Donations to charity shops

I called at my lovely local charity shop today. Bought some books and a game for the DGS and asked the two volunteers at the till whether they needed donations at the moment. I got an immediate “Yes, please” with a smile from one and a scornful laugh and “Everyone’s asking that. The answer’s no” from the other, who I’d never seen before. As I was leaving the first assistant whispered to me that I should bring them in, the Rottweiler overheard and told me to ring first, or I might have a wasted journey.

I rather think it might depend on who answers the phone!

Op = opportunity , sorry I didn’t realise they are not called that elsewhere.

Old t shirts make good dusters.

People are just downright lazy, that's why it's easier to dump on charity shops, they get rid of your rubbish. The very idea infuriates me. I too give good quality clothes to charity's shops, or I cut up unsaleable clothes for rags.

?. That makes sense. Thanks

Lucca

Op shops Aussie for charity shops

Aveline

opportunity shop
in British English
NOUN
Australian and New Zealand
a shop selling second-hand goods for charitable funds
Also called: op-shop

Although my DD calls them charity shops.

But what is an OP?

I’m sure there’s more reading going on round here than ever. Apart from ebooks, we’ve all kept going by swapping books and some have been putting them outside their gates for people to help themselves. I’m looking forward to my first charity shop visit in ages, to stock up on mine. And to ask what donations they want right now and whether they’d rather I hung onto them for a while. In normal times they always appreciate books - they sell them at 3 for £1 so have a brisk turnover. Another local shop charges £2 each, then sends bin bags full of recent releases to be pulped, which seems daft.

Op shops Aussie for charity shops

Op shops?

There are some lovely books on sale in the op shops. I never pay full price these days( as Callistemon says, they are expensive here new) I strongly object to paying around $20 for a novel, ridiculous. They do have sales, though, usually around $5- $10 per book but they are not usually the ones you want. The other day I bought a beautiful royal copenhagen glass candleholder for $3. Op shops rule, don’t they ? Take stuff and recycle is the right idea in my book.

We were so surprised yesterday, first day out of lockdown, to see a queue snaking down the street from a charity shop. Good to see.

Surely if the sacks are dumped on the pavement, it is fly-tipping and it is the local council's responsibility to remove it, not the charity's.

The charity shop was presumably shut at the time so that there was no one there who could have accepted ownership of the bags on behalf of the charity.

nanna8 There was a news item today to say that people have been reading more than ever during lockdown and sales of new books both paper, electronic and audible. For charities the problem has been people having clearouts especially of books (to make room for more?) and the fact that they have been closed for most of lockdown as non-essential shops.

I am so lucky, provided the book is in good condition cookery as well as the usual crime and horror books are for sale. The books are sold cheaply so there is a good turnover. I have missed it during lockdown.

nanna8

Just wondering if people have stopped reading these days because many of our op shops won't accept books because they have too many. A big bag of books goes for about $5- and some of the books look new and unused. Lovely cookery books included- I guess Mr. Google has taken over for recipes.

That's surprising nanna8, I haven't been since before lockdown but I always found that books were very expensive in Australia compared to the UK.

Our local charity shop said no to cookery books years ago.
Rather sad. You can even download Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management on to your kindle now.

Excellent idea!

Just wondering if people have stopped reading these days because many of our op shops won't accept books because they have too many. A big bag of books goes for about $5- and some of the books look new and unused. Lovely cookery books included- I guess Mr. Google has taken over for recipes.

A woman working in a small local charity shop was nearly in tears when I popped in to see what goodies she had. It was very difficult to get indoors because some idiot had tipped half a lorry load of bags, taking up pavement space and being a general nuisance. I think I would have rung the council to see if they could remove the debris because the charity had to pay to dump it in their commercial bin which was nearly full anyway. People do not care.

My nearest charity has a large room specifically for books. The books I take have been read once so are in immaculate condition. They throw out any less than pristine books and make a fair bit of money there.

I used to work as a cashier in a bank so, of course, I was put on the till at the charity shop.

One day there was a shout from the back for me to stay away. A retired nurse who knew I have asthma was opening bags and there were bags of mouldy clothes.

The smell was awful so I presume they were all quickly dumped in the bin outside.

A friend of mine used to sort in a local charity shop - one day they found what they thought to be a vase - turned out to be an urn - complete with ashes!

Oh it doesn’t worry us what we sort through you take the rough with the smooth Occasionally you get a washed folded bag but the majority of the time it’s a drawer tipped into a black bag, knickers and all But we re allowed to wash our hands ???
and yes there’s often all sorts in with the clothes
The best one happened to me when I was personally
collecting a. Few years ago for the Syrian refugees, walking through Europe in the middle of winter I got bags with swimming costumes, high heels and the best one of all from a church school a beautiful pink Basque

songstress60

Our recycling tip was closed for 6 months during the pandemic and you have to book a slot, so I have taken stuff to charity shops. I am taking it up with the council because you should not have to book.

Where I live , the council tip was closed for a while last year and then reopened but you had to book a slot to be able to use it.
I now prefer that system as I have never had to wait in a queue of vehicles to use the top as I did before the booking system. I'm unhappy that the council has gone back to people just turning up and having to wait to get access to the tip. For me it worked much better having a booking system in place.

I have resorted to putting clothes etc in the bags which are collected from your door. I don't like doing this because I know the amount of money reaching the charities is pitifully small, but I am tired of lugging heavy bags of good quality stuff to charity shops, no nearby parking, only to have it refused because they have so much to sort. Are the clothing banks unsealed now? At least you can park nearby.
Whatever happened to jumble sales?

Some of these comments reminded me that one of our local charity shops won't accept any Primark clothes as they don't want 'cheap' clothes that will only sell for a few pounds.

Narrowboatnan
The ‘stuff’ that goes in the big bins is generally shredded shredded and recycled for carpet underlay, mattresses etc.
Back in the days of yore ? massive amounts of this clothing was bought by countries all around the world and sold on.
I myself found some M&S clothes when I lived in Bulgaria.
There is a backlash to this, though. Our castoffs are decimating the clothing industry in poorer countries.
But that’s another story ?