Charity Shop Demands

scottishminnie

Before I even begin I know there is a charities board however doesn't seem to cover needing to let of steam about them turning perfectly acceptable goods away.

I regularly hand in goods to my local Red Cross shop. Any goods I donate are washed, buttons, hems etc checked and I wouldn't consider giving anything that wasn't in pristine condition.

I called in today with a bag of household type things (some unopened pre wrapped dvd's, a few boxed dip dish sets and other items) and 2 coats - 1 short fake fur jacket and one winter coat. The assistant took the bag of household goods and then turned away at which point I said you have forgotten these and pointed to the coat and jacket (in garment covers) which I'd laid on the desk at the till area.

I was astonished when she said "no chance - we don't take fur and anyway they haven't got dry cleaning tickets on them". I was astounded, a very animated conversation ensued - to cut a long story short they wouldn't take the jacket as it was possible I could be lying about it being fake fur and apparently it doesn't matter how immaculate any coats are if they haven't been dry cleaned and still have the dry cleaning tags attached they won't take them. She agreed it was obvious the coat was spotlessly clean but if it had no evidence of dry cleaning she wasn't taking it.

Well, she got very shirty when I asked for my bag of household goods back but I stood my ground. I'm not going to stand in a charity shop while they pick and choose what they want from my donation.

I would never donate goods without making sure they are clean however I'm certainly not going to pay dry cleaning bills only to then give things away. It appears that the Red Cross can afford to pick and choose now so I will be making donations elsewhere in future.

I've no doubt my "rant" will be met with howls of complaint and accusations of me being unreasonable/uncharitable and so on but I'm astonished that good quality items are being turned away.

Poppy9

While they may have reasons for their policy she could have handled the situation better, so she didn't alienate donors.

I always give my stuff to a local cancer research shop and judging by their display they take any tat!

oldone_2

Charity shops cannot exist without your donations, and with the credit crunch there may well be less donations, and more buyers. Unfortunately some charities allow Politically Correct nonsense to interfere with their primary purpose.

How long before a charity insists you are a card carrying member of Greepeace or PETRA before they will 'allow' you to deal with them either as a donator or buyer.

The O.P has done the right thing - vote with your feet.

scottishminnie

the funniest thing about the fake fur jacket is that it is a deep shade of purple and the label inside (which I showed the assistant) states 100% modacrylic.

Maybe modacrylic is a purple furry animal

remembered_nights

No, the volunteer was well out of order.

If someone has taken their time to donate stuff, you smile and say thank you very much... even if it's horrible old tat I wouldn't dream of treating a donatee like that!

Even if they can't sell the clothes, they must have someone else who takes the stuff (the ragman etc) so they can still get something for it at the end of the day. I know in Oxfam our unsaleable clothes go to another company within Oxfam who can have them cleaned/repaired/whatever so every little bit gets used to help somehow.

trisontana

remembered_nights wrote: »

No, the volunteer was well out of order.

If someone has taken their time to donate stuff, you smile and say thank you very much... even if it's horrible old tat I wouldn't dream of treating a donatee like that!

Even if they can't sell the clothes, they must have someone else who takes the stuff (the ragman etc) so they can still get something for it at the end of the day. I know in Oxfam our unsaleable clothes go to another company within Oxfam who can have them cleaned/repaired/whatever so every little bit gets used to help somehow.

That's Wastesaver :- http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/content/highstreet/F9970.aspx

I work in an Oxfam bookshop and we do get a few donated books which we cannot sell because they are so tatty. But we do take them in, and thank the person for them. Now Wastesaver are starting to take books from us which are unsold, either because they have been in the shop for a while, or because of their condition.

The plan for these books is that they are given one last chance to be sold (in a "book barn"), or they will be pulped and the resulting product used to make new paper or cardboard.

I agree that the assistant in the above shop was well out of order and should have handled the situation much better.

Kavanne

What a load of !!!!. I volunteered at an oxfam shop. If it didn't have any marks or hole in it, we sold it! Yes, of course we didn't sell fur but if the label says its fake..... and what a ridiculous policy about dry cleaning tags.... Oh and your household donations sound fab too, they would fly off the shelf!!

mother_noah

I help out in a charity shop a couple of days a week and always except any donations with a smile and a thankyou.Of course we get give items that we cannot sell in the shop but some of these can be sold for recycling.
We never know what will be in a bag until it is emptied out and we have some amazing thing given to use and we are really grateful for them .

an1179

I also think the assitant was out of order.

I quite often have items of clothing which are not good enough for re-sale and so I ask whether they can get money for rags and state that the items in the bag are not suitable for sale all the charity shops I have been to accept these goods off me. BTW I also donate other items which are suitable for resale

Pollycat

I'm a charity shopaholic and also recycle my unwanted clothes, books, CDs and bric-a-brac to them.

I always used to take them to British Heart Foundation until one volunteer took a huge bag of decent stuff from me (Next/M&S/Wallis etc) and didn't even say 'Thank You'.

Now, I spread my donations around.

Our local Red Cross shop closed a while back but I'm positive that they used to sell coats without dry cleaning labels on.
I know that virtually all the other charity shops sell coats that haven't been dry cleaned just prior to donation.

I think the person the OP spoke to at Red Cross was way out of order and I would have 'voted with my feet' too.