Charity Shops - less railway books there now?

[Nearholmer]

It seems odd to expect employees of charities to work out of, well, pure charity.

 

They have to house themselves, eat, cloth themselves etc, just as anyone else.

 

Surely a clear comparability with, say at random, teaching, would be fair, with perhaps quite small differentials for responsibility.

[hayfield]

It seems odd to expect employees of charities to work out of, well, pure charity.

 

They have to house themselves, eat, cloth themselves etc, just as anyone else.

 

Surely a clear comparability with, say at random, teaching, would be fair, with perhaps quite small differentials for responsibility.

 

 

 Its not those who work direct with the charities its those companies who fundraise on a professional basis where high percentages of what is raised never reaches the charity.

 

There is a homeless charity in Watford which has employees, many if not all in the shop are volunteers.  I know its difficult where to draw the line and rightly it is down to the individual to make their own call. I believe the difference is where the bulk if not all go on the activity being sponsored. Not where large parts go to a commercial concern. Long before the latest revelations I have long been concerned about certain large charities, both in the way they are run and raise funds. But this is a personal choice 

[polybear]

My life was saved by the Welsh air Ambulance last Summer, so you know where my stuff and cash go's to whenever i'm in Wales. I just gave £20 to them on a street stall they had in Barmouth the other week, i could never repay them enough for what they did and wish i could pay more, wonder how much a regional charity director or area manager earns...bet he do'snt do it for nowt!      

 

If you're a taxpayer then it's worth giving via gift aid rather than twenty quid (or whatever) "in the tin".  Your twenty quid would then be made up to £24 at no cost to you.

 

It seems odd to expect employees of charities to work out of, well, pure charity.

 

They have to house themselves, eat, cloth themselves etc, just as anyone else.

 

Surely a clear comparability with, say at random, teaching, would be fair, with perhaps quite small differentials for responsibility.

 

Fair point, but I draw the line when the MD is driving around in a big Merc paid for by the Charity.

[corneliuslundie]

We take most of our books to Oxfam because they have staff who know the business and anything valuable (which we will probably not recognise) will be dealt with appropriately.

But they have few railway books in the Shrewsbury branch, which is our nearest branch.

I tend to take my railway books to a specialist secondhand bookshop in Shrewsbury. One or two I have given him, as he is always generous to me when I want something. But even he turned down a copy of one fairly specialist book because he had had a copy on the shelf for several months.

But other than books we take our second hand stuff either to the Wales Air Ambulance shop or that run by a local church which has a care home. The shop is run entirely by volunteers (obviously the care home has paid staff). Otherwise sometimes to the Salvation Army shop which is also run entirely by volunteers.

I know there have been some scandals related to some of the major charities, and these need sorting out, but remember that we are usually talking about a very small fraction of the people, mostly volunteers, involved with the charities. And we certainly have no charity managers running around in BMWs round here (in fact not many BMWs at all,Landrovers are much more common, often towing trailers loaded with sheep!.

Jonathan

[chris p bacon]

 Its not those who work direct with the charities its those companies who fundraise on a professional basis where high percentages of what is raised never reaches the charity.

 

Lady Bacon has just finished after 32 years working in fundraising for a large charity*, she actually thinks the agency's are a good idea as they are cheaper than the charity employing people full time to do it. Those that volunteer for the charity want to do "good works' rather than fundraise.

 

Fair point, but I draw the line when the MD is driving around in a big Merc paid for by the Charity.

 

 

Which charity is that?

 

 

* Lets just say if you've an RSPB pin badge, it's come through her as she administered the scheme.

[hayfield]

Lady Bacon has just finished after 32 years working in fundraising for a large charity*, she actually thinks the agency's are a good idea as they are cheaper than the charity employing people full time to do it. Those that volunteer for the charity want to do "good works' rather than fundraise.

 

 

 

Which charity is that?

 

 

* Lets just say if you've an RSPB pin badge, it's come through her as she administered the scheme.

 

 

Dave

 

I am talking generally as there have been some stories on investigative programs showing how little some of these companies pass over to charities, I do accept these are the exception rather than the rule and that the major charities are desperate for funds. I have also seen first hand how a couple of major charities behave when claiming bequests from estates where they loose all forms of empathy and squese every last penny they can, which in some cases goes totally against the reasons for the bequest. 

 

I do give on a regular basis and gift aid whenever I can, but am very wary of most tin rattlers with a few exceptions like the British Legion, or small local charities I know 

[Oldddudders]

ISTR a chap with a Greek name who raced Ferraris in a UK series. His day job was running the network of Chuggers (Charity Muggers) who would importune you on the street and get you to sign up for a direct debit to a charity. I have no idea whether he was rich before he ran the street people, but racing a Ferrari, including mechanics and fees to a co-driver, would not come cheap, year on year.

[MikeParkin65]

I think you just have to be right place right time in charity shops. I was in Cardiff in May and the city centre Oxfam had an almost complete set of Yeadons Register in as new condition for about £10 a copy. I did post that on the bargain hunters thread at the time, I dont know if that helped anyone. Only last Saturday I got a lovely original (1971 published date) Ivo Peters book from Oxfam in Cheltenham for £5.

 

Both of my local preserved lines have multiple second hand book stalls and are generally very reasonably priced. 

[Steamport Southport]

I work in a charity shop* as part time manager and must say it's very rare to have railway books donated. The one time we did I bought the lot for a reasonable donation. Everything I already had went to the small society shops at Carrog. Most of them were very specialist rather than general interest railway books.

 

If I didn't buy them then they were going to World Of Books as they buy our surplus stock for far less than their true value. Something like 50p a kilo. That's where they get their books. https://www.worldofbooks.com/

 

I would almost certainly think twice about putting any out as they take up a lot of space. That goes for almost any "specialist" books apart from local interest, unless we have a regular customer who buys a certain type of book. We have one who always buys books on World War One so we put them to one side. We can sell hundreds of thrillers or "chick lit" before any of them even gets looked at.  Gardening and cookery books are probably the exception, they do sell.

 

Think about it, how many of the general public really wants a book about LMS Jubilees or LNER Wagons?

 

 

 

*Not one of the major ones that have "chuggers" and TV adverts. A hospice charity where you can actually see where the money goes.

 

 

 

Jason

Edited August 15, 2018 by Steamport Southport

[DCB]

There is a good selection of railway books in the bookshop opposite Pickering NYMR station for a lot less money than OxRipOff want. And another by Grosmont Station. Well worth the 200 mile trip from Gloucestershire.  I gave a few railway books to a charity shop in Stratford on Avon which makes a bit of a speciality of railway books, but their prices are out of my league.

I really don't like quasi Charities like the aforesaid OxRipOff who waste 60% +  of their receipts on overheads, pay executives more than the PM and all too often send money to foreign parts in times of crisis fuelling inflation instead of providing additional stuff sourced from out of theatre.

The genuine charities two of which  I am a Trustee spend 100% of receipts on good causes and 0% on admin.

[plarailfan]

I've bought some reasonably priced books from the worldofbooks people and I wondered how they came by all their stock and so, it's nice to discover, that I've helped a charity in a roundabout kind of way.

50p a kilo isn't much, but I guess by the time they have sorted some transport to gather the books into their warehouse and then having workers to post them out to internet buyers, is probably realistic and fair.

It just goes to show how far and wide, some of our charity shop donations actually end up !

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Actually I could have titled this thread: "Bookshops - less railways books there now?" as I went into a national chain beginning with W and

another (also beginning with a W) and their railway/train selections were almost non-existent.

Edited August 15, 2018 by Peter Kazmierczak

[polybear]

It would be useful to know which Charities actually give the most of their fundraising to "the cause" rather than to admin, overheads etc

[MikeParkin65]

There is a good selection of railway books in the bookshop opposite Pickering NYMR station for a lot less money than OxRipOff want. And another by Grosmont Station. Well worth the 200 mile trip from Gloucestershire.  I gave a few railway books to a charity shop in Stratford on Avon which makes a bit of a speciality of railway books, but their prices are out of my league.

I really don't like quasi Charities like the aforesaid OxRipOff who waste 60% +  of their receipts on overheads, pay executives more than the PM and all too often send money to foreign parts in times of crisis fuelling inflation instead of providing additional stuff sourced from out of theatre.

The genuine charities two of which  I am a Trustee spend 100% of receipts on good causes and 0% on admin.

A pretty unnecessary contribution on a thread that was a pleasant discussion about finding railway books in charity shops. You clearly have an opinion about Oxfam (that doesn’t interest me) but this isn’t the place for it.

[Talltim]

Actually I could have titled this thread: "Bookshops - less railways books there now?" as I went into a national chain beginning with W and

another (also beginning with a W) and their railway/train selections were almost non-existent.

You could have titled it “Bookshops - fewer railway books there now?” (Unless you buy by the kilo!)

[Jol Wilkinson]

It would be useful to know which Charities actually give the most of their fundraising to "the cause" rather than to admin, overheads etc

 

That  rather depends on what the charity does. For example, The Samaritans, in which my wife is heavily involved, spends all its income on admin, systems, overheads, etc. because it has to do that to provide the service that it does. It doesn't employ chuggers and locally the only paid employee is the Charity Shop manager. And, despite what most people think, charity shops get little or no "relief" on rent, services, etc. However, they have to be run as a business and so employ professionals where appropriate, to maximise their effectiveness.

 

I too prefer not to support those charities that employ chuggers, advertise on tv, etc. That the agencies that provide those services, create the adverts, etc. make a substantial amount of money out of it rather goes against the grain when you see the effort the genuine volunteers put in.

[John M Upton]

I tried to donate a load of books (nothing tatty or Mills & Boon like) and this pompous woman goes all oity-toity saying 'oh, we don't want books' so I bunged them in the then empty bookcase in the train crew depot where they were well received.

 

In my local city (Chichester) Advanced Professional Chugger Dodging is practically an Olympic sport...

[brianusa]

Same here in the US. Old railway books could be found fairly easily but nowadays the 'coffee table' books reign supreme as they have since the last century and perhaps before that. Dinky Toys used to be very common but now even they have succumbed to rare and desirable category with ridiculous prices. Toy trains - forget it!

 

Brian.

[hayfield]

It would be useful to know which Charities actually give the most of their fundraising to "the cause" rather than to admin, overheads etc

 

 

In some cases it is quite difficult to separate funding and "the cause" from each other, but I agree with your sentiments. I much rather give to a charity directly than via a commercial organisation, though we have been told that in some cases this is cheaper for the charity than having their own staff doing said job. In the end I just support those charities who I perceive are effective, and have long kept away from the larger ones who seem in some cases seem to have political aims. Having said this more than happy to support the likes of the RNLI &  Royal British Legion 

[corneliuslundie]

There was a reference further up to some charities overcharging for books. Surely, the right price to ask is the maximum for which the book will sell. If I give something to a charity I expect the charity to get as much as possible for it.

That said, I don't actually buy much in charity shops, mainly because they don;t have much that I need or want. At my age I am more concerned with getting rid of things which clutter up the house without being useful or ornamental.

And a valid point is also made above. Some charities raise money to use for "good works" such as feeding the poor, medical help in poorer countries etc, but others do not give money or goods to people but instead provide a service that some people need. Just around the corner is the Ponthafren Centre which helps those with mental health problems and as far as I am aware has not more than one paid employee, if that. In some cases it will be necessary to employ professionals such as doctors, psychologists etc to provide the appropriate service. While those professional are very often dedicated people one should not expect them to work for a pittance just because they are working for a charity.

And I assume that no-one would object to the Air Ambulance employing qualified pilots and technicians.

So it is difficult to generalise.

Jonathan

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

The genuine charities two of which  I am a Trustee spend 100% of receipts on good causes and 0% on admin.

 

I likewise am a trustee of 3 charities which give 100% to the recipient.

1. Mikes beer fund.

2. Mikes car fund.

3. Mikes model railway fund.

 

Mike.

[w124bob]

I volunteer in my local Oxfam, so heres my take from the other side of the counter. Nearly all of our donated books go onto the shelves so unless it's falling apart it's a seller. We really are at the mercy of the donars, our price research is ....... me, Abebooks/Ebay then just a bit of judgement on the part of our book lady(she's very protective of her shelfs but knows nothing about the internet). I would say that in the last 6months we have had only 4 or 5 proper railway books, the rest is the christmas coffee table tat variety. The Oxfam online site requires individual shops to list books, not easy when you may have only just enough volunteers to staff the shop. Must confess to buying the good books myself.

Sadly the minute you rely on volunteers you are at the mercy of who walks through the door, I don't really care about the scandles I'm there for pleasure and regularly do more than my 2 afternoons. I also volunteered to learn something new, never used a till etc in my payed employment and love meeting people.

Edited August 19, 2018 by w124bob

[Steamport Southport]

I volunteer in my local Oxfam, so heres my take from the other side of the counter. Nearly all of our donated books go onto the shelves so unless it's falling apart it's a seller. We really are at the mercy of the donars, our price research is ....... me, Abebooks/Ebay then just a bit of judgement on the part of our book lady(she's very protective of her shelfs but knows nothing about the internet). 

 

We've got one of those as well. She does know what she's doing though and always has a cull of all the "rubbish" books on the shelves that others have put out.

 

 

To be honest with the volunteers, I just let them get on with it. There are only a couple that you need to look after. The rest are fine and they are giving up their own time after all.

 

I'm there as a keyholder, setting up tills, cashing up, paperwork, etc. I don't even deal with the clothes apart from a quick sort.

 

 

 

Jason

[polybear]

I see that the RSPCA have had a formal warning from the Charity Commission after it's Interim Chief Exec left with a payout which (reportedly) far exceeds the £150,000 a year salary for the post.  It seems he claimed he was the subject of age discrimination after not getting the job permanently.

I know of at least one Direct Debit contribution that's looking very shaky indeed.....

[Guest]

For a long time now I’ve been thinking that to be officially/legally designated a charity that you should a) spend 85% of the money raised on the good cause you espouse and b) no employee to be paid more than twice the national average wage.