General Chat

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

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?

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.

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 !

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

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

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.

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

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 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.....

Hi Susan

Hope you're well now

I know if I complain, there's a good chance it will be ignored and I don't know who this person is, it's a scandal whichever way you look at it, and obviously a lot more common than we first thought. I think the term charity begin's at home is normal to some people, but surely not all?

Back soon
x

But who suffers the most if this goes on a lot, the poor people who need help as usual, I wish I'd had to guts to tell her what I thought, I am such a coward.

BRB have to do some (choke) work.

Hi Babara,

One of mine has worked in charity shops and got disillusioned. On one occasion he was sifting through old coins and realised one of them was a King Edward threepenny piece. As Edward abdicated there were not many made, which made it very valuable. He told the manager and was told to put it in the safe. The next day when my son went to look at it it had disappeared. This tended to happen to anything worth anything so he realised that charity began with the workforce/manager and refused to work there any more. He did report it but unfortunately nothing was done.

it's wrong and discusting.
ive had people leave bags on my door step for clothes etc yes they did have a charity number on. but when i checked it out,and there was no such charity number.
xxxx

Maybe we have all been a bit naive then, in view of what Darklord has just said, I think it must go on more than we think.

I'm quite shocked you know.

Also our local Oxfam has been told it is shutting because its not making enough profit

I will certainly not take anything into there again, and in future will think twice about where I take my stuff.

I am a bit reluctant to write a letter, may give it some thought, it is the fact they are volunteers and even though it is stealing, it would be very difficult to prove, wouldn't it.

I can tell you an even more worse story about a person I know whose sister worked at a charity shop.
She was giving her brother stuff to sell at Car Boot Sales.

WRITE TO HEAD OFFICE.

It's the charity that is missing funds. People give in good faith expecting that their items will be sold, if not will be donated in bulk overseas.

This woman is stealing from the charity.

As for 'a perk of the job' that holds no water at all. By all means take the pick of the new items but pay the usual ticket price.

That's made me mad!

Sue x

Barabra,

I give my unwanted clothes to the Salvation Army, at least they go to good homes.
Have you got a Salvation Army crate in any of your car parks or shopping complexes ?

As for the house hold things I do give them to the Charity shops.
I wouldn't worry about them,as I would have been sick and tired of them
anyway !!
But had I had your experience I think I would be writing off to head office too !!