charity ? too fussy by anybodies standards

jockettuk

mumoftwins wrote: »

My StepMum volunteers in our local hospice shop, most of the women there are really nice and friendly, so for that reason I take my unwanted items for them to sell.

A few months ago I was having a clearout and took 3 bin liners of good, clean, weell looked after womens clothes to the shop. I felt quite pleased with myself as the items were nice and I felt that the shop could do with some more 'modern' clothing on their rails.

A few days later I called back in again and there was one item of mine on the rails, all the rest had completely disappeared! StepMum checked out the back and they weren't there either. She said that one of the volunteers regularly goes into the shop after hours (she has a key) and will look through the items and take the good stuff for her and her family! Apparently, there is nothing that can be done about it, its such a shame as my clothing (and I don't doubt a lot of other donations) would sell well and make the charity a decent amount of money.

if its regular then they should be made to pay a donation to the charity..

Jastons

lynzpower wrote: »

There is one I wont name ( had some good bargains there mind) I boguht a load of clothes from a french connection warehouse sale that I couldnt take back, everything BNWT.a Jacket, 2 pairs of womens trousers marked at 70 quid, sun tops marked about 20.00.

I went back in the shop a week later to find them all on the pound rail, meanwhile seeing a horrible 70s style padded cardigan which was filthy and stank but with sequins all over at a tenner. It makes you want to shake the volunteers, they could have made much more. Howeve,r Ive bought bargains there too.

Could this be because of the age group of volunteers working in the shop? The elderly lady pricing the clothes may have thought the horrible cardigan was a bargain at £10 but the designer label stuff was overpriced tat

pickle

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I would just like to put the charity's point of view.

It's surely better for a charity to only take what it knows it will be able to deal with than to take things which it then has to pay to dispose of. Having said that, I agree they should be clear up front about whether there will be a charge for collection - I know one of our local furniture recycling projects charges a small amount to collect electrical items, and all of them are quite 'fussy' about what they will take.

As for the bequest, it's tricky, because charity trustees are required to ensure that they get what's been promised: if they DON'T 'pursue' bequests that they are aware of they could be in breach of their duty as trustees. This can lead to unfortunate publicity, eg there was a case on the radio where a house hadn't sold so the value of the estate hadn't been finalised but the charity was actively pursuing a legacy, and were suggesting that the executors should pay it themselves rather than wait for the estate to be wound up fully.

I think it's partly down to the manner in which things are communicated. If it's badly done, it will leave a nasty taste for a long time ... but it's unlikely that there would be a direct link between a shiny new car at head office and a particular bequest!

Your're probably right regarding the trustees duty. Unfortunately the effect will be bad publicity which will mean more people are unlikely to leave any bequests if their next-of-kin are going to be upset by the charities, which would be a far worse outcome.

GiveItBack

mumoftwins wrote: »

Apparently, there is nothing that can be done about it, its such a shame as my clothing (and I don't doubt a lot of other donations) would sell well and make the charity a decent amount of money.

there is everything that can be done about it. If she's not paying the labelled price for it, or she's taking things before they're piriced, it's THEFT. So you should make your concerns known to the hospice fundraising or management team to start with. They can easily set up ahidden security camera to run after hours.

Jack's_mummy

Imajica you just described my day yesterday perfectly. I volunteer at a local hospice shop and that is a typical day there too.

The worse thing I found was a yellow and grey crusty sheet with very dubious stains all over it. Thankfully I haven't yet had Sanitary towels left in pants.

rarrarrar

It's surely better for a charity to only take what it knows it will be able to deal with than to take things which it then has to pay to dispose of.

Difficult issue, if someone turns up with a donation then except for items like TV's where disposal will cost significant money , all items should be accepted with thanks.

If someone rings up then one can discuss in more detail whether the items in the proposed donations are really wanted .

Refuse collection does cost money but loosing goodwill and future donations will cost even more money.

GiveItBack

but continuing to accept absolute junk - as described in the above posts will cost the charity mor money than turning away that kind of 'donor'. there is fault on both sides, and at the end of the day the charity shops are the ones dealing with this day in day out. perhaps shops should ask everyone to unbag their items when they arrive?

they could then explain everything so it could be priced better - this is a designer top, cost £100 new, and I've worn it once, this is a urine stained towel I thought you might want.

Hermia

Jastons wrote: »

Could this be because of the age group of volunteers working in the shop? The elderly lady pricing the clothes may have thought the horrible cardigan was a bargain at £10 but the designer label stuff was overpriced tat

I do wonder if that is a problem in a lot of charity shops. I think I previously mentioned taking some Bollywood DVDs into a charity shop and the woman behind the till saying no one would buy them despite the fact that the shop was in an Asian area. I also have a friend who donated some Asian clothes to a charity shop and the two middle-aged white women behind the till basically told her they wouldn't sell. Again the shop was in an Asian area and the clothes were from good brands that Asian women would recognise. Maybe the head office people should be training their staff not to just dismiss items because they don't know anything about them. Mind you, it is good for us customers. I have picked up some very desirable items cheaply from charity shops and the lady behind the till has said, "we didn't think that would sell"!

Savvy_Sue

rarrarrar wrote: »

Refuse collection does cost money but loosing goodwill and future donations will cost even more money.

But surely the ideal is educating people about what we can and can't use?

I speak not from a charity shop point of view, but from a charity which gratefully accepts women's clothing in small sizes and unopened toiletries for our clients. We are also regularly offered baby clothes and equipment, which for various reasons we cannot use. If someone phones with an offer, we can discuss it. If they turn up at regular intervals with bin bags of unsuitable items - or better yet expect us to go and collect them! - it may be difficult to tell them that actually, what you're sending isn't any use so we hope you don't mind if we pass it on to a local charity shop and why don't you cut out the middle man and do that yourself next time, but that's what we need to do!

I agree we shouldn't be too precious about things, but if a charity shop's stock room is already bursting at the seams, there's a health and safety issue if more stuff is taken in when there's not room to deal with it. Personally I wouldn't be offended if a shop said "I'm sorry, we're absolutely packed out this week, are you able to take it anywhere else?" And I would do just that ...

But I do always always ALWAYS wash things before they are passed on - even if I'm putting something in the rag bin I have to wash it first!

rarrarrar

A lot of the comments about mis-pricing, refusing good stock etc could be addressed by having appropriate levels of management in charity shops.
Except in the smallest shops a part time manager should more than pay their way ( a half time manager will cost about £140 per week ) and can address issues such as pricing, merchandising , customer relations and refuse handling.

The Mary Queen of shops program demonstrates the problem of not having strong leadership or a manager !