Are charity shops getting expensive

[old tree man]

I tend to buy all my clothes from charity shops due to money but have noticed a growing trend of price increases to border on the ridiculous, i saw a pair of jeans in the charity shop ideal for garden work when i saw the price £8 Jane said there are only £4 new in the supermarkets then there was a book buy Alice fowler (the thrifty gardener) in another charity shop for £5 and the same book brand new in a bookshop for £4, these are not isolated things, when i questioned the managers from the charity shops they said "wow you found some bargins, we only sell what we belive there worth" and would'nt have it that you could buy brand new cheaper .
Now i recycle as much in my life as i can but when i comes down to common economics value of the pound must come first , don't get me wrong i have had some utter bargins and still do, but the big picture is THIS IS SECOND HAND STUFF
so price it accordingly and their sales would pick up again, its a no brainer as far as i am concerned, or is it just greed !!!!!!!!!

[123sologne]

I think it depends on the "companies/charities". I think Oxfam is certainly very expensive in general. Also it depends where they are based. I found "The Red Cross" in a town not too far from where I live and that was the most expensive I have ever encountered! But still there are some charity shops, the less famous ones, which are normal with trousers at £2, tops at £2, books at 50p etc. I suppose The big charities like Oxfam which have now open special book charities can sell books at some serious mad prices, but often enough they sell books at high prices because they know that brand new they are way more expensive or they know they are very rare and even if you find them on the web, the prices are going to be very high too. But your experience shows not to trust charity shop to be the cheapest, especially for books, when you are looking for something special.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

It might simply be (in the case of the jeans, anyway) just another example of the supermarkets using shear muscle to achieve a dominant posrition. In what reality can anyone gain a living wage from making jeans that retail for £4

[boboff]

I agree with you 100%
It started with Oxfam I think, they priced things highly and actively sought to buy new items to become a "primary retailer"
The thing is that the charities want maximum income obviously, and the people who volunteer can in certain instances be rather naive and also shall we say of a type ( by that I mean, mean spirited divorced 50 somethings who think they are superior to you and they know best)
They must be sick of hearing about people making £1000's from things bought for pennies in the shops.
It is a shame, but then again if you can buy new, less than you can get things in a charity shop, you will buy new. I think Car Boots and good old Jumble sales are the answer!

I always hear "get away with" when people use the word "worth"

It just shows you that the Supermarkets can give developing nations business and wealth, whilst provding a product that we want.

[oldjerry]

Hmm.........Boboff,light the blue touch paper and retire huh?.......like it!!

Seriously, I reckon OTM has got a point,Oxfam,Sue Ryder etc don't seem like charity shops as I know them,once we used to spend loads of time trawling them for clothes etc,but hardly bother now,would rather head for bootsales etc.(and amazingly ,for really upmarket stuff for when I'm in Italy,fleabay).

[Keaniebean]

I've found this problem too. We have lots of charity shops round here, but in the past couple of years I have not been able to afford their clothes any more so just learnt to make them instead. The British Heart Foundation here seems to be the worst, books are expensive too . I have refused to go in there now and just use the library instead.

I was astonished a year or so ago when my husband needed some 'new' shoes for work. I picked up an ideal pair and looked at the price £25, for second hand shoes, I felt like Victor Meldrew as I heard a VERY loud ' I don't believe it' eminating from my gob, but we had no choice but to go and buy new ones in the supermarket as we simply didn't have that money at the time.

I wouldn't mind but I live in one of the scummier parts of London( here wearing your PJ's out is considered top notch ), so I would have expected their prices to reflect that.

[contadina]

It just shows you that the Supermarkets can give developing nations business and wealth, whilst provding a product that we want.

And those sweatshop workers should be grateful for their meagre pay and appalling work conditions just so we can carry on buying jeans for less than a fiver. You can convince yourself that without western work these workers would starve, but the truth is they'd be better off living off the land rather than migrating toward economic development zones.

Never fear, oldjerry, you'll not miss charity shops when you move to Italy as most markets have large second-hand sections, and as it's not for charity there's no problems with haggling . Having said that, I always manage to pick up quite a few bits from charity shops on my annual trip back, but I get to visit an awful lot whilst traveling around catching up with everyone.

[Susie]

I think the charity shops are in a bit of a double bind. As clothes became cheaper and more disposable they probably had fewer good-quality donations so they're trying to maximise the income from what they do get, and it doesn't always work. I find Oxfam very expensive but we have the Salvation Army shop and they're cheap (ditto the Cat's Protection League).

I think ebay can be excellent value, especially if you're not trying to stalk the top fashionable items that season - normally there are a few things which go for way overprice and you can pick up other hardly worn things which have slipped under the radar for 99p. Also factory shops - when I am in Derbyshire/ North Notts I do the round of factory shops and stock up on cheap underwear/ tshirts, but there aren't as many now M&S has moved its production overseas.

It just shows you that the Supermarkets can give developing nations business and wealth, whilst provding a product that we want.

I don't want to end up like this so I'm backing out of this thread ;-). (And that isn't a dig at people saying they buy clothes from supermarkets. I do too).

[boboff]

Hmm.........Boboff,light the blue touch paper and retire huh?.......like it!!

Nearly worked as well, if it wasn't for that Pesky Susie backing out!

Scooooooby Snacks anyone!

I don't know, when on a forum you can have a go at Menapuasal women, and not a peep, but say something in favor of a multiple retailer, and that's it, you're the spawn of the Devil!

I used to be a capitalist with a conscience, pretty much a liberal, but I now understand that being a liberal is now have opinions somewhere to the right of the love child of Ghenkis Khan & Adolf Hitler with Maggie T being the surrogate ( I am not sure if GK & AH ever had a Civil Partnership )

Zacharie Daniel Uranium Khan Hitler...........

[oldjerry]

Never fear, oldjerry, you'll not miss charity shops when you move to Italy as most markets have large second-hand sections. and as it's not for charity there's no problems with haggling . Having said that, I always manage to pick up quite a few bits from charity on my annual trip back, but I get to visit an awful lot whilst traveling around catching up with everyone.[/quote]

Another good reason to be in the south (never seen anything like that in Emiglia Romagna) Il Mezzogiorno e meglio
Flash stuff I've got off fleabay: Base shoes (unworn ) £12
Loakes (ditto) £20
most ever spend on clothes, Aquascutum Raincoat(new with receipt)£100(700 to buy in sale!)
plus other stuff.
nb wouldn't be seen dead in this stuff in UK,.......but when in...........

[oldjerry]

[/quote]



I don't know, when on a forum you can have a go at Menapuasal women, and not a peep,


Show me that forum........Hell ,I could turn the tables for once...!!

[contadina]

I just bought an old knitting machine off fleabay for £22 mostly to make socks with as I'm a really slow knitter and I'm fed up with having to throw shop-bought ones away after just a few washes.

[contadina]

Il Mezzogiorno e meglio

[gregorach]

I just bought an old knitting machine off fleabay for £22 mostly to make socks with as I'm a really slow knitter and I'm fed up with having to throw shop-bought ones away after just a few washes.

Now that really is a case of getting what you pay for. I pay exorbitant prices for top-quality hiking socks but they last for many years. Always buy several identical pairs at the same time, so you don't end up with odd ones.

Those £4 jeans probably aren't even the products of sweatshops - people in sweatshops do get paid, if badly. Cotton that cheap is almost certainly the product of out-and-out slavery (child slavery at that). In Uzbekistan (one of the world's leading cotton producers) they close the schools at harvest time and the army go out in trucks to round up the kids, send 'em to work in the fields, and watch over them with guns. Sure, it "creates wealth" - for the tiny handful of incredibly rich psychopaths running the country in a way that makes medieval feudalism looks positively enlightened. For the kids and their families, not so much. And anybody who complains too much gets tortured to death by the secret police.

[Milims]

I rather like the charity shops we have here - the alternatives for clothes are carpy places like Dotty P I agree that they can sometimes be a bit expensive for "High Street" type clothes but for the better quality long lasting stuff they are pretty good value. I'm currently wearing a Pachamam poncho from our local Oxfam that cost about £6 but would normally cost a lot more - I know the jumpers are about £70! If it wasn't brand new it's not far from it! I guess I just get ucky with this stuff 'cos I tend to wear slicghtly odd looking and not very trendy clothes! lol!