Cash gift to small charity shop

lemondrops69

Its hard work donating. I tried to donate a teddy but they wouldnt take it as it didn't have a Special Mark, however they did take the plastic bag I had put it in

Ectophile

Most of the "charity" bags that are shoved through letterboxes don't come from charities at all, when you read the small print on the bag.  They come from for-profit companies, that sell on the clothes.  In order to get a charity's name on the bag, they will offer a small donation to a charity that needs the money.  But most of the profit stays with the clothes collecting company.

Tokmon

Ectophile said:

Most of the "charity" bags that are shoved through letterboxes don't come from charities at all, when you read the small print on the bag.  They come from for-profit companies, that sell on the clothes.  In order to get a charity's name on the bag, they will offer a small donation to a charity that needs the money.  But most of the profit stays with the clothes collecting company.

But there is nothing wrong with that. They offer an easy way for old clothes to be recycled when they are worn out or not longer wanted and you just have to put them in a bag and leave it outside your house. The company makes some money as they should for providing a service and a charity also gets a bit of money too so win win all round really. 

NBLondon

Ectophile said:

Most of the "charity" bags that are shoved through letterboxes don't come from charities at all, when you read the small print on the bag.  They come from for-profit companies, that sell on the clothes.  In order to get a charity's name on the bag, they will offer a small donation to a charity that needs the money.  But most of the profit stays with the clothes collecting company.

I consider then free binliners (MSE approach)

Pollycat

Tokmon said:

Ectophile said:

Most of the "charity" bags that are shoved through letterboxes don't come from charities at all, when you read the small print on the bag.  They come from for-profit companies, that sell on the clothes.  In order to get a charity's name on the bag, they will offer a small donation to a charity that needs the money.  But most of the profit stays with the clothes collecting company.

But there is nothing wrong with that. They offer an easy way for old clothes to be recycled when they are worn out or not longer wanted and you just have to put them in a bag and leave it outside your house. The company makes some money as they should for providing a service and a charity also gets a bit of money too so win win all round really. 

I prefer to take my unwanted (but definitely not worn out) clothes to a charity shop of my choice - my local hospice.
I like to see the clothes or bric-a-brac I've donated on the rails or shelves and hope someone gets some use out of them.
And 100% of the profit goes to the charity instead of some middleman.
Just my choice really.

Ectophile

NBLondon said:

Ectophile said:

Most of the "charity" bags that are shoved through letterboxes don't come from charities at all, when you read the small print on the bag.  They come from for-profit companies, that sell on the clothes.  In order to get a charity's name on the bag, they will offer a small donation to a charity that needs the money.  But most of the profit stays with the clothes collecting company.

I consider then free binliners (MSE approach)

I haven't had any here for months.  I have to buy bin liners now

Ectophile

Tokmon said:

Ectophile said:

Most of the "charity" bags that are shoved through letterboxes don't come from charities at all, when you read the small print on the bag.  They come from for-profit companies, that sell on the clothes.  In order to get a charity's name on the bag, they will offer a small donation to a charity that needs the money.  But most of the profit stays with the clothes collecting company.

But there is nothing wrong with that. They offer an easy way for old clothes to be recycled when they are worn out or not longer wanted and you just have to put them in a bag and leave it outside your house. The company makes some money as they should for providing a service and a charity also gets a bit of money too so win win all round really. 

The complaint is that it's diverting clothes that would otherwise be donated directly to charities, and misleading the donors.  You get a bag with the name and logo of a charity emblazoned across it in big writing.  It's only when you read the small print that you discover the bag isn't from a charity at all.

Tokmon

Pollycat said:

Tokmon said:

Ectophile said:

Most of the "charity" bags that are shoved through letterboxes don't come from charities at all, when you read the small print on the bag.  They come from for-profit companies, that sell on the clothes.  In order to get a charity's name on the bag, they will offer a small donation to a charity that needs the money.  But most of the profit stays with the clothes collecting company.

But there is nothing wrong with that. They offer an easy way for old clothes to be recycled when they are worn out or not longer wanted and you just have to put them in a bag and leave it outside your house. The company makes some money as they should for providing a service and a charity also gets a bit of money too so win win all round really. 

I prefer to take my unwanted (but definitely not worn out) clothes to a charity shop of my choice - my local hospice.
I like to see the clothes or bric-a-brac I've donated on the rails or shelves and hope someone gets some use out of them.
And 100% of the profit goes to the charity instead of some middleman.
Just my choice really.

Of course that is a far better option but a lot of people won't make the effort to do that unfortunately. 

Ectophile said:

Tokmon said:

Ectophile said:

Most of the "charity" bags that are shoved through letterboxes don't come from charities at all, when you read the small print on the bag.  They come from for-profit companies, that sell on the clothes.  In order to get a charity's name on the bag, they will offer a small donation to a charity that needs the money.  But most of the profit stays with the clothes collecting company.

But there is nothing wrong with that. They offer an easy way for old clothes to be recycled when they are worn out or not longer wanted and you just have to put them in a bag and leave it outside your house. The company makes some money as they should for providing a service and a charity also gets a bit of money too so win win all round really. 

The complaint is that it's diverting clothes that would otherwise be donated directly to charities, and misleading the donors.  You get a bag with the name and logo of a charity emblazoned across it in big writing.  It's only when you read the small print that you discover the bag isn't from a charity at all.

But how much does it really divert because if someone wanted to take it to a charity shop then surely they would do that regularly enough to not have any decent clothes when the bags arrive. Plus i would have though the majority of clothes that people are happy to just throw out won't be any good anyway.

SevenOfNine

When I left work some years ago, I took 3 of my suits to the local community charity shop, all freshly laundered, even on jacket & skirt hangers & inside dry cleaning bags, absolutely perfect condition.

Handed them over & then asked "could you change these two 50p pieces for a £1 coin for the supermarket trolley please".  Now I get that back then they may have had a lot of people doing that & be fed up with it, but at least I was donating clothing at the time.  As we exchanged coins she actually said "I should ask you for £1.50 really"!

She still works there, & I've never donated another thing there. So now I've got one that wants to make 50p profit on a £1 coin exchange, & another that doesn't want coins donated!  2 community charity shops I won't be bothering with, I'll stick to local cancer, Age UK or hospice ones in future.

Pollycat

SevenOfNine said:

When I left work some years ago, I took 3 of my suits to the local community charity shop, all freshly laundered, even on jacket & skirt hangers & inside dry cleaning bags, absolutely perfect condition.

Handed them over & then asked "could you change these two 50p pieces for a £1 coin for the supermarket trolley please".  Now I get that back then they may have had a lot of people doing that & be fed up with it, but at least I was donating clothing at the time.  As we exchanged coins she actually said "I should ask you for £1.50 really"!

She still works there, & I've never donated another thing there. So now I've got one that wants to make 50p profit on a £1 coin exchange, & another that doesn't want coins donated!  2 community charity shops I won't be bothering with, I'll stick to local cancer, Age UK or hospice ones in future.

I think the attitude of the (let's remember they are almost all) volunteers in charity shops has a lot to do with the success of the shops.

I stopped donating all my clothes (good quality, good brands) to British Heart Foundation when I took 2 bags in and on asking where I should put them got a very brusque 'over there'.
I informed the volunteer - who was doing nothing other than standing behind the counter - that I'd take them across the road to Save the Children.

My local hospice are always very grateful for any donations and are polite.

Faced with the attitude above, I think I might have replied 'Tell you what...you keep your £1.00 coin and I'll have my clothes back and I'll donate them to a charity that treats donors with more respect'.