NMH
Banned
I have been charity-shop shopping a lot lately, after moving back to the UK - and it has helped furnish my flat with curtains, rugs, blankets, picture frames, candles, and other stuff. All quite handy really.
While doing this shopping, I've been casually looking for collectibles and more valuable artifacts - especially vinyl records.
However, they only ever seemed to have James Last, Harry Secombe, Max Bygraves and top-of-the-pops crap that never sells.
A little bit of investigation, and some candid confessions from a couple of volunteers in different shops (who probably shouldn't normally have told me) I found out that the store managers have first dibs on donated items, and they may never be sold in the shop, or even make any money for the charity!
On top of that, they have 'pricers' come in to evaluate records and some antique items, and THEY are given first pick...at very low prices (obviously they know that they are getting absolute bargain stuff for pennies). Those 'pricers' are usually dealers, or eBay sellers that then profit from the private sales, that only they profit from!
The donated valuables NEVER see the front of the shop, are often sequestered away without the actual charity never seeing a penny, and a few dodgy money-grabbing 'volunteers' are revelling in the kindly donations from unsuspecting people who will never check to make sure their generous donations of valuables got properly sold!
The managers of shops ARE paid, they hire several oldies who are free volunteers, the shops themselves are rent-free or very cheap (the owners can also claim it against their taxes if they have a charity shop lessee).
In their favour, they do sell some odd clothes and non-investment-grade tat which can be re-used, and thus they do get (and show) some income.
I don't know what NSC think here, but to me it appears that there are some dodgy people creaming a lot off of people's honest heartfelt kindness in donation, using a charity shop as a 'front' - and even they see it as doing nothing wrong, all quite part and parcel of running a shop!
There are a few charities that actively go out and do good things, of course, and the money made from 'tat' does go to a good cause - but when do you ever see anything of collectible/art/antique value on display in the front of the shop?
While doing this shopping, I've been casually looking for collectibles and more valuable artifacts - especially vinyl records.
However, they only ever seemed to have James Last, Harry Secombe, Max Bygraves and top-of-the-pops crap that never sells.
A little bit of investigation, and some candid confessions from a couple of volunteers in different shops (who probably shouldn't normally have told me) I found out that the store managers have first dibs on donated items, and they may never be sold in the shop, or even make any money for the charity!
On top of that, they have 'pricers' come in to evaluate records and some antique items, and THEY are given first pick...at very low prices (obviously they know that they are getting absolute bargain stuff for pennies). Those 'pricers' are usually dealers, or eBay sellers that then profit from the private sales, that only they profit from!
The donated valuables NEVER see the front of the shop, are often sequestered away without the actual charity never seeing a penny, and a few dodgy money-grabbing 'volunteers' are revelling in the kindly donations from unsuspecting people who will never check to make sure their generous donations of valuables got properly sold!
The managers of shops ARE paid, they hire several oldies who are free volunteers, the shops themselves are rent-free or very cheap (the owners can also claim it against their taxes if they have a charity shop lessee).
In their favour, they do sell some odd clothes and non-investment-grade tat which can be re-used, and thus they do get (and show) some income.
I don't know what NSC think here, but to me it appears that there are some dodgy people creaming a lot off of people's honest heartfelt kindness in donation, using a charity shop as a 'front' - and even they see it as doing nothing wrong, all quite part and parcel of running a shop!
There are a few charities that actively go out and do good things, of course, and the money made from 'tat' does go to a good cause - but when do you ever see anything of collectible/art/antique value on display in the front of the shop?
