Charity shops.

I have a dear friend who will think nothing of spending £thousands on a cruise and shop in charity shops for clothes to take. I am so conformist not to be able to even go in one and I do know that reflects badly on me.

Bought a bottle of Molton Brown hand lotion in charity shop yesterday - £1.00!

I bought 4 really pretty champagne flutes from Oxfam, when I asked the price they said £1.50, I thought they meant each, but that was for the 4, very pleased. And an odd wine glass to display some little glass knick-knacks in, 20p.

I love charity shops but they can get a bit carried away with the pricing. Our local hospice shop was selling a Thomas track for £25 when we'd just bought the same one on ebay for £10 so my husband told them. They asked him to leave and said if he didn't like their pricing policy he shouldn't bother going in again.

Having said that our daughter has a lovely collection of barbie dolls courtesy of another more sensibly managed charity shop.

I couldn't agree with you more Dott I thought the exact same thing only last week, it is getting rediculous!!

Hi, I'm currently completing a survey for charity shop volunteers, if you know any or have volunteered at a charity shop/currently do. Please take the time to complete this, I would really appreciate it.

I work in a charity shop and do the pricing . I agree that most of the `big` charity shops are totally out of hand with pricing !Our shop - Books 3 for £1 , clothing from £2 - £4 , childrens clothing £1-2 . Everything has to be clean , in good condition with no damage or else it goes to the rag man for recycling . I worked for British heart for 10 years and towards the end it was embarrassing the prices we were instructed to ask for things so I left and went to a local animal charity - all proceeds go to the sanctuary , no one takes a salary and we work on a `sell it cheap , fast turn over ` principal . Vote with your feet and don`t buy from the ones which are over priced .

How do we do the survey Meganallcock ?

My local charity makes money for a local church and the manager is very sensible re pricing. I bought 4 small wine glasses and paid very little for them- I thought that the price was for one and not the four.

I love the books- a large selection and because they are cheaply priced there is an excellent turnover.

Clothes for adults although clean are not of any quality so I give them a miss but children's clothes are a bargain. It is well run and reasonably priced.

Love charity shops...last weeks bargain..unworn ugg boots...price tag on £157.....paid £3 ?.......dont go in the Sue Ryder shop...manageress with awful attitude..even with her staff!

I'm totally with gilly on on the effect charity shops have on small independent retailers. It's just so unfair. Selling used clothing etc great - all in favour of recycling but new goods, undercutting because they don't have to pay the same tax, rent or staff wages. But most charities are just big business now.

When our children were still at home we bought loads of stuff for them at charity shops. and jumble sales. Anything except footwear and underwear. When they were older and had their own money they bought a few things themselves.
Now I regularly look at the second hand clothes stall in the market. I've had some real bargains - in the past clothes were made of better-quality material than they are nowadays.

In my local town we have the best charity shop, all of our local clubs,schools and other organisations can hire the shop for a week each year. They keep the prices at a level people can afford and on a friday morning before the charities time is up they let you fill a bag with clothes etc for £1. What is left is either taken by the next charity or goes off to be sold by weight. It really is a great concept.Most people pop in and give a donation wether they are buying or not

grannypiper- brilliant, every town should have one!

The charity I volunteered in received some odd decrees from head office. Door open whatever the weather, shivering manager stood under the tiny heater! Only one item to be displayed in the windows. Previously attractive, they just looked as if we hadn't bothered.
Constant updates of the list of items we weren't allowed to sell. The knitting needles had to go (H&S apparently) but I don't understand why the dozens of (steadily selling) knitting patterns were thrown out too. Handknitted items including unworn baby clothes are banned because they don't have fire safety labels.
Books must have pristine white pages, no yellowing. Thank goodness the dedicated bookshops which Oxfam runs will display and sell books less than perfect condition, those are often the out of print interesting ones. Some weeks more books went for pulping than were put on sale. And, of course, any clothes needing a button or having had alterations such as a handsewn hem must go for rags. What a waste.

I used to regularly donate to a local charity shop (even volunteered there for a time) but when a new manageress took over she would not allow any clothes which came from supermarkets to be sold - no matter how good a condition they were in - they had to go straight into the "ragging" bag, books had to be pristine, glasses, crockery etc. had to be in complete sets. I think more stuff ended up in the skip than went into the shop. Many volunteers left in protest.

On the other hand I had some laughable experiences when volunteering there, a lady came into the shop and wanted a discount because she was buying 3 things! When sorting through some donated clothes I came across some childrens' dirty underwear (I always wore rubber gloves after that), toys with bits missing, jigsaws with pieces missing (we had to count them).