick

Charities shops are there to make money for charities , this seems forgotten .

Sorry, didn't mean to upset you, anniebach, I just wanted to point out that your post about not helping people with illnesses or disabilities isn't what I was saying.

A pound coin, is it so important? Well, I think it is to someone whose weekly pocket money is perhaps only £2. All I was trying to say was that they would probably sell more books at a cheaper price therefore make more profit.
People who are watching the pennies carefully may think twice about buying a second-hand top for £5 when they can go to Primark or similar and buy a new one for less.

DGS bought some toys in a charity shop supporting a small local charity when he was staying over here; now he's gone home they have gone back to another charity shop near me, so have been recycled.
I don't think we are forgetting it; am in the process of sorting out loads more stuff again to take but must stop myself looking at the china when I go there

I am not upset Jalima. Yes they could match the pound shops and sell everything for a pound but they have such competition and they need money , so can they really be criticised for trying to get as much as they can? Those on the shop floor are not responsible for the salaries paid to those at the top . I don't expect agreement , just stating my opinion of these shops , we all have choices , I choose to buy from these shops before looking in other shops, if I were to see a top for a pound more in a charity shop than new in a store I will buy from the charity shop .

That's true ab, they are there to make money for the charity. But in less wealthy areas, I think they should also serve the local community they exist in. And they usually do.

But are supermarkets there to serve the local community they exist in ? Do they charge less in a town of high unemployment then in an affluent area? Charity shops are there to make money for their charity not to aid their community surely ? I really do not understand why they are expected to extend charity to all before the charity they work for

Surely it's common sense? If charity shops price themselves out of the market they're serving (i.e. the local community), what's the point? Not everyone is able to be so generous as to pay over the odds for something. I'd have thought prices should be tailored to the area, at least they might sell more!

But do they price themselves out of the market? Not every one who buys from them has the same reasons for doing so

The prime aim of these shops is to make money for their charities. There's no point in them just relying on the goodness of peoples' hearts, particularly in a deprived area.

people's

On the whole charity shops are run mostly by the people and should therefore serve the needs of the people, as well as raising funds. The items have been donated. Tesco good's have been purchased in a food chain. There's a huge difference.

They don't need to put a very high price on things - but they are not there to give them away either.

When I was on the committee of a local charity, we would get a lot of things donated to sell to help funds. When the charity had started, twenty years earlier, the usual price asked was £1 or 50p. Some of us thought it was time to raise the price for at least some of the things - there were things worth £50 or £100 sometimes. The reaction from the old stagers was "Oh, but it was a donation, it hasn't cost us anything so anything we get for it is profit"

Yes but . . . the donor believed that they were giving us something quite valuable, so to only get £1 for it was to cheat them not just the charity, and turn away their generosity. If you are given things which will sell for tens of pounds, why sell them for pennies? It is the equivalent of someone holding out to you a £100 note, but you waving it away and taking a fiver instead. Ungrateful! Particularly when the charity is a small one with no public or corporate funding at all and struggles to keep afloat.

Then when we received some ornaments cleared from someone's mother's house, most if it was put on our Fair stall that summer (at pretty low prices, but not £1 each!) However I kept back a couple of Beswick china animals and sold them on Ebay, handing over the proceeds - almost £200. I wished I had been brave enough to fight to put more of the better stuff on Ebay.

But are supermarkets there to serve the local community they exist in ? Do they charge less in a town of high unemployment then in an affluent area?
They do anniebach - we have noticed this when shopping!! and they certainly do with the petrol prices, the same supermarket charges less per litre in some areas than others. They pitch their prices to what they think the market can afford. Naughty.

Elegran I remember years ago going to a village 'jumble sale' that my sister-in-law was helping to run. She was on the bric-a-brac stall. They had a pair of candlesticks on there for a reasonable sum (probably about 30 shillings but too much for me and anyway they seemed rather old and slightly bashed). After the sale had finished and no-one had bought them they said they realised they were solid silver, so they were sending them to auction. I'm not sure what they got for them!

The thing is, many people at a fete or church sale may not recognise that something is valuable, but I think charity shops have been told now to look out for known makes. I am happy to pay more for some china, which would probably be in a cabinet in our local charity shop.

What am I talking about! I am not going to buy more china.

As I said, people buy from charity shops for a variety of reasons,

It was noticeable at the fair that even while we were setting up, an hour before opening time, every year there were always eagle-eyed people (probably dealers)wandering round all the stalls taking a close look at what was being put out and trying to persuade the harassed volunteers to sell them things before the oficial start. The more experienced volunteers sent them packing to wait until everything was set out and priced, but the newbies were so pleased that something was selling at all that they would take tuppence if that was offered.

You could tell what was worth more than average from what most interested them. Their offers were laughable though.

At the more recent fairs, there has been an expert offering "Antiques Roadshow" type valuations for a small donation - he was very busy with stall-holders getting realistic prices for things they thought looked good but hadn't the knowledge themselves to estimate how much to ask for them.

Incidentally that charity has no shop and no longer takes a stall at the fair - it is "Too much work" so I don't know what they do with any donated stuff.

Some charity shops do overcharge Secondhand paperbacks priced at £3 when you can buy new ones for £3.50 and Primark tops and other basic crockery and glasses at more than new cost. I know they are raising money for a charity but most of their staff are volunteers (or sent by the job centre for free) and most customers go there because they don't have much money themselves.

The charity is for the cause the shop bears the name of, they are there to sell to shoppers they are not responsible for them, if you only shop to get a bargain then shop around the charity shops .

And sorry but I do not agree the shops have any oblligation to the donor apart from sincere gratitude , once a gift is handed over that's it

They have an obligation to make the most of what they are given, not waste it.

I agree with your last sentence ab
And once an item is purchased at the price asked for the contract is complete, so really the purchaser should not feel guilty if the item is found to be worth much more than the price paid.
It's called serendipity.

Of course, one's conscience may decide that a donation to the charity would be a good thing to do if one made a huge profit. (I have never found any of these gems.)

Can I bring back my thrift shop question. When I was young I am sure they had them on RAF/Army camps although I suppose that may have been a left-over from the war - it was well into the 50s though. My son's school (independent) had one too but my daughters at the same period (state) didn't. I wonder if they still do? Probably, because the uniforms were expensive (they haven't changed) but they lasted forever with fast growing children.

If a community set up a thrift shop both seller and buyer could benefit. I like the idea of share shops for gadgets - paint sprayers, drills (drills are used for 9 minutes in their lifetime apparently) ladders, sewing machines, etc., too.

Perhaps we have relied on Charity shops for too long? [questioning]

Like the idea of getting nectar points Michael, I didn't know about that.