Charity shops - expensive?

monkeymonkeymonkey

annie-c wrote: »

I'm surprised that they are able to identify the thefts as being specifically by Polish and Eastern European individuals. I'd have thought that shoplifting is done covertly - if we saw it, we could stop it! So I do wonder if assumptions are being made abut the racial identity of the shoplifters, without actual knowledge.

Personally I think shoplifting from charity shops is very sad but I have never been penniless, homeless or starving so I don't know how 'good' a person I am in that respect.

I totally agree...

monkeymonkeymonkey

Reverbe wrote: »

Or just cheeky. I think in my local area we have a lot of problems with Polish and other Eastern Europeans stealing from charity shops even before the recent credit crunch and charity shop price increases.(I am quite friendly with my local ones and you do tend to hear these tales) I tend not think not how desperate must you be to steal from charity shops, but how scummy must you be to take money from deserving causes and people with illness etc.But then again maybe I am too good as I am the type of person who would not steal if I was penniless, homeless and starving.

I don't know how 'good' a person you are if you have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for the pathetic plight of a person who has to steal clothes from a charity shop! Whatever your opinions about it, I don't really see what their race has to do with it, anyway.

northern_star

I had my purse stolen from my bag while in a charity shop and the police told me they are a theives paradise as they often have little or no security. Apparently people steal from them as there is much less chance of being caught due to the lack of security camera's etc and the fact that they are often staffed by volunteers from some of societies more vulnerable groups.

Frugalista

Our local hospice shop has really good prices - paperbacks 30p each or 5 for £1, three £1 and 50p rails, boxes of bric-a-brac 10p or 50p:j. I always come home with far too much "stuff":rolleyes:.

Whilst in there last week, they were telling me that they are getting far fewer donations and one of the big contributing factors was the slow down in the housing market. When people are packing up to move house they tend to have a good clear-out - and this is where the charities benefit. This particular hospice shop also has a furniture section and this, apparently, has seen a big drop in donations for this very reason.

Chopsie&Chelvis

I picked up a couple of old 'take a break' and 'chat' magazines in a charity shop last year for my nan who'll read anything and everything - no price on them, but I thought they'd be 5 or 10p maybe.

£1 a mag :eek: - according to the woman at the till, they're 'first editions' so 'you should expect to pay a fair price for them'. I started laughing, then realised she was serious. What planet was she on? They're only about 60p new!

I don't bother with the charity shops near me anymore - £1.50+ for smelly, battered paperbacks, clothes costing more than new. I used to browse every week, but when I realised I hadn't bought anything for months, I stopped. Now, I probably only go in once every month. Surely my 2 or 3 50p books a week brought them more cash than 1 or 2 £1.50 every couple of months? The ones near me will close soon I'm sure, they've priced themselves out.

luxor4t

One place in my town asks £1.99/£2.50 for very bog standard paperbacks (eg Jeffery Archer etc) & £1.50 for well used pillowcases. Clothes start at £2.50 for old Primark t-shirts.

It is amazing they are still open as the Poundshop &the 99p shop are just across the road!

wendywitch

I use to buy lots from charity shops but I've also seen the prices increase. I do still try to donate things to them but sometimes with the reception you get when taking it in I wonder why I bother. Half the time they don't want it or only want certain things and the other day I got told it must be already ready to put out for sell as they have no facilities to wash the stuff.
Not that I'd ever donate anything that was dirty but I bet some people do, which has put me off from buying in there!

Jack's_mummy

wendywitch wrote: »

Not that I'd ever donate anything that was dirty but I bet some people do, which has put me off from buying in there!

Trust me they do. I volunteer in a shop and it's amazing the dirty stuff that comes in. I have been known to retch at the smells of some stuff unpacking it._pale_ It doesn't get put out for sale though. We sell all our rags for money for the hospice.

Please remember that most charity shops have very little storage space so if they say they can't take stuff usually it's because they really dont' have room for it. This is certainly true for us when people turn up with a bootful of books. we really have no where to store it all, it's not that we are being funny.

pigpen

dolly_day_dream wrote: »

What you need to consider is that the charities have a responsibility to raise as much money as they can. They still have to pay council tax, rent, electricity etc for their shops. ...

Actually they don't have to pay council tax and have often got subsidised rent.. or at least the 11 down my street do! That is why they are able to afford shops in main high streets and when the retailers are all shutting up shop the charity shops fill their stead!

They do pay utilities and phone lines though.. And it isn't like they have staff to pay as usually it is only the shop managers that are waged.

I do realise they have overheads still however minimal by comparison but it is unfair to say they pay the same as proper shop owners because they don't.

Barneysmom

I don't really go any more, Asda etc is much cheaper.
I went to one in Alderly Edge once and a jacket was £40.00
Handbag £100 :eek: - for a handbag, they're having a laugh.