Charity shop tips

Plumpud_3

perhaps the covenant is classed under expenses..e.g her fares to and from the place of work.As I understand it,if the company were to pay her fares that would not be taxable income ...I could be wrong here but I do know that some branches of the special constabulary pay their specials expenses which are non taxable but would be below minimum wage (they get fares to and from,boot allowance and food money )

Special Constabulary are an exception, as are the Territorial Army. They are given certain concessions due to the nature of the work they do.

There are special rules concerning payments of fares to and from work. They are generally only allowable if it is a matter of security e.g. pub or night club workers working unsocial hours. Normally travel to and from work is not allowable as an expense, so any payment for it would be taxed as a benefit.

I have wondered about this since I first read the original posting. I am wondering whether they pay her a full wage and she covenants or giftaids some of it back to the charity.

Alternatively, she could just have told her staff that as she feels guilty about taking a wage when all of the rest a volunteers. I know a lot of the paid staff do feel guilty about this, but I personally do think that they should receive a wage.

One of my friends was the Manager of one of the local Hospice shops for a long time. She was responsible for the running of the shop, its income, banking the takings, pricing the goods, health and safety of staff, volunteers and customers, etc. The worst thing was organising the rota of volunteers. As they were volunteers, she didn't feel she could force them to do the shifts in the same way that employees would have to do them, so she ended up having to cover shifts on her days off. She also had to cover for managers of other hospice shops locally, sometimes being in charge of 3 shops up to 10 miles apart. She eventually gave it up to work with disabled young adults.

Austin_Allegro_2

Off topic a bit, but I think private/public schools were classed as charities because they awarded scholarships - I think these have now been abolished so that's why their charitable status is in question.

Did anyone watch the sitcom Sweet Charity with Steven Tompkinson as the charity shop manager - that was hilarious and much underrated in my opinion!

MarkyMarkD

I don't think that's true.

They were recognised as charities because education is a recognised charitable purpose.

Just because they charge a fee for the education doesn't contradict that charitable purpose any more than the National Trust charging membership or entry fees does for them.

IMHO!

The reason their charitable status is under threat is because New Labour have a vendetta against private education (even though Tony and his cronies have mainly benefitted from it).

Austin_Allegro_2

MarkyMarkD, I agree with your viewpoint - just wasn't sure what the official government 'cover story' for attacking private education was!

Rave

I make a bit of pocket money selling books on Ammazon- I don't get them from charity shops though, I get them from the charity shop's bin after they've thrown them away for failing to sell. vegansaver, what is your moral judgement on this? ::)

Rich :¬)

vegansaver

Didn't want to continue posting in this thread but seeing as a copy of messages have been sent my way I feel it only polite I do so./

need money
some managers are competing against each other to get the highest price for something that they know very well is not worth that higher price. I witnessed this practice when I worked as a volunteer. They said to each other I'm going to charge x amount for this and the other one said you'll never get that for it to which the answer was I bet I will.

Equally I think this practice is appalling, although a one off case is no reason to tar all charity workers/managers who work so hard with the same brush. As I see it, two wrongs don't make a right, but saying this if I saw a charity shop manager advocating such a practice on a forum I would also express my disgust in the same manner.

Rave, don't know why you are asking me as I don't care what you do with stuff that has been thrown out. Recycling is good.
My objection was solely those looking to profit from items that have been donated in good faith to those who really could make do with them.
A position that is not that far from your concerns over those who make money from the live aid song.

MarkyMarkD

Vegan

I think you are very confused about:

(a) what charity shops are there for; and
(b) why people give things to them.

The answer to (a) is that they are there to raise money for the charity concerned - not to provide a source of cheap secondhand goods to the public, some of whom are quite capable of paying more than a bare minimum price.

The charity shop managers you disparage are merely doing their job properly if they seek to maximise the revenue of the charity.

And if they accidentally over-price things compared to what they would have cost new, that's fair enough - if someone is mug enough to pay it, then they must think the item is worth that to them. So everyone's happy.

As for (b) I give things to a charity shop because it's environmentally friendly to do so, compared to throwing it away, and because it enables the charity to make some money, and thirdly because it enables someone less well off than me to buy some cheap secondhand goods. The third point isn't my primary motivation. And I would far rather that the items were sold at a fair price, than that they were knocked out for a few pence to give some MSE who can afford to pay more an exceptional bargain at the charity's expense.

Just my opinion.

vegansaver

Sadly though marky I am not confused, you have just highlighted YOUR reason for giving to charity shops and in that even included as your third reason to enable someone less well off to purchase things. This may not be your overriding concern but to me and many others A and B are equally as important. If not it would be just as easy to donate money to the said charity myself.

The other part you mention has nothing to do with accidentally over-pricing things, but purposefully placing a value on an item that is well over the odds for a bet. I even stated how I believe this to an isolated case based on my experience with charity shops and the hard work both the volunteers and managers put in. My disapproval with such practices is if they became widespread they’d be denying your third reason and my equally important first reason for donating.

I still don’t buy the excuse that “It’s better for an MSE to purchase an item and the shop get money for it rather than be left on the shelf” The reason I say this is that such traders are not stupid and thus choose to purchase the most sort after items that they can make most profit on, not the items most likely to be left on the shelf. If you don’t believe this, then this thread wouldn’t have people questioning the benefit of working in charity shops solely to have FIRST PICK!!!!!!

Betty_Blowjob

I've found some brilliant stuff in bin bags left outside charity shops early in the morning, and thats all free.

needmoney

I've found some brilliant stuff in bin bags left outside charity shops early in the morning, and thats all free.

Well that is the worst of the lot!!!!!!!!!

Might have jumped the gun here thouhgt it would be people who have left donations but you may be talking about the rubbish the shop has put out, if so applogies from me.