Nice People Thread No. 14, all Nice and Proper

zagubov

Took some books to a charity shop only to be told, nobody buys them any more, they just use e-readers now. Baffled, as I hardy seem to know anybody who uses e-readers.

Luckily the shop next door took them off my hands without making me feel like I was Fred Flintsone.

Generali

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Wow! That was weird.......

Eh????????

CKhalvashi

Generali wrote: »

Eh????????

You have one new message

Generali

CKhalvashi wrote: »

You have one new message

So do you

zagubov

PasturesNew wrote: »

I had a friend once whose parents bought him a pub. Father was a retired tax inspector. The food was good there. Good plates of regular pub grub at about £5-6/plate. What they did was put the prices up, to say £9-10. Fewer people ate there - it was no longer a place to have your tea; holidaymakers would eat there the first night of their holiday and never again, whereas before they'd eat there every night. So they were making even LESS from the food than before .... so what did they do? Put the prices up to £12-15.

Constantly stocking space with higher priced goods doesn't always make more money. You can simply end up with premises where people stop popping in daily and always buying something.

That's very much the way things go round my neck of the woods. Loads of pubs used to hearty lunches that would suit families, at about £5 for a dish. One by one they've all upgraded themselves into gastropubs where all prices are double-digit and families are being squeezed out to make room for more profitable couples I suppose.

SingleSue

zagubov wrote: »

Took some books to a charity shop only to be told, nobody buys them any more, they just use e-readers now. Baffled, as I hardy seem to know anybody who uses e-readers.

Luckily the shop next door took them off my hands without making me feel like I was Fred Flintsone.

I've stopped donating books (and clothes) to the major charity shops now after first watching someone dropping off a load of stuff and as soon as he had gone, the whole lot being chucked in the bin (we did manage to salvage one item before it went in which was handy for James at uni). Their reasoning was that no-one bought the stuff either.

Secondly, a friend volunteers for a charity shop and he informed me of the same thing re books, especially non fiction. No matter the condition, all non fiction goes straight in the bin to be pulped, clothes, unless in perfect condition and a brand name, goes for ragging.

It all goes into a little local charity shop now that uses the clothes for the homeless (they tend not to worry about things being a brand name or a couple of years old) or for families where money is tight/a disaster has befallen them.

No wonder you can't find cheap and slightly imperfect or old clothes for fancy dress or costume days at school now. They were so handy when James was in cubs and scouts for the treks they did, where you really didn't want them to be wearing their best gear.

kabayiri

zagubov wrote: »

That's very much the way things go round my neck of the woods. Loads of pubs used to hearty lunches that would suit families, at about £5 for a dish. One by one they've all upgraded themselves into gastropubs where all prices are double-digit and families are being squeezed out to make room for more profitable couples I suppose.

I blame MasterChef

You don't get "sauce" or "gravy" now.

Instead, it's "jus" or "coulis".

Everything is on a bed of something : bed of rice; bed of freshly tossed rocket leaves with a sprinkling of olives.

I'm going to go on the show with everything in tins and packets and claim it's the ultimate "deconstructed" cheesecake

kabayiri

The Knutsford charity shop were asking between £5 and £10 for vinyl lps !

I'm not adverse to paying a decent price, but I expect vinyl in good condition. This stuff had clearly been played on Binatone's not so finest.

SingleSue

PasturesNew wrote: »

If you strip out the books and shove in trinkets, pictures and small kitchenwares, it'll shift more quickly and make them more money.

There's little room in today's pricey square foot for books.

I bet if they flogged all books for 20p they'd find they shift a lot more, faster - and turn dud stock into profitable £/sq ft items, but they don't think like that.

They chuck out most of the trinkets, kitchenware (unless complete or a brand) and pictures straight away too.

They don't like bric a brac apparently......

I've also suggested pricing things differently like you but prices are set by head office and the manager has no discretion on them.

zagubov

kabayiri wrote: »

I blame MasterChef

You don't get "sauce" or "gravy" now.

Instead, it's "jus" or "coulis".

Everything is on a bed of something : bed of rice; bed of freshly tossed rocket leaves with a sprinkling of olives.

I'm going to go on the show with everything in tins and packets and claim it's the ultimate "deconstructed" cheesecake

My budget's more LittleChef than MasterChef!:D

There was a craze round here a while ago for pubs to offer only Thai food. Not the most obvious match but loads of places were into it. Thai food suits a restaurant IMHO but in a pub European or maybe Indian food seems appealing.

I feel very old-fashioned.