Grr...Salvation Army/Donation Rant

[rodriguezpoultry]

I'm done with donating. Especially when there are "specific" times I HAVE to bring my stuff by...

Forget it...I'll just trash it if I don't need it.

The printers are going on Ebay or Craigslist though. Glad to see I'm not the only one who gets treated as though we're wasting their time.

 

[Mandalina]

I have started listing things on Freecycle also.Peeps who really need something arent picky.

 

[agnes_day]

years and years ago, when my family went through some bad times, we had to stay at a salvation army shelter..they would go through the donations and keep what they liked *they being the upper staff members and their families* and then sell the rest...that and several other things we witnessed really put us off of every donating to them ever again.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Goodwill is actually a better organization to donate to than the Salvation Army; but nowdays my favorite is the local serving center. They have a resale shop that feeds money directly back into feeding people. The also give clients vouchers to shop at the store. A women's shelter is usually a good bet too. They often are setting up homes for women who left with nothing. I like these because they are directly helping someone in my community.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

That is so rude! Here you were trying to help them out and they were so picky to you.

Personally, of all the thrift stores I have in my area, SA is my least favorite.

They price their items extremely high--so high it's hardly even worth going in there. Like SarahFair said, their prices are high enough that I could almost just go out and buy things new for cheaper. The other thrift stores in the area are way nicer, have a better selection of things, and they're very reasonably priced. Their loss, I guess--if I donate anything, it'll be to the Earth thrift store right next to my wildlife rehab group's building. SA's pretty much lost my business.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Always bothers me to think that our used stuff isn't good enough for many of the thrift stores. I've been frustrated with stuff we don't need anymore that has lot of useful life, but isn't "good enough" for the poor.

I sure wish there was a cheap way to get all this stuff over to third world countries... I'm sure they would love to have a lot of the decent stuff we end up filling our landfills with.

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

I see a lot of issues with what they done and I think it stems mostly from their attitude. Even if it was "crappy" they should have shown a grateful attitude.

Have you tried posting it on Craigslist? I'm sure there's a broke college kid like myself that would like to have a printer in time for finals.

 

[agnes_day]

i hear that! we arent as poor as we once were but i never pass up a chance to get something for free if i can use it..its amazing, the things people toss out that are still perfectly useful.
i think the higher prices are from thrift stores becoming more popular..used to be, they were for people trying to save money but now, the prices are insane.

 

[Peep_Show]

Did you try calling up a battered women's shelter? All the ones I've donated to needed lots of everything. Not only do they use it themselves, but they can pass it along to relocated women, too, who've lost everything by leaving. I bet there'd be no turnaways provided, of course, you're not donating used undies or some such....

 

[saddina]

Another vote for freecycle. You just toss up a post of what you want to get rid of, and somebody'll take it. Here we have alot of college kids who have a studio and no furnature, so loveseats, chairs and kitchen stuff is always needed.