I normally avoid charities like the proverbial plague. They have long since lost sight of what they are supposed to be about. However, I have need of offloading some furniture. Too little space, too much stuff. Two charities have now decided that my furniture doesn’t meet their exacting standards. I’m not trying to offload soft furnishings, so fire risk isn’t an issue. It’s just things like a table, antique sideboard, bureau and bookshelf – items that someone, somewhere will be able to make good use of. The Sofa Project deigned out of the goodness of their hearts to take the bureau. The rest wasn’t good enough.
Now, bear in mind that it was plenty good enough for the late Mrs L and I. It’s sturdy, functional and working. Sure, a bit of polish here and there might not go amiss, but it’s good stuff.
These imperious, self-righteous bastards seem to want brand new stuff for nothing, not decent, used stuff that has the patina of use. No, this, apparently is not up to their exacting standards.
My low opinion of charities has been somewhat reinforced following my experience of dealing with these bastards – ‘oh, we will send someone round to inspect your donation and decide if we can take it’. Cheeky cunts. I will never give them the opportunity to snub me again and I will never give them one penny piece of my hard earned, either.
Fuck ’em. Fuck ’em all.
I had a similar experience a few years ago with a perfectly good microwave which was surplus to requirements.
For things like this, the function of the charidee should be to simply act as middle man to somebody, perhaps a bit down on their luck, who could appreciate the item and put it to good use, perhaps for years afterwards.
I’m sure they vet the recipients for correctly aligned “attitudes” and ensuring they “reflect the community”
Needless to say it ended up on the tip.
One of the problem they have, I think, is that the recipients of said charity will deem that the things they are given is not good enough for them…
So charities get stuck with stuff, which they have to pay for to get rid of.
I’m being charitable since I had the same issue giving stuff away some years ago. 🙂
I didn’t have too many problems in the Hull and Hornsea area. My mum stipulated in her will that she wanted her surplus stuff shared between the Hornsea Lions and the Dove House Hospice charity shops. The only thing that we couldn’t offload was an orthopedic bed with no mattress. This is a bit of a shame really because they are really expensive, but I understand the problem, the mattresses are special so are expensive and they would have to buy one for it to be in a sellable condition.
The other side of the coin is that it is incredibly difficult to throw anything away… Local councils decide what they will take, at what site, and when – and for all the promises that stores will accept your old appliances I’ve yet to see any willing preparations.
Is it acceptable to worry about the environmental effects of the wrong kind of rubbish? Yes, it is. But that doesn’t mean that is acceptable to stop worrying about disposal at that point.
If you order new electrical items on AO.com, they will take away the old ones. For a fee.
Try selling the items on e.g. Gumtree, for £1 (10p for cash !), buyer collects.
Cut out the ‘charity’ middlemen…
No problems with our local waste tip either. I made over twenty trips, SUV with folded down seats, when clearing mum’s house. Never a problem. Nearly sixty years living at the same house she had accumulated a hell of a lot of crap.
If Facebook functions the same way in the UK as it does in the US with neighborhood groups where people post stuff like surplus furniture (sometimes for sale, sometimes for free) and people in need of something peruse it for what’s available nearby, that might work better than snooty charidees. An international grad student who works with my research group has furnished her shared rental house with local freebies posted on such sites. She sent me a link to a recent post where actual real wood bookshelves were available, and I have a truck (and need of bookshelves) but alas the timing didn’t work out.
When I lived in a Hispanic immigrant-majority neighborhood and had to change jobs and move, I just put every piece of furniture and appliance I had that didn’t fit in the moving pod at the curb and it was gone in a matter of hours. Then again, there was no HOA or Council ready to fine me for doing it, and plenty of locals who wanted it.
Be reasonable. They have to vet your junk so that, like the Heart Foundation shop in Doncaster, they can mark it up at new-item prices.
I have found that our local Salvation Army place is grateful for anything that comes their way. Anything that they they find unsuitable for future use ,they then scrap or get recycled.
We have sold or given away stuff on Facebook market place in the past. The problem with the house clearing was that we had a large amount of stuff to shift in a limited time. Some of the smaller stuff we shifted at a car boot sale which turned out to be quite a fun day out. You do have to resist the temptation to buy other people’s tat and ending up with more stuff than you started with.
Always too much of a temptation for me!
I’m lucky in that a family friend, who calls in whenever she’s in the are visiting her own mother in sheltered accommodation, works part time for a charity. Not sure what one, but they seem grateful for any kind of donations. Though they had to pause taking electrical items for a while, as their PAT tester moved abroad and they had to find another one.
Health charities are the worst. In my opinion, despite all their pronouncements and stated aims, they don’t want to find a cure. Instead I’m convinced they are working with pharma to find a treatment so they both have customers for life.
Find a cure and they are both out of business.