Charity Shops Have No Charity!

[lemming13]

Sick of trawling fruitlessly round the charity shops in the pit of vice that is Hanley (well, there had to be some reason I went there...) in search of treasures such as the rest of the Vault crew seem to unearth with ease, I asked the lolling oik behind the counter at our Shelter shop why there were no books on their shelf older than five years. Had they simply not been given any? After consulting the manager, who I swear I last saw in Psychoville, I was told that they did get given old stuff, but there's no market for it, so if it's more than five years old they stick it in recycle. Once I recovered from the shock and had finished telling them that I had seen one item of 'old trash like that' fetch more money than their entire stock was currently priced at, I went to a few others to see if it was the same. There were some slight variations; the Heart Foundation had a list of authors who could acceptably be allowed to go on the shelves even if they were older (Catherine Cookson, Clive Gussler, Stephen King etc), and the RSPCA would flog anything at all, but since their entire book stock consisted of 12 paperbacks by James Herriott and 4 hardback cookery books by Madhur Jaffrey, it was no consolation. It can't be nationwide policy, surely, to destroy books simply because they are old? I can understand them pulping ones in really bad nick, but the quality apparently is irrelevant, they are going by the publication date on the cover. Rule of thumb at the Douglas Mac was, if there's a price in pre-decimal money on it, bin it. Doesn't apply to knitting patterns apparently, but any other kind of paper material goes if it says d or /-. This kind of horror I can do without...

[franklinmarsh]

Horrifically true, Lem. I'm sure it has been mentioned here before. The only hope is/are places like Oxfam Books (which are specifically book and music orientated). I work at the local hospital which used to have a smashing book stall that sold anything and everything for 20p. Now it's been tarted up and prices range from 50p to £1.50 and there's a distinct air of modernity and perfection about the place. Haven't been to a car boot in ages but they seem one of the last bastions of tat.

[Craig Herbertson]

There's a whole thread somewhere in the vault where we lament the death of the charity shop. Grown men cry in it.

[jamesdoig]

Nov 4, 2010 13:13:19 GMT lemming13 said:

I was told that they did get given old stuff, but there's no market for it, so if it's more than five years old they stick it in recycle.

That's dead right - it's really unforgiveable. And bookshops generally think the same way.

[H_P_Saucecraft]

I hate this policy as well, I might be able to complete my Hamlyn nasties set without it (there is amazon, but with the standard £2.75 postage charge, after a few it gets silly).

Franklyn is right about bootsales, sometimes there's just nothing - but it's the other times that make it worth going, finding Scorpion: Second Generation in good condition for 30p, gave me a big grin.

As has been said, Oxfam bookshop can be good, but they can be overpriced on certain books. The dvd section is good though & I managed to pick up Apocalypse Of The Dead & The Nightmare Man for £3 each yesterday.

My library could certainly do with getting it into their heads, that Paranormal Romance is not Horror, it nearly bloody fills the section, to the point where previous offenders King (about 8 books) & Koontz (about 3) hardly have any. I know it's popular, but a separate section please, Twilight & its ilk should be nowhere near it - but I'll stop now, as it's really a separate rant.

[stuyoung]

I don't know what policy my local charity shops take if they can't get rid of a book but they definitely put the old stuff on the shelves. I've picked up stuff from the '60s and I'm sure they've had stuff even older than that on display.