Every evening I walk past a local charity shop, there are bags and bags of what I can only describe as tat piled outside.
It’s normally stacked in front of a closed door which is adorned with a sign saying words to the effect of ‘please don’t dump your stuff here when the shop is shut’. It is, clearly, studiously ignored.
It’s all very well in the nice weather, you may think, and who knows, perhaps something of value lurks within (although if it did I assume they’d be only too happy to actually hand it to someone in the shop rather than leave it on the street), but I dread to think of the state things are in come the morning if it’s rained heavily and/or a gale has whipped in.
Now, I appreciate one man’s tat is another’s must-buy item.
But, let’s be honest, today’s charity stores don’t sell puzzles with pieces missing, a Spiderman toy missing its right arm or, for that matter, a load of unwashed, sweat-stained clothes.
They, quite rightly, have their standards. They are also there to actually make a few quid to aid whatever they’re supporting. Therefore, they know to do that, the stuff actually needs to be in good nick.
More often than not, the mounds of dumped detritus is formed by a selection of knackered, grubby old children’s toys, all sat in a used child’s car seat, and garnished with some holey old clothes.
From memory, I’m pretty certain charity shops can’t sell on second-hand car seats just in case they’re no longer safe. I’d be pretty certain, too, that the person dumping this stuff knows that. Although, in saying that, it would require some brain power and the jury is very much out on that.
If you never pop into a charity shop, it would be easy to assume the goods they sell are of a similar quality. The opposite, of course, is so often true.
I’m sure there’s a certain element of virtue-signalling by those who drop off such bags under the cover of night. ‘Look, I’m donating my stuff for the good of charity’; but, for the most part, they’re simply dumping their old rubbish because they’re too lazy to take it to the tip.
If they really were super-confident of the quality of their hand-offs, they’d pop in while the place was open, surely?
I thought about this when I saw a national news report this week which highlighted the issue. Someone interviewed on the street even admitted they were guilty of dumping stuff they knew could never be resold.
Which begs the question: Why leave it for an unpaid charity shop volunteer to have to handle and then dispose of your rubbish?
People, dear reader, are strange.
Charity shops – now so prevalent on our high streets – fulfil an important role. But they – like those who shop in them – expect decent quality stuff.
So, if you’re pondering donating something to them, at least have the guts to let them make a judgment call face-to-face rather than dumping and running. You will, almost certainly, get that car seat handed back to you.
