General Chat

I bet this lady calls herself a charity worker too........not in the spirit of charity to take a donation of clothes, take first pick and not put a penny piece in to the good cause......

Its a bit like when I used to do the cake stalls at the school fairs......the teachers would come out and choose a cake to have with their tea.......but nothing was ever put in the box.......perhaps it was later, I don't know....

I do know that all of us on the stalls, if we had anything we took a shine to we always paid for it, and made sure the others saw us paying too.....

It's straight forward, taking something without paying for it is THEFT. This ranks up there with those that steal charity collection boxes.

You may not be able to say who the person was, but a letter to charities head office may result in the workers being contacted about paying for things.. xx

I feel a letter coming on....... this is terrible isn't it?

that is dreadful, i am the fundraising officer for a local charity and every single thing i get is raffled or sold to boost our funds.i wouldn't dream of taking anything donated for myself... she is abusing her position of trust.

Hello Stella

I know there are so many good people out there helping at these shops and I have always admired them for doing so, I was a bit reluctant about putting this thread up and as I said at the beginning, I don't want to upset anyone, but reading what others have said, it does seem to happen quite a lot.

Barb xx

Hello Moonglow, we are lucky enough around here to have one of those big wheelie bins for discarded clothes and shoes, it is along with the bottle banks up at our local shops....... there is also one at our Tescos supermarket.....

......but......please don't send me your unwanted clothes to put in them.......lol

sally

have to say my charity is not run from a shop, its a collection of people in the community. i did know of a man a few years ago who collected doorstep bags for a national charity and kitted his whole family out from that.

i think a complaint should be made to the charity organisers !

My Mum works in a Save the Children shop and, yes, they do go through things when they come in - BUT they ALWAYS pay for any items they want. It seems to be down to the manager in the individual shop, not necessarily the charity.

Barb, get writing that letter!
I would be really annoyed to find something I DONATED had been STOLEN by a member of staff, because it is Theft after all.
Isnt that why you donated it to a charity?
xxx
Edit.
I thought clothing was cleaned, before going on sale?

Barbara - you donated the items to Charity, not to this lady who felt like taking it and wearing it for herself WITHOUT paying.

I would be absolutely furious.
I suggest you write to the Head Office. No matter that the woman may deny it, or it cannot be proved, at least the Head Office has been informed that it goes on.

I often give to Oxfam, but I wouldn't like to think that my stuff is going free to the staff, tha'ts not why I donate it!!


Those plastic bags left on the doorstep - I use them for my bin liners!! There was a TV documentary some time ago about this. Nearly all of these are a scam. Private companies collect them and SELL the stuff at car boot sales etc.


K

Hya Taff
She would have had time to take it home and wash, blooming cheek, I thought it must be a normal thing that happens because she wasn't worried about telling me.

Karen I am furious but it does seem to happen all the time, and if I write a letter am i just wasting my time, would this person just say she'd paid for it, I have no proof.

Well, you have her word Barb,.
And if she cant be trusted at that,she shouldnt be working in a charity shop, should she!
And lets be honest, who would brag about something like that, she should be ashamed of herself!!

I know what you say is right, but reading some of the earlier posts, it seems to happen all over so I don't know if my small voice would be heard and anything done, other than one woman denying what she said to me!

I KNOW A LOT OF CHARITY SHOP WORKERS
THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO HELP THEM SELVES
OR BUY FIRST HAVE TO BE ON SALE A WEEK

Well Barb,. what reason would you have to Lie? you gained nothing did you?
And Barb,. if you want to donate to another charity in future, I will send you my addy!lol
And if this is so wide spread, then the Managers or higher still, should be made accountable!
How about a quick letter to your local newspaper? Warning people in your area, of coarse you couldnt mention the charity shops name, until you've written them a letter and got a responce.
So how about naming and shaming them on here, so WE would Know what goes on in that particular charity shop?

I just don't know what to make of it Dizzi but other people have said it happens, hopefully not very often.

xx

It's only a Christian Charity Shop I pass on the way to work, not one of the big name ones, to be honest I think it's called something like that, I think I might pop in and ask to see the manager, next time I go by and don't tell her who it was, she might already know.

Also I have a friend who is a close friend of our MP, I might just mention it to her and see if she can help.

It's shocking isn't it.

Barb xx

Go write that letter Barbara - this sort of thing really shouldn't be happening.

To look at the other side of this subject - I belong to a church organisation which supports our local hospital with knitted goods etc. One of the things we do is to collect new/nearly new nightwear for the patients on the elderly/frail ward. I have just sorted through some nighties etc which were donated and given to me last night and guess what? A bagload went in the bin and a bagload went in the washer! Why do some people give items which are not fit to be worn?

Barbara - pity you didn't say to her 'yes i had one like that and i donated it here the other day' to see her reaction .........

If she was in the wrong you would have known for sure lol

Disgraceful of her and shame on her!

Though i understand you feel you are just a small voice, lots of small voices make one huge voice? I would have to write a letter im afraid.

My mum died very recently, i took all of her clothes to our local CRUK shop, they didnt need them, so i took them to the Sally Army as Mum was so involved with them (trying to find people for families), i would hate to think some one stole any of her clothes, when they were donated to help the charity.

Very sad that some one can do this