Just found this thread and thought I would put in my 2pennworth! My friend was formerly a manager of a local charity shop, she was paid £6 an hour,hardly mansion money! The volunteers were mainly a band of elderly women who had been there for years and also community service workers, some of whom were great and others...the less said the better
. She stopped working there when the "target setting" got too much for her. The charity now sets an average price target so that she found selling things cheaply reduced the average and was not meeting "targets" She got over it to start with by having a donations only box and also by doing a BOGOF which went through as one item. But the charity caught up with this and their attitude meant that she was left with the option of throwing away things which could not sell for more than £1 or overpricing them , compared with new cost. The idea that the charity has to be business-like is great but as many others have pointed out..its a charity, they get things for free and as long as there is a profit for the charity, surely thats what its all about? The larger charities have gone overboard and have lost credibility and custom, and it seems that only the small, local charities are retaining the old ethos
Progress, I suppose!
but someone who is struggling to clothe themselves and their children can no longer rely finding what they need from charity shops at prices they can afford 
