Charity shops.

We have several charity shops in our town and they all seem to be doing really well.

Musicgirl

@MT62, why do you put your dvds and books in the freezer for a week?

A couple of years ago, a couple of London libraries had to close due to an infestation of bed bugs.
I thought yuk, books could have been lying next to someone’s bedbug infested bed. It always stuck in my mind. So just to be on the safe side I put them in a plastic bag & leave for a week in the freezer.
Never found any yet, heavens forbid.

Oldnproud I think I know which small town you are talking about because I live near it and there aren't many places with free parking. There are currently 7 charity shops in the town centre. However there used to be more and I believe they closed down due to rate rises. there was an 'Age concern' that closed, an 'Air ambulance' shop that closed which was a shame as it sold furniture and bric a brack. There was a 'Heart Foundation' and another small charity shop (can't recall the name). There are also two that I know of on the outskirts. One is a hue YMCA that seems to make a roaring trade in furniture and a smaller one in a little parade of shops that is a private charity. My husband knows a small local retailer in the same town and he told us how the rent and rates had gone up so much that the charities cannot afford to stay. More recently I heard in the local news that the town centre is ripe for redevelopment so I think the free parking will go then and heaven help the charity shops. As regards staff getting 1st pickings. I once took in a perfectly working Christmas tree with fibre optic lights. It was just a bit noisy so I had bought another. I took the tree to the YMCA and the staff member who I gave it to said 'Oh I am having that!' I just hope she paid a fare price to the shop. I have seen much tattier and plain Christmas trees going for £20.00 or more!

I get staff discount at my shop but the items are priced by the manager or assistant manager. And it’s normal prices . And items are supposed to be on the shop floor for a week before staff can buy , but this doesn’t seem to happen .
And I’ve never seen lists of stuff that staff want .
When items have been in the shop for a while , they’re sent to another shop . A van comes round once a week and if we’re overrun with donations we also send them on to another shop. We have free parking , so it’s popular for donations. Other shops have minimal or no free parking.
Unfortunately some customers see us as a dump . We have boxes of stuff that people just tip in the contents of a box , drawer or cupboard . Tampons , half empty bottles of shampoo and used hairbrushes from a bathroom cupboard 🤮

Oh Tenko 'Tampons , half empty bottles of shampoo and used hairbrushes from a bathroom cupboard 🤮' Yuck that is dreadful!

In my large town in the northwest there are many charity shops and are very popular. They vary and some are very good value indeed. One has a pile ‘em high, no price on them style and very low prices indeed.
Our local Salvation Army shop is excellent for furniture and has a modern clean cafe too.

My DS in the south enjoys her forays here and calls them thrifting shops, so we go thrifting together.

Apart from two high street charity shops we also have clothing bins for the Salvation Army and the local Fire Service to deposit used clothing, shoes, etc.

most charities have a CEO on 250 grand a year, they charge way too much for things given to them, if they charged less they would make more in volume, the assistants and managers think they are running Harrods and are antiques experts

cc

knspol

I've taken lots of stuff to the local charity shop and it'd always been washed and ironed or dry cleaned first. I do gift aid so make a note of sale proceeds and declare them on my tax return, every little helps.

The gift aid is such a good idea, I donated quite a lot of things before we moved and they have claimed on items I donated. I don't think that you actually need to declare them, the shop can claim if you sign the form.

The amount raised by the charity and notified to me is then declared on my self assessment tax return as a charity donation which reduces the amount of earnings I have to pay tax on.

One of our best charity shops told me that people want the stuff but can't or won't pay. Shoplifting is a problem too . I wanted to donate some vintage lace but the manager said they were dropping textiles in favour of kitchenalia. More profitable she said

If a charity shop has a registered number on the front but doesn’t give to that charity, not listed when asked, should you report to the registered charity? Would the charity let you know if they were receiving money from the shop?

I’ve recently moved house and struggled to find a charity shop that would take more than a couple of bags and there’s quite a lot they don’t take. Someone told me about Anglo Doorstep Charity Collections who I’ve now used 3 times and have been very impressed with. You book a date and time on line and they collect it from you free - they take up to 20 bags. You can find them on line if you’d like to know more.

I'm not sure what is happening with some of our charity shops. Some have closed which is a puzzle as I thought they were needed more now. The other issue is the stuff they are selling, ie. Primark items that are priced at almost the same price as a similar M & S item.
I mainly go for books and puzzles but can't resist having a look at the clothes!

Where do your donations go Janice after collection ?
I will add Doodlebug that our volunteers do not buy handfuls of stuff, just one item here and there I ve never seen anyone buy more than now and then. Certainly not going out with loads of stuff. It just doesn’t happen. I probably buy an item every month or two.
We do get a some shop lifting though which is incredibly annoying and frustrating

We have more charity shops than you can shake a stick at.

I’m a longtime charity shop fan - from back when friends would raise their eyebrows if you said you’d bought something in a charity shop! Before that it was jumble sales.
But I agree with others here that there are a fewer ‘goodies’ now. I think this has happened quite suddenly in the last couple of years - I’ve got some great stuff that I bought relatively recently. But like everything, the pendulum will swing back as all the vintage resellers come to understand that it’s an incredibly time-consuming business, and the returns are really not that good.

I’m especially disappointed at the amount/quality of the bric-a-brac. Lots of the stuff in my house is preowned, and so many lovely things give me constant pleasure. But it’s not the same now.

But I am still delighted by the bookshelves, and I have discovered some absolutely amazing books that would not have been on the tables/shelves of commercial booksellers. And if I’m prepared to wait, even the high profile award winning novels appear on the shelves.

Charity shops have disappeared from some of the market towns near us that are popular with tourists. They have been replaced by retailers who do well in these places where people have time to browse. It’s good for those towns as charity shops don’t pay business rates for the properties that they’re in. It shows that there is some competition to rent retail properties in market towns. They have been languishing so far behind for very many years and I am enjoying their revival.

BlueBelle

Where do your donations go Janice after collection ?
I will add Doodlebug that our volunteers do not buy handfuls of stuff, just one item here and there I ve never seen anyone buy more than now and then. Certainly not going out with loads of stuff. It just doesn’t happen. I probably buy an item every month or two.
We do get a some shop lifting though which is incredibly annoying and frustrating

I can't believe people would shoplift from a charity shop! How can they sleep at night?

BlueBelle I am not for a minute saying that you abuse your position, or doubting your word at all. As I keep saying, my point was simply that my personal experience (via my mum's many years of working in one) is that such things happen in some outlets. Probably no individual buys lots, but as there are several staff, and all of them look out for specific items for one another the best things go to the people who work there, and they are priced low and then subject to discount. The shop my mother worked in closed soon after Covid, but a friend of mine has more recently started working in another branch of the same 'chain', and the same applies in there. There are several shops for the same charity across the region, so it must be a company policy.

Ahh that doesn’t happen at mine at all, we all can buy off the floor, but not many do, only the odd item here and there We have 30+ volunteers and I honestly believe we bring in far more donations than ever bought
I suppose as at least half to threequarters of the volunteers are over 60 most of us are getting rid of stuff more than buying and the younger staff members don’t seem that interested
I sometimes buy stuff out the rag mans pickings which hasn’t sold and we can have them for a donation but I m happy with that as it’s saving more from landfill anyway

Doodledog

BlueBelle

Where do your donations go Janice after collection ?
I will add Doodlebug that our volunteers do not buy handfuls of stuff, just one item here and there I ve never seen anyone buy more than now and then. Certainly not going out with loads of stuff. It just doesn’t happen. I probably buy an item every month or two.
We do get a some shop lifting though which is incredibly annoying and frustrating

I can't believe people would shoplift from a charity shop! How can they sleep at night?

BlueBelle I am not for a minute saying that you abuse your position, or doubting your word at all. As I keep saying, my point was simply that my personal experience (via my mum's many years of working in one) is that such things happen in some outlets. Probably no individual buys lots, but as there are several staff, and all of them look out for specific items for one another the best things go to the people who work there, and they are priced low and then subject to discount. The shop my mother worked in closed soon after Covid, but a friend of mine has more recently started working in another branch of the same 'chain', and the same applies in there. There are several shops for the same charity across the region, so it must be a company policy.

A while ago we caught a woman in a wheelchair stealing.
We have cctv so the proof was there.
We let her leave the shop before we confronted her.
The stolen items ( clothes) were under her blanket.

We get a fair share of nicking but if they know you know and are watching they soon disappear and the last three we had contact with have never been back however I m sure there’s others we haven’t clocked yet
Horrible isn’t it

Very lucky, northern city with loads of thriving charity shops, good quality clothes, some brand new ones from brands that have been donated. The local Hospice is the chief one, with many outlets, and they have one upmarket store where the designer stuff goes. I've got a couple of fab items there I would never dream of being able to afford.

I think the council is supporting some local ones rent wise other wise they might close. I would say that 50% of my clothes are from Charity shops and if I make a mistake they just go back to the shop. I wouldnt dream of re selling on vinted its immoral imo, the shop needs to reconsider pricing if they can get a big mark up.
The Hospice is clever tho, in the poorer parts of town you dont get the expensive clothes, but you'd get a Primark for £2.

My favourite local one checks incoming bags, they wont just take them in.

Sheebee1

If a charity shop has a registered number on the front but doesn’t give to that charity, not listed when asked, should you report to the registered charity? Would the charity let you know if they were receiving money from the shop?

For sure. If you think there is fraud involved do report to the charity. But are you sure it's fraud? I'm sure if I planned to commit fraud there would be easier ways of doing it than setting up and staffing a charity shop with all the overheads that involves. Power. Water. Safety, you have to have the same safety measures involved even with volunteers so you'd need to train a first wider, make sure the fire extinguishers are regularly serviced etc. there must be easier ways of committing fraud than paying for all that from selling £2 jumpers.

How would you know it doesn’t give to the charity do you mean they openly tell you they are not supporting the charity they are recorded with ? Sounds strange

Lots of BHF shops are set to close soon
I'm my small town there are 5. All v different, some take baby things, others don't (and post on the door that they don't) some take baby things, and in fact I've got stuff for my granddaughter from there which goes back when I no longer need it., another one doesn't take bedding or towels. One is heavily into vintage stuff. Another (hospice) is a bit upmarket and gets stuff from some of the nearby good shops, so you can potentially get good quality stuff much cheaper than even in their sales. Another is cheap and cheerful, always lots of real bargains, and every so often they get excess textiles etc from shops which have moved on to the next fashion trend. Another is just a small traditional one
3 are easy to donate to as you can park close by
Something for everyone.
Charity shops are there to raise money for the charity, benefitting the poor of the district is a secondary consideration. If you're looking for cheap clothing or bedding there is one that can help you with that (they do bundles of baby and children's stuff. Everything you need for a particular age group really cheaply. I don't know but I think if you asked to pay by installments you could do so, it's that sort of shop.
I've seen antique dealers ferret ring through the stuff and buying bric a brac, if they are willing to take the chance good luck to them. Also to those who sell in, it's a risk for the person. However lovely something is you've got to find someone in that particular size who also loves it. I very much doubt that there is big money in selling on clothing
I don't mind if staff buy things either as long as they pay the price that I or someone else might pay (and someone else prices it up etc)
Those who have issues with that, why don't you go and volunteer yourself, if you think it's worth giving up days of your time just to get the occasional first dibs on an item of clothing.or bric a brac.id also not be happy at a shop that insisted something went on the shop floor first. I would think that anyone who was volunteering there would be well within her rights to text a friend to come and buy it for her. Why treat volunteers worse than the public? In my local shops there are loads of good quality stuff that's on the rails or shelves for ages. Only a small amount of clothing will fit you and be the right colour/style/taste. It's not like one volunteer will be buying every size for herself, what good is a size 8 if you're a size 16?
I admire those who .volunteer in the shops, I prefer to volunteer in other ways and would hate to work in a shop if any sort. I did some.temp jobs in shops in the past and that was enough for a lifetime!
Locally we also have NCT second hand sales, people.pay a certain amount to enter clothes, toys and equipment into the same set their own prices, and run their own risk of pricing too high or too low. If there are people locally who want the stuff that they are selling they get a bargain and the seller gets something to buy bigger clothes. Locally there are also occasional swishimg events which sound fun but I've never been
I don't put clothes in those bags, many of the clothing is sold overseas where it causes many problems, and can badly affect the local textile industries

And neither do they pay business rate's so its quite an unfair advantage compared to other business's trying to make a living.