General Chat

No its not Barb theese people are in a place of trust by the chartiy who want to raise as much as posible from the donations and buy paying a manager they are trusted to do just that .Good luck and I hope you have a good result. but dont bank on it

I would hate to think your experience would put people off donating to charity shops. I am a trustee for a Gloucestershire charity and we have a shop. It is definitely not accepted practice that volunteers in the shop get first picking and especially that they don't have to pay.. In fact anything they buy is closely monitored as is the same in most charity shops I am sure. There will always be a few rotten eggs. And not all the charity bags put through doors sre scams either. some are collected on behalf of the charity, it usually says on the bag that the charity gets x% of the total profit. i tend not to give to those. others like the Salvation army, heart foundation, The childrens society are collected and sorted and sent to the shops concerned.
I would definitely write to the head off ice of the charity concerned, they will be grateful to you, after all they are losing money by this, especially as you put the word around and more people don't take in goods.
Ann
Glos

Barb,. I had a brainwave (stop laughing!!)
Have a word with" Rach of the shires", I think she is a manager of a charity shop!!

Sorry Ann, you must have pressed submit just before me!!lol

I know what to do now when I need new new/used clothes.......go and volunteer for a charity workshop!!!
I think that about sums it up!!!

Have a sit down Taff, no sorry couldn't help myself, yes I will have a word with Rach and I will be going into the shop tomorrow, but it's obvious from some of the replies it's not an isolated case is it .

I'm being a hussy on Gen at the moment and trying to solve Shimms puzzle, busy night tonight lol.

Thanks Ann
I thought there would be people on here who would know, I won't let it drop and I'll let you know what they say.

Barbara,
I am absolutely appalled by your experience.
I help out in a charity shop, and I can assure you that we are not allowed to have anything for nothing! In fact, we are not allowed to buy any items unless they have first been on display in the shop.
In our shop, we are allowed a small discount (in return for a day's work) but we can only have that discount on the day we work and most volunteers don't bother anyway. We get a lot of satisfaction out of knowing we are helping to raise money for a worthwhile cause.
I strongly advise you to report the shop where you dropped off your items - it gives charity shops a bad name. Heaven knows, without the goodwill of people donating unwanted items, we'd be in a very poor position. With the current economic situation, we are relying on people's generosity more than ever. Please report it.

Edit: Forgot to say...... in our shop, all volunteer purchases have to be recorded in a book, to show each purchase is above board, I suppose. Another volunteer has to take the money at the till and also sign the book to say you've paid.

Please, please do report it to Head Office. I too am incensed, I give to charity shops all the time and I am horrified at your story.
You must go to the top, a very stroppyletter. Then and only then tighter regulations may come in.
It is certainly making me think , must look up and see if I can find a Salvation Army place. Iam sure that is a safer bet.

You are certainly not being trivial,

For the last eighteen years of my working life, I was employed in a Salvation Army community centre in which we had two shops. It would certainly not have been allowed in them.

I worked in an office a few doors away from a charity shop in the centre of Cardiff, at the back of the shops and offices we shared a large secure area used for parking etc. As we were selling property we were open on a weekend and one Sunday i wasnt feeling very well and went out the back walked around to where they had skips which i thought was full of rubbish but when i investigated further i was amazed to see at least twenty packets of brand new babies bibs which had been donated by Asda, there was mens pyjamas again new still in the cellophane packets, althought a bit old fashioned i am sure someone could have made use of them, there was childrens toys, electrical items, in fact someone i worked with at the time did interior design and she helped herself to a load of vases, lamp shades and other various items. I was so annoyed at this stuff being skipped that i photographed it all and sent a letter with the photographs to the head office. I also held the bibs and pyjamas for them to see, which they later did when they came down to investigate. Obviously they did have a new manager but i was told that they get so much stuff that they have a time scale for any item and if its not sold within that time then they have to dispose of it. I am sure if thats the case then why dont they just put the stuff on display and advertise it for free. I would certainly complain. A relation of mine works in a charity shop and she said if they want to buy anything it has to go in the shop first and a record is kept of all staff transactions but they do get a discount.

Mazzy

I've often wondered whether this happens when I've seen staff rummaging in the new bags and crowing over what they find. Also, I don't know about you, but sometimes when I've given some nice items, I've gone back in the shop over the next few days to see what they've charged for my items......guess what I've never ever seen any of them!! Now I know why! Some shops only seem to have really tatty stuff....no wonder if the best is being creamed off by the staff!!

Do write to the charity and say that it is putting people off donating...they won't want that.

Ime afraid thats the way it goes, in my local pub thre are three of these so called Charity people, almost every night,that come in dressed to to nines in clothes that I simply couldnt afford, full length leather coats leather boots jewelrey fantastic tops & dresses etc, and they openly brag about it.

On the other hand there is a wharehouse/open yard that has bales 3ftx4ftx5ft full of clothes that come from these shopsthat are supposedly going to 3rd world countries. They sit there for months often they are set on fire then put into skips. Its absolutely disgusting.

Bob Peters.

Barbara
My sister and I was working for a Charity which I won't name but a very well known one all over the world. My niece entered a Miss Money Bags competiion for this Charity and had to raise funds. For a couple of hard earned months we did all sorts of Variety Shows at shopping Centres to raise money for it. Money out of our own pocket was used to put on these shows. At the end of it all my sister and I was invited to a Committee Meeting at Head Office.
I was aphalled at the amount that goes in Administration Fees etc.
They put supper on for us and My goodness it was a banquet. I refused to eat anything as I felt I was stealing. By all means put Supper on but what happened to a few Sandwiches and Biscuits. All this came out of money raised by the way. It was a Catered affair and you know what they charge.
My sister and I was that upset abouit it we refused to work with them ever again. My niece had raised $5000 for them that year. We told them in no uncertain terms that we were not happy. Of course we never found out where the $5,000 went.

I work as a Volunteer for a Non Profit Amature Theatre Group I have been with them for 21 years and because we are Non Profit Organisation we had to raise funds for Charities throughout the year. I was President for a few years and I can honestly say that every cent we raised went to the Charity we had nominated.
Committee Meeting Suppers were provided by the Club Itself or one of us would bring a cake biscuits etc.

I am sure there are some good Charities but I know from experience that some do not do the right thing.
I suppose it would be hard to check unless you ask to see their books which I am sure they are not going to let you look at.

Can't wait to hear what they say to you Barbara when you confront them.

Please let us know
Regards
Jackie

Hello everyone
Thank you all for contributing to this thread, first I am appalled at some of the stories, but now I am not shocked.

I've just come back from the shop and feel a bit hot & bothered.
When I walked in the woman was behind the counter again, so I asked to see the manager, I told her I wanted to speak to her in private and, so she took me in a room at the back, and I told her what had happened. At first, she was a bit uppity and tried to tell me it never happens in her shop, but in the end she called the woman in and told her what I'd said, of course she denied it and said she had paid for it, and it was my word against hers, but I pointed out I had no reason to be there if not to tell her why I was so angry, and in the end the woman just grabbed her coat and rushed out. I now have the address of their head office and when I calm down I will send them a letter.
The manageress was very upset and said she had never known it happen before, but I pointed out that the woman said it was 'a perk' of the job, so she had obviously done it before, she became very upset then and has taken my name and tel no. and we are going to wait to see what response I get from head office. She said she will tell this woman to stay away and she will warn all the other volunteers to make sure they take nothing from the shop, until this has been sorted.
They should apparantly make a record of what they have in a book and make sure one of the other staff takes the money, but she did say sometimes there were only two staff in the shop, it's only a small shop!
I will let you know what happens.
Going for a strong cup of coffee.
Barbara x

I am not sure about this Jackie but in the UK all charities come under The Charity commission which is very strict as to the way things are run. All funds have to be audited and presented at the AGM of the charity. The bit i am not sure about, but I am sure if you google Charities commission you may find out, is if the head office accounts are open to the public. My feeling is that they probably are. A lot of the big charities are known for a good proportion of the funds going into administration, but to be fair I suppose they are run as big businesses and could not operate without experts running them at the top.

Barbara, I am sure that was unpleasant for you but on behalf of all struggling charities (and we all are in the present climate), thank you for being brave enough to go forward with it.

Ann
Glos

HI Ann
Thanks for that.
Things have probably changed a lot now here also. This took place about 19 years ago I think. My niece is 27 now and she was 8 at the time.
Well I hope things have changed now. But I guess wherever you work there are a few Perks here and there. Some bigger than others

Well done Barbara

I know how hard it must have been for you but you had every right to voice you opinion. I do hope it stops now that you have pointed it out to them.
A nice Stiff Brandy will calm you down lol

Take Care
Jackie

Barbara2 - Have not had time to read all the posts on this thread, as I have only just seen it. However, we, that is my OH and myself had an experience a few times,which got up our noses.Let me explain. We are avid jigsaw puzzlers, and usually pay around the £9.99 price each,as they are the top quality ones, and have at least one a week/10 days. A couple of years ago, we decided to have a clear out and took about 20/30 to a charity shop, about £200/£300 worth. Within a couple of days, when we went to take somemore,'our's' where not to be seen,only very old one's in tatty boxes. So where were 'ours. But when I thought about it, the only ones we have been able to buy have been in old tatty boxes. So where do the newish/used only once ones go,that is what I would like to know. There is something wrong here,not only with our jigsaws,but with other donations people give in good faith.
Having said all of that, and I will stick by what I have said, a couple of winters ago,I got a lovely short winter Cashmere, yes Cashmere, coat for £8. Best buy I have ever had from a charity shop
Julia in Derbyshire