Charity bags

[Sorastro]

They do say charity begins at home......

Over the past fortnight we have had no less than a dozen charity bags pushed through our letter box. At least 4 of them were from the same charity, now a cynic would say it's the people paid to distribute them being lazy they perhaps go round "easy" estates far more than they would other less accessible estates.

[smithy266]

thankfully, we get few here, but they are never used for their intended purpose.

[Sorastro]

Continuing the charity thread......

It is alleged :-
Someone I know said they have had their faith in charities bruised of late. Whilst walking round town a few months ago they happened to look round one of the charity shops there, always wanting to leave shops leaving a small donation in the charity box on the counter. Due to Covid the box was behind a perspex screen, this person asked the assistant to hold the box whilst they put the money in, but the assistant insisted they hand the money to them and they will place it in, this they did and in the few seconds of heading away from the counter they never heard the chink, chink, chink of monies being deposited and turned in time to see the assistant slipping the hand that was {allegedly} holding the money go into their trouser pocket.
Upon finding this out I later attempted the similar thing in a similar shop on an outing to the peaks. At this shop I was within reach of the charity tin and got my money ready to be stopped and told by the assistant that all charitable donations MUST go through the till, which was strange in itself as in that case why have a tin? I gave over the money and the assistant "rang it up" and put the money in the till and we left.
Since then I have given nothing......... I don't even place monies in the tins even if I could reach them, this particular tap has been switched off, even the fact of not putting anything anymore in the Salvation army tin {outside M&S} since I found out the Salvation army is having a new headquarters built at a cost of £32million.
 

[Old Cruser]

There is only so much people can use to fill a charity bag.
We can't support everyone.

[Sorastro]

I have always found giving monetary donations to charity rather a hit and miss affair. It seems to lean towards the larger more "affluent" charities. Larger charities do seem to get a bigger slice of the charity pot than others, mainly because they spend a lot on advertising and employing lots of staff and managers {and don't forget the chuggers!}.

I had this brought home to me many many years ago whilst coming home from work and listening to Rony Robinson on radio Sheffield. He was interviewing someone who was discussing how smaller charities lose out and how unfair the system was.
The guy gave a classic example of how one such "large" charity has an unfair advantage in that it spends thousands on advertising staff and t.v. adverts. He said that if this charity, that spends tens of thousands a WEEK doing what they do, if it NEVER received another penny from today it would take at least 44 months for them to run out of money, that's how much reserves they have, whilst other charities struggle.
Obviously you can't compare charities like for like as sometimes it's maybe one building with half a dozen staff, and others are multi million pound concerns with thousands of staff.

There has to be an easier way to distribute the charitable donations, although having "one pot" and everyone gets an equal share depending on their size may seem a solution, would everyone be in favour of that system, there may be some people who would not happy knowing part of their donation may be going to a charity they are not keen on.

   

[Sorastro]

We called in to the Ashgate hospice shop on Storforth lane the other day as I'm on the look out for some "new" bedroom furniture, just a bedside cabinet and a chest of drawers.
99% of what is on offer is obviously second hand, but the prices are not. I immediately stumbled across a settee and for what was being asked price wise I could get brand new from D.F.S. or wherever and still have change.

As for my bedroom set I think I'll pay just a few quid more and get new.

[Old Cruser]

We called in to the Ashgate hospice shop on Storforth lane the other day as I'm on the look out for some "new" bedroom furniture, just a bedside cabinet and a chest of drawers.
99% of what is on offer is obviously second hand, but the prices are not. I immediately stumbled across a settee and for what was being asked price wise I could get brand new from D.F.S. or wherever and still have change.

As for my bedroom set I think I'll pay just a few quid more and get new.

The charity shop in Clay Cross near Iceland seem to have a fair amount of bedroom furniture, I haven't noticed any to be over priced ( new prices). Might be worth popping in??

[Sorastro]

Slightly off piste...........

I have just cancelled my postcode lottery subscription. I have been doing it almost 6 years now and in that time have won the grand total of £60.
I was annoyed when they announced in February that the subs will increase from £10 per month to £12 basically stating overheads, running costs etc.
Maybe it could have been avoided if they had kept back just a small portion of what they gave away at the big Christmas draw a few months ago, or better still stop stuffing great wads of cash into the pocket of that antipodean waste of space.

Either way as the dragons would say "I'm out".
 I intend to use a portion of that subscription money to play LOCAL charity lotteries, at least I will know where it's going.

[smithy266]

These bags are very useful for litter picking....I regularly do a stretch of road in Unstone, and can fill a bag most times. Note: I don't then take these to charity shops, they go in the bin.

[Sorastro]

These bags are very useful for litter picking....I regularly do a stretch of road in Unstone, and can fill a bag most times. Note: I don't then take these to charity shops, they go in the bin.

Since last Monday we have had 8 charity bags through the letterbox. 2 sets of 2 for the same charity, the latest was this morning but it wasn't a bag, it's a label you attach to the bag {you provide}, turns out it's a modern day rag and bone man that does the collecting and donates a certain amount {per ton of clothing} to the charity.

My wife uses the bags she receives as bin liners for the kitchen bin.

[Sorastro]

Slightly off piste...........

I have just cancelled my postcode lottery subscription. I have been doing it almost 6 years now and in that time have won the grand total of £60.
I was annoyed when they announced in February that the subs will increase from £10 per month to £12 basically stating overheads, running costs etc.
Maybe it could have been avoided if they had kept back just a small portion of what they gave away at the big Christmas draw a few months ago, or better still stop stuffing great wads of cash into the pocket of that antipodean waste of space.

Looking at other lotteries I've just checked the air ambulance site {as it's a good cause} and read that 67% of monies they get go directly to the charity, 32% goes on expenses...... leaving the grand total of ONE PERCENT!!! in prize money.

I'll keep looking.

[Old Cruser]

Looking at other lotteries I've just checked the air ambulance site {as it's a good cause} and read that 67% of monies they get go directly to the charity, 32% goes on expenses...... leaving the grand total of ONE PERCENT!!! in prize money.

I'll keep looking.

really?? We have subscribed for a few years to that. I think it's time we re looked at it!!

[Sorastro]

looking round a few shops I found something I needed to purchase, getting to the cashier I suddenly discovered I'd not enough change so used my debit card.

She said "Press either red or green for a charity donation" I said I don't want to give anything and she said "Oh just press red then".
It seems that charities are turning away from "chuggers" {which is no bad thing} and laying the guilt trip on shoppers going about their daily routines. Quite a few shops I have visited over the past few weeks seem to be adopting this method ,fortunately I have a tough skin and don't give a monkeys what people may think but I do think this "Donate 'cos everyone's watching you" way of collecting donations in shops is disgusting.

This is another way of shops making money, they are not doing this through the kindness of their hearts, they will obviously be getting a % of monies collected.

[Old Cruser]

We've noticed the same thing.
We have a designated charity which we have subscribed to monthly, unfortunately we can't give to everyone as much as we would like to!