Clothing Collections are Putting Charity Shops Out of Business

Saturday 30th of December 2006 03:09:09 AM

Clothing Collections are Putting Charity Shops Out of Business

A charity clothing shop has said that it may be forced to shut down because of private firms taking donations from the public. The Mencap shop in Warrington Street, Ashton says that they are not getting clothing donations from the general public. The charity is begging people to ignore leaflets that are being posted through letterboxes that are asking them to donate unwanted clothes and footwear to help those in developing countries. The flyers suggest that the items will be used for a good cause but the charity and trading standards believe that the collections are organized by companies hoping to profit from the items donated. Often a registration number is found printed on the leaflets which seems to be a registered charity number, but it is actually a limited company number. The manager of Mencap said, “In eight years, it’s never been as bad. Our takings are down by half and we are struggling to stay afloat. These rogue collectors are only interested in lining their own pockets." Dave Meakin from trading standards said, “Several of these scams have sprung up locally over the past 18 months. Please let us know if you receive anything suspicious.”

Often the clothes such as T-Shirts, jumpers and other items are sent to Eastern Europe so the said charities are not illegal but often the collectors steal the better items and keep them to resell elsewhere, whereas the worst items are sent to the third world countries. People should take a close look at the bags being posted through their door and only give to charities they have heard of or have an actual charity number. If you are unsure about the charity, call trading standards and they can tell you if the organization is bona-fide or not.