13-04-2022, 03:34 PM
I've worked for several op shops, including hospice and it was always a problem. Women wearing baggy clothes and leaving without buying anything while looking much fatter than when they came in. It's disgusting because it IS stealing from good causes but I've heard people justifying it on the Trademe Forum in the past by saying, "They get all their stuff for nothing and charge too much for it anyway". Another favourite is "The volunteers get the first pick of stuff cheaply", which is totally untrue in most cases, because we weren't allowed to buy anything until it had been out in the shop and priced fairly for several days. There will obviously be the odd bad apple in the volunteer group, but the majority of people put a lot of time into helping in the shops because they believe in the charity - often because their family have been looked after very well by that charity when they were sick (in the case of hospice).