Oxfam Ireland 'no discount' policy

hames · 15-02-2013 06:40AM

zipzoc wrote: »

Hi all.

I was in the Oxfam shop just off Parnell Street in Dublin yesterday. Having rifled through some books and music I went up to pay for a few things and asked for a euro off the total price. They told me they couldn't do that and pointed at a sign above the counter that read 'no discounts-please don't ask' or something like that.

Now, I know some of the proceeds of each sale go to charity, but I think it's a bit insulting to have a sign stating that it's not ok to ask for a discount when you buy a few things. Shoppers ask for a few quid off their total in lots of other shops around town but I haven't ever seen a sign like this one anywhere else.

Also, I thought it was a big part of the fun of shopping in charity shops that you can haggle with the staff, have a bit of banter and come out with a bargain and a good feeling having supported your local charity.

I know lots of you will disagree but I just think it's a bit, eh.. rich

I'll send my old clothes, music and books elsewhere in the future.

Becuase they are not run like commerical businesses, by people who (in my experience) would not be very successful at running a commercial business.

I worked in one charity shop run by the closest thing to a Nazi I have ever encountered.

She would squat in front of the security system in the other shop, screaming interrogations at us if she saw us putting something out of place on the cameras, or if someone that looked a bit dodgy walked into the shop. Especially if they were black or looked remotely like they could be Romanian. Often, we had to walk up to people and ask them to leave. Very embarrassing for everyone.

These people do not make a profit from the stores they work in, and therefore it might be liable to be run in an unprofessional way, with a careless attitude from some staff towards its commercial success.

BizzyC · 15-02-2013 08:42AM

Trying to get a discount in a charity shop???

This belongs in the stingey story thread.

TwoShedsJackson · 15-02-2013 08:47AM

zipzoc wrote: »

Also, I thought it was a big part of the fun of shopping in charity shops that you can haggle with the staff, have a bit of banter and come out with a bargain and a good feeling having supported your local charity.

Have you ever worked in retail? Because if there's one thing retail staff hate, it's the sort of customer who likes 'a bit of banter'.

Plazaman · 15-02-2013 09:55AM

Your dead right OP, if charity shops can't give a bit of charity via a discount then who will.

Incidentally I'm heading out to Romania next week to take a few of those Christmas shoeboxes back off them orphan kids. They have it too good. On the plus side, they love a bit of banter.

15-02-2013 10:04AM

paddy147 wrote: »

They could have easily GIVEN it to a genuine needy family or a distressed flood victim FOR FREE.....seen as they were quick to be seen on the news looking for peoples help and a relief effort for our own people.

They really could not have been on the news, nor could they have searched out flood victims to dump furniture suites on for you. This is from their "About" webpage:

We are an independent, secular and not-for-profit organisation that has been supported by people in Ireland to make a difference overseas for over 50 years.

Charity shops sells goods for extremely cheap prices. That's the discount for buying second hand goods + the discount for buying for charity. To look for a further "just because everyone loves a bit of banter" discount is both disgraceful and ignorant.

Satts · 15-02-2013 10:42AM

paddy147 wrote: »

It was eventually sold on,for very small money,as I got sick and tired of various charities carry on and the "its not leather" bullsh!t from them.:(

Did you give the money you got for it to charity ?

Zer0 · 15-02-2013 10:52AM

It's a charity shop what do you expect? Why would anyone ask for a few euro off? People were probs asking for way too much off the price hence the sign.. It's like putting 3 euro into a charity box in the shop and then asking for a euro off the price of the donation whilst trying to have the banter with the staff when you're doing this....

I've worked in various retail positions in the past and when someone comes in trying to have the banter it can be somewhat awkward as you're trying to be friendly and helpful but you kinda just want to get through your shift.

tin79 · 15-02-2013 11:00AM

paddy147 wrote: »

Did you not read my post about seeing the news article and asking for people to donate and help out the flood victims and less well off in any way??

Eventually..meaning that I got sick and tired of ringing and asking charities if they wanted it for helping the many flood victims...only to get the same thing...its not leather so we dont want it.

So I eventually had enough of the attitude of the charities.
I sold it very quickly as a matter of fact.

They could have easily GIVEN it to a genuine needy family or a distressed flood victim FOR FREE.....seen as they were quick to be seen on the news looking for peoples help and a relief effort for our own people.

Nobody wants your ****e couch that has probably been pissed on. Jesus, get over it.

paddy147 · 15-02-2013 11:08AM

MadsL wrote: »

So you had a couch you were done with, but rather than pay to have someone collect and dispose of it, you thought "I bet a charity would do that for nothin'". When they would not play ball and dispose of it for you on the cheap you are now ranting about them.

You could have put an ad on done deal or adverts.ie offering to deliver it for free to a flood victim, but that was actually too much for you.

Sorry the charities didn't come over and solve your problem for free. How disgraceful. They don't empty my bins either.

Eh we offered to bring/transport it to them for free,but because it wasnt leather,they didnt want to know.If it was leather,then they would take it though.

So sod them.

paddy147 · 15-02-2013 11:15AM

Satts wrote: »

Did you give the money you got for it to charity ?

To a very greatfull person indeed.

http://homeless.ie/Capuchin_Day_Centre/Welcome.html

^^^^^^^^^
Brother Kevin works absolute miracles to help people from all backgrounds of our society.:).

another question · 15-02-2013 11:21AM

I know someone who worked in Oxfam for a couple of weeks on a Gaisce thing. She said the reasons they don't give discounts is because they have such a huge turnover of voluntary staff and my next comment is not meant to be derogatory but a good percentage of the volunteers have learning difficulties and apparently far, far too many mistakes were being made having to make price adjustments so they added the no discounts policy so staff only have to ring in the price on the label into the till.

Oh and further to another comment above, not all oxfam staff are volunteers, depending on the size of the store, all store managers and deputy managers are paid and I believe the manager salary starts at €30k.

giant_midget · 15-02-2013 11:21AM

The country has gone mad with people looking for "discounts" ...this "what's the best you can do on price :rolleyes:" and "what's your last price:rolleyes:" when selling something online or in a shop...The price is clearly displayed you thick donkey - take it or leave it..

looksee · 15-02-2013 11:28AM

Many years ago I worked in a Social Services office. One day I got a phone call from a woman wanting to donate a sofa to someone who might need it. I explained to her that we had no way of picking it up, and nowhere to store it, and no way to move it on as and when it was allocated.

All this was totally true, we would have had to hire a 'man with a van' to collect and deliver it, we were working out of a ramshackle row of old houses with barely enough room for desks, and we had no way of knowing whether it was worth collecting in the first place.

And I had a load of reports to type, whatever about doing all the above organising, assuming there was a budget for hiring vans etc, which there was not.

The woman's response was a bit like paddy's - how could you not want my lovely sofa! Anyway the following week, front page of the local paper, huge headline 'Social Services refuse furniture' or something to that effect. 'A spokesperson said...' and a repeat of my conversation, leaving out the bits about hiring vans and no storage. 'Outrageous and disgraceful, civil servants so well off they refuse ... etc' And no, I wasn't a spokesperson, I was just a teenage clerical officer lumbered with arguing with a member of the public.

kylith · 15-02-2013 11:37AM

cassid wrote: »

My local dry cleaner makes you pay up front for duvets, I thought it was odd,but apparently, people would leave them in on the pretense of getting them washed and it was just a way of getting rid of them, they ended up at one point with about 20 duvets!

Just in case anyone is reading this and wondering how they're going to get rid of their duvet now that the cleaners have copped on; try your local animal rescue. They're often looking for bedding.

paddy147 · 15-02-2013 11:41AM

kylith wrote: »

Just in case anyone is reading this and wondering how they're going to get rid of their duvet now that the cleaners have copped on; try your local animal rescue. They're often looking for bedding.

And good loving families and homes for dogs and cats that have been badly abused by their previous owners.:eek::mad:

15-02-2013 11:41AM

looksee wrote: »

Many years ago I worked in a Social Services office. One day I got a phone call from a woman wanting to donate a sofa to someone who might need it. I explained to her that we had no way of picking it up, and nowhere to store it, and no way to move it on as and when it was allocated.

All this was totally true, we would have had to hire a 'man with a van' to collect and deliver it, we were working out of a ramshackle row of old houses with barely enough room for desks, and we had no way of knowing whether it was worth collecting in the first place.

And I had a load of reports to type, whatever about doing all the above organising, assuming there was a budget for hiring vans etc, which there was not.

The woman's response was a bit like paddy's - how could you not want my lovely sofa! Anyway the following week, front page of the local paper, huge headline 'Social Services refuse furniture' or something to that effect. 'A spokesperson said...' and a repeat of my conversation, leaving out the bits about hiring vans and no storage. 'Outrageous and disgraceful, civil servants so well off they refuse ... etc' And no, I wasn't a spokesperson, I was just a teenage clerical officer lumbered with arguing with a member of the public.

Some people just can't think, can they? No thought process about the resources needed to pick up/drop off furniture, resources needed to store it. Just 'I want to donate this so I can feel good without actually putting in any effort whatsoever'. People annoy me.

dark crystal · 15-02-2013 11:46AM

paddy147 wrote: »

Eh we offered to bring/transport it to them for free,but because it wasnt leather,they didnt want to know.If it was leather,then they would take it though.

I think you're getting a hard time here, Paddy. Looks to me like your heart was in the right place.

paddy147 · 15-02-2013 11:48AM

dark crystal wrote: »

I think you're getting a hard time here, Paddy. Looks to me like your heart was in the right place.

Ah well,water off a ducks back to me at this stage now.

My mother allways used to tell me,as a kid growing up........"be happy for what you have or are given in life"..."and..."be thoughtfull of others who may be less fortunate in life than you may be".

Thanks.:)

hooradiation · 15-02-2013 11:50AM

dark crystal wrote: »

I think you're getting a hard time here, Paddy. Looks to me like your heart was in the right place.

Not even slightly.

paddy147 · 15-02-2013 11:52AM

Well we did help someone out,in the end.

http://homeless.ie/Capuchin_Day_Centre/Welcome.html

kylith · 15-02-2013 12:31PM

paddy147 wrote: »

And good loving families and homes for dogs and cats that have been badly abused by their previous owners.:eek::mad:

Well, yeah, but also bedding.

Judgement Day · 15-02-2013 01:13PM

iguana wrote: »

1. They have to turn away donations if they have no room for them. It's dangerous to the staff and volunteers to have bags and boxes in corridors and stairways if they can't fit them in their holding bays.

2. In Oxfam the management are very much at the 'coalface.' Oxfam Ireland operates on a policy of using less than 10% of all non-emergency appeal donations and shop profits for administration and campaigning (100% of emergency appeal money goes to the emergency). They are a very lean organisation operating in a few rooms above a cafe on Burgh Quay. They don't have superfluous staff.

3. Oxfam GB is the largest and most successful retailer of secondhand books in the world. Oxfam Ireland takes their training from there, and improves on it (as Oxfam GB can be quite wasteful). They do what they do extremely well and don't need explanations on how to run their business from someone who has precisely zero clue about how they operate.

I see you are ignoring how what you propose is quite likely to be illegal for SVP and most certainly is for Oxfam as they have no remit in local aid.

Thanks, I always like a good lecture! How the hell do you know what my experience is of the voluntary/fund raising sector?

I quite understand that it could be dangerous to overload a shop with too many donations - however, I see from the reply I received (March 2007) that it was specifically books they were refusing that day. The shop was not overloaded and could easily have taken more stock - turn away a donor today and they will go elsewhere tomorrow. Anyway, regardless of what you say I find Oxfam greatly overprice their books and if people want to pay those sort of prices they will go to a secondhand book dealer. The same applies to collectables.

As for the poster who was giving out about the quality of stock received. The charity shop that I deal with locally (incidentally by far the busiest in the town) takes everything - even electrical goods - and nothing goes to waste. Clothes unfit for resale are sold to a dealer who takes them for resale to engineering firms/garages etc. who have an urgent need for rags.

zipzoc · 15-02-2013 02:00PM

giant_midget wrote: »

The price is clearly displayed you thick donkey - take it or leave it..

That you'd call someone a 'thick donkey' for expressing an opinion says a lot more about you than it does about me.

giant_midget · 15-02-2013 02:09PM

zipzoc wrote: »

That you'd call someone a 'thick donkey' for expressing an opinion says a lot more about you than it does about me.

Sorry, I should have made myself a tad clearer...This is what i would be thinking when i hear this "what's your last price nonsense"

krudler · 15-02-2013 02:22PM

Haggling down a charity shop, stingy persons thread, meet your king.

twinQuins · 15-02-2013 02:26PM

zipzoc wrote: »

That you'd call someone a 'thick donkey' for expressing an opinion says a lot more about you than it does about me.

I think the fact that you asked for a discount in a charity shop says all that needs to be said, in fairness.

Batmantastic · 15-02-2013 02:36PM

I haven't read the entire thread, I literally just read the original post and I have to say I'm rather baffled that someone would ask for a discount in a charity shop.

And not only that, but to ask for €1 off is just idiotic IMO. How cheap are you that you have to ask for €1 off of second hand goods with the proceeds going to charity?! And then to actually post about it?!

My brain hurts trying to fathom the type of person the OP is. Do you walk into McDonalds and ask for 50c off of a Big Mac or something? Come on, this did not warrant a post on this site, especially when they have a notice in their shop saying that they don't give discounts.

Were you planning on using that €1 to go for a shopping spree in Brown Thomas or something?!

SB2013 · 15-02-2013 02:59PM

paddy147 wrote: »

Because I wanted to help out a genuine needy person,(because of what I saw on the News) and not someone looking for a freebie and then sells it on for a nice big profit.

Those charities could have very easily given that for free to a person who had come looking for help.

SVP go to a persons house and ask to see what the problem is,so they can assess how best to help out that family.

How many families did you see on RTE News and TV3 News with their houses wiped out from flooding???...loads of families.

How many families were in severe distress and left with nothing??...Loads.

If the 3 piece suite was leather,they would have taken it off me.
But because my suite wasnt leather,they wouldnt take it,as it wasnt good enough for either charity.

So Im sorry to say this...but fcuk the lot of them now.

The charities or the people who need their help? And are you basing this whole attitude on your unsuccessful attempt to offload your old furniture? I don't believe you when you say you are sorry to say that.

juan.kerr · 15-02-2013 03:01PM

OP, you aren't as tight as a ducks arse...you're even tighter.

Namlub · 15-02-2013 03:20PM

zipzoc wrote: »

Also, I thought it was a big part of the fun of shopping in charity shops that you can haggle with the staff, have a bit of banter and come out with a bargain and a good feeling having supported your local charity.

I'm not sure going into a charity shop and making the volunteers' work more difficult by asking for discounts when they've clearly stated they don't offer them for the purpose of saving money on already cheap products and thereby donating less to charity than you originally would have is any reason to feel good about yourself tbh...

Oxfam Ireland 'no discount' policy

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