stuff given to charity

[Dee Sa]

Yesterday I got al my summer clothes from the loft and put winter stuff away, a lot wont fit so its bundled up for the charity shop I dont have a favourite local charity sowhatever one I can park outside without getting a parking ticket. I give quite a lot away and if its shoes I always try and give the matching bag.
I have never ever seen anyone in the clothes/shoes/bags that I donate, what happens to them ? never seen them in the shop for sale [ but I dont go in many of the shops to be fair].
Have you donated and actually seen anyone wearing the stuff ?
just wondered.
Dee

[emmie]

No, but i gave a lot to a friend who runs a charity shop and got mega thanks, which was lovely, as the shops a way off probably wouldn't. Perhaps it goes overseas, after all isn't that the purpose of charities like Oxfam?

[abstibus]

I used to know a very hoity-toity woman who volunteered at a well-known charity shop. Her next door neighbour, whom I had no reason to doubt, told me that her reason for being there was to get first pick of donated items. I only hope this is not true.
Maybe the shops send the clothing, etc., to another branch to avoid donors recognising their pre-worn clothes on others? Someone should be able to clarify this.

[emmie]

I do know that two people, in separate locations, one who worked in one, and one who run it were able to purchase goods donated, i couldn't comment on all charity shops.

[RATTER15]

I know one of the carers at the home I work in bought two matching pillow cases, when she got them and while ironing them, she found a name in them, they belonged to a woman from our home that died a few weeks previous.

You would imagine they would have removed the name tags!!

[chelle7272]

annemollie - I know our local Hospice charity shop has a policy of not selling clothes donated to that shop but give it to another branch for the reason you've suggested.
I also know that yes they do get first pick.....

[jomifl]

There was a program on the box a few years ago re. clothes donated to charity. Most of it is unsold and is sent of to a Africa where it is virtually given away. The downside of this is that local clothing industries have been undermined and have collapsed so that there is more unemployment, so more need for charity. The upside is that it doesn't go for landfill so Britains re-cycling rating is improved . There are always unintended consequences to everything we do.

[emmie]

one consequence i have seen is that once a retail shop goes vacant, and a charity shop takes over that space, that has a domino effect, i'm not 100 percent sure but charity shops get discounts on the rent, rates they pay, perhaps someone could clarify that, but in one little town i know, there are 14 charity shops, which only has two streets of retail shops. No one will invest in the place and so it goes on.

[jomifl]

Following on from em10 a friend of mine used to be an antequarian book dealer with a shop in a high street...until oxfam got into books. Now he just does a bit of dealing on the web.

[emmie]

sounds so negative being critical, but apparently they do get tax concessions, and something you wouldn't expect, though i didn't look at the date of the webpage, but Kendal, a lovely part of the world, the business community are up in arms over how many charity shops they have, and its not as though those shops are likely to stand empty. Tourists all year round, not that everyone likes that, but they reckon its killing their businesses. I have heard the same about clothes being binned as not fit for purpose, ending on landfill, and that stuff that goes overseas has ended up not useable, or being sold on the blackmarket

[Frank97]

I get what you mean about charity shops being everywhere my local town even has coach trips from the midlands specifically to visit them. I was most surprised when I discovered this the other year. Town is Weston-super-mare BTW.


Nick

[starone]

There should be more people going into charity shops to buy now that the recession is hitting harder. So I would think any donations were thankfully received. Salvation Army is good because they use some of their stuff for the homeless. If clothes are really old they can be recycled. When I was young there used to be 'rag and bone' men going round the streets, and a place in Old Market you could take rags to sell. They paid more for woollen stuff. The people who worked there sorted through the items and actually had a title - rag pickers. Just reminiscing!

[vulcan]

I donated some clothing a few years ago and after a few months saw a suit I'd given in the window of a totally different charity. Perhaps the clothing "does the rounds" to increase the chances of selling - or they didn't like my suit !

[linedancer16]

I work in a charity shop and all donations are sorted and sold in our shop.It has to be good quality stuff ( no tears, stains,buttons missing etc) and if its not good enough to sell it goes into the rags for which we also get money. If it has not sold within 3 weeks then it is passed on to another branch of the same charity. If staff want to buy anything then they have to pay the full price.

[mrs_overall]

Am I the only person who gives little to charity shops but sells old stuff on Ebay?

[Dee Sa]

come to think of it my gran was head cook & bottlewasher at her local WVS [Womens Voluntary Service], uniform the lot, in Wales in wartime. From London we were evacuated to grandmas and she used to get the pick of all the USA clothes parcels on the pretext - well you are genuine evacues ! so I think its always gone on !

[sara3]

I buy a lot of books in a charity shop near my office. I had a clear out and donated loads of books to the shop.

every time I went in there after that to persuse the books.. I'd already read them all!

[emmie]

The problem as i see it, not that its not a good thing to donate to charity, but if charity shops are given preferential treatment by the council, by dint of tax exemptions, and perhaps other benefits, that can come at the cost to the business community. Why should it be possible to have 14 of them in two streets in what was once a thriving high street.
They serve a purpose, i grant you, but so many, why?

[smurfchops]

I agree Dee. We have an Oxfam shop in Esher which you would think was a very affluent area. The amount of clothes in there is minimal, in fact they have less rails than they used to -- same in Weybridge. Surely they must get some fab things handed in, but what do they do with them ? And Oxfam's prices for selling what they do have, in these so called 'richer' areas, is ridiculous. You can't get a top in these type of areas (I have also looked in Hampstead) for less than £6.00 and coats are around £20.00. And the stuff is rubbish. The people who work there don't seem like the type to buy quality trendy stuff so I think they either put it on their ebay site (even that is dire) or send it direct to Africa or somewhere ....... unless dealers buy from them direct.

[emmie]

personally i think much ends up sold on the black market, even quite poor quality clothing can fetch a good price overseas where the people might not be particularly well off.