Donations to charity shops

Our problem around her is actually finding somewhere to take things, I haven’t been to every one in the town, but all the usual ones I go to have signs up saying they aren’t accepting donations at the moment.

Its the same here. We have 6 in or around our local shopping street (not town centre) and a community library that takes books - for their shelves or to sell. And I cant keep up with who will take stuff and what. One of the shops did start taking donations (knock on the door and hand in) about a week before re-opening but had to stop after half a day as they were full!!

During the lockdown I filled 6 plastic sacks with unwanted clothes, handbags, scarves, jewellery and crockery. Anything rubbishy went in the bin. I took them to St. Vincent’s which is the best op shop round here and doesn’t overprice things for those in need, unlike some.

I am a regular buyer and donor at charity shops. I always make sure my donations are saleable and will occasionally clearly mark a bag rags as l know that money can be made from these.

ALANaV

Having had a sort out I now have bags of wearable (shame to say some never been worn !) clothes to dispose of BUT none of my local charity shops are open ....the Salvation Army and Cancer Research collecting boxes at various walkable locations are full ...I have no car, so no trip to the tip .....soon I am just having sadly to throw them in the bin as they are taking up the whole of my spare space ............very sad

Don't throw them in the bin! Some charity shops will collect your goods, including the British Heart Foundation.

Type in your postcode and see if they operate in your area.

BHF

You also get the other end of the spectrum dumping stuff in charity shops. A few years ago our local charity shop got a shoe box full of beads along with other stuff. In amongst the beads was what turned out to be a valuable diamond 3 bar brooch which the charity put to auction and it sold for a five figure sum. The items had been handed in by the people hired to clear an old person's flat after they had died. They thought everything was cheap junk.

It’s disgusting why, just why, would anyone think that was ok? ?

ALANaV

Having had a sort out I now have bags of wearable (shame to say some never been worn !) clothes to dispose of BUT none of my local charity shops are open ....the Salvation Army and Cancer Research collecting boxes at various walkable locations are full ...I have no car, so no trip to the tip .....soon I am just having sadly to throw them in the bin as they are taking up the whole of my spare space ............very sad

Offer them on your local Facebook page or Freecycle. Don't forget to say the size though, most people forget that.

Easy way of getting rid of it, they don't want the bother of sitting in a queue at the dump. That's why there is so much fly tipping as well. Should be ashamed of themselves.

I wouldn’t dream of taking anything to a charity shop that I wouldn’t consider buying myself. And if an item has been worn that I do t want anymore (coat or jumper etc) I will wash before taking to the shop. To not wash first is just disgusting. I would like to think that my local animal charity shop is grateful for my items and not see me as a burden.

Having had a sort out I now have bags of wearable (shame to say some never been worn !) clothes to dispose of BUT none of my local charity shops are open ....the Salvation Army and Cancer Research collecting boxes at various walkable locations are full ...I have no car, so no trip to the tip .....soon I am just having sadly to throw them in the bin as they are taking up the whole of my spare space ............very sad

I had a neighbour who used charity shops as a way of getting rid of all sorts of old rubbish. She would put a few decent items of clothing and bric a brac in a bin bag and fill it up with all sorts of crap. Old ripped clothing, used candles in jars, cracked old crockery, small electrical items that were broken (hair dryers etc.) Not nice.

I was pleased to hear our charity shop donations had raised £650, they let me know as they were claiming the additional gift aid.

I worked in the Mind charity shop and we sometimes had disgusting bags full of dirty clothes, underwear, half eaten bags of crisps - we actually dressed a spare mannequin once from a particularly bad bag! I agree there are a lot of dirty lazy people about.

There is a charity shop in a nearby town. I went in it once and the stench of unwashed clothes was horrible.

Agreed Grammaretto. The trouble in our area was that the hiring of the hall became too expensive to be viable . On a profit of £100 almost 80% had to be given back and then someone had to be paid to take away what was not sold . They were fun though.

It's a major distribution problem isn't it? Trying to get things to the correct destination and make some money at the same time.
I want to give clothes to refugees but at present there is nobody able to deliver.
I think there are still 4 charity shops in our wee town. 2 have closed as they couldn't afford the rent even before covid.
Only one specialises in clothes and they have rails, sorted by size and colour - all very cheap. Everything 50p . So you could rummage and get a bargain.
I miss jumble sales too Greenfinch
You could make a decent amount of money in 2 hours for your charity. They were a lot of work but a lot of fun.

This is what our local shop does. Empties everything out on the counter and if not acceptable goes back in the bag and given back

Laziness. Perhaps the charity shop staff should empty bags in front of the donor and anything unsaleable be given back to them.

I wasn’t suggesting the elderly ladies weren’t interested in fashion or clothes, but their idea of window displays is an outfit suitable for a wedding,( Mother of the Bride) plus hand knitted baby matinee jackets, and a few jigsaw puzzles.

Our local hospice shop was one of the first charity shops in town, and the volunteers are, on the whole, retired ladies of a certain age, who started helping there 20 odd years ago when they were first retired, and still go, mainly to have a meet up and cuppa with their friends.

I can’t honestly say I’m surprised, you often see bags piled up outside of charity shops.
Our problem around her is actually finding somewhere to take things, I haven’t been to every one in the town, but all the usual ones I go to have signs up saying they aren’t accepting donations at the moment.
We were fortunate that one of the grandchildren’s schools, sent out charity bags, so a lot of items went there.
Also, books have always gone to the NT second hand bookshops, but that hasn’t been happening.
Even before lockdown, I found charity shops to be very picky. I sorted out a lot of toys from the toy room, all in really good condition, not played with too often, I had to go to three charity shops before anyone would take them.
My daughter has now started advertising locally ‘Free’ just come and collect on Facebook, you’d be amazed at what she’s got rid of.

Most charity shops have, at least, a part time trained manager. A friend worked part time as an Oxfam shop manager and she was trained to be awake to both closing styles and antiques..

I think it is a bit ageist to suggest that just because volunteers are elderly they are no longer interested in clothes or fashion and are unaware of current brands.whether for children or adults. Yes, some will be, but they were probably the same at 30, 50 and 70, but many will be still shopping with style in mind, including for Gc and GGC.

Calendargirl
My problem is with ‘some’ volunteers who just don’t know branded names and what they sell for on eBay. We sell a lot on there.
We have a lovely man who comes in regularly and buys all our men’s shoes. He sends them to family in Iraq.
We have a lovely lady who loves sewing cushions. When we get duvets we rip out the stuffing, I take it to her and she supplies all the material for the cushions for us to sell.
So it’s not all bad ?

I much lament the virtual demise of the jumble sale where you could get rid of the items that were too good for the tip but not good enough for the charity shop.

Our local hospice charity shop, pre Covid, was staffed by mainly elderly ladies, and that was reflected by the display window.

Another charity shop in a nearby village, RSPCA I think, had a display window that looked like a very upmarket department store.

I would have absolutely no talent at window displaying, but admire those who do, and this must result in increased sales.

I worked in a charity shop when I was a young mum and I was surprised at the selection of clothes that were put out for sale, chosen by an older generation.
They seemed to be more impressed by the cleanliness of the garment than the style.
So for example, an unironed but trendy American child's dungarees would be put in the waste whereas a spanking new crisp polyester untrendy sailor suit would be proudly put on display.
I chuckled (and grabbed the dungarees)

As others have said, laziness. Charity shops, advertising on ‘free’ sites or in the worse cases fly tipping. Witzend our tips are booking only too, we find it better, no big queues, in and out.