Charity shops. Their noses are turned upwards

charlies-aunt

Shocking attitudes and unacceptable rudeness for charity shop staff!!

I work for a Housing Association and we are grateful to receive donations of used but still good baby/children's clothes, toys and books and household items - pots and pans, cutlery, curtains, cots/beds, bedding, furniture and white goods etc, which we can pass on to our young tenants, refugee families and families in hardship.

Any surplus is offered to the women's refuge, the food bank and other charitable organisation.

My DD2 works for an animal charity, who appeal for bedding - which doesn't need to be new, just clean ... but they are often receive donations of heavily stained, smelly quilts and pillows, which have to be binned

lessonlearned

I have worked as a volunteer, I am a regular donator and a regular purchaser.

I tend to agree that some of the larger chains do sometimes operate a stricter criteria than the smaller independents and can be a bit snooty. However, often they have rules set by head office which might seem a bit OTT, especially when they relate to H&S guidelines. E.g. No electrical items, children's toys and equipment. Some of the cheaper soft toys made in the Far East can be lethal.

We used to squeeze them to death checking for metal pins etc and would often throw them away rather than risk anything. Even a safety label such as a BSS (British Safety Standard) can be faked. Anything with a button or bead eye was automatically thrown out

However the rudeness is unacceptable, whether they are real volunteers or reluctant work placements is irrelevant. Report them.

I always find that our local YMCA will often take things that other chazzers are sniffy about. They house, feed and clothe the homeless after all so they aren't too bothered about everything being pristine. If they can't sell an item of clothing it just goes to the night shelters to be given away to the destitute. They also have a couple of volunteers who check over furniture and undertake any minor repairs and all electrical items are pat tested.

I have a friend who helps at a women's refuge. These women usually arrive in the dead of night, usually in their nightwear, often barefoot and carrying nothing but their children. They literally have nothing. They always want clothing but also toys, books, baby equipment etc, and also toiletries etc are also very welcome.

Often the premises are tucked away and not advertised (for obvious reasons) but you should be able to track them down with a bit of detective work.

Mojisola

lessonlearned wrote: »

Often the premises are tucked away and not advertised (for obvious reasons) but you should be able to track them down with a bit of detective work.

I really hope you can't! If someone donating goods can find them so can violent partners.

Pass the goods onto social workers who will take the stuff to the refuge.

jackyann

I think some of the problems arise when people are clearing out, either other people's stuff, or maybe their own after a long period.
Most of us realise that you should donate clean stuff with minimal wear to charity shop- or anywhere else, but sometimes people sweep up a load of stuff, don't have time to sort it, but hate the idea of throwing it away.

I volunteered at a food bank, and nearly all of the stuff was useful and great to have;a small amount was obviously 'cupboard clearing' but usually OK. Occasionally we would get bags where someone had obviously swept in the whole contents of a cupboard-open packets, out-of-date stuff etc.!
My favourite was one harvest festival donation from a village church. There were several tins, about to go out of date, all from France. I said to someone I knew there 'I think your village had a coach outing to France about a couple of years ago'!

And Jojo, I agree - it saddens me to see obviously unsuitable people working in charity shops- doesn't do anyone any good.

elsien

I'm surprised at shops checking through your donation while you're there. I've seen them turn away tat that people have failed to sell at car boot sales but in my local charity shops you generally just leave the bags and let them get on with it.
Maybe it depends on the area - my town does tend to have more shops geared to the lower end of the socio-economic scale.

lessonlearned

Mojisola wrote: »

I really hope you can't! If someone donating goods can find them so can violent partners.

Pass the goods onto social workers who will take the stuff to the refuge.

Sorry didn't make myself clear. By detective work I meant find a way to donate, not actually physically knock on the door.

It is not necessary to contact social services. In fact I doubt they would be happy to act as a go between, they would doubtless refuse.

You can work direct with the refuge. You simply ring them up, usually on an 0800 number. They do not give out the address of their residential homes but you can find contact numbers easily enough.

auntymabel

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What about the pot of gold?

Arklight

Well, all the books and cds went to the tip today. Or municipal recycling centre I should say. They have special bins for them so maybe some of them might be passed on rather then mulched.

I don't think I can be bothered to complain. The staff are older ladies who volunteer, not work training people, and it's so many shops.

I will just make a mental note that the village charity shops don't want decent clothes, nearly unused Early Learning Centre toys, jigsaw puzzles, books, cds, or department store gifts we don't have space for, and only go in again the next time I have a spare Faberge egg.

They didn't use to be like this. We used to take our little boy round them to spend his pocket money on toys and he loved seeing what they had. Mostly it was tat, Thunder Cats with no legs and broken happy meal toys and things, and I thought it was a shame they didn't have better stuff to sell, but there were a few gems.

One we bought him when he was digger mad was a working battery powered sit on digger, which we got from St Barnabas which made his week (after which he forgot about it and diggers). Which is exactly what I was holding when the St Barnabas woman ran outside ranting, "You can't bring any of that in here!"

I bought it from her shop...

Hermia

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

I have noticed that some of the staff in charity shops are very rude and clearly not suited to a job with the public!:mad:

I have frequently wondered whether they are volunteering simply because no one would employ them! I once bought a bag full of bags as the shop had a BOGOF offer on books. The woman in the shop said I must be very lazy if I have that much time to read. Another time the two women at the counter were having a loud conversation about whether they were allowed to ban Asian people from the shop because "p**** are always thieves"! I know managing volunteers is really hard work, but some customer service training is needed!

I have had stuff refused before which is very annoying because I have to take stuff there on the bus. I once was given a pile of brand-new hardback books (still all in the book charts) via work and practically got thrown out of one shop because they had too many books. I took them to another shop and the staff were delighted as they said they can get good money for recently released hardback books. I think if the staff at the first shop had known anything about books they would not be so strict about the rules in this instance.

jackyann

My library happily take books, for their shelves, or for their twice yearly book sale. But for those of you with difficulty donating books, try here:

https://www.betterworldbooks.co.uk/go/donate-list

For most of the country, you have to have more than '2 boxes' for them to arrange collection, but it sounds as if some of you have.