eBay

merehazle · ‎02-01-2015

What would you do with them?

These organised theiving vile gangs obviously don't care a damn about what anyone thinks. And know if they ever go to prison here in UK it will be much, much softer. It is costing charities £ millions each year. Do they fear our prisons? I think not. I would have reintroduced hard labour long, long ago.

Typically the clothes go abroad - especially to Eastern Europe (eg Lithuania and Ukraine), by container lorry. There have been many reports of bags of clothes intended for British charities, being spotted in Eastern Europe and Africa. Often the bags have the charity logo on them.

We have noticed for more than a year that no leaflets asking for stuff (no doubt they would accept your gold & jewelery) have come through our letter box when we used to get up to 6 different one's a week. I would doubt that more than one was genuine.

Well there you go that's some human beings for you. As no doubt many more gangs will come here just to do the same,or worse. Of course they wont reintroduce hard labour. Why the hell would our soft daft lot want to try what might be a cure. And so it goes on and on and on.

merehazle · ‎02-01-2015

Wow! 95 views in about 10 minutes. Might be a record. Or something else, .......

dark_castle1 · ‎02-01-2015

mere, I watched a police programme once where the gang had a small boy with them, they went around those charity clothes skip like places, put him in to pass the clothes out then made off in their white van.

merehazle · ‎02-01-2015

@dark_castle1 wrote:
mere, I watched a police programme once where the gang had a small boy with them, they went around those charity clothes skip like places, put him in to pass the clothes out then made off in their white van.

Yes Dark. I see it too. And another one where the boy got trapped. And they needed to call the fire brigade. Nice people.

dark_castle1 · ‎02-01-2015

Yes very nice ! Just glad none have moved into the district I live although I do know some have moved into Glasgow about 35 miles away.

As far as I can see they either have no morals or very little.

Like you say mere, the charity bags have stopped being delivered to your door now even here.

023mjc · ‎02-01-2015

We still get the odd bag through the door, but I don't use them as I've never trusted that they won't be picked up by con artists, or just plain chancers that happen to be walking by. I take stuff to the charity shop myself, and the bags make great bin liners.

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crooksnanny ~ maz

aernethril · ‎03-01-2015

Mere, the problem with those charity bags is that in reality, the charities have been benefitting very little from them.

I did some research some years ago and was astounded at how little the charities actualy got. I don't know if it's true for all of the charities' collections, but many are actually contracted out to companies who seem to 'own' specific areas to collect from and it's long been known that some of the best stuff is syphoned off.

Two charities i contacted didn't even know that 'someone' was collecting on their behalf at all.

The other side is that I often see sacks that have been left out - and left, and left and left. They're never collected and eventually the donors just stick the sacks in the wheelie bins.

It's not always easy or convenient for people to get to charity shops but much better if they can and donate directly.

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My body is an old warehouse full of declining storage, my mind is a dusty old reference library, strictly for members and archaeologists only

taylor-books · ‎03-01-2015

Yes. sadly the last two bags we put out for genuine charities were never collected so I don't think I would put out any more.

**caution**opinion_ahead · ‎03-01-2015

A charity shop near me has the bins at the back raided nearly every night. If they put locks on, these are just broken off. They are not allowed to put anything broken in the bins in case one of the raiders cuts themselves. Go figure! They were advised to put up security lights, which they did. Now the raiders can see what they are taking more easily.

The council don't want to know. The police don't want to know. Even the charity shop staff don't want to know. Their head office definitely doesn't want to know.

The majority of clothes donated in bags do not end up in the charity shops. They were sold by weight and shipped off, mostly to Africa. What use would there be there for heavy winter coats, etc, you might ask? Well, apparently these are in hot demand by those who wish to hang around in Calais and other ports, waiting for a chance to smuggle themselves to the UK.

I guess at least the stuff is getting some use!

tommy.irene · ‎03-01-2015

Most stuff in Charity Shops get sold to the Bagged and tagged people who then sort it and sell it to Market traders and rag merchants..the shops get around £1 a bag and collections are weekly.. The bagged and tag people sort the clothes.. You see people selling them £2 each or 3 for a £5 on ebay and other places.

......................................................................................................................................................................................................... .................Im a 76 year old Nutcase.. TOMMY LOVES YOU ALL. .. I'm a committed atheist.

2017clearout · ‎03-01-2015

The other major problem is this era of "disposable fashion" is that stuff donated to charity shops and to these stret collectors (often when you read the small print on the bags they put through your door, you see that BHF is guarnateed £30 per tonne of clothes or similar) is that they aren't commercially viable to sell in the UK- how is a T shirt that sells for £1 new in Primark going to get an audience in a UK charity shop, for example? - and so are exported, especially to SS Africa. These clothes are seen as "more desirable"there, as they are imported, and have status (and are called things locally like "whodead" and "dead men's clothes", as it's hard to believe that anyone would be getting rid of such serviceable wear unless they were dead) and so have decimated the local clothes industry in places like Ghana.

Ethical shopping is no longer just about what you buy...

dark_castle1 · ‎04-01-2015

yes hefzi, that we understand but that does not mean we condone the theft of these clothes from collection bins or bags left out as donations to said charities. They were not donated for organised gangs to steal to line their pockets.

merehazle · ‎04-01-2015

@aernethril wrote:
Mere, the problem with those charity bags is that in reality, the charities have been benefitting very little from them.

I did some research some years ago and was astounded at how little the charities actualy got. I don't know if it's true for all of the charities' collections, but many are actually contracted out to companies who seem to 'own' specific areas to collect from and it's long been known that some of the best stuff is syphoned off.

Two charities i contacted didn't even know that 'someone' was collecting on their behalf at all.

The other side is that I often see sacks that have been left out - and left, and left and left. They're never collected and eventually the donors just stick the sacks in the wheelie bins.

It's not always easy or convenient for people to get to charity shops but much better if they can and donate directly.

Yes indeed.

And any action if it deters them must be welcome. The ''British Heart Foundation'' are increasingly the victim of charity bag theft, with organised crime GANGS targetting bags left out for their collectors to collect. A woman was caught by police removing full bags and replacing the with rubbish full bags. It would be justice IMO if she had a mild heart attack and discovered that those facilities to treat her were found to be severely restricted, because of her and the likes of her. ''Gangs'' of them. That's what gets me. Times of ''FAGAN'' revisited. Quote: ''he was reviewing/ the situation''. That's what one day our government just might do???

This theft of clothing bags is similar to the problem of theft when donating by cash (banknotes or coins) to charities - eg using collections tins, jars and envelopes. The solution is to pay by a 'secure method' - such as cheque, plastic card, direct payment (by online banking) or direct debit.

Now would you believe it ONE of these theives actually went to jail? (at further great cost, to lay down in the warmth and comfort of a UK jail, good food, no hard-labour) for theft charity bags. Arturas Krasauskas was jailed for 20 - months.

The 27- year-old, who is originally from Lithuania, was originally arrested after police spotted a suspicious van in the car parks at super markets. The van which had a large amount of clothing in it was traced to Manchester. A second van that was at that address was searched and that also had a large amount of full charity bags in the back. I see he was the only ONE and can drive two vans at a time? yes, not really good enough. Fight them with the last thing they want ''a long sentence on hard labour''. IMO.

Caution, #9 ..........cheeky, but logical

**caution**opinion_ahead · ‎04-01-2015

@merehazle wrote:

This theft of clothing bags is similar to the problem of theft when donating by cash (banknotes or coins) to charities - eg using collections tins, jars and envelopes. The solution is to pay by a 'secure method' - such as cheque, plastic card, direct payment (by online banking) or direct debit.

Personally, I never donate in a way which gives the charity my name, address, or other contact details, as they sell these on and you get inundated with requests from every charity going. It is the devil's own job to get them to desist. Even dying is not enough to deter them.