Charity Shops..

pete_burns

I have had some fantastic 22 inch bellbottom jeans from a charity shop for a fancy dress party last year - cant beat them

wishingonastar_3

cmjohnson_86 wrote:

I still reckon, they get first picks on things they like

wouldn't surprise me. i partially think as the volunteers give there time first pickis maybe fair, but its still annoying. lol.

lamb7994

wishingonastar wrote:

wouldn't surprise me. i partially think as the volunteers give there time first pickis maybe fair, but its still annoying. lol.

One way you could beat the volunteers to it is become a volunteer yourself!

That is if you have time.


James

andrealm

I've been shopping in charity shops since I was about 16, there are loads in the town I live in. I don't see it's anything to be embarrassed about.
I've got lots of bargains, cashmere jumpers, lovely coats and a leather jacket. You do have to spend quite a lot of time looking to get good stuff but I enjoy it.
I bought my wedding dress in a charity shop.

I wouldn't haggle in a charity shop, that's just mean.

wishingonastar_3

lamb7994 wrote:

One way you could beat the volunteers to it is become a volunteer yourself!

That is if you have time.


James

i used to volunteer at my ocal oxfam for quite some time. sadly now family and work commitments mean i can't, but i loved it when i did. hope to go back and do it again at some point.

Sarahsaver

Loads of bargains but one of them a pair of Moschino shoes for DD for 50p ,and a brand new glass lidded stainless steel frying pan for £2.
Got o the ones just outside posh areas because I have noticed locally thats what people do - they don't want their designer clobber going on sale on their own doorstep so they come a little bit down the road to us (less posh)
Also got DS a brand new monsoon jacket for 50p!

Agent_C

I love charity shops - one thing that puts me off buying on the high street is that the chances of you seeing someone in the street wearing the same thing as you is quite high, but at charity shops you can get some real one-offs. Plus, as a shortarse, if I see a pair of trousers I really like in a charity shop that fit everywhere other than length, I can buy them and still afford to get them taken up (alright, I know the true moneysaver would learn to take them up herself, but I developed a sewing phobia at school). Petite ranges on the high street are often non-existant or limited.

If you're donating to a charity shop though, I'd advise picking one a little further away - when I saw clothes I'd donated ironed and displayed in the window, they looked so good I nearly bought them back!

I've lost count of all the bargains I've had, but my biggest regret is not going into a local charity shop five minutes earlier one day, as I saw a woman walking round with a Hornby Flying Scotsman trainset under her arm. It was a small local charity that generally put £2 on everything, and I knew the trainset was worth a lot more. I'd have actually bought it for my dad as he's wanted one since he was a little boy and has still not realised his dream...

morveryn

Plus, as a shortarse, if I see a pair of trousers I really like in a charity shop that fit everywhere other than length, I can buy them and still afford to get them taken up (alright, I know the true moneysaver would learn to take them up herself, but I developed a sewing phobia at school). Petite ranges on the high street are often non-existant or limited.

I'm 5ft 1 so I feel your pain! :rotfl: Finding skirts, dresses and trousers that aren't yards too long is very difficult, even more so with the current trend for longer trousers.
Lucky for me I had a grandmother who was a tailoress and she taught me how to do lots with a needle and thread.
If you can't sew or don't have time to, bondaweb can work wonders!

Contains_Mild_Peril

I'm a little under 5'1", and I use Quick Hem! One of the really nice things about charity shops is that I occasionally find garments that weren't originally made in petite sizes, but whose previous owner was also a shortarse and has already adjusted them to a suitable length for me!

lamb7994 wrote:

Us people who work in the charity shops absolutely hate people who haggle prices from our view it is cheap in the first place.
We always refuse to offer any discount or lower the prices some of our managers are known for chucking people out of their shops if the refuse toi pay the price on the label.

Just the same as the people who think they can steal from us because it didn't cost us anything in the first place!!!:mad: :mad:

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Are you comparing attempting to haggle with stealing, or were you drawing a comparison between stealing and ejecting customers who ask for a discount from the shop?
I rarely haggle in charity shops, though I usually do at car boot sales. I would normally only try it in a charity shop if I found a significant fault which had evidently been overlooked when the item was priced (in which case I would ask if the defect had been taken into account, rather than ask for a discount directly), or if I wanted to buy a whole lot of similar items (e.g. I once bought a pile of magazines for £5 which would have totalled £5.75 if bought individually).
Stealing from charity shops is despicable, and not really comparable to trying to haggle or to ordering customers to leave. However, in my view, asking a customer to leave simply for choosing not to buy a particular item after an unsuccessful attempt at haggling, is a far worse offence than trying to haggle. In the latter case, if the answer is no, then no harm is done to the shop's (and consequently the charity's) finances. Even if the answer were yes, it would sometimes be a favourable result for the shop, if the item(s) might otherwise remain unsold and eventually be sent for recycling. However, asking an errant customer to leave is likely to deter them from returning when they have more money to spend, and it is also likely to earn the shop a bad reputation, possibly deterring other customers. Since this will adversely affect the shop's takings, I think it's unfair on the charity for anyone with such an attitude problem to take a job managing a charity shop if more suitable candidates are available.

lamb7994

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

I'm a little under 5'1", and I use Quick Hem! One of the really nice things about charity shops is that I occasionally find garments that weren't originally made in petite sizes, but whose previous owner was also a shortarse and has already adjusted them to a suitable length for me!

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Are you comparing attempting to haggle with stealing, or were you drawing a comparison between stealing and ejecting customers who ask for a discount from the shop?
I rarely haggle in charity shops, though I usually do at car boot sales. I would normally only try it in a charity shop if I found a significant fault which had evidently been overlooked when the item was priced (in which case I would ask if the defect had been taken into account, rather than ask for a discount directly), or if I wanted to buy a whole lot of similar items (e.g. I once bought a pile of magazines for £5 which would have totalled £5.75 if bought individually).
Stealing from charity shops is despicable, and not really comparable to trying to haggle or to ordering customers to leave. However, in my view, asking a customer to leave simply for choosing not to buy a particular item after an unsuccessful attempt at haggling, is a far worse offence than trying to haggle. In the latter case, if the answer is no, then no harm is done to the shop's (and consequently the charity's) finances. Even if the answer were yes, it would sometimes be a favourable result for the shop, if the item(s) might otherwise remain unsold and eventually be sent for recycling. However, asking an errant customer to leave is likely to deter them from returning when they have more money to spend, and it is also likely to earn the shop a bad reputation, possibly deterring other customers. Since this will adversely affect the shop's takings, I think it's unfair on the charity for anyone with such an attitude problem to take a job managing a charity shop if more suitable candidates are available.

Sorry if it came accross thatway but i wasn't comparing either but mearly mentioned the two thing in the same posting.
I agree with the bit about ejecting people i just give them the answer if they ask for any discount and normally have a laugh with them oover it and they normally buy it at full price.
But every manager has a different attitude.


James