Tonight walking home I was disgusted to see a decently dressed woman picking through bags of donations outside the Sue Ryder shop on London road, and then syphoning them into her own bags. Often when I leave for work in the morning I see bags of donations outside both Sue Ryder and the Red Cross that have clearly been sifted through by passers by.
This really sickens me, so all I ask is-if you have a donation to a charity shop PLEASE dont leave it overnight, wait until you can get in when the shop is open, because otherwise you are not benefitting the charity at all.

Until I put my glasses on I thought it said 'Ben Dover's outside charity shops' and I thought blimey even he's fallen on bad (I was going to say 'hard') times now.

Seriously though, it's a shame that most of the people who donate are probably working during the charity shops' opening times so they have no option than to drop-off like this.

A really good, albeit a long-shot, solution would be to have a local scheme whereby, say once a month, an honest and genuine person with a van could spare a few hours on a Saturday to make pre-arranged collections from local residents with their stuff going to their chosen charity shop in the town centre.

yes the man with a van would be a great idea, however I work full time and long hours and I can still find 10 mins on a day off when the shops are open to drop things off, or I ask my boyfriend to drop them off for me.
I really feel that if we genuinely wish to donate to charity as opposed to perhaps donating to an individual's car boot stall or ebay sales we can find a slot someway somehow to pop in when the shops are open.
And I also hear of donations that have to be thrown straight out because a dog has peed on the bag.
I dont have any connection with any of these shops its just a personal bee in my bonnet that upsets me!

I don't think that charity shops are alllowed to accept bags left overnight for the reason that they might have been pee'd on by dogs and the such, or contaminated/tampered with.
So its a total waste to leave the donations outside as they are binned immediately.
I maybe wrong but i'm sure I've heard this somewhere!!

I'd love the option of an 'honest man with van' to collect and deliver stuff to a charity shop. Even if there was just a volunteer with a car who could pick stuff up if you called and said that you had a decent amount of items. It's not just finding the time; not all of us have access to a car or a helpful boyfriend with one.

The British Heart Foundation run a collection service - you just need to give them a call to arrange a date and time.

Anotherjohn think you might need a visit to specsavers! Jokes aside why can't all on this post arrange an odd hr to take stuff to charity shops. I can do an odd hr on Mondays but I only have a small car. Anyone else?

I wish I could but I work shifts so its very hard for me to commit to anything as I'd be highly likely to let people down, and sadly I dont drive so I can only carry a limited amount-

Sue Ryder are open all over the weekend, including Sundays so not really any excuses people

Another reason to leave them in the shop is that you can gift aid your donation (the shop can claim back tax on the selling price).

Thanks for Gift-aid tip....I wasnt aware of this.

Package of kids toys scattered all over the pavement outside the Red Cross shop this morning.