Charity shops

[Morleigh]

Charity shops are in every town and every city in Scotland and beyond, there supposedly to help the poor, the needy, those in benefits and those without,
mostly the goods sold are indeed second hand, having been donated by good people who have compassion for the less well off among us, in any shop one can find something to suit,

Some of the charity shops have taken to recycling/upcycling certain items, such as furniture, thus adding further value to the item which is all and well if the person who needs it can afford it,

On a recent visit to some of these shops, I noticed that the price tag on many items was in some cases, way over the top, as expensive as it would have cost new, now maybe the item/s donated were new, there again they are still second hand because they have been owned previously, £120 for a dinner set, (used) is in my opinion OTT,

Chests of drawers, £50 and counting..A single bed £25, its headboad £25, Bric a brac..one item priced at £100..


Now I know that charities are businesses in their own right, they have like any other business got to make a profit...but where is the profit when your shops lie empty? because people in need cannot afford to buy second hand goods from you. one person or maybe two in the shop do not pay the wage/s,

Get a grip Thurso Charity shops..price your goods accordingly, you are after all a Charity organisation.

[Alrock]

Some very good points there.

In their defence though, some of the blame should be placed with the Scottish Government.
Charities used to get a lot of funding from the Government through various schemes. These have largely been replaced with the Scottish Governments "Revolve" scheme. The main purpose of this scheme seems to be to make Charity shops more inviting & more like high street shops to remove the stigma of going into a charity shop, placing restrictions on what they can & condition of what they sell as well as the layout of the shop itself, no more rummaging through boxes everything has to be displayed nicely & in a damage free condition.

Howerver... I do feel that some Charity Shops do over apply the rules, probably out of paranoia over losing their "Revolve" funding due to the threat of "Secret Shoppers" assessing them.

Or at least to the best of my knowledge that is the case.

[ScottishWalrus]

Charities are sadly big business. The CEO's are generally on very nice salaries, paid for by volunteers. Remember the charity shop in Thurso?

I would be really interested to find out more about government support (Revolve?). When government backs some businesses (charities with salaried employees are a business in my book)over others it does seem unfair. I have also noticed some charity shops selling new products in direct competition with other stores.

[Sgitheanach]

A Certain shop in thurso was donated two pine chest of drawers they have now been sanded and revarnished(not very well) and have a price tag of £150 each that doesn't seem to be priced for low income families.

[Mr P Cannop]

i think i know what shop your on about

[Morleigh]

Charities are sadly big business. The CEO's are generally on very nice salaries, paid for by volunteers. Remember the charity shop in Thurso?

I would be really interested to find out more about government support (Revolve?). When government backs some businesses (charities with salaried employees are a business in my book)over others it does seem unfair. I have also noticed some charity shops selling new products in direct competition with other stores.

I too would like to know more about this gov scheme, and your right, it is unfair on low income folks.

[Morleigh]

A Certain shop in thurso was donated two pine chest of drawers they have now been sanded and revarnished(not very well) and have a price tag of £150 each that doesn't seem to be priced for low income families.

This is what I mean, and I saw those, nice but too dear, anyone on a low income these are just a pipe dream.

[Alrock]

This is what I mean, and I saw those, nice but too dear, anyone on a low income these are just a pipe dream.

Furniture being sold in the shop is not intended for those on a low income, it's to generate income to support the work of the charity (whatever that is nowadays).

[golach]

This is what I mean, and I saw those, nice but too dear, anyone on a low income these are just a pipe dream.

Charity shops are there

to make money for their particular charity and to get the maximum monies at the same time, they are not furniture banks for the needy.

[Morleigh]

Charity shops are there

to make money for their particular charity and to get the maximum monies at the same time, they are not furniture banks for the needy.

Really? O I never would have known that, thank you for enlightening me Golach!

Perhaps they ought not be calling themselves "Charity" shops..maybe go over to used /second hand/third hand/ goods at ridiculously high prices!
Certainly the shops in Thurso are indeed showing themselves to be money grabbing businesses who are happy to take in used items be that furniture or clothing and titivate it up somewhat to make it look brand new,
and if as has been suggested they do this to ensure extra money from government funding, well as far as I can see, they are well and capable on their own, they neither need funding nor do they deserve it,

I am appalled by the attitude of one shop in particular, the assistant very rude when I asked about a particular item and to further explain that it would cost me the same again to deliver, I am appalled that in a charity shop, one has to look at the price before considering buying, its a disgrace.

[Shaggy]

I passed one of the charity shops in Wick today and there was a sofa set for £285 in the window. For an extra £100 i could buy a brand new one from SCS which comes with a guarantee!.....and doesn't look like it came out of Grandpaw Broons old but and ben :-D. That's the main problem with some of the old stuff that is for sale in the shops, you rarely see a PAT test label on the electrical stuff, with furniture the fire labels are cut or torn off, then there's the situation with clothes....yes they may be cheap but you never know their safety limits if the tags have been removed!. I used to nip into the shops every now and again to see what had been handed in and usually found something useful but i stopped going in after an old fellow came into the shop with some bits and pieces whilst i was there and i asked the staff member what were they asking for it only to be told to mind my own business and it's not for sale until it's properly valued. In other words, it was either claimed by the gobby shop assistant or awaiting a quick trawl through Ebay sold listings for similar items and then add another 20-30% on to that price.

[Shaggy]

Really? O I never would have known that, thank you for enlightening me Golach!

Perhaps they ought not be calling themselves "Charity" shops..maybe go over to used /second hand/third hand/ goods at ridiculously high prices!
Certainly the shops in Thurso are indeed showing themselves to be money grabbing businesses who are happy to take in used items be that furniture or clothing and titivate it up somewhat to make it look brand new,
and if as has been suggested they do this to ensure extra money from government funding, well as far as I can see, they are well and capable on their own, they neither need funding nor do they deserve it,

I am appalled by the attitude of one shop in particular, the assistant very rude when I asked about a particular item and to further explain that it would cost me the same again to deliver, I am appalled that in a charity shop, one has to look at the price before considering buying, its a disgrace.

here was a fish tank (tank only, nothing else) in the Thurso shop a couple of years back and i went in to ask how much, only to be shocked at the price of £60....considering that a new one was £59.95 in Pets at home and came with a lid, filter, gravel and some other basic items. Not been back in since, nor the ones in Wick either for that matter. It's true what they say about "where there's muck, there's brass" but in Caithness, it's taken a new twist apparently with "where there's muck, there's surely some mug who will buy it for twice the price".
T

[Morleigh]

Furniture being sold in the shop is not intended for those on a low income, it's to generate income to support the work of the charity (whatever that is nowadays).

https://www.charityretail.org.uk/charity-shops/
Quote:
However, a shop must sell wholly or mainly donated goods in order to retain its status as serving a “charitable purpose”.