Charity shop managers.

YoungBusinessman

Many get far too many perks at my local one. Car paid for...that has no form of advertising etc on it to generate at least a bit of return to go to the cost. £47k a year and a 35 hour week at that. To sort out some black bags of old clothes, price them and hang them up and sell the stuff to anyone who comes in.......

Someones milking it!

oldtoolie

Not sure about a forum but check out the Charity Retail Association at
https://www.charityretail.org.uk/

Be sure you are keeping your line manager aware of what you are doing. This is to avoid a group of disgruntled volunteers going over your head with complaints, real and imagined.

welshbookworm

Some of your points are strange
"only allowed discount on clothes they'd wear to work" ? would have me looking for another charity to work for
Re "selling from the back room", I was under the impression that it incurred a 20% VAT loading.
At the charity I work for Volunteers can have a 20% discount of priced stock BUT it must be on the shop floor before they can buy it.
The other rule we have is 'Nothing a volunteer or staff member does should leave the Charity worse off'
At the same time we all have things that we like that the charity can't sell so they get dished out to the volunteers, eg Freeby DVD's from the newspaper, not for resale books etc.
The art of keeping volunteers happy is a very difficult one and different volunteers need a different approach. Things I do include,
English teaching for Volunteers with weak English (They help by using their First language with customers who speak that language),
listening to their worries and suggesting organizations that could help,
making cakes to celebrate Important days,
sending out for cold drinks in a heatwave.
There's probably other things but they are so much part of my ordinary day I just get on and do them . I think I'm doing OK and I know the team We have at the moment are brilliant
Be very careful as good volunteers are worth their weight in gold and you can not run a Charity shop without them.

Bayblue

I'm a charity shop manager. I 'm relatively new to the job, started at Christmas last year, although I have been a 'normal' shop manager for many years. Working alongside and with volunteers is mostly rewarding and very occasionally frustrating.

I have been charged with sorting out a shop which had been slightly neglected and left to it's own devices. What that meant in practise was that despite having a deputy in charge one or two volunteers had been able to do pretty much what they wanted. Nothing terrible had been happening (that I know of!;)) but certainly the rules of what they were allowed to buy and take home freely had definitely been taken advantage of so of course me coming in and changing that caused a few grumbles. That said it all setted down pretty quickly and I kept all of the volunteers and even recruited several much needed new ones.

I only have a problem with one volunteer now, or more accurately, she has a problem with me, but, well she's a difficult woman to get on with- I think her main issue is that she was happier when the shop had no manager so I'm never going to win with her. I've come to realise that I'll never please everyone and so long as we are friendly and can work together well enough then I'll leave it that. The others are fabulous and I'm very proud of the whole team.

I've made quite a few change, improved standards and the shop looks really really good and the figures are good.

To the OP; If the volunteers are not putting things in the correct place then all their (good) work is really not helping the shop - you need to get the bottom of why they are doing it wrong. It could be simply that they don't understand the system, that's easy to correct with a bit more training, or it could be that they don't agree with the merchandising- harder to correct but nonetheless needs doing so, perhaps even more urgently. I'd explain to the all the reasons why each item gets put where it does, ask for their input and ideas and also show them the figures of what sells well in the shop. Most of the time once people understand the reasons behind something they are happy to do it that way. Ultimately though, it's the managers decision, and if there's someone who stubbornly refuses to do something the right way then you have to add up whether that person is right for the shop although hopefully things don't come to that.

I try and be consistent and fair to everyone- for me that's important because some charity shops have been run as exclusive social clubs for the volunteers and not for the benefit of the charity, and that's the mindset of some that we have to overcome.

Overall though it's a good and a very satisfying job- although I don't know where the figures of a 35 hour week and 47k come in. I work nearly 40 hours a week for less than a third of 47k, and TBH I don't know how much longer I'll be able to manage on the money, so much as I enjoy my work, sadly I'm looking for another job. So if anyone can point me in the direction of the charity paying those rates...:p

Edited again to add; Just wanted to pick up on something that Welshbookworm mentioned as well. Is there a good reason for restricting their discount purchases to 'work' clothing only? And indeed what constitutes 'work' clothing? Our volunteers dress smartly in their own clothing for work, just adding the charity badge. so defining work clothes would be nigh on impossible and the cause of too much friction to bother. That's one rule that I would look at changing if I were you OP..

paddyrg

shelovestobuystuff wrote: »

.I'm happy to keep it like this but find that volunteers tend to put stuff out in any old place for quickness no matter how often I go over it with them so it is difficult to keep tidy.

How about a 'putting things back' rail behind the counter, to act as a temporary buffer whilst things gather for someone who knows where stuff goes can get to it? It could even be a minor honour to be one of the trusted staff who understand the reason the layout is as it is for a reason?

BigAunty

Gaz1971 wrote: »

The stuff on sale cost you nothing, so it doesnt matter what you get for it, its all profit.

They might not sign up to do it for the perks but its fair to expect a few perks when you are working for free.

The nature of voluntary work in general means it is largely perk free. The perk is the intrinsic satisfaction of helping to raise money for charity in a role you enjoy doing, plus things like the social side, CV boosting and so on.

If the staff are getting the best 10-20% of the stock at a significant discount and giving their friends 'mates rates', for example, this will reduce charity profits and the shop manager can easily identify how many hundreds or thousands of pounds this loses each year. Why isn't getting first dibs on an item enough of a perk?

I don't agree with the policy of restricting the type of items they can buy, though - restricting it to work related clothing is a bit bizarre.

My mum is a charity shop volunteer and what she loves is that she is allowed unlimited tea and cigarette breaks - it's a small gesture but one she thinks is brilliant after a lifetime of stingy employers with the occasional 15 minute break.

What she doesn't like is getting lumbered with work experience people who don't really want to be there but do it because they are forced to do it to continue to claim benefits - she likes true volunteers. She also doesn't like the low personal hygiene of some of the work experience candidates - she's stuck with them in a small room.

whitewing

I knew a lady who volunteered at a charity shop, had first look at donated goods and bought their good label dresses then sold them on via dress agencies. While I don't have a problem with a customer making that kind of effort, I am uncomfortable with a volunteer doing so on a regular basis.

Does anyone run a charity shop where manger and assistants are all paid and there are no volunteers? Just wondering if such a situation exists...

welshbookworm

BigAunty wrote: »

If the staff are getting the best 10-20% of the stock at a significant discount and giving their friends 'mates rates', for example, this will reduce charity profits and the shop manager can easily identify how many hundreds or thousands of pounds this loses each year. Why isn't getting first dibs on an item enough of a perk?

In the shop I work in Volunteer spending is minimal, perhaps 4 or 5 items a week, of which 20% discount is a few pence. I buy a book a week and return it to be resold the following week. If volunteers were going out with the high percentage of stock BigAunty talks about the shop would be in serious difficulties.

And we don't always get first dibs on something!

Bayblue

Our volunteers are not allowed first dibs on anything either, all stock has to have been out on the shop floor before being bought by staff. All stock is priced by the manager or deputy. This prevents anyone ciphening off the good stuff before it reaches the shop floor. Like other in shops, the volunteers don't tend to buy a lot- it averages about 3 discount sales a week amongst about 20 staff.

If there was someone spending a lot, or buying a particular type of stock and/or I thought that they might be selling it on, then I'd have a quiet word with them. I'm not naive, I know it happens, not least from what I saw as a volunteer in a different charity last year, and what I've heard happened in the shop I'm in. Ultimately we try to be fair to the volunteers, donors, customers and the charity, and it's quite a tricky balancing act- but mostly I think we achieve it successfully.

paulwf

A theme I see in lots of charity shop threads on this forum is that shops are being run on a shoestring with no regard for creating a pleasant environment for staff and customers.

The most important lesson I've learnt about retail is that increasing sales is much more important than cutting costs. Of course ideally both should be done but certainly don't cut corners on providing a good retail experience.

Make sure there is good lighting to present the goods properly, ensure the shop is tidy and in a good state of repair, play appropriate music (yes that means paying out a small amount for a music license!), provide heating in the winter, accept credit cards and so on. Treat it just as you would any for profit shop.

Is your shop on facebook and twitter? If you regularly posted photos of new stock as it came in I bet you could increase trade...assuming you don't let the volunteers grab it first