Charity shops?

MadelinesMum

My brother used to volunteer in a Charity Shop and he said that most of the good stuff never made it to the shop floor - "perks of the job" was what the other ladies who worked there called it. They would pay a minimal amount and go home with £££s worth of clobber. Needless to say, he didn't work there long. When he said he didn't agree with it, it was obvious he was in the minority, so he left.

whitewing

In my experience of family and friends, people tend to give relatives first dibs at stuff they want to get rid of, and family members are often similar heights, and shapes with potentially similar hobbies so that may explain why there is no so much better brands there.

Saturnalia

What a shame. I work in one of the big-name nationwide charity shops, and it's spelt out to us that anything we want from the donations, we can put it in the back room for the duration of our shift, then pay for it when we leave. Yes I do often leave with bags full - but the till contains a receipt signed by me and my manager and I have the duplicate.

I bet stock does walk occasionally, you could never wipe out theft altogether, but what I'm saying is it isn't seen to be tolerated.

Selling more valuable items to dealers or on e-bay though, I wish my shop would do that. We've had big-ticket items on the shelves for months that just don't sell, partly as customers are looking in the shop for bargains, partly as our manager overcharges and customers won't buy a used bag or boots for only £20 less than they sell at brand new.

Plus we don't have tags or security staff so pricy items in the shop are at risk of being stolen. And ornaments, crockery etc. can get broken by accident.

It would be far better to stick these things on e-bay & free up the shop space for goods that our regulars buy.

Contains_Mild_Peril

At the one where I work, staff are not permitted to price things we intend to buy ourselves: we have to ask another member of staff who will price it as they normally would. Sales to staff are also recorded in a book (this doesn't apply to off-duty staff who happen to buy stuff that's already on the shop floor).

sacsquacco wrote: »

I agree with the OP, I have looked in vain for top quality Berghaus and Karrimore raincoats, or any of the expensive raincoats such as North Face etc and never ever seen one for sale.

I've seen those brands in charity shops in my town. They usually sell for about £20 or so. One of our local charity shops has been known to charge up to £150 for top brand coats, but it is in a prime location with good big display windows: the one where I work is on a little back street and has small windows which couldn't accommodate dressed mannequins, so we would be more likely to eBay such items.

Manchee wrote: »

Ugh I hardly ever bother with charity shops now days, there's never anything in them thats worth a look. Also they're so expensive, I think the last straw was when I found a shop selling primark clothing for more that primark originally sold for!

I actually got barred from a charity shop once for asking if they were aware that a T-shirt they were selling was available cheaper brand new in a nearby shop. I suppose it must have seemed cheeky to them, but I was actually trying to be helpful (and not trying to haggle - I didn't even want the T-shirt).

worbikeman

Africa is still poor:think:

Saturnalia

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote: »

At the one where I work, staff are not permitted to price things we intend to buy ourselves: we have to ask another member of staff who will price it as they normally would.

Only managers price stuff at ours, we aren't allowed to do it. Sadly our manager overprices stuff and customers don't want to buy it - last season's Primark for about £1 less than it would cost brand new? The manager is the only one who can knock anything off the price if customers ask - I'd rather sell donated stock at a reasonable price the customer can pay, rather than it sit on the shelf 6 months in the hope of £2 more at some point.

166million

I think this is illegal if the money is not going to the charity.

Almo

Personally, I'd have no problem with charity shop staff buying donated goods before they hit the shop floor, providing they were paying the going rate. Others have already touched on how the going rate can be enforced. It's common in retail for staff to get first dibs on bargains etc, and if they're paying what the customer would pay then the charity gets their money anyway. I can see how that might be frustrating for customers, but I do think it's fair.

If they are getting discounts then that's a different matter and not acceptable. How you realistically prevent that, I don't know.