My wife works one day a week in a Hospice Charity Shop and has become their amateur expert for jewellery, designer clothes, handbags and bric a brac etc. The manager and most of the volunteers don't have a clue what might be of value, so they save such items for her to check.
She uses Ebay and antique dealers to sell the quality donated stuff on behalf of the charity which is unlikely to realise its value in the shop. It's amazing what she makes for them each month. Two months ago she rescued 3 tatty broken watches the shop manager had chucked in the scrap bin - took them down to Birmingham Jewellery Quarter and got £225 for them - just for the gold value. Last week she rescued a German cast silver ornate 19th century combined inkwell and tray in the shop that had not attracted a buyer at £4.99. It is now due to be sold by Hansons at their fine art auction next April who have set the reserve at £100.
What is sad is that people donate such things as Waterford crystal and Royal Albert china but they don't sell. Nowadays people don't want them because most young 'uns don't sit down for a family dinner - they either go to MacDonalds or have a take-away on their lap whilst using their smartphone.
What is equally frustrating for charity shops is the sort of stuff people hand in - such as bags of grubby, smelly underwear, rusty and battered cooking pans, ripped and tatty clothing etc. How they expect the charity shop to sell it is one of life's mysteries. In addition, some people faced with house clearance for someone who has died find it more convenient to dump the tat at the charity shop rather than take it to the Council tip 4 miles away.
The shop fills four 660 litre bulk waste and recycling bins on average twice a week, for which they have to pay a contractor to empty them. The Council don't do commercial waste or recycling collections.
