Charity Bags Arriving

The first sign of spring.

Nothing yet.
I have a stack of books for charity shops, will probably take them in stages once they’re open again though.

Use them for bin liners. ?

I never use the charity bags that come through the door as i’ve heard that some of them are not from genuine charities (you can check online if the charity is genuine or not). Also I’ve heard that sometimes vans go around picking up the filled bags and those vans are not necessarily from a charity - they’re opportunists collecting to make money for themselves. Sorry that sounds so cynical, but I always take my stuff into a charity shop. I realise that’s not possible for everyone though. During lockdown I’ve hung onto stuff and will take in when charity shops reopen.

I wouldn't leave a bag of unwanted articles at my front door, even for a properly registered charity and I don't know anyone who does. I also use the bags for bin liners.

I never use the charity bags having read the small print on them. I take things to a charity shop and use gift aid. The money goes to the local children's hospice.

Yes we have had a couple recently. Most of them say they will only take clean clothes and paired shoes, no books, ornaments etc. Before lockdown some of the charity shops started to refuse books as they had too many. There is an Oxfam book shop in a town 12 miles away and we used to take ours there.

I have used them in the past and they weren’t collected. I don’t use them now.

We had some once which just said APPEAL in big letters and then asked us to put out 'unwanted items' for collection - blatantly not a charity!

Witzend
Thank you for taking them in in stages
When we opened up after the first lockdown we were overwhelmed with donations. So much so we had to just dump tons of stuff in the skip as it became unsafe to work.
These skips don't come free, the charities pay for them.
We see vans on our security cameras all the time taking donations from our doorway. Despite the fact there is a notice asking people not too leave it there.

We were getting bags put through the letterbox 6am causing the dogs to howl and they wouldn’t stop. Which is most annoying I put a sign up no charity bags. The odd one does get posted I use it to fill with stuff for local animal charity they can’t afford to distribute charity bags.

We've had bags through the letterbox for most of the year, despite lockdowns. I don't use them as I prefer to take things either to a charity shop (once open) or to the bins that are provided at our local supermarket car park.

Definitely good as bin liners. The only genuine one we received asked us to fill and when ready, take to the actual charity shop or phone for collection (Bhf I think it was).

Got one last week .Had a couple during first lockdown in our area, really useful while waiting for charity shops to open for very short time.

I never get one I think it may be because I live on a main road with no parking in abundance

We see vans on our security cameras all the time taking donations from our doorway

But maybe better that MerylStreep than bringing it into the shop to go out through the back door into a skip?

Really good quality clothes, shoes, school uniform, books and toys go to a local charity helping disadvantaged families in our community. The remainder go to a charity shop.

I realise that a lot of these charity bags aren't Kosher but the bottom line is that if you've got quite a bit of stuff to shift it's a relief just to get rid of it instead of it hanging around.

After having been told about dodgy bags a couple of years ago I was stuck with 5 bags in the shed until I thought enough was enough so I now see it as a clearout.

This is an excellent opportunity to recycle unwanted clothes. All the "income generated for The Fire Fighters Charity from textile recycling helps fund the physical, psychological and community support which we provide for those in the firefighting community who are need".

Majority of us will have a fire station somewhere nearby. Mine isn't actually listed on the map but they do have a clothes bank so worth double checking onsite.

www.firefighterscharity.org.uk/get-involved/recycle-your-clothing

For anyone getting the charity bags through the door this is useful - yourdonation.uk/fundraising/bogus-charity-collections/

Personally I wouldn't use a charity bag but obviously that's an individual decision. www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/dont-use-charity-bag-scammers-14874123

I turn mine inside out and use them for putting out textiles and electricals to be collected with the recycling bins. That's all the stuff I don't think a charity shop will want.

I also use them for taking stuff to charity shops - there is always one open upstairs where I put things as I find them and then take it to a charity shop when I am going out. They get spread around about six different charity shops depending on which direction we are going to (pre-Covid times, of course).

Yes, Also give clothes to the clothes banks at the supermarket, give books to the vans that come round! Most of our neighbours do also, it’s a relief when they go

Urmstongran

^We see vans on our security cameras all the time taking donations from our doorway^

But maybe better that MerylStreep than bringing it into the shop to go out through the back door into a skip?

I run two charity shops and although we don't put things into a skip I can see why other shops might, what with quarantining, lack of volunteers and having to have less people out the back due to social distancing, too much stock is a serious health and safety issue and also can break covid regulations if windows and doors are covered by bags leading to lack of air flow. We cant even open bags to sort through and rag until after the quarantine hours have passed, so we have to restrict the days or hours we can accept donations. The abuse my volunteers had to put up with was disgusting so much so that only paid staff are allowed to accept/reject donations. I also really don't blame staff for putting bags left outside straight into the rubbish bins, we don't know how long they have been outside or how many people have rifled through them ,or how many dogs or foxes (or people) have peed on them someof them are in a disgusting state