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Charity shops

On 12 Jan 2012 at 8:46am Observer wrote:

Is it just me or are charity shops getting a little bit greedy. I am sure if they dropped their prices they would sell more. Some of their clothing is dearer than Primarts. Ok it is probably better quality but it is secondhand. Another thing is how much actually goes to charity.

On 12 Jan 2012 at 8:50am DFL wrote:

Depends on the charity I think Observer, but you're right, some of them are expensive, and in some cases, not a lot of the money collected actually gets to the cause(s) they support - you can always check up on a charity via the link below.

Check it out here »

On 12 Jan 2012 at 8:54am DFL wrote:

If you search that website for say, Oxfam, BHF and Princess Alice, you can actually see how much is given over to the charity cause and how much is used as "Income Generation" i.e. salaries for staff and premises rental etc.

On 12 Jan 2012 at 11:58am jrsussex wrote:

A very emotive subject. I am a good supporter of charities, I never walk past a genuine charity street collector without I place some coins in their collecting vessel, I actually work for two charitie(unpaid). However I do feel that the outgoings of the main stream charities is excessive, that if you add to that most of the outlet staff are volunteers, they obtain their stock at no cost and they receive very substantial discounts on the business rates they pay. I believe that to be unfair on other small retailers who are struggling to survive in the current financial climate. They have become full time businesses, some opening on a Sunday, and should for that reason pay full business rates, in my opinion. An example of the manner in which they spend their income was in 2010, a well known charity installed a new shop front at a cost of just over £5k.