Charity Shops!!!!!! bah humbug

rose_sparky

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote: »

Not too sure about the pillows, but I did once make a nice profit on some vintage nylon Y-fronts (used but, thankfully, clean) bought from a jumble sale.

I don't know whether you are male or female, but either way I bet you had some strange looks when you bought those!! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

pseudopensioner

Well, I'm back on line eventually, the removal van arrived and I was stuck in traffic, they unloaded everything without me here!!!

All boxes were numbered for rooms, but furniture wasn't

I arrived to find SIX wardrobes in a relatively small bedroom.:eek:

I'm never moving house again.

The upside is, the previous owners have left lots of things that I'm sure will sell well on ebay:rotfl:

samanthaknd

rose_sparky wrote: »

My wonderful local charity shop has a really quick turnaround because they are very realistic with their prices <especially books> which means the items fly out of the door.

you are lucky my local charity shop is great for books (3 for a £1) but for clothes..... I'd rather buy them brand new from primark as they sell tops for £4-£5. so I would rather buy brand new for a few £ extra. they are so unrealistic with pricing, no wonder they can't sell any of it. although I did buy 40 tetley tea figurines from it (from 1985) for £2. Although they are still in the bag i bought them in, I hope one day i can pass them on to my kids and they will be worth something. probably not but hope is a nice thing.

samanthaknd

hev wrote: »

When I worked at a charity shop (for a local hospice, not a 'chain'), I always made a point of thanking people properly for donations.

On the other hand, I once opened a black bin bag to find inside a blood stained eiderdown!

Charity shops have to make money, which means that some stuff they cannot shift will have to be put in the rubbish which they will be charged for at business rate. I think that they should still be polite to the people who bring stuff in, even if it is unsaleable, but you have to be realistic about what you take to a charity shop. This is still no excuse for rudeness or the unhelpful attitude. I would have fallen over myself for the books, it means that more donations are likely to follow.

BTW, the worst I ever saw was walking past a Barnardo's charity shop in Llandudno, where a load of obviously unwanted books had been dumped in the rubbish bin outside. Most of it looked saleable if priced appropriately. Somehow, I am less likely to take my stuff there.

BTW II, a charity shop is not to give charity to the purchasers, but to raise money for a good cause. That is not an excuse for over pricing, but they would be wrong not to try and get the best possible price for any item.

That's my rant over - I think the OP was treated shamefully, and I want to stress that there are a lot of nice people in charity shops out there!

lol that is the overpriced charity shop I am talking about too my local one in wishaw scotland, but I did get a GREAT bargain from it a Hans Christian Andersen Readers Digest Book worth £25 for only £2 that is the only bargain I have picked up in Barnados. But My other local charity shop is alot better asd they are very realistic on pricing, usually buy 3 items of clothing for £2 or buy 3 toys for £1 etc. so although it is further away, I would rather travel the distance for it. I don't know if it is an actual charity shop as it says on the sign thrift shop.

samanthaknd

veruccasalt wrote: »

I have had similar experiences. As you say, you are not asking for a medal for making donations, but a smile and a thank you doesnt hurt anyone.

It also means you are less likely to make donations in the future as you will have such bad memeories, so everyone loses out because of one grumpy attitude.

And can I just say I would be very interested in your Graham Greene book-I have never owned a first edition before and would love to. I would be really grateful if you would send me a pm, letting me know how much you would like for it.

TIA!

lol as you mention it I only have 6 first editions and all of them are Harry Potter which although they are worth something (they are NOT signed) I couldn't bring myself to sell them. Myu mum bought me the first HB edition when I was just starting High school and evern although I am 22 now I have put my deposit in WH Smith for book seven as I have done for the past 4 since they brung out the deposi system for them.Anyway back on topic I have seen a few first edition books in charity shops and although they maybe worth something, I didn't buy them as they are not my type of book.But if you have been to some of my previous posts I LOVE books, although I don't like SAS, Army or marine type of books.(That is usually the type of first editions i see)

tsharp

My favourite charity shop near me (leamington spa) has recently changed it's policy. It used to do 3 for £1 on all books. I often used to buy something i wanted, and then buy 2 others i half wanted/was curious about. Often i would list them all, and the ones i bought to make up the 3 books would sell before the one i originally targeted. But now it's all 'as priced', so you're looking at £1.95 for something that might be totally unwanted in terms of resale/reading. I expect they will shift a lot less stock from now on.

samanthaknd

bella4uk wrote: »

I don't see anything wrong in that sign. ....sometimes people just use charity shops as a dumping site....

I do!!!!. Have you never heard the expression "one man's junk is another mans treasure? I know most charity shop workers are voluntary but the local barnados manager isn't and overprices and refuses things "SHE" thinks won't sell. The way I see it is that if it is going for a reasonable price it will sell.

pseudopensioner

Having ventured into the loft in my new house, I find I am the 'proud' !!!! owner of an UltraToner fitness machine or whatever you want to call it.

Can't see the local charity shops being too pleased with that dropped on their doorstep:eek:

C'mon folks, best option ?

1) ebay, but think of the postage

2) Gumtree

3) Freecycle

4) Take it to the recycling depot

5) Send it as a surprise gift to the purchaser of a pair of 'well worn' shoes, pretending I'd worn them out on the bl**dy thing:rotfl:

GiveItBack

I think that there's a huge disparity betwen what some of the posters here thnk is junk and some of the things left in shops.

Most charity shops I know end up spending a fortune on paying for the disposal of things that simply can't be sold - things like dirty nappies, smashed crockery and things that have been taken to countless boot sales by 'pro boot sellers', and still haven't sold.

I imagine that the shops with signs on the door are simply fed up of opening bags of absolute (and actual, in some cases) crap.

I'm torn on pricing, because there's usually more stuff than space, so they want to put the things on display that bring in the best income, but then selling more for less seems better too.

juliaw

I am really fed up with charity shops' attitude towards books. Our local charity shops only sell the ones with new looking covers, so all you can buy there is last year's bestsellers. They seem to be throwing all other book donations in their rubbish bins. I actually took some out of an overflowing wheelie bin recently because I wanted to read them.

Do people making donations realise that the stuff is just being thrown away?