General Chat

A couple of months ago OH took large sack of clothes to our local branch and assistant asked him were there any M & S clothes in it. He did not know and she explained that for every item of M & S clothing you would get a £5 M & S voucher in exchange.

Last week he took an unworn jumper in to them and the assistant refused to take it as it was not M & S and told him Sally Army would take it. Only two doors away so he did as he was told.

I was puzzled when he told me and a couple of days later I rang the shop and was told - that they are only accepting M & S clothes. They will, however, take designer label and sell them on the net!!!!!!

Well, that's enterprise, I guess.........

LOL Bob

That's dreadful. Presumably the £5 voucher is for the Charity Shop not the donor. Never mind good old Salvation Army gained. Don't have Sally Army in my area so I always give to Help the Aged, especially as I am aged.

Vera

*stunned*

That's them off my list!

Sue

Well thats abit sque iff...l work for Oxfam and we give a £5 voucher for a bag that contains M&S clothes, another voucher if another bag.......we never ever refuse any clothes from any store, it is sorted upstairs nothing is wasted, even the rags are'nt really ragged.
l will ask my manager if she has heard of this before!!

jude :-S :-0

OXFAM HAVE BEEN OVER PRICING FOR YEARS.

Oxfam are either the only charity or one of a very few who don't through anything away....everything is used. l watched a dvd recently of what happens when the so called rubbish is collected and taken to be re-sorted!!!

Some of the items that volunteers chuck out can end up in shops that sell alot of Retro, or vintage, etc...and sell.

In our town they are'nt the most expensive , l think it depends on the shop manager too.

jude :-D

Strictly speaking, Oxfam are willing to give a £5 M&S voucher for each bag brought into them, provided at least one of the clothing items has an M&S label. I don't think you get a voucher for EACH M&S item.
The rules and regs are on the posters which used to be in all the Oxfam windows (not sure if they still are as I'm not currently in the UK).
Must admit I've never heard of them refusing things, but maybe it's a sign of the times, ie perhaps they're overwhelmed with the amount of stuff people give away!!

K

From M&S........

M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange.
We teamed up with Oxfam to encourage customers to recycle clothes they no longer wear. Donate an item of M&S labelled clothing to Oxfam and you'll receive a voucher for £5 off when you spend £35 at M&S.

.....The M&S and Oxfam Clothes Exchange has been running since January 2008 and has already raised a staggering £3m for Oxfam's charity work. Anyone donating an item of M&S clothing to Oxfam will receive a £5 voucher to use on their next purchase of £35 or more on clothing, homeware or beauty products in store.............

l think its been noted in charity shops that less is being brought in....because of the recession, people are holding on to their clothes etc....men always do...lol

jude :-D

Well that's good news, Jude, perhaps in this recession the younger generation will not only learn to hold on to their things but also learn to darn, mend, sew and knit when required?!!
Stranger things have happened at sea, as my granny used to say!
:-)


K

Oxfam are ridiculously expensive...I don't even bother to walk through the door there anymore and I love a good rummage...though invariably end up with just books.

In the Heart foundation shop I can buy 3 books for about £4...Oxfam are sometimes charging more than Asda or Tescos when they do their book on a special offer...who would bother !!!!

Mind you...I now buy the majority of my books from the car boot...3 for £1....even better !!! lol x

Rita...l think all the shops do that now, its called Gift Aid, its not just large items, its anything that a customer donates:)

jude :)

Jude - when OH told me about asistant refusing the jumper I honestly thought an asistant had got mixed up over the instructions re M & S vouchers - that is why I rang and when she confirmed I was speechless.

I normally and have done for years support Marie Curie (it is next door the library and opposite the butcher) so very handy for me but as OH was going in opposite direction I just directed him to Oxfam.

In Winchester, they have a separate book shop - which is, with some types of books, more expensive than the second hand book shop!!
I only know this because when I was doing a degree, I used to rummage for second hand books. Oxfam was cheaper for the Religious books, but more expensive for any, what could be called 'antique' books - which I thought strange, as they had been given the 'antique' books, but the second hand shop had actually paid for them!!!

I nearly always give to help the aged and told the manager I would not contribute anything for sale that I would not consider in good enough condition for me to wear. She assured me she would take anything as she could get money for these items as rags. Also very tatty books - they can go for pulp.
Good attitude.

I always give my tax details. Don't want old George getting his hands on that 20 percent. Disgraceful anyway when you think you have already paid for the item plus VAT

Vera

l generally use Oxfam and Red Cross charity to donate my things, mainly because they both work all round the world, UK inclusive and do alot of amazings things.
If l can't get to either of them then its where ever l can park.
Red Cross in town was one of the first, if the not The First charity shop in town, it was also a meeting place/coffee shop etc.

Oxfam has had seperate Book Shops for ages now, and all Charity shops if not most have local people that call in and help with valueing, so alot of shops are guided by them, UNLESS the manager likes to do it his/her self.

Although volunteers are an absolute must some have minds of their own, they will throw away things that should'bt be, alter prices, put items out that SHOULD BE THROWN, hang things in the wrong place...etc etc...give customers the wrong imformation, wrong impression (bad attitude).
l bought a note book the other day in our shop which was MOLE SKIN(printed into the back of book) for 80p,l showed it to the manager and we both dropped our jaws!!!!!!.....l paid more for it:)

All charity shops have the rag man....the price they get is'nt anywhere near as good as say 12-15yrs ago

l do agree that books in most charity shops are too expensive, not just Oxfam. British Heart F in town are higher than ours.

Another thing to remember is that all charity shops have to pay rent and utility bills!! Our contract is about to run out and the owner wants it upt and on a long contract, hence we are having to move!!!!!! there are alot of over heads and TARGETS to reach for all shops,plus all the new technology....shopping online, computers, printers etc...each shop may have a different owner!!

l will find out asap about this stupid M&S thingy,:)

jude ;-) :-D

Our British Heart Foundation shop is expensive too. I used to go in for books but they were almost always over priced for the paperbacks, many of which are a little dog eared as expected.
Who wants to pay £3 for a kids t shirt when you can buy one in Primark for cheaper new ?

Biggest shock is their furniture shop. Who wants to pay £££ for a sofa when you can buy new from Argos for similar prices, and have one thrown in free ?

Dont the staff actually look online or in the shops, and realise people want bargains. The stuff being sold mainly is 2nd hand. So dont just chop off a tiny amount from the retail price, cut it buy at least a third. Then people may be tempted to buy.

My mum used to work for Shelter charity,some years ago admittedly,but we researched how much money actually goes to the people/animals that it is intended for.

Oxfam 5% only reaches hungry children,Shelter 95% reaches homeless.

All the charities have different percentages,but Oxfam is the cheekiest.

I think that Oxfam spend far too much cash on furnishing their shops with fancy carpets,shelving ect,I would far rather rummage in a shabby shop and know that my money is used for the purpose I donated it.

Hiya:)

l'm trying to find out what the percentage is now.. ...hopefully alot different to when you and your mum found it:)

l can remember the days when you could rummage, but in those days the shops did'nt have to pay rate's/rent...either neither or one!!
Now adays they have wages to pay out and alsorts of other things. l wish they did'nt have so much stationary, advertising etc and yes altering shops etc...ours has'nt been touched for years, good thing too as we have to move.... don't know where to yet either:((

jude :-D

In our village in Northumberland the school has a joint project with the Great North Air Ambulance - the parents association collects the castoffs (& phones and ink cartridges) and the Ambulance supporters do the marketing, and they split the profits - both causes with a very local need of support.,

They're coming Tuesday morning, must finish packing up my contributions!