Donating to a Charity Shop...which one?

Violetta_2

Depends what it is but when I was getting rid of some baby stuff I emailed my local womens aid & they were delighted to take a pram, buggy, cotbed & travel cot off my hands & I knew they would go to someone in need. Might be worth contacting your local one I'm sure they could find someone to enjoy the toy's & could do with some clothes.

Bloomin_Freezing2

Violetta wrote: »

Depends what it is but when I was getting rid of some baby stuff I emailed my local womens aid & they were delighted to take a pram, buggy, cotbed & travel cot off my hands & I knew they would go to someone in need. Might be worth contacting your local one I'm sure they could find someone to enjoy the toy's & could do with some clothes.

What a wonderful suggestion! Something I will remember when the kids out grow things.

KimmyCustard

My Mum is a volunteer for the Cats Protection League and they get given tons of stuff. Their ladies sort through all the stuff and usually about 2 days later its out on the shelves, ready for sale. They cant take electrical items but take everything else and also transport the newer items to their Summer and Christmas Fares where it will be sold quicker than in the shop. Nice to think the rescued !!!!!!s will have a warm bed while they wait for a new owner.

I also give to the British Heart Foundation, esp books, got loads of them!

bestpud

A local shop I know of has lots of stock out the back and so it can take a while to get to the shelves.

Also, they will pass things on to other charities if they know they are looking for items - Women's Aid/Age Concern etc etc

If they have loads of videos/CDs/DVDs they will donate so many to local playgroups/youth groups etc.

Some stuff goes for rags (that actually mounts up and is a valued part of the sales).

Some goes to a book seller who regularly collects.

Some donations are sold on ebay.

Some donations are put by for the regular table sale in town (some things seem to see much better there for some reason).

Some donations are used to decorate venues, or otherwise help out local organisations when they hold different events - clothes for a local fashion show put together by young people and the like.

Plus, being local, they tend to kow their customers and will put something by if they know someone if hunting for one.

Very little is thrown away and volunteers pay the same price for anything they buy.

You might have gone in and found some of you items on display, but if they weren't, you'd need to be lucky enough to ask the right person where they actually went.

I can say you'd have received a more positive response though, from whoever you spoke to, and would hopefully not have left feeling your donation meant nothing.

System

we took a load of stuff dd had decided to donate to help the aged shop and we were told there were too many toys ! all were in vgc, soft toys had been laundered. they tried to pick + chose what they took so i gathered it all up and went else where.

adouglasmhor

donnaessex wrote: »

I stopped donating to my local charity shop when I turned up at a boot sale one Sunday and found the Manager flogging some of my old clothes on her own stall.

I do my own boot sales now and donate half of it as a cash payment.

Did you confront the thieving cow? Or take a phone pic for your local rag? I would have.

Savvy_Sue

Lilacblue wrote: »

I mention the 'sales target' only because I was very surprised by it... the shop should get rates-relief, and as all but one of the staff are volunteers, have low overheads. £2,000 seemed a huge amount to hit each week.

They may get rate relief, but the overheads may not be as low as you think: banking, utilities, waste disposal, shop supplies etc. Some volunteers may need to claim travel expenses (which is not unreasonable): it all adds up.

FWIW, I'd take it where it suited me, as long as I got a reasonable reception. So that means easy parking and unloading, AND for my dad's clothes I want them somewhere I don't browse regularly. He had many distinctive shirts, and I don't want to see them when I'm browsing.

We do have a very good choice, and I love browsing charity shops, but I think they do have a clear 'branded' feel these days: the way the clothes are sorted, the kind of things on display and how they are laid out etc. So I have my favourites which suit me!

Vaila

it annoys me slightly when the more "profit earning" charities have vintage sections in their shops, this means they often sell said vintage items at prices to rival a real vintage or even highstreet shop. i think that charity shops should be about people donating money for items, not them trying to squeeze blood from a stone and in some cases to line their own pockets. i tend to donate to smaller, charity shops with causes related t the local area. i get a bit annoyed that some staff see taking donated items for free as being a perk of the job. ofcourse not all volunteers are like this

adouglasmhor

Near us the owners of vintage shops are notorious for being first in cutting through the stock before anyone else - I don't blame the charity shops for branching out on their own into this market.

alec_eiffel

adouglasmhor wrote: »

Near us the owners of vintage shops are notorious for being first in cutting through the stock before anyone else - I don't blame the charity shops for branching out on their own into this market.

I agree, we had a couple of buyers come in looking for bric a brac to sell on. They did a different town each day to get stuff to ebay or sell in their shop each week. He even complained to me one day that it wasn't as good now charities were becoming more professional and know the value of things these days.

Over the past year or so we also had a bloke coming in every week asking for real fur coats, apparently there's a big demand from them at the minute and he left his card and offered generous prices for any real fur we might get in.