Charity shop volunteers

tiff

Anyone else here volunteer in a charity shop? I've been doing it for a month now and love it but just wondered if anyone else is frustrated by some of what goes on? We have someone who rags what she doesnt like which is a lot of stuff. A volunteer who has his bus fare paid by the charity yet he does no work at all. Ex volunteers who come in on the managers day off to see what we have and just make a donation rather than the price on the tag. I love the nature of volunteering, I work with different people on different days and its hard work but satisfying.

amibovvered

tiff wrote: »

We have someone who rags what she doesnt like which is a lot of stuff.

Sorry, what does that mean?

tiff

Anything that isnt suitable for sale in the shop goes to the "rag man". Basically the charity gets paid per kg for clothes not fit for sale. I feel that too much stuff is "ragged" rather than put out for sale.

tanith

Some charity shops actually get more money for the 'rags' than they do selling stuff in the shop mad as that sounds.. I felt really gutted when I realised all the nice but dated clothes I had been donating for someone else to get the use of, were actually given to the rag man and shredded.. also anything thats donated but can't be sold , electricals for instance, the 'volunteers' would make use of themselves , I witnessed this recently when a nice Italian Coffee machine and a slow cooker were given by the manager to a volunteer... If I'd donated them I'd be mad, though it does state on the shop doorway that electricals can't be resold..

tiff

They get paid around 62p per kg for the rags, not a fortune and some of these can be sold for 99p or more. I think re the electricals its fair enough, everything needs to be PAT tested before it can be sold and we dont have anyone to do that although I do wonder why they dont specifically recruit a volunteer who is qualified to PAT test electrical items.

welshbookworm

Training for PAT testing costs money and the machine costs as well. Charities are loathe to spend money training someone who will probably go on to somewhere else once the training is finished. There is also the problem that you would have to offer some sort of guarantee which could cause added problems.

VfM4meplse

I find that charity shops often attract the weirdest sales staff. I wouldn't be able to spend 2 minutes in their company, so you're an example to us all if you can!

tiff

welshbookworm wrote: »

Training for PAT testing costs money and the machine costs as well. Charities are loathe to spend money training someone who will probably go on to somewhere else once the training is finished. There is also the problem that you would have to offer some sort of guarantee which could cause added problems.

I accept what youre saying, but if Emmaus and Debra can do it, I wonder why other charities cant. Still, I will probably find out in due course, I havent been there long.

passatrider

tiff wrote: »

Anyone else here volunteer in a charity shop? I've been doing it for a month now and love it but just wondered if anyone else is frustrated by some of what goes on? We have someone who rags what she doesnt like which is a lot of stuff. A volunteer who has his bus fare paid by the charity yet he does no work at all. Ex volunteers who come in on the managers day off to see what we have and just make a donation rather than the price on the tag. I love the nature of volunteering, I work with different people on different days and its hard work but satisfying.

I've been working for Oxfam in one of their shops and really do enjoy it. The things I witness however leave me speechless sometimes:

*One Volunteer who 'borrows' things but never returns them

*Volunteers pilfering from the till

*Serial shoplifters

*Customers complaining about prices

*Customers squabbling over purchases

You do meet some varied personalities as a volunteer but I will say it's the best move I've ever made. It's even gone on to help me get a paid position for another charity too!:)

Saturnalia

I'm a volunteer and some of the things that go on do leave me scratching my head.

CDs and DVDs are sometimes left in their cases and sealed up with stickers, other times the empty case is put on the shelf and the disc is in a CD carrier behind the counter. We have a no-returns policy on CDs and DVDs to prevent people buying them, copying them and bringing them back for an exchange then doing the same again; however a lot of people bring the discs back as they won't play and when we look at it, it is scratched to bits. If the boxes are being sealed with a sticker, why isn't the person doing this taking the disc out and at least looking at it to check it isn't scratched? If the discs are behind the counter I check them before selling them to the customer.

Only the managers price things and they seem to have an odd idea of hw to do it. We get a lot of Primark stuff donated and it'll be tagged at only about 50p less than the item would cost brand new. OTOH, we'll get stuff that is designer or high-end-of-the-high-street but in bad condition and a dated style and they'll try to sell it at a stupidy high price. Paperback books are £2-2.50 whereas every other charity shop in town, they are £1 or less.

We do get customers who haggle and we aren't supposed to give them a discount but I do if they are buying a lot or buying clothes that have marks or tears in them, figuring selling the items for a little under the marked price is still money in the till and better than not selling it.

We occasionally get thieves and customers who give us grief but for each one of those there are probably 100 lovely customers.

But I really enjoy my shifts there, the other volunteers are brilliant and so are the vast majority of customers, it gets me out of the house and being useful to society while out of work, and the last job I got I'd put my volunteer job on my CV and was asked about it at the interview so it does you good!

carlislelass

I stopped giving to one charity shop when I found out volunteers were being paid...to me that is not volunteering