Warning - rant coming, but I need to get this off my chest!

When I give things to a charity shop, I would hope that even if they are not saleable, they are either given away for free to those who might need or want them or at the very least recycled if possible.

I was previously aware that the Red Cross Shop in FH had a pretty low opinion on the quality of its donations - I oveheard a conversation between staff and a customer complaining that someone had donated their distance learning accountancy text books. I would have thought these would have been highly saleable as it's a very popular course, but no, they binned the lot - in the street litter bin outside their shop.

I was reminded of this earlier this week, when I saw a good half a dozen waste sacks on the pavement outside their shop earlier this week, all destined for SELCHP. I could clearly see inside decent quality paperbacks by known authors, kids toys etc. Surely there must be some way of finding good homes for this stuff, even if for free. There's no apparent attempt to recycle where possible either.

Another example is clothes hangers - RC will not take them, as they use only their own (very posh) wooden ones.

Contrast this with the response I got from Scope in Sydenham, who assured me that even if they could not sell my donations, they would ensure that they were used if at all possible, electrical goods repaired and pat tested, or at the last resort, recycled. Scope said I should give them everything and they would sort it out and find good homes for all of it.

I appreciate the shops need quality items to sell, but having seen their attitude to well-meant donations, they'll not be getting any more of mine.

Perhaps if anyone volunteers for a charity shop they might like to respond.