Charity collection bags

[Robbo 27]

A neighbour always puts as much stuff into these bags as they can, and we get around 3 a week. They had an old relative to stay who has dementia and whilst everyone else was out she put all her goods into one of these bags, including handbag, purse, cash, make up and anything she could find. It was all taken. We found a collectors phone number on a bag but they basically couldnt give a stuff, said they had hundred of bags each day and they would not be looking through them to find the lost goods.

The Charity that was being collected for was Age UK, at least that was the name on the bag, and they knew nothing of the collection, they were paid a fee for the use of their name but said that they dont usually see any of the goods or proceeds of the sale of goods.

The neighbour doesnt know how much went into the bag on the day, probably less than £1000.

But that is not the point that has got him so pi55ed off, he gives all he can to the these things, foolishly perhaps, because he thinks that the Charity is going to benefit directly, he thought that it might go to a sorting centre and then to each of the charities shops, aparently not the case. Its a private venture who claim to donate a percentage to the charity.

I do what I can for another charity and spoke to their CEO about this practice. Its a sore point in the industry with householders are having a misunderstanding as to how their donated goods are being used and how the charity may benefit, it is better that the goods are taken directly to shops.

Edited by Robbo 27 on Monday 11th December 09:55

[ozzuk]

This annoyed me when I first found out - you can usually check the small print on the bags though to see if they are really going anywhere related to the charity.

[Dromedary66]

Now I feel less bad about using them as additional bin bags.

[Chris Type R]

We use them for fireplace ash - although somewhat annoyingly they have little air holes.

[BoRED S2upid]

I too thought they went to the charity direct rather than a private company who weight them in until I saw some oik picking them up in his Corsa he was weighing them in himself. I called the charity with the name on the bag and they knew nothing about any collections.

We now drop stuff at the charities door.

[glenrobbo]

I am very grateful for the supply of charity kitchen bin liners shoved through my letterbox every few days.

[Allanv]

We take stuff we do not want anymore to the Air Ambulance collection bin / skip at the farm shop.

But the free bin bags come in handy

[anonymous-user]

Normally the Charity had an arrangement with a rag mill. The company pays the charity per kg.

[Europa1]

Vandenberg said:

Normally the Charity had an arrangement with a rag mill. The company pays the charity per kg.

And it's normally a shockingly small amount compared to the value of a kilo of clothes.

I wish I had the patience to post the bags to the CEOs of the charities concerned.

[Robbo 27]

Vandenberg said:

Normally the Charity had an arrangement with a rag mill. The company pays the charity per kg.

The sad joke is that this family washes all the clothes that they put into the bags thinking that they are going straight onto the charity shops racks.

This whole concept of giving in the name of a charity for the benefit of the company that is doing the collecting feels like some form of trickery or deception to me, less than honest anyway.

[steveo3002]

my mate rents a garage unit next to a huge hanger that deals with these bags , they pay folk to sift through the bags any brand name jeans or jackets get sorted and sold for more , others put into huge bales and loaded onto trucks from eastern europe to be sold as rags , anything non rag gets slung in a skip , i rescued a good sewing machine from thier skip

[alorotom]

we used to put the bags put for a local charity (cat and dog shelter) and the items did go to the right place ... however I caught a neighbour stealing the bags from outside our house as well as others - she claimed she didnt realise it was for charity but we (and others) just happened to be putting rubbish we didnt want outside our front doors that morning and she happened to want to collect it.

I have no idea how many previously have gone to her through her theft.

I did however raise/name/shame it with the charity, their collector (employed by the charity) and the police as its defined as theft from charity for a few years now who took it up with her and the charity put notices through the door advising they wouldnt be collecting but offered a place of drop-off to those wishing to donate, or the option for individual pickups.

We now take the bags direct to their collection point

[TooMany2cvs]

Robbo 27 said:

But that is not the point that has got him so pi55ed off, he gives all he can to the these things, foolishly perhaps, because he thinks that the Charity is going to benefit directly, he thought that it might go to a sorting centre and then to each of the charities shops, aparently not the case. Its a private venture who claim to donate a percentage to the charity.

Lesson 1. Read what it says on the bag or the leaflet that comes with it.

[Wobbegong]

Shortly before my grandfather died the NHS were collecting the puss and blood covered rags that were replaced each day on his legs. These were put out in yellow bags covered in biohazard symbols, but were a similar size to charity bags. The chap driving the truck came in one day asking if we’d put them out yet, they’d been stolen

[Mark Benson]

A few years back I contacted the CF trust after we had a collection bag through the letterbox with their old logo on it (they had rebranded shortly before). I asked them if it was genuine.

Turned out someone was using the stock of old collection bags that were supposed to have been destroyed following the rebranding - article below says that the clothes sell for 55p a kilo.

https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/cystic-fibrosis-trus...

I asked my contact at the CF trust how it works, she told me that generally the collectors pay the charity an amount per logo'd bag and sell the contents for whatever they can get. The charity gets money from the bag sale and has it's logo distributed around people's homes which they see as beneficial. I can't say I agree withthe practice - I'm a big supporter of the CF Trust (my daughter has the condition) but I feel uneasy about people thinking that what they give goes directly to the charity or charity shops.

[Robbo 27]

Mark Benson said:

................... but I feel uneasy about people thinking that what they give goes directly to the charity or charity shops.

I agree, there is a deception involved and vulnerable people feel pressure to give something when the main beneficiary is not the charity but the collection company.

[g3org3y]

Robbo 27 said:

Mark Benson said:

................... but I feel uneasy about people thinking that what they give goes directly to the charity or charity shops.

I agree, there is a deception involved and vulnerable people feel pressure to give something when the main beneficiary is not the charity but the collection company.

Thank you for highlighting this. I was unaware of this practice. I assumed that clothes in these bags would end up in charity shops, not shredded and weighed up per kg. I will continue to take direct to the shop itself.

[anonymous-user]

Robbo 27 said:

The sad joke is that this family washes all the clothes that they put into the bags thinking that they are going straight onto the charity shops racks.

This whole concept of giving in the name of a charity for the benefit of the company that is doing the collecting feels like some form of trickery or deception to me, less than honest anyway.

I can see that perspective and know one large charity, where the rags go through the shop front door and straight out the back to the mill, where the rags are usually sorted and graded, what is in good condition and wearable is shipped off to africa or eastern europe to be resold, whats left is recycled, usually ground up and made into industrial wipers or used in furniture stuffing. The charity gets their per KG/Tonne fee.

I knew a guy who had a rag mill, from very unimpressive premises and half a dozen staff, he drove some very interesting and expensive metal.

[steveo3002]

g3org3y said:

: I will continue to take direct to the shop itself.

and if its not this seasons in thing or the already have some on the shelf they will also go off for rags

[anonymous-user]

Weigh them in use the money to give to charity