charity ? too fussy by anybodies standards

valk_scot

Well I'm sitting here being pleased with myself because I usually have two recycling bags on the go at any one time...scruffy old clothes that go into the rag hopper at the recycling centre, and the decent stuff. I'm not making any claims to ironing it first but at least it's been washed, folded and checked for stains or damage.

My local Hearing Dogs for the Deaf shop cleared my late mother's house for nothing, except I had to cover the commercial waste dumping charge for the stuff they couldn't sell. That was £100 and I gave them a donation of £50....the cheapest quote I'd had from the commercial house clearers was £350. They did sell a lot of my mother's furniture and did very well from the clothes too...my mother loved her sales but hardly wore any of it, so had three wardrobes full of BNWTs good brand clothes. They told me later they had made about £600 from that one house clearance, I got the job done cheaply and easily and last but not least my mum would have approved of the charity.

I do love charity shops and never pass one by. I've had some incredible bargains...I do a lot of craft work and charity shops are an excellent source of supplies. My children were mostly clothed from chaity shops when they were little because we were skint, and even now i keep my eyes open for good play clothes for them. I do agree that some prices are ridiculous but then again, no-one is forcing me to buy it. I just go somewhere else.

Wings_of_Ambition

Just seen on Gumtree that BHF are looking for charity shop managers!

http://www.gumtree.com/london/32/40173932.html

kissjenn

imajica wrote: »

And on a lighter note after my mammoth rant: to all those charity shop workers - what is the worst thing you've had donated? My own personal favourite is a hamster cage with the dead hamster still in it.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I read this out to my 16 yr old son who works on Friday afternoons at the local PDSA. He's the only boy and was asked to check the size of sexy santa outfit the other week by a lady. Mortification and what's the number for Childline followed! He does seem to spend an inordinate amount of time in Ladies Lingerie more commonly referred to as "Mum, I've been up to my armpits in knickers again", but of course we're supportive of his choices here :rotfl::rotfl:

Oddjob

Personally I wouldn't give to BHF. A few years ago I was attending a country show at Hayfield in Derbyshire which is near Stockport.
I tried to book a B&B but couldn't as all the local places were all fully booked for BHF people who had a charity stall at the country fair. It was the Manchester branch of the charity.
I would have thought that those people would have easily have been able to travel to the venue for the two days it was on, without having to stay, and why on earth did they need so many rooms booking for one little charity stand? Any money they had made would have been gobbled up in B&B fees.

GiveItBack

Oddjob wrote: »

Personally I wouldn't give to BHF. A few years ago I was attending a country show at Hayfield in Derbyshire which is near Stockport.
I tried to book a B&B but couldn't as all the local places were all fully booked for BHF people who had a charity stall at the country fair. It was the Manchester branch of the charity.
I would have thought that those people would have easily have been able to travel to the venue for the two days it was on, without having to stay, and why on earth did they need so many rooms booking for one little charity stand? Any money they had made would have been gobbled up in B&B fees.

they could have been volunteers and they could have been paying for it themselves, who knows..

mippy

I have two charity shops near me. One is a chain, with really friendly staff, well-stocked, well priced. The other is a 'local' charity. I went to donate, and the woman was very rude indeed, not even saying thanks. They wildly overprice - burnt-out pans for £1.50, tatty books £3.

One of them gets more donations from me...

thistledome

Good thread. I laughed about the Hamster until my Husband said it wasn't funny and the poor thing obviously wasn't loved.

The worst thing I ever saw in a Charity Shop (Oxfam) was the two old Ladies behind the counter taking the mickey out of the speech impediment of an elderly deaf Man who was buying something. He was smiling at them, which made it worse. Haven't been in there since, I felt so horrible.:(

Apart from that (and one other incident) I've found Charity Shop staff to be no different from other retail staff. Most of them are more friendly, if anything.

willa

Cats Protection shops are great, I love the one local to me. I've had two really nice leather handbags (prob from 70s or 80s) from there for a pound each. British Heart Foundation is definitely the kind to charge £4.50 where Oxfam might charge £2.99 and Cats Protection £1.50. I don't mind giving the money to charity but shops like the BHF do seem to be taking the pee slightly sometimes.
I love charity shops, some people are snooty about them but for clothes they are fantastic. A good wash and what's the problem?
I have found loads of bargain items of clothing, usually M&S stuff, woollen stuff, gorgeous old velvet skirts that sort of thing. You have to go in often to catch the odd gem.
I did find a gorgeous pair of long old velvet curtains in an Oxfam once and asked them to keep them for me 'til the next day. One of the old ladies working there said she would bag them up for me and put my name on them. I went back and was told she must have put them in a 'recycling' bag and they had gone off.. somewhere.. to another shop maybe.. and they refused to try to locate them (manager). :mad:
My one general grumble apart from occasionally rude staff, as with anywhere, is when the tags are attached to clothes by punching the little plastic thread through the garment and not the label - leaving a hole in the garment that didn't need to be there!
I have used Freecycle to give things away but have been rather put off by people who say they will come at a certain time and then just don't turn up or bother to contact. Also people who email to say can they have something, then when you ring them up 5 mins later and say 'Hi, it's ... from Freecycle about the ....' they sound bemused and like why are you bothering me. This has happened more than once, very strange!
So, I think I would rather let the charity shops have my clearout stuff, not just because it's for charity but because it's all got a bit too throwaway in this society and charity shops are a fab way of recycling.

rotweiller

A while ago I worked for a company that tried to get people to subscribe to a magazine. It was A5 size approx and approx £3.50 i think a month done by direct debit. If you signed up for a year in one go then you got a teddybear or something which was an incentive for you to pay as supposidly it was cheeper than paying monthly.

This company has reps in shoping malls and in the street and comes door to door trying to get you to subscribe and the way they try to get you to sign up is by saying the benefits that you get like the discounted tickets for things like alton towers and discounts on insurances and prize draws etc.

They also try to tell you how much they have raised for various charaties including macmillan nurses and tell you that by subscribing you are helping them raise more money

I read the small print one day and was horrified to learn that the company had made XXXXXXX profit and that only 10% of the price of the magazine went to the charaties

I wont deceive you I WAS paid a salary and commission on top of that of the sales and received a company car also but it was hard as you had to get a set amount of sales each week

I decided that I had morals and couldnt rip people off and so left so I spent 6 months jobless and on the dole which was better for me in a way than working for a company that i personally felt was committing a scam and i couldn't sell this to people knowing how little was really going to charities, it goes against my principles

crazy_girl

i recently took 4 bags of books to age concern. im a pretty small lady and trust me i nearly did myself a mischief taking them into town! the lady in age concern ignored me in order to talk (very nicely) to two customers then when she did actually acknowledge me it was only to say 'four bags?' she didnt even look up or say anythign when i said goodbye and left. i already have mental health problems and it takes me a lot to go out and do stuff, wish i hadnt bothered on that particular day after that!