Plastic Bags Charities Put Through Letterboxes.

Valanita

We have had several of these over the years & usually I don't have anything to donate, but one charity put a bag in the letterbox three weeks ago & as I had just sorted out a load of clothing I could no longer wear, I filled the bag I had, plus two neighbours bags, with my clothing items.
The day came for them to be collected, no collector, so 2 days later I rang the number on the bag, probably at great expense as I believe it is a premium rate one.
The lady on the phone was very appologetic, said she would get the man to collect & he would ring me before arrival. Nothing since!
:mad:The bags are still in the front porch, Hubby is getting fed up with them being there & I shall certainly not bother to fill another charity bag put through the door.:mad:
I will shortly take the clothing to a local charity shop, so the original charity has dipped out.

AlwaysWorking

I find that 9 out of 10 of the ones I get through my door (get a lot of them!) are not even for 'proper' charities. It amazes me that these companies are allowed to get away with this! I bring my unwanted items to the charity shop...at least that way I know I'm not lining the pockets of some company to sell the items on!

Valanita

It is a well known charity, AlwaysWorking & not a flybynight one, unfortunately we don't have a branch of that particular charity within a reasonable traveling distance, which seems strange when there are so many others.

Savvy_Sue

Even some of the 'regular' charities use collection agencies, which means that the clothes are not necessarily going direct to the charity shop.

fiscalfreckles

AlwaysWorking is the name of the poster the OP is responding to!!!

I get so many (some legit & some not) that I'd just wait until I got another legit one through the door and transfer the stuff to that bag. I don't drive so its hard for me to take much of any bulk to a shop directly, though that is the safest way as the bags aren't always picked up by who they should be. I am usually at home during the day so I keep an eye out for the vans and make sure they have a logo or the collectors have some ID.

DCFC79

Id give the clothes to a charity eg 1 on the high street

Valanita

DCFC79 wrote: »

Id give the clothes to a charity eg 1 on the high street

That is what I intend to do, but I don't drive so have to wait till my Daughter can take me.

ih8stress

I've recently put a 'no charity bags' sign on my door as my street has had at least 2-3 charity bags/leaflets per week for the last 2 years. The final straw came when I got FOUR of them in one day, three of them collecting on the following Wednesday!

This may sound mean but I NEVER use them as I prefer to donate to the charity shop (of my choice) instead as that way I know it gets to them directly - it's hard to tell, especially with the leaflets, if they are genuine.

Also, as Savvy Sue says, delivery firms understandably get a 'cut' of the profits.

I don't have transport myself so it is abit more effort but I prefer to do it this way.

One thing that does bemuse me though is the 'big fuss' for people to stop using plastic carrier bags, yet charity bags must be as big a problem and never get a mention?

NEH

We have one in particular where we live which puts a bag through the door and it says on it if you have nothing keep the bag till next time. The only thing is they keep putting new ones through the door and I end up throwing them out, what a waste...

ih8stress

NEH wrote: »

I end up throwing them out, what a waste...

I do actually recycle the ones that I have still got, usually when doing the gardening, as rubbish bags etc. or for when I do donate to the local charity shops.

escapee

ih8stress wrote: »

This may sound mean but I NEVER use them as I prefer to donate to the charity shop (of my choice) instead as that way I know it gets to them directly - it's hard to tell, especially with the leaflets, if they are genuine.

Then you are not a very environmentally conscious person , I quite happily take any donation bags that come through my door as they make fantastic bin liners.

ALL of the bags I receive say that the charity will get £XX for every TONNE of clothes donated. This means that a company is benefiting from my donation and less so the charity.

I live in close proximity to a clothes recycling centre, which one of my cousins used to work for and they make £16,000 profit on every lorry load of clothes they can 'recycle'. Compared with the few pounds the charity gets, who is actually benefiting here??

Take your clothes directly to a charity shop and use your bags wisely...... I do!! :beer: