Charity shop volunteers

lollipopsarah

My MIL used to do a couple of afternoons, and she loved it, got her out of the house into the real world etc and the perks were good, if she went in on the right day, she would get a pick of the new stuff, and yes she paid for it, and very gratefull we were for the childrens clothes.
As for the comment about *weird* staff,, yes i've met a few, but at least they all have the best motives to do some good/give something back etc. (and at the time my MIL was like hyacinth bucket, bless her)
x

ikati5

Employers like charity volunteers because it shows a willingness to work for no money, the ability to work in a diverse team and gain new or polish up old skills.

Charity shops are big business and run as such, they are not a fundraising jumblesales, they are high street retailers, the management team are paid good money to ensure success and they are reliant on voluntary staff who work for free or perhaps bus fare expenses, a lot of older people have a free bus pass. In the workplace these volunteers would get, by law, £5.93, should they not get a few perks, discounted goods and the pick of the crop? The major high street chains pay their staff and give them staff discount of 10 to 20%.

Savvy_Sue

VfM4meplse wrote: »

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!

there's an alternative, of course ...

(but I'm sure tiff is lovely! :rotfl:)

tiff wrote: »

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.

I don't know about Debra, they may have just decided there's a niche they can fill, or they may have a volunteer they know they should be able to rely on for a while, but Emmaus work on a different model to most charity shops. There are various Emmaus communities, and if you live in one, you're expected to work for the community, in Bristol for one of their social businesses. So they have an ongoing 'supply' of volunteers who need to be contribute in some way - some of them work in the shops, some of them work on furniture restoration, and some of them can be trained to do PA testing.

carlislelass wrote: »

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

I think that most charity shops have at least one paid member of staff, possibly more: running a shop which HAS to be open when the public expect it needs consistency IMO. Especially if your volunteers are, shall we say, a little 'challenging' or overcoming some of life's difficulties.

And volunteers may be paid expenses - travel and possibly a lunch allowance as well.

I work for a charity: we don't have a charity shop but we do need a lot of volunteers, and as we don't want to exclude anyone from volunteering we will pay reasonable expenses. Not many volunteers ask for expenses, but it's there if they need it.

Saturnalia

Yep, our managers are salaried staff but the rest of us are volunteers.

We qualify for reasonable travel expenses which is probably bus fare there & back, however I live not 10 mins walk from mine so don't need, use or claim it.

Savvy_Sue

Saturnalia wrote: »

Yep, our managers are salaried staff but the rest of us are volunteers.

and would you, could you, do their job for the love of it?

Saturnalia

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

and would you, could you, do their job for the love of it?

No, theirs is a completely different job. I'm not arguing against them being salaried as for them it is full time work, the rest of us do a shift or two a week. There are only a couple of paid staff, the vast majority of the crew are volunteers.

Savvy_Sue

Saturnalia wrote: »

No, theirs is a completely different job. I'm not arguing against them being salaried as for them it is full time work, the rest of us do a shift or two a week. There are only a couple of paid staff, the vast majority of the crew are volunteers.

That's my point: you often NEED the mix of paid staff and volunteers within a charity. And trying to run a charity shop without a full-time salaried manager would be an absolute nightmare!

Sorry, it's one of my regular 'topics' when people start saying that charities shouldn't have paid staff, the senior staff within charities are overpaid etc etc etc. Doing a couple of days a week is fine as a volunteer: living on fresh air is not so fine ...

BTW tiff, do you get a chance for 'supervision' or a 1:1 session with the manager at all? Some of the things you've noticed would be worth asking about, although you need to frame your questions delicately in some cases! After all, the lady who 'rags' more than you would may geniunely have a feel for what does and does not sell well, and the volunteer who does no work may be a longstanding one who just can't cope with the 'work' atm but is 'carried' by other staff for a while to help the volunteer.

Of course, when you're new you can ask innocent questions, "oh, is that right that ex volunteers needn't pay full price, as long as they give a donation?"

tiff

I agree with the need for a paid manager too, no doubt about it.

I will be working with the manager now and then so will be able to ask questions. The lady who rags everything is someone they rely on, she works 3 days a week and works all day opening up the shop etc and has done for many years. I think she's great and dont want to step on anyones toes so will probably not say anything about that. The volunteer that does no work does know the charities system, the till etc so they kind of keep him as back up.

I hope I'm not one of those weird staff that VfM4meplse mentioned lol

Saturnalia

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

That's my point: you often NEED the mix of paid staff and volunteers within a charity. And trying to run a charity shop without a full-time salaried manager would be an absolute nightmare!

Sorry, it's one of my regular 'topics' when people start saying that charities shouldn't have paid staff, the senior staff within charities are overpaid etc etc etc. Doing a couple of days a week is fine as a volunteer: living on fresh air is not so fine ...

I wasn't arguing with you that salaried mangers are needed, I agree with you. I was responding to Carlislelass who said she stopped donating when she found out a charity had paid staff, a shop will probably have a few full-time salaried managers and the rest of the staff will be volunteers who can possibly claim travel costs and sometimes a small lunch allowance.

Sorry if I didn't make it clear! I'd had a few drinks and was mostly following the riot news last night.

Savvy_Sue

Sorry, I was making the point more to others than to you. Those who think charities / charity shops should operate with no paid staff should try it: I know that's how many charities start, but longer term it's not the best, or even the most cost-efficient way to do it.