As madamfluff has pointed out, the primary aim of a charity shop is to raise money for the charity, not to provide a service to the local needy people. You would probably feel annoyed if you gave, say, a nice monsoon evening dress and found it up for sale for three quid.
Charity shops are sometimes targeted to a particular market. For example if you go to the Red Cross shop in Kings Road, Chelsea, it ONLY sells designer clothes, and expects to get high prices. Oxfam Notting Hill is another expensive one, and is the one where I saw Keira Knightley's Oscar dress. Fara normally seems cheap, and is where I take stuff that isn't actually brilliant.
But would you not class the donations as charitable? Of course I wouldn't be upset if they sold my donation for a small amount, I've done my bit by donating.
The fact is, that they would probably raise more money if their items were more realistically priced. A small profit is better than no profit at all, shirley?
I know thousands of people will still buy books but some of the charity shops will miss out for those that prefer to use a kindle.
You can't pass on the contents like you can a book.
The fact is, that they would probably raise more money if their items were more realistically priced. A small profit is better than no profit at all, shirley?
All shops have to do a delicate calculation between selling more at a lower price or selling less at a higher price. Charity shops with a classy reputation can charge pretty high prices and attract the kind of customers who are happy to pay them. And don't call me Shirley.
All shops have to do a delicate calculation between selling more at a lower price or selling less at a higher price. Charity shops with a classy reputation can charge pretty high prices and attract the kind of customers who are happy to pay them. And don't call me Shirley.
Exactly. As is ALWAYS pointed out in threads like these, charities run themselves like businesses these days... and, well, so they should! The idea is to make a lot of money. The difference is that the money's going to a good cause. And being run like a business, making calculations on what's going to make the most profit, is exactly how that works. In some areas, selling cheaper will raise profits, in others putting prices up and being stricter on quality will.
See, I DO get pissed off when I see charities spending too much on admin and salaries, but... at the end of the day, the success of the charity comes down to how much money goes to the cause. If admin and salary spending is REDUCING how much gets to where it's supposed to be going, then yes, it needs to be corrected. If it's making the business more efficient and meaning more money is raised, then it's a worthwhile cost. So the question is "how much IS too much", really.
Exactly. As is ALWAYS pointed out in threads like these, charities run themselves like businesses these days... and, well, so they should! The idea is to make a lot of money. The difference is that the money's going to a good cause. And being run like a business, making calculations on what's going to make the most profit, is exactly how that works. In some areas, selling cheaper will raise profits, in others putting prices up and being stricter on quality will.
See, I DO get pissed off when I see charities spending too much on admin and salaries, but... at the end of the day, the success of the charity comes down to how much money goes to the cause. If admin and salary spending is REDUCING how much gets to where it's supposed to be going, then yes, it needs to be corrected. If it's making the business more efficient and meaning more money is raised, then it's a worthwhile cost. So the question is "how much IS too much", really.
Actually by paying some members of staff ( we have three)
My charity is making more money.
As a paid member of staff, I had my references checked out, I am audited and have regular appraisals, if my shop does not perform well I am accountable, I am also responsible for up to 10 volunteers per day including training them and giving them tasks to do, I am responsible for the money side and am usually the only person in the shop who can authorise refunds, I am responsible for the store lay out, the look of the store, the displays and for following company procedures, I am in fact the person who has the responsibility to make things happen and I dont actually get paid that much - nothing like a manager of a fashion shop would command.
To put it into perspective, today I had a day off I went passed the charity shop where I used to work as a volunteer
the shop has no paid staff. There was a note on the door saying due to lack of staff this shop will close at 1.30, thats because the person who opened the shop went home, she had no reason to work more than her hours and if there was no afternoon cover tough the shop has to close, that charity would have lost a couple of hundred pounds by being closed but what can they do they cant sack her, she is a volunteer, who will go and volunteer somewhere else if given hassle. Unpaid volunteers usually have other demands on their time, and very rarely are able to work a full day or a full week.
Tomorrow I am the only paid member of staff on site, I am the only person with keys and access to the safe, I need to be in at 8am for the rag man and will stay behind after the shop closes to do paperwork, thats what I am paid to do, if I fail to turn up or shut up shop early I would lose my job.
Therefore by having paid staff on site the charity is ensuring that the shop will always trade for the correct hours, the shop will be run correctly and all procedures are followed therefore ensuring they are making as much money as posssible.
I volunteer at a charity shop. It's a fairly well-established one and the clothes tend to be overpriced, but I think that's because a lot of them are new goods donated directly from M&S. Still, it is offputting and if an item is unpriced, I tend to sell it to the customer at a lower rate than normal.
As far as donations go, I always receive them with a smile and enthusiasm but my colleague is absolutely terrible. She grunts and goes, 'Just leave it o'er there' which is absolutely embarrassing.
But on the other end of the spectrum, the amount of rudeness I get is astounding, esp. considering I'm giving up my time and energy to serve these people.
But on the other end of the spectrum, the amount of rudeness I get is astounding, esp. considering I'm giving up my time and energy to serve these people.
People who are rude to volunteers are just obnoxious. :mad: And people who steal from charity shops always seem extra horrible to me. I remember when the Oxfam shop in Kensington put in security barriers at the door, I commented on them, and a member of staff said, "yes, several of our very regular customers have disappeared completely since we put in the security system."
People who are rude to volunteers are just obnoxious. :mad: And people who steal from charity shops always seem extra horrible to me. I remember when the Oxfam shop in Kensington put in security barriers at the door, I commented on them, and a member of staff said, "yes, several of our very regular customers have disappeared completely since we put in the security system."
Really? You have to wonder at these people.
Stealing from charity shops is more common than I ever realised. We're always finding empty hangers in the changing rooms. There's a dummy CCTV camera that is blatantly fake, and doesn't deter people. We just have to trust in people's sense of morality and be disappointed when it doesn't show.
I probably did buy it, but I my CD's always ended up looking as if a herd of wildebeeste had stampeded over them.
Many people's do. You should see my daughter's! :rolleyes: Mine are nearly all in mint condition still and no scratches, despite repeated plays, as I look after them.
We love rooting about in charity shops. It's where I buy nearly all my books. I've got some decent clothes from them also, but I wont buy shoes, I have a weird, icky thing about other peoples feet:o
Where we live there is a street with 5 or 6 different shops. We make a trip of it and visit them all and generally come back with a haul.
The exception being Oxfam, they are bandits.
They have this glass cabinet with the 'valuable' items in it.
On one occassion the OH spotted some Louis Vitton (sp) shoes in the cabinet, hardly worn. They wanted 70 quid for them.
The OH asked to try them on and they sales person fished them out.
Despite us being not being millionaires, the OH likes nice things and knows her labels and can spot a fake in a thunderstorm. Before she even put them on, she told the sales person they are not genuine.
The person gets all aggressive and says they have been looked at by Oxfams experts and are legit.
OH says to the assistant that she will buy them on condition that she signs the receipt as bought as genuine and if she gets them looked at, they will refund.
Sales person gets the manager, manager refuses to sell OH the shoes.
Few days later OH drops into Oxfam, shoes are on the rack with the rest of the stuff priced at £17.50.
In our experience most charity shops sell stuff fairly priced, sometimes under priced if the staff don't know what they are looking at.
Actually by paying some members of staff ( we have three)
My charity is making more money.
As a paid member of staff, I had my references checked out, I am audited and have regular appraisals, if my shop does not perform well I am accountable, I am also responsible for up to 10 volunteers per day including training them and giving them tasks to do, I am responsible for the money side and am usually the only person in the shop who can authorise refunds, I am responsible for the store lay out, the look of the store, the displays and for following company procedures, I am in fact the person who has the responsibility to make things happen and I dont actually get paid that much - nothing like a manager of a fashion shop would command.
To put it into perspective, today I had a day off I went passed the charity shop where I used to work as a volunteer
the shop has no paid staff. There was a note on the door saying due to lack of staff this shop will close at 1.30, thats because the person who opened the shop went home, she had no reason to work more than her hours and if there was no afternoon cover tough the shop has to close, that charity would have lost a couple of hundred pounds by being closed but what can they do they cant sack her, she is a volunteer, who will go and volunteer somewhere else if given hassle. Unpaid volunteers usually have other demands on their time, and very rarely are able to work a full day or a full week.
Tomorrow I am the only paid member of staff on site, I am the only person with keys and access to the safe, I need to be in at 8am for the rag man and will stay behind after the shop closes to do paperwork, thats what I am paid to do, if I fail to turn up or shut up shop early I would lose my job.
Therefore by having paid staff on site the charity is ensuring that the shop will always trade for the correct hours, the shop will be run correctly and all procedures are followed therefore ensuring they are making as much money as posssible.
Actually, that was largely my point- if "too much" is going on admin, then the charity's losing money. But a certain amount DOES have to be spent on staff and admin in order to maximise profits, and I'm sure that most charities have done the maths and figured out how to do this. Today I'm in charge and am paid to be so; like you, I am being paid to make sure the charity makes as much as possible.
I love looking in charity shops for books, but recently most shops are just overpricing them. Nowadays, it is easy to buy books at a greatly reduced price from internet sites such as Amazon and yet, in charity shops (Oxfam being the worst offender), they are priced at not much less, and are probably creased and well worn. They really need to charge less for their books.
Another thing is that most of the staff have no idea of a books value. It is old books that are out of print that are valuable, yet a lot of these shops throw old books out and don't even put them on the shelves. If a an old hardback book has a dustwrapper on it then it is even more valuable, yet the shop assistants often take the dustwrapper off and throw it away if it is a bit tatty. Then they put sticky lables on the front of valuable books which will leave a mark when they are taken off.
I once went into a charity shop and saw a bag full of books on the floor which I assumed were there for people to look through. On the top I found a very old children's annual which I thought looked interesting. I asked how much it was and was told to just take it as the bag was about to be thrown out with rubbish. I later sold this book on Ebay for £27.
Another time, I saw both a paperback and a hardback edition of a book. I asked how much they were and was told that the paperback was £1.50 and the hardback 50p because it was older than the paperback. In fact the hardback was a collector's item and the paperback was a heavily cut edition. Guess which one I bought? They must be letting money just slip through their hands all the time.
But apart from the rudeness of a staff member, your story shows their system working well. You spotted something that their valuers had missed. The item was withdrawn and re-valued. All was well.
And Fibromite's stories show what happens when the system DOESN'T work. Goods that should be raising money for the charity are wasted. There is a reason why Oxfam employs specialist valuers - it is to stop £27 books being thrown away. They also know better than to take old dust jackets off and thow them away.
I have a hierarchy of charity shops. If I am giving something worth a reasonable chunk of money, I will take it to a specialist charity shop - an Oxfam music shop, an Oxfam or Amnesty book shop or a designer Oxfam shop. Ordinary stuff goes to the local hospice shop. Stuff like magazines and used shoes go to Fara which sells everything dirt cheap and looks happy with everything.
I work in for a local (ie not chain) charity shop. We do sleeveless tops for £1.95, short-sleeved tops, shorts and short skirts for £2.50 and trousers and long-sleeved tops for £2.95. Books are either 10% of original price or 50p for pbs/£1 for hbs - people always comment on how cheap we are compared to Oxfam! You do get some crap given in - clothes can be ragged so I don't mind them so much. I've spent today throwing away books that are out of date of no use to anyone though eg. XP guides, old science books - I kind of wish people would think 'nobody's going to want that because it's so out of date' and throw them away themselves.
I work in for a local (ie not chain) charity shop. We do sleeveless tops for £1.95, short-sleeved tops, shorts and short skirts for £2.50 and trousers and long-sleeved tops for £2.95. Books are either 10% of original price or 50p for pbs/£1 for hbs - people always comment on how cheap we are compared to Oxfam! You do get some crap given in - clothes can be ragged so I don't mind them so much. I've spent today throwing away books that are out of date of no use to anyone though eg. XP guides, old science books - I kind of wish people would think 'nobody's going to want that because it's so out of date' and throw them away themselves.
I collect those :mad: I have a series of books from the twenties and thirties called "The Wonder Book Of..." My absolute favourite dates back to 1929, whereby the author describes what space travel might be like and he says in the book "I personally do not think that such travel will be possible..." To see that in print is absolutely priceless. I can spend hours in bookshops going through old books.
I collect those :mad: I have a series of books from the twenties and thirties called "The Wonder Book Of..." My absolute favourite dates back to 1929, whereby the author describes what space travel might be like and he says in the book "I personally do not think that such travel will be possible..." To see that in print is absolutely priceless. I can spend hours in bookshops going through old books.
If they're from that far back we'd probably keep them and get them valued by the bookshop - I'm talking 90s books about microbiology and kids' old school textbooks!
We had an old computer book from the late 90s that said something like 'online shopping is yet to take off'
I used to be a volunteer in a charity shop and (OP) the reason why the clothes you donated were put out at such high prices is probably because staff can't be expected to know what every shop charges.
Many volunteers are elderly and some barely go shopping and are out of touch with prices. They don't know that you can get T shirts for £1.25 in Primark or that George stuff is as cheap as chips.
But hey, it's swings and roundabouts ..... sometimes you'll get a bargain!
I also find that if you mention to the person at the till that their pricing is a bit out, they'll usually speak to the Manager for you.
The shop I helped at had about 25 part-time volunteers and a paid Manager and a Deputy who covered for her days off and holidays. Some of the volunteers worked on the tills, others did the steaming, others priced, others culled, some washed china and glasses and so on. They give their time (and often travel costs) for free and really do try their best.
The girl outside the BHF shop last year.Just after Halloween.Standing at the doorway in her red uniform.Only she had her Halloween devil horns on as well.:cool:
I fell in love at first sight.I was too shy to ask her out,too old as well i suppose.So i did the next best thing and put a few quid in her tin.Not the deposit i wanted to give her.But it's the thought that counts isn't it?.;)
Oxfam are the most expensive charity shop up here - just ridiculous prices. We have 23 charity shops in and around the main shopping streets in Aberdeen, and I love browsing in them all because they're amazing - but Oxfam is the sort that charges £5 for an Asda George t-shirt.
It's the same in my town. My OH and I collect alternative 80s records, vintage Lego and I look for clothing oddities - we visit all 6 charity shops in town every Saturday but are wary of Oxfam because it's so puzzlingly expensive. Worse still...if the manageress is on the till and she disagree with the price on the ticket - she'll take it off you and tell you it needs reprocessing and that it' no longer for sale. Behavior like that does not exactly help. I've noticed the stock is pretty stagnant and I wonder why it isn't as well managed as the busy, bright Cancer Research a 2 minute walk away.
Comments
But would you not class the donations as charitable? Of course I wouldn't be upset if they sold my donation for a small amount, I've done my bit by donating.
The fact is, that they would probably raise more money if their items were more realistically priced. A small profit is better than no profit at all, shirley?
You can't pass on the contents like you can a book.
All shops have to do a delicate calculation between selling more at a lower price or selling less at a higher price. Charity shops with a classy reputation can charge pretty high prices and attract the kind of customers who are happy to pay them. And don't call me Shirley.
Exactly. As is ALWAYS pointed out in threads like these, charities run themselves like businesses these days... and, well, so they should! The idea is to make a lot of money. The difference is that the money's going to a good cause. And being run like a business, making calculations on what's going to make the most profit, is exactly how that works. In some areas, selling cheaper will raise profits, in others putting prices up and being stricter on quality will.
See, I DO get pissed off when I see charities spending too much on admin and salaries, but... at the end of the day, the success of the charity comes down to how much money goes to the cause. If admin and salary spending is REDUCING how much gets to where it's supposed to be going, then yes, it needs to be corrected. If it's making the business more efficient and meaning more money is raised, then it's a worthwhile cost. So the question is "how much IS too much", really.
Actually by paying some members of staff ( we have three)
My charity is making more money.
As a paid member of staff, I had my references checked out, I am audited and have regular appraisals, if my shop does not perform well I am accountable, I am also responsible for up to 10 volunteers per day including training them and giving them tasks to do, I am responsible for the money side and am usually the only person in the shop who can authorise refunds, I am responsible for the store lay out, the look of the store, the displays and for following company procedures, I am in fact the person who has the responsibility to make things happen and I dont actually get paid that much - nothing like a manager of a fashion shop would command.
To put it into perspective, today I had a day off I went passed the charity shop where I used to work as a volunteer
the shop has no paid staff. There was a note on the door saying due to lack of staff this shop will close at 1.30, thats because the person who opened the shop went home, she had no reason to work more than her hours and if there was no afternoon cover tough the shop has to close, that charity would have lost a couple of hundred pounds by being closed but what can they do they cant sack her, she is a volunteer, who will go and volunteer somewhere else if given hassle. Unpaid volunteers usually have other demands on their time, and very rarely are able to work a full day or a full week.
Tomorrow I am the only paid member of staff on site, I am the only person with keys and access to the safe, I need to be in at 8am for the rag man and will stay behind after the shop closes to do paperwork, thats what I am paid to do, if I fail to turn up or shut up shop early I would lose my job.
Therefore by having paid staff on site the charity is ensuring that the shop will always trade for the correct hours, the shop will be run correctly and all procedures are followed therefore ensuring they are making as much money as posssible.
As far as donations go, I always receive them with a smile and enthusiasm but my colleague is absolutely terrible. She grunts and goes, 'Just leave it o'er there' which is absolutely embarrassing.
But on the other end of the spectrum, the amount of rudeness I get is astounding, esp. considering I'm giving up my time and energy to serve these people.
People who are rude to volunteers are just obnoxious. :mad: And people who steal from charity shops always seem extra horrible to me. I remember when the Oxfam shop in Kensington put in security barriers at the door, I commented on them, and a member of staff said, "yes, several of our very regular customers have disappeared completely since we put in the security system."
Really?
Stealing from charity shops is more common than I ever realised. We're always finding empty hangers in the changing rooms. There's a dummy CCTV camera that is blatantly fake, and doesn't deter people. We just have to trust in people's sense of morality and be disappointed when it doesn't show.
Is that the one that is supposed to be worth a ton of money?
Yes. Single CD from 1984, mint condition, went for £440 on Ebay the other day. Very rare.
I probably did buy it, but I my CD's always ended up looking as if a herd of wildebeeste had stampeded over them.
Many people's do. You should see my daughter's! :rolleyes: Mine are nearly all in mint condition still and no scratches, despite repeated plays, as I look after them.
Where we live there is a street with 5 or 6 different shops. We make a trip of it and visit them all and generally come back with a haul.
The exception being Oxfam, they are bandits.
They have this glass cabinet with the 'valuable' items in it.
On one occassion the OH spotted some Louis Vitton (sp) shoes in the cabinet, hardly worn. They wanted 70 quid for them.
The OH asked to try them on and they sales person fished them out.
Despite us being not being millionaires, the OH likes nice things and knows her labels and can spot a fake in a thunderstorm. Before she even put them on, she told the sales person they are not genuine.
The person gets all aggressive and says they have been looked at by Oxfams experts and are legit.
OH says to the assistant that she will buy them on condition that she signs the receipt as bought as genuine and if she gets them looked at, they will refund.
Sales person gets the manager, manager refuses to sell OH the shoes.
Few days later OH drops into Oxfam, shoes are on the rack with the rest of the stuff priced at £17.50.
In our experience most charity shops sell stuff fairly priced, sometimes under priced if the staff don't know what they are looking at.
But Oxfam, nope keep away
Actually, that was largely my point- if "too much" is going on admin, then the charity's losing money. But a certain amount DOES have to be spent on staff and admin in order to maximise profits, and I'm sure that most charities have done the maths and figured out how to do this. Today I'm in charge and am paid to be so; like you, I am being paid to make sure the charity makes as much as possible.
Another thing is that most of the staff have no idea of a books value. It is old books that are out of print that are valuable, yet a lot of these shops throw old books out and don't even put them on the shelves. If a an old hardback book has a dustwrapper on it then it is even more valuable, yet the shop assistants often take the dustwrapper off and throw it away if it is a bit tatty. Then they put sticky lables on the front of valuable books which will leave a mark when they are taken off.
I once went into a charity shop and saw a bag full of books on the floor which I assumed were there for people to look through. On the top I found a very old children's annual which I thought looked interesting. I asked how much it was and was told to just take it as the bag was about to be thrown out with rubbish. I later sold this book on Ebay for £27.
Another time, I saw both a paperback and a hardback edition of a book. I asked how much they were and was told that the paperback was £1.50 and the hardback 50p because it was older than the paperback. In fact the hardback was a collector's item and the paperback was a heavily cut edition. Guess which one I bought? They must be letting money just slip through their hands all the time.
But apart from the rudeness of a staff member, your story shows their system working well. You spotted something that their valuers had missed. The item was withdrawn and re-valued. All was well.
And Fibromite's stories show what happens when the system DOESN'T work. Goods that should be raising money for the charity are wasted. There is a reason why Oxfam employs specialist valuers - it is to stop £27 books being thrown away. They also know better than to take old dust jackets off and thow them away.
I have a hierarchy of charity shops. If I am giving something worth a reasonable chunk of money, I will take it to a specialist charity shop - an Oxfam music shop, an Oxfam or Amnesty book shop or a designer Oxfam shop. Ordinary stuff goes to the local hospice shop. Stuff like magazines and used shoes go to Fara which sells everything dirt cheap and looks happy with everything.
I collect those :mad: I have a series of books from the twenties and thirties called "The Wonder Book Of..." My absolute favourite dates back to 1929, whereby the author describes what space travel might be like and he says in the book "I personally do not think that such travel will be possible..." To see that in print is absolutely priceless. I can spend hours in bookshops going through old books.
If they're from that far back we'd probably keep them and get them valued by the bookshop - I'm talking 90s books about microbiology and kids' old school textbooks!
We had an old computer book from the late 90s that said something like 'online shopping is yet to take off'
Many volunteers are elderly and some barely go shopping and are out of touch with prices. They don't know that you can get T shirts for £1.25 in Primark or that George stuff is as cheap as chips.
But hey, it's swings and roundabouts ..... sometimes you'll get a bargain!
I also find that if you mention to the person at the till that their pricing is a bit out, they'll usually speak to the Manager for you.
The shop I helped at had about 25 part-time volunteers and a paid Manager and a Deputy who covered for her days off and holidays. Some of the volunteers worked on the tills, others did the steaming, others priced, others culled, some washed china and glasses and so on. They give their time (and often travel costs) for free and really do try their best.
Dear oh dear! CD Singles are so hard to sell in these days and age, that one charity shop I know of, only asks for a £1 for TEN of them! - LOL
I fell in love at first sight.I was too shy to ask her out,too old as well i suppose.So i did the next best thing and put a few quid in her tin.Not the deposit i wanted to give her.But it's the thought that counts isn't it?.;)
It's the same in my town. My OH and I collect alternative 80s records, vintage Lego and I look for clothing oddities - we visit all 6 charity shops in town every Saturday but are wary of Oxfam because it's so puzzlingly expensive. Worse still...if the manageress is on the till and she disagree with the price on the ticket - she'll take it off you and tell you it needs reprocessing and that it' no longer for sale. Behavior like that does not exactly help. I've noticed the stock is pretty stagnant and I wonder why it isn't as well managed as the busy, bright Cancer Research a 2 minute walk away.
http://www.elizium.nu/scripts/lemmings/