Charity shop workers - please share your tips

Pollycat

kimwp said:

Pollycat said:

kimwp said:

I'm not a haggler, but there might be people that are really struggling that need to haggle, even on things that are 20p.

But is it fair to put volunteers - possibly people who may not be happy with what they feel is pressure - in that position?
And how do staff determine between who is really struggling and who is trying it on and will put that 15p bartered down from 20p item on his/her car boot sale for £5.00 at the weekend?

And is it fair that some people can't afford a 20p item? 

In the case of differentiating between someone struggling and someone making money - the struggling person survives, the car boot person gains 5p and the charity gains 15p for an item that was free in the first place and is now gone to leave a space for the next item. Yes, it would be nice if the car boot person didn't try to barter, but honestly, I spend money on nice things for myself knowing that there are people struggling. Unless I gave everything away except for the bare bare essentials, I don't think I'm in a position to judge the hagglers. 

You've not addressed the issue of the volunteer feeling stressed by being asked to accept £3.00 for a £5.00 item (in the charity shops I go to, there aren't many items priced at 20p).

My opinion is that people should not haggle in charity shops.
You are more than welcome to hold an opposite opinion.

Brie

I think there's a big difference between saying to a volunteer "oh look there's a big stain on this! was that taken into account when pricing the item?" and saying "the tag say £1, I'll give you 20p."  

Must admit I try to be friendly and gentle in a charity shop, more so than your average retail shop.  I've seen too many volunteers who may be on work experience or just trying to adjust to working in general before trying for a "proper" job.  Hopefully there's always a toughen leader type to help them learn how to respond to the public - just the same as in any customer service role.  

Likewise an experience shop worker will likely be able to spot the single mom on benefits who's kids are shivering without proper coats and suddenly find a 2F1 deal for them.  At least I'd like to think so.

Littlebob_wales

Not a charity shop worker but I'd recommend people look out for the greeting cards "box" seen but overlooked in many stores.
A pile of unused but 2nd hand birthday, anniversary etc cards that are normally 25p or 3 for a pound. Some standard cards not unlike the ones seen in the more prominently displayed vertical card stands but mainly great for some real vintage cards, postcards and party invites uncovered from an attic time capsule. 

kimwp

We should have a thread for how to repurpose beautiful charity shop finds. I spotted an absolutely beautiful door push plate in perfect condition, but couldn't think of anything to do with other than screw it to the wall as decoration so left it there.

Matilda542

A tip I heard which may or may not be known is to visit charity shops in well heeled areas such as Chelsea & Kensington. That aside, I did ask an assistant years ago if they had any more blankets out the back. She bought a few back in to show me and I said I wasn't too concerned about the look of them as they were for a dogs bed. She snatched them up saying they were too good for a dogs bed and refused to sell them to me! Hilarious

oldhaggis

"Pollycat said:

I think it's rude to try to haggle in charity shops - unless the item has a flaw/fault that the shop hasn't seen. e.g. a tear in the side seam or a mark that might or might not come out."

I totally agree with this. At the charity shop where I volunteer, we will always make a suitable reduction if a flaw/fault has been overlooked, provided the customer asks politely. 

The people we find particularly annoying are those who regularly come to the shop and rudely demand a reduction on an item which has just been put out for sale. Some can be very intimidating, especially to our young volunteers. Our manager gives them short shrift and takes the item off sale if they become too persistent. If they ungraciously agree to purchase the item for the price on the tag, then they inevitably demand a carrier bag for free. They are always charged for the bag as matter of principle, just as the would be in any other high street store. 

Thankfully, we have plenty of lovely customers, who are often quite shocked to witness how rude some people can be to our staff and volunteers.

People often come in and ask for specific items and we will always look in the stockroom if we think we may have something suitable. We don't always have enough space to put all our stock out but keep bags of smaller items, such as belts, black ties, hats, new bras etc.
  

turnitround

I'm a long time charity shop volunteer. Before I started at the shop I was a regular customer as I knew I would get really good bargains there. Our town has 2 charity shops, ours is a hospice and the other is one of the big chains.  The chain prices are far more expensive than ours but too be fair it is a lot neater and less 'rummagy' than ours.

Our is full to the brim and we get a lot of donations every single day. We sell everything, electrical items ae PAT tested before being put on sale. Most of our clothes apart from men's suits and coats sell at £2, children's clothes 4 for £1, bric  a brac and toys start at 50p, jigsaws are £1 and books 5 for £1. We sell everything from prams to CD's, the variety of donations is astounding.

The shop is very busy every day and because we get so many donations we use the 'Pile it high, sell it cheap, turn it over fast' method. Some people come in 3 or 4 times a day because several times an hour new stock is coming down. We have over 20 volunteers working anything from 1 afternoon a week to 4 full days. We all share the duties rotating between sorting, hanging, rail replenishment, stock rotation, till duties, shop floor duties alongside the cleaning and many other jobs which come along with running the shop. We all work together, there are no paid staff but like anywhere else you get staff that will do the bare minimum and staff who go above and beyond.

The good-

I love the interaction with customers, even though it may just be seen as shop work every ay is different and never a day goes by that I dont have a funny story for hubby when I get home.  Some customers are lovely and you do get to know what they like to buy and try your best for them. We have one old man who collects funny ties so I try to keep some at one side for him, one lady collects yellow teapots, another collects cushions with dogs on. 
But you do have to be careful as some customers are really friendly and then expect you to select the very best for them. For instance one lady always asks us to bring out the newest dresses so she can select from them. Size does not matter as they are always for her daughter, niece, neighbour etc. The reality is that we know her ebay seller name and that is where the dresses go. Annoyingly she lists them for a week and if they dont sell she brings them back for an exchange saying they dont fit. She is oblivious to the fact that we know what she s doing so we are careful not to accommodate her too often as it is not fair to our other customers.
We get a discount on clothing and shoes and obviously we do see things before the customers do.  That doesnt mean we take all the best though, I will often serve a customer who brings something to the till that I would have loved but didnt know was on the rails.
Its lovely when you can help a young mum or elderly lady  to find a bargain. We have a lovely old gentleman who insists on buying something when he comes in twice a week. Often he cant find anything he wants but will insist on taking something so I usually do my best to select him something for 50p 'which may come in useful one day'.  It never seems to as about 2 weeks later he brings it back to donate it again.

The bad-

Customers who insist on bartering when you say and item is 50p and they try to get it for 20p. Nothing we have is overpriced yet people will quibble about paying £2 for a blouse which still has its original shop tags attached to it.
Customers who buy an item, take off the price tag and keep the receipt then bring in a different item of clothing of their own which they no longer want and try to say they 'bought it last week but took the price tag off before they tried it on and then found it did not fit'. That way they try to exchange an unwanted item they own by pretending they bought it from us. We actually have one lady who picks up and receipts other customers dispose of and then pretends they are her own. Its amazing the lengths some will go to. The same lady lets her child take a toy from the toy basket (which are only 50p) then when she is at the till she will swear blind her child brought it from home when we try to charge her for it.

We have a large shop with 2 doors, we cant close either as donations come in at the back were you can park and the main door is on the shop front. We can have 30+ people in the shop at any one time so its impossible to watch every individual. The theft drives me mad, the man who stands on the shop floor stand trying trousers on over the ones he is already wearing. He does it soo many times and then when your eye is not on him he shoots out of the shop. People who take 4 items into the changing room and come out wearing something off the rails but leave there own item on a hanger. People try on shoes again and again then walk out in a pair off the shelf and leave their old ones behind. 

The donations which should really be taken to the tip. People bring in black bags, boxes, suitcases and carrier bags full  of donations. Some are wonderful, washed and folded but some!!!!!!
The bedding that must have been on the bed 3 weeks and is filthy and stained, the workwear that is full of paint, the kids clothes complete with last nights dinner thrown up down the front. The frying pans which are no longer worth using and still have the grease from the last use chucked in with the dirty clothes. Ripped clothes, the contents of the kitchen bin, the broken cups, dirty plates, odd shoes, etc, etc (not forgetting the dirty knickers, we get a lot of those). Its just a way to get rid of rubbish and junk without having to go to the tip. Ive opened bags were  there are a couple of neatly folded towels on the top then underneath items of clothing which are dirty and of no use for sale. However, my best one yet was the bag which had 2 cushions on top and at the bottom was some dirty babies nappies and they had also scraped the dinner plates into the bag alongside potato peeling and some mouldy bread and pizza. You do need a strong stomach. At the end of the day we are volunteers trying to raise money for the hospice yet some people think its acceptable to do that. 

Every week we have at least 60-70 blue rubbish bags collected full of general rubbish. We have 2 collections of black bags every week (well over 100 bags each time) which are full of unsaleable clothing and for which we get 40p for an 8kg bag and then once every 2 weeks a book collector comes for our unsaleable books which are placed in big totes and we are paid 2p a book.

Our shop could not operate without the great team of people we have and we are always wanting more volunteers. The problem is that because we are volunteers and not in a regular paid job we cannot be 'made' to work a shift if we dont feel like bothering that day and this is often a problem as you need to be able to ensure enough people are in on any one day to be able to open with enough cover on the shop floor and cope with all the donations arriving.
We get a lot of people starting thinking its just a way of getting first dabs on cheap things but then when they find it can be heavy, dirty and tiring work they stop coming. 
Personally I love it and I think for retired people especially its a great thing to do. Ive made so many friends and find it gives me the interaction and social side that I missed when I retired. That said, I think its important to find a shop you are comfortable working in, I hate the charity shops which have been 'Mary Portas'd; and try to look like a trendy store. Cheap and cheerful works best for me. I would say that if you are thinking of volunteering then go in the shop as a customer a few times first to get a feel for the shop and staff.

goldfinches

@turnitround - thanks for a fascinating look behind the scenes. Do you think your lovely old gentleman will ever become a volunteer? 

retiredinfrance

@turnitround, I really enjoyed your insightful post and would love to visit as you seem to be running the ideal charity shop.
I agree with you about the hard work . Long may your shop prosper.

Pennylane

When I was volunteering we had to put a sign up by the till saying we do not barter because so many people tried it on and we truly did spend a lot of time trying to price things realistically.  We had a chart upstairs for skirts, trousers, coats etc with a price guide from/to and then if it was a designer or very good make we added a few quid more.

We also had people trying clothes on and leaving their old stuff behind.  The worst one was a Romanian Big Issue seller who stood outside the shop but arrived most days in a very posh car. Our Manager was scared to confront him as he was a big chap but she told us if he genuinely needed clothes she would give them to him rather than him steal them.

We had a lady who parked outside in a top of the range car to return a £2.50 bra that didn’t fit. We offered her a credit note and she spent over an hour trying to choose something else for the exact amount.