I might have mentioned tangentially that I am volunteering in a charity shop a couple of afternoons a week.
We get a lot of donations, mostly clothes but often household items and bric-a-brac, usually when somebody has decided to have a ‘clear out’ and very grateful we are too. However, sometimes it really looks as if the stuff hasn’t been sorted but just shoved in the sacks directly from wardrobes and drawers and (in some cases) directly from the laundry bin.
We have had unravelling knitted items, greying bras, tops and dresses with sweat stains under the arms or make up marks around the neck, clothes with holes, glassware and ceramics with chips and cracks, books with torn covers and yellowed pages and I don’t understand how people expect us to be able to re-sell such things. We have a steamer which freshens up some clothes but we don’t have the space or time to have a washing machine or repair service so anything we know won’t sell because of stains, dirt, tears or other signs of excess wear, goes in the rag bin which we can at least sell on (very cheaply) to be recycled.
Our shop is clean and tidy. All clothes are thoroughly checked by us (mostly volunteers) and displayed in size order and our windows, clothes rails and other stock display looks as professional as many ordinary retail shops.
So, my question is what sort of person would imagine that a charity shop is something that can be used as their own personal rubbish bin?
Yesterday I had the honour – bestowed upon me by the manager – of being officially appointed to the first level of membership of Shocked and Stunned Charity Shop Workers of the World after the first item I pulled out of a donated carrier bag of clothes was a pair of soiled men’s underpants.
Apparently, once I find a sex toy, I can move on to the second level. I can hardly wait.
You will, I hope, be thankful that I have included no photos in this post.
Tialys 
#1 by Laurie Graves on June 29, 2023 - 12:49
It does make you wonder. Sometimes, things must be thrown out, although I wish we had more options than give to a thrift shop or throw in the trash. As for soiled men’s underpants…out, out, out!
#2 by tialys on June 29, 2023 - 13:03
Yes, it depends why things must be thrown out. If it’s because you don’t want/need them any more but they are still in good condition – the charity/thrift shop is a good option unless you want to make use of social media or online sites to have a go at selling them yourself. In the U.K. at least, there are companies who will collect certain items which they will give to places like assisted living accommodation, women’s refuges, etc. Schools and nurseries can often make use of craft items for example. If they are not in a condition that you could imagine anybody wanting to pay money for or otherwise put to good use then the local tip/dump, textile recycling centre or rubbish bin are probably the only options
#3 by Laurie Graves on June 30, 2023 - 16:28
Unfortunately, where we live, there aren’t that many opportunities for recycling.
#4 by Patricia on June 29, 2023 - 12:57
God bless you Lynn! I’m taking some clothes down to a charity shop in Perpignan and I’m already kicking myself that although everything has been washed thoroughly I haven’t ironed them!
#5 by tialys on June 29, 2023 - 13:05
No Pat don’t feel bad about not ironing, most shops will have steamers I think. Clean is the most important thing.
#6 by M. L. Kappa on June 29, 2023 - 13:01
I’ve had the same experience a few times, sorting clothes collected for refugees or earthquake victims. It beggars belief. People should be ashamed of themselves
#7 by tialys on June 29, 2023 - 13:03
It’s incredible isn’t it. A friend once told me she opened a black sack that had been donated with dirty nappies/diapers inside. I was convinced that it must have been somebody who had confused their rubbish sack for their donations sack but now I’m not so sure.
#8 by Wild Daffodil on June 29, 2023 - 13:55
Yeeeee – uckkkk!
#9 by tialys on June 29, 2023 - 14:03
That’s definitely the sort of sound I made. 🤢
#10 by Wild Daffodil on June 29, 2023 - 14:39
HaHa!!!
#11 by magpiesue on June 29, 2023 - 15:28
I find myself thinking twice or even thrice about things I put aside for donation. Clothing in particular. I know it’s clean, but is it too faded or compromised in some other way that would make it undesirable? And now that I’ve discovered the world of junk and art journaling, not to mention slow stitching, I can think of ways those questionable items could be used, although not necessarily by me. It’s a conundrum.
#12 by tialys on June 29, 2023 - 15:45
I know it’s difficult isn’t it. Sometimes I see things going in the rag bin with nice buttons, or fur trim that I can think of ways to repurpose but, once in the rag bag we’re not allowed to take it out. You could maybe ask local schools or colleges (even libraries) if they could use some excess craft supplies or fabrics.
#13 by magpiesue on June 29, 2023 - 17:31
I’ve passed several things along to my daughter. Between her daughter’s crafting and her job in her local library she seems to always find a good place for certain cast-offs. 😊
#14 by Carol in Texas on June 29, 2023 - 15:31
Oh, Tialys! I worked for several years in our church thrift shop. I worked on Mondays and on that day all the donations from the weekend were sorted. I too wondered at folks who donated dirty ragged clothing! We threw a lot away and did keep tees,etc for a company that wanted rags. It was an eye opener! I assumed they just could not bring themselves to throw away their own clothing…..so they let someone else do it! The adventure of those Mondays was a lot of fun, especially because of the co-workers I had. Fortunately I never encountered soiled men’s underwear……that’s way too much!
#15 by tialys on June 29, 2023 - 15:49
I think there might be an element of laziness when some people are clearing stuff out – especially if they’re doing a house clearance and get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of stuff. Still, in this case it was only a small amount of things in a carrier bag but I can’t tell you what else was in it because, once I saw the pants, I just threw the whole bag in the bin because I couldn’t imagine it holding anything decent. My Manager and I did have a good laugh about it though, once I’d recovered – well, you have to don’t you.
#16 by sew2pro on June 29, 2023 - 16:14
Oh bless you for working in a charity shop as a volunteer – charity shops are bastions of reduce reuse recycle, but that is taking it a few steps too far! Can’t wait till I show this to my daughter (you sponsored her charity haircut many years ago) who started volunteering in the local hospice shop recently. Her experience has been mostly positive so far – maybe the back of the shop ladies have been shielding her…?
#17 by tialys on June 29, 2023 - 16:31
Your daughter is a star, bless her.
I prefer to be ‘front of house’ and am usually to be found at the till entertaining the customers as I’m not a keen steamer, labeller or rummager and a surprisingly high number of the other volunteers won’t tackle the till. However, I had a quiet moment and took the offending carrier bag to the counter to empty the contents and price them while waiting for a customer to happen along but soon came to an abrupt halt. To be fair, I have been working a couple of afternoons a week since last September and it has been my only really gruesome find so far.
#18 by claire93 on June 29, 2023 - 18:50
sounds like rubber gloves and dispoable masks might be needed next time you delve into a bag!
#19 by tialys on June 30, 2023 - 10:16
We always have some sanitising gel to hand but, to be fair, it doesn’t happen often.
#20 by katechiconi on June 30, 2023 - 02:59
Urgh… It makes you wish for a sort of textile chipper you could fling that disgusting stuff into and reduce it to a sort of slurry to be encased in concrete and turned into building materials. That’s the only way I can think of to make that sort of stuff safe. Why people do that sort of thing is beyond me. The bare minimum should be to at least make it clean and wearable, even if a little rumpled from transit. And now I can’t get rid of the thought of stinky shoes… I have to say, 90% of what I’d otherwise donate is turned into quilting and sewing supplies, since I wear mainly cotton or linen.
#21 by tialys on June 30, 2023 - 10:20
I can imagine, with the amount of quilting and sewing you do, you could easily be a one woman recycling/repurposing centre, however, most people don’t think like that. There is one other volunteer who sews/crafts and, if we are on shift at the same time, we cast longing eyes at lovely buttons or trims that go into the rag bag and, sometimes, we are allowed to salvage them.
Clean is most important – rumpled we can deal with.
#22 by katechiconi on June 30, 2023 - 13:43
I’d have thought that a nice box of rubber gloves would come in really handy…
#23 by nanacathy2 on June 30, 2023 - 10:00
I take my hat off to all volunteers in charity shops. I loved the jobs I had in retail.. But I tried volunteering at a Greenpeace shop, and gave up after two sessions. The smell from the stock was fowsty and the other volunteers were a bit clicky. It wasn’t for me. Can’t explain the skid marks, unless someone meant them for the dustbin and not the charity shop. Can’t wait till you reach level two!
#24 by tialys on June 30, 2023 - 10:24
It is a bit gossipy but I try to rise above it without seeming to – quite difficult but I think I’ve managed it.
I’d like to think the bag was meant for the bin but it was a carrier bag, not a black sack, so I’m not convinced.
I will let you know when I reach level two – it’s bound to happen.
#25 by anne54 on June 30, 2023 - 23:42
I try to think about the end when I buy things….where will it go when it leaves me? I can’t always know, but it does slow down my purchasing. I have a friend who is a guru recycler. She works at a school and finds uses for so many things, like the little zip lock bags my daily RAT comes in (I have to do a RAT each time I visit Terry). She scoops them up and takes them to the librarian. Thank you for doing this volunteer work, not only the nasty stuff, but the fun you would bring to others.
#26 by tialys on July 1, 2023 - 10:50
I’m sure the emphasis on recycling/re-use has slowed down my acquisitions of (new) clothes and anything plastic. I need a new laundry basket but those hard plastic ones are always cracking and snapping and I was thinking about how many of those must be in landfill somewhere. I must find a practical alternative.
I have no idea what a RAT is but pretty sure it’s not a furry, long tailed creature as I’m sure the Librarian wouldn’t be pleased.
#27 by mlmcspadden on July 2, 2023 - 03:41
I’ve been clearing out things from my parents house after my dad’s passing in the middle of May. My mom had a huge stash of clothing, 3/4’s of which had not been worn for 10-15 yrs. There were many pants that had ‘crunchy’ elastic in them. Those went into the trash at the house. I had a friend who told me I should just donate them with everything else because they’d sell them for rags. My thought though is that if it is something I wouldn’t want to buy (if it were my style….size…etc) then I shouldn’t be donating it and expecting someone else to deal with it. Bless you for dealing with the all you do at the charity shop.
#28 by tialys on July 2, 2023 - 10:54
Your friend could be right in a way. From my own experience, we appreciate it when people bring in bags of clothes they know aren’t in saleable condition and actually tell us that they will only do for rags and ask if that’s something we can pass on. It could be worth you asking in your local shop.
Sorry to hear about your Dad Moira. My Dad left behind lots of clothes we’d bought him for birthdays/Christmas that he hadn’t even taken out of the packets. I think it’s a bit of a man thing but at least they were easy to donate.
#29 by Born To Organize on July 2, 2023 - 04:09
Lynn, I’ve reached level two. I can’t say I’m proud of that milestone, but alas, it’s only one of many strange items I unpacked when volunteering for Lifted Spirits. Like you, I simply can’t imagine why anyone would think an unhoused woman would want used underwear, threadbare socks, stained clothing or dirty items. Even with careful screening, we would still find hot rollers or curling irons at the bottom of bags, handbags with sticky peppermints and used tissue inside, etc. My mantra when working with organizing clients is to say: “If you wouldn’t pass it on to a good friend, then don’t give to a charity shop.” After reading the comments, above, this phenomena seems sadly universal. I’m glad you shared your experience, and thank you for this picture-free post. 😉
#30 by tialys on July 2, 2023 - 10:58
I can only imagine what horrors you uncovered at Lifted Spirits Alys. It irks me that I probably thanked the person who left that manky bag profusely for her donation but, even if I’d spotted the contents before she left the shop, would I have said anything? Should I have? Probably not, even though I would have wanted to.
#31 by cedar51 on July 6, 2023 - 09:24
In the last few years, I’ve been regulaly sifting and sorting. And then gifting to charity shops – and I’m very particular what I gift. If it’s not the “best it could be” I put in my garbage bin. When I’m gifting craft materials, I will often put them in self sealing bags so that all they have to do is put a price on and out it goes…
#32 by tialys on July 6, 2023 - 10:36
Crafting things are difficult. I do see some good things come in to the shop but, apart from one other volunteer, nobody really knows what they are worth and often underprice them or don’t display them well. At the moment we have some really nice stamping supplies – not something I do but I know lots of people would like them if they knew they were there. I sometimes think a purely crafting supplies charity shop would do well but I don’t have enough enthusiasm for it myself and wonder whethther there’d be enough interest anyway. Probably best to do it online if at all.
#33 by Emma Cownie on July 7, 2023 - 18:21
Well, if I was being charitable I might say the donors are bereaved and in a hurry but I suspect they are just in a hurry!
#34 by tialys on July 8, 2023 - 11:06
I also try to be charitable but sometimes I’m defeated in my efforts.
#35 by Emma Cownie on July 8, 2023 - 17:38
Sounds a rather grim experience!
#36 by Dorchy on July 10, 2023 - 16:59
People like that are the worst. Hats off to you for managing it.
#37 by tialys on July 11, 2023 - 09:40
Thankfully it’s a fairly rare occurrence.