Scam of door-to-door charity donation bags

I have a quite explicit notice on my front door stating that I do not particiate in charity collections. If they still push them through I use the bags for my own rubbish. Unrequested catalogues also go into the recycling.

how many people dispose of new clothing ?

Sadly I gave away lots over the last two years or so while having a purge. All bought at some point when I was obviously needing some retail therapy. What a waste of money.

I found a drawer stuffed to the gills with these bags when I was clearing my late Mum's house. There must have been 50 at least! She had probably been saving them for years, just in case!

I am using them to line the bin I use for collecting soft plastics, then the bag and contents are taken to the collection point at Tesco when I do the weekly shop. ( It is amazing how much soft plastic we collect in a week, and we try not to buy things with excess plastic containers/wrappings ).

Does anyone else have problems parking near to a charity shop? We have 4 fairly near shops ( within a 5-10 min drive), but only 1 that has parking spaces. The others have no parking at all, no good if I have a heavy item/bag to donate.

Take care xx

Nobody ever comes to collect them here.
Very annoying.

We get maybe 2 or 3 bags a week pushed through our letter box. I have used them very infrequently and much prefer to take stuff directly to a charity shop.

I have a bag filled and ready for collection tomorrow for Breast Cancer.

I was thinking that Quizzer. If supermarket clothing in good condition isn’t good enough quality to be taken by charity shops it’s a real indictment of the “throw away clothing” industry. Cheap clothing means a cost to the environment.

I didn’t say that NO bags come direct from the charities concerned. Just thought that people should be aware of the small print.
I turn the bags inside out (no idea why!!) and fill them with good clothes to carry to the shop.
Some gransnetters must live in posh areas if their charity shops do not sell supermarket clothes! Ours sell anything that still has life in it.

harrigran That sounds a funny set up doesn't it asking for new stuff only when there are loads of really good quality stuff available to be donated.
I take mine to a couple of local shops AgeUK & Banardo's and I buy bits and bobs from both to support their causes.

I do fill the odd bag that is pushed through the letterbox. I can dispose of lightly worn garments rather than binning them. We have a homeless charity in town but they only accept new unworn garments and shoes, how many people dispose of new clothing ?

We don’t get them any more here - not for ages, anyway.

We have several charity shops locally - I usually take just a few things at a time when going shopping anyway - nearly always on the bus.
The 2 or 3 books for the Oxfam bookshop are often replaced straightaway by one or two more, though - I feel a bit bad if I leave without buying anything.

I get one of these bags every couple of weeks - each time for a different charity - but on reading the small print it is collected by the same limited company each time. I have sometimes used them to take donations to a local charity shop.

I don't think I've had one of these charity bags since the first lockdown.

I donate to charity shops direct. Any charity bags which come through the door are used as dustbin bags. No way would i encourage these creeps.

It is not true what you say about none coming from proper charities. Look at the charity number on the bag to make sure it is legit. I worked for the Red Cross and these bag were a godsend when they came from a good area. Please do not tar them all with the same brush .

I’m aware of this. Also some go to car boots. I take to charity shops.

Thanks to those who responded about the crockery. I don’t know whether car boot sales have started up again yet in my area but I will investigate. We do have a BHF shop in my area but it is 6 miles away.

I take ours to the local voluntary fire station they have a big holder. The rest I put in the village recycling which is sold towards the upkeep of the village hall.

Our church did a clothing collection many months ago to raise funds, but received very little for the large quantities of donated items. We then did another collection recently but put the donations on display for church members to take what they wanted for a cash donation. Before the man came to collect everything we opened up to the public on a Saturday morning, offering tea and coffee to those who 'rummaged', then any really nice items were taken to a local charity shop, a couple of bags of suitable items are destined for the Salvation Army for the homeless - currently in the boot of my car waiting for me to take them - and the remainder sold to the man who took the first lot months ago. The donations from those who took items amounted to vastly more than we received the first time round for only a little more effort and at least 2 charities should benefit.
I never put items in the collection bags that come through the door as they are somewhat misleading unless you read the small print.

I only fill bags which benefit the local air ambulance service, as I know the bags picked up door to door are taken to their large shop/warehouse and decent things will be sold, rather than just sent for recycling. Smaller items I take into my preferred charity shop in town. Years ago, a friend alerted me to the scams, when a British Heart Foundation bag dropped through the letterbox, marked that it would be collected on a Saturday, which he knew the bona fide organisation never did. The British Heart Foundation do home collection Greenfinch, but don’t know if they are in your area. They also take electrical items and furniture.

Take the crockery to a carboot sale. It is sociable and fun.

I check to see if they take bric-a brac or other items as most only want clothing. That way I have managed to donate small items of crockery, books, etc. I don't care where it goes if someone somewhere can use it then it is better than sitting in my cupboards. I use unwanted bags as bin liners.

We live out of town and never get any but I would be quite happy to put sub standard or supermarket clothes in them as I know charity shops only want the best. My problem is that I have loads of crockery I need to get rid of . It is too heavy to carry to the charity shops so what should I do with it?

We haven’t had these bags here for years, long before lockdown I d say at least 5 years

We get masses of them, although less than before lockdown. I use mine to gather up the shreddings when we've been shredding paper so they don't fly around when the recycling bin is emptied. We have a 'textiles' collection along with our recycling collection. If I think charity shops won't have a use for something I put it in the textiles collection. I think the Council sell them on to the overseas 'rag' people and give the money to charity.