Donating junk to the poor.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

 

 

This blog post has yielded some interesting conversation on FB so I'm curious what the hive thinks.

 

http://wearethatfamily.com/2014/10/dear-world-lets-stop-giving-our-crap-to-the-poor/

 

I don't donate food past date, clothes that are damaged or items that are broken/don't work right.

 

I have sorted donated clothes at the mission before, I was very surprised how many items were unwearable.

[Χά�ων]

A friend has been struggling and has commented how people from her church who 'help' her family with food usually give food that is post the use by date or spoiled. It is frustrating to her children who were excited about getting food then were disappointed when most of it was inedible.

 

I cannot understand the point of giving food that is not edible.

[JFSinIL]

After hurricane Katrina, when we thought several hundred families would be housed close by, I was one of the volunteers sorting though bags of donated clothes and it was amazing how much torn up, filthy junk folks thought made a suitable donation.

 

Until the car crash, I had been taking my adult son with autism to sort food once a week at the local huge food bank warehouse...again, amazing how much out dated stuff folks gave which ended going to a pig farm in Iowa or the trash heap instead of folks in need of food.

[skimomma]

I agree completely.

 

However, our local Goodwill encourages people to donate clothing that is torn/stained/outdated because it is sorted and sent in bulk to be used for rag rugs and other recycled purposes.   This keeps these items from being landfilled.  

 

I realize this is not what is being discussed in the article.  Donations that are requested for a specific purpose should follow the same guidelines one would have if they were feeding/clothing themselves.  Gently used or simply outgrown is fine but expired, torn, stained is not.

[Amira]

I don't think it's fair to just expect the "poor" to take whatever they get and to be grateful any more than I want to wear or eat some of the things I've seen donated in clothing and food drives.  Also, it isn't about what the giver is willing to wear or eat.  Giving someone a box of torn or stained clothing isn't appropriate even if I would wear it myself.  Even though my family eats tofu sticks and they're a versatile source of protein, I'd never donate them in a food drive.  It isn't just about what *I* would be willing to wear or eat, but about the message you're sending when you donate something.  Give in ways that will actually help.

 

I've had some horrible experiences sorting through the items that get donated during some food and clothing drives.  How can we possibly think it's okay to "donate" junk to people who desperately need help?  

[Susan in TN]

A lot of good comments on the blog. It's good for me to see other perspectives on this.

 

I remember a couple of years ago dd helped me pick out some of our favorite "gently used" baby items to give to a friend who was having a baby. Maybe we were blinded from having loved the baby girl (my youngest) who had worn them before. Maybe we didn't see that they were out of style. At any rate, the mom made a point to mention to me how much she loved getting clothes from "another particular mom" because they were all like new and from "expensive clothing shop". I was mortified, and honestly I have not been able to donate anything since then.

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

A lot of good comments on the blog. It's good for me to see other perspectives on this.

 

I remember a couple of years ago dd helped me pick out some of our favorite "gently used" baby items to give to a friend who was having a baby. Maybe we were blinded from having loved the baby girl (my youngest) who had worn them before. Maybe we didn't see that they were out of style. At any rate, the mom made a point to mention to me how much she loved getting clothes from "another particular mom" because they were all like new and from "expensive clothing shop". I was mortified, and honestly I have not been able to donate anything since then.

That's sad she made a point to mention it. My boys like hand me down clothing better than new. Our favorite baby gift was a blanket made for my son from the curtains that used to hang in the quilters now grown sons room.

[marbel]

Baby clothes go out of style?  

 

 

Quite a few years ago I ran a clothing drive at a large wealthy church.  I was stunned at the stained, torn, unusable clothing people gave.  It really made me angry.  People were so proud of their giving but there was nothing sacrificial about it at all.   It's no trouble to give away garbage. 

 

But I also know of people who will donate unusable items to thrift stores because they "can't bear to have it go to the landfill."  So, someone else sends it to the landfill - at a cost.  

[SarahW]

A lot of good comments on the blog. It's good for me to see other perspectives on this.

 

I remember a couple of years ago dd helped me pick out some of our favorite "gently used" baby items to give to a friend who was having a baby. Maybe we were blinded from having loved the baby girl (my youngest) who had worn them before. Maybe we didn't see that they were out of style. At any rate, the mom made a point to mention to me how much she loved getting clothes from "another particular mom" because they were all like new and from "expensive clothing shop". I was mortified, and honestly I have not been able to donate anything since then.

 

 

Well, that's rude. But maybe she was just clueless?

 

My baby wears 95% donated clothes. Some I have passed on without him wearing them. Wrong sizing or season or "girly" (boy/girl colors are shifting, and Bp has longer hair, which doesn't help). And I enjoy having some new or nicer outfits. But good basics are always good and useful.

 

Maybe she was just excited and grateful to get haute couture clothes? Apparently that exists for baby clothes. Weird, huh?

 

I think the article was just speaking against the mentality that the poor don't "deserve" nice things. 

[Ausmumof3]

Our local opp says donate in any condition as they will repurpose unwearable stuff. The only thing that gives me qualms is when I have clothes where the elastic is no good. I worry that because they look ok they will be sold as in good condition.

 

That said I repair and use torn or damaged clothing wherever possible. I don't think it's responsible use of resources to throw away clothing that can be made wearable with a few minutes effort.

 

That said I am more likely to repair and use something that is within five years of current than put something 10-15 years old on my kids that is in great condition. I know that's ridiculous but I can't help it.

[Anne in CA]

Our old church, which was large and bursting with tech money, had some great missions garage sales with amazing things, but it all had to be sorted from stuff that should have gone in the trash. I could not believe how many people gave clothes that they had used while painting??? But all the churches in the area had a system where they "shared" the junk, moving it from sale to sale to keep plenty of stuff at each sale, lol. At the end of every year they were allowed to dump it.

[athomeontheprairie]

My dd9 help an older lady clean her house this week. ( she helps twice a month) this time they cleaned out a closet. I offered to come by when they were done and pick up all of the extra clothes and take them to the donation center.

Sometimes, the clearly not every time, the standard of what is acceptable vary from person to person. she wanted to donate stuff that I see as clearly being trash. on the other side of that there are things my mom (who is WAY better of than my family) throws away that we would love to have...

[poppy]

I have given stuff I'd otherwise throw away to the thrift shop, on the theory it'll be sold as rags.

But I don't pat myself on the back for charitable giving when I do so. It's just practical.   It's not "giving" in the sense that it's any kind of sacrifice for me.

[mommymilkies]

I regularly receive or purchase (used) stained or less than perfect clothes. I was raised dirt poor so this is normal to me. First of all, I guess I don't care about stains-my kids are messy kids and I am very messy And usually covered in paint and marker. I suppose I don't see the big deal. If you don't want it, don't take it. If it's that bad, a lot of places repurpose it-much better than going to a landfill.

 

Expired food, though? That's just ridiculous.

[MomtoCandJ]

I've donated dd1 and dd2 stained (as in a little spot near the neck) things to family in need (with permission of the receiver). As far as broken toys or outdated food, those do go into the trash. Ripped clothing (depending on fabric) goes into the rag bin.

[Word Nerd]

I was in charge of a winter clothing/coat drive and couldn't believe some of the garbage that a few people donated: tattered, torn, broken zippers, etc. It would have been totally useless, so I threw it in the trash where it belonged. 

[Pawz4me]

Regarding "expired" food -- It depends on what it is.  The dates on canned food are almost all  "best if used by" dates.  They don't mean the contents are bad after that date.  We've volunteered with a huge local food bank that serves about fifteen counties, and they have guidelines for canned food.  I can't remember the exact guidelines they use, but (for example) tuna might be kept if it's six months or less past the date on the can, while beans might be kept for 18 months or less past the date on the can.

[Cinder]

However, our local Goodwill encourages people to donate clothing that is torn/stained/outdated because it is sorted and sent in bulk to be used for rag rugs and other recycled purposes.   This keeps these items from being landfilled.  

 

 

I hadn't heard this. I'll have to see if our local Goodwill collects rag-worthy clothing. Currently I have one donation bag in the laundry room. Things I wouldn't use myself just go in the trash if I can't make a good rag out of it. It would be great if they sent it off to a recycler. Of course, then I'd have to have 2 bags in the laundry room . . . lol

[Lisbeth]

The "Gods of the copy book headings" might say "beggars can't be choosers." I don't think fairness figures in to free things.

That said, I only donate decent things.I have other uses for stained or ripped things. I would never purposely donate expired food...that just seems cruel to me.

[LucyStoner]

I swear a lot of people use charities as a way to save THEMSELVES the cost of disposing of their junky discards properly. I never give a charity an in-kind gift unless it is something they are soliciting or clearly meets their guidelines. When running a small family assistance non-profit, I received:

-endless numbers of CRT monitors. I wouldn't accept these so people would leave them on the doorstep or by the garage. No joke. Some I had to pay to recycle, others were taken by a computer non-profit. Which cost me staff time to facilitate.
-disgusting, broken furniture. Again, drive by donations. Once every month or two I had to drive it to the dump so as to not lose the garage and storage space. Again, this cost us money and time.
-the only clothing donations within our guidelines were specific requests (coats in winter, socks, maternity clothes and clothing for children up to size 14-16). I received old lady coats, torn and stained lingerie, worn out men's shoes etc. Lovely. Who donates lingerie to an organization that mainly serves kids?! Who would ever think that's a swell idea?
-loose, smashed Halloween candy intended by the donor to be the "dessert" for thanksgiving baskets. There were empty wrappers to boot.
-the contents of people's junk drawers. Like just a bag of broken pens, random household crap and their old notes and once, old utility bills?! someone thought we'd use for scratch paper. Uh, ok.
-food that was expired by 1-2 decades. No joke.

Sometimes, more often than you'd imagine people would call and ask me for a tax slip after these drive by crap donations. "I dropped off a lovely living room set last month and want you to send my accountant a tax slip".

What I wanted to say: "You mean that 70s thing that smelled like cat pee and cigarettes? Yeah lady, I'll get right on that as soon as you compensate me for the afternoon my husband and I lugged it to the transfer station. Oh and the dumping fee was $42."

Of course I didn't but I was sorely tempted more than once!

[Ravin]

I know Goodwill in my area has recycling programs which raise money. Clothing, electronics, etc. Stuff too worn to sell in the resale shop goes to those programs.

[LucyStoner]

http://www.earth911.com/living-well-being/style/donate-worn-damaged-clothing/

 

 

http://www.goodwill.org/uncategorized/faqs/

Goodwill has a massive infrastructure dedicated to this effort. Most churches and small charities do not. Also Goodwill has MASSIVE overhead costs. I don't know how efficiently they serve their mission honestly unless that mission is as a massive recycler. Goodwill also takes a lot of stuff to the dump- their trash costs are high, their dumpsters are huge. They have an old fashioned charity mindset though.

 

Small places OTOH can get drowned in junk and have trash costs they can't afford. I've BTDT- adding a dump fee line item to a budget so the storage areas were not overrun with disgusting junk and detritus.

 

People will oftentimes pay money to ship useless stuff to high need areas post natural disaster or in a humanitarian crisis. Often times the best thing to do is send cash, not old hats.

[Tanaqui]

 

People will oftentimes pay money to ship useless stuff to high need areas post natural disaster or in a humanitarian crisis. Often times the best thing to do is send cash, not old hats.

 

Also, don't forget, all those donated goods destroy whatever's left of the local economy. Unless specifically told otherwise, cash really is king.

 

[LucyStoner]

Small places like mine (a county wide clearing house for help) take stuff to good will. :)

For organizations with the means and interest in doing that, great. That said, most non-profits I've worked for or with have MUCH better things to do with their staff and volunteer capacity than to be a crap sorting and delivery system for for-profits and mega orgs like Value Village and Goodwill. In the time it takes me to drive someone's cat pee sofa to the dump, I could have been raising $$$ or actually helping someone. It's inefficiencies like this and the charity mindset that goes with it that stymies transformative and lasting help.

 

It's not a gift if it costs the organization money to dispense with it. Not even Goodwill wants CRTs for instance, but I would frequently find them sitting, as welcome as zoo doo on the stoop of my workplace. Nice. Not all donations are generous or kind.

[Slache]

A friend has been struggling and has commented how people from her church who 'help' her family with food usually give food that is post the use by date or spoiled. It is frustrating to her children who were excited about getting food then were disappointed when most of it was inedible.

 

I cannot understand the point of giving food that is not edible.

I don't think people mean to donate expired goods. I think they just donate what they haven't eaten and much of that is expired.

 

After hurricane Katrina, when we thought several hundred families would be housed close by, I was one of the volunteers sorting though bags of donated clothes and it was amazing how much torn up, filthy junk folks thought made a suitable donation.

 

Until the car crash, I had been taking my adult son with autism to sort food once a week at the local huge food bank warehouse...again, amazing how much out dated stuff folks gave which ended going to a pig farm in Iowa or the trash heap instead of folks in need of food.

I was in Saint Bernard Perish for 10 months tearing down, gutting, building, and working with schools. We used torn up clothes as insulation in some of our temporary buildings. We may have rummaged through the same stuff. :)

 

I don't think it's fair to just expect the "poor" to take whatever they get and to be grateful any more than I want to wear or eat some of the things I've seen donated in clothing and food drives.  Also, it isn't about what the giver is willing to wear or eat.  Giving someone a box of torn or stained clothing isn't appropriate even if I would wear it myself.  Even though my family eats tofu sticks and they're a versatile source of protein, I'd never donate them in a food drive.  It isn't just about what *I* would be willing to wear or eat, but about the message you're sending when you donate something.  Give in ways that will actually help.

 

I've had some horrible experiences sorting through the items that get donated during some food and clothing drives.  How can we possibly think it's okay to "donate" junk to people who desperately need help?  

I was homeless from the time I was 15 until I was almost 18. Minors can't go to homeless shelters or we'd be turned in. The only place I could get food was the food pantry and school, but the homeless minor population was so big that the food pantry was always empty. You should be willing to donate a larger variety of items. It's not a matter of respect for the poor (which I greatly appreciate!) it's a matter of hungry children.

 

I swear a lot of people use charities as a way to save THEMSELVES the cost of disposing of their junky discards properly. I never give a charity an in-kind gift unless it is something they are soliciting or clearly meets their guidelines. When running a small family assistance non-profit, I received:

 

-endless numbers of CRT monitors. I wouldn't accept these so people would leave them on the doorstep or by the garage. No joke. Some I had to pay to recycle, others were taken by a computer non-profit. Which cost me staff time to facilitate.

-disgusting, broken furniture. Again, drive by donations. Once every month or two I had to drive it to the dump so as to not lose the garage and storage space. Again, this cost us money and time.

-the only clothing donations within our guidelines were specific requests (coats in winter, socks, maternity clothes and clothing for children up to size 14-16). I received old lady coats, torn and stained lingerie, worn out men's shoes etc). Lovely. Who donates lingerie to an organization that mainly serves kids?! Who would ever think that's a swell idea?

-loose, smashed Halloween candy intended by the donor to be the "dessert" for thanksgiving baskets. There were empty wrappers to boot.

-the contents of people's junk drawers. Like just a bag of broken pens, random household crap and their old notes and once, old utility bills?! someone thought we'd use for scratch paper. Uh, ok.

-food that was expired by 1-2 decades. No joke.

 

Sometimes, more often than you'd imagine people would call and ask me for a tax slip after these drive by crap donations. "I dropped off a lovely living room set last month and want you to send my accountant a tax slip".

 

What I wanted to say: "You mean that 70s thing that smelled like cat pee and cigarettes? Yeah lady, I'll get right on that as soon as you compensate me for the afternoon my husband and I lugged it to the transfer station. Oh and the dumping fee was $42."

 

Of course I didn't but I was sorely tempted more than once!

I live in Portland and houses have a very small garbage can because it's "green". I can see the temptation in taking stuff to Goodwill for convenience.

[LucyStoner]

I live in Portland and houses have a very small garbage can because it's "green". I can see the temptation in taking stuff to Goodwill for convenience.

We had a micro trash can (more like a small lidded bin really) for 6 years before moving to an apartment with a dumpster. When we had or have stuff that won't fit in our trash, we take it to the dump ourselves rather than burden someone else with our responsibilities. If it's useable it goes to the thrift store or swaps or freecycle. But my son's broken old mattress, our leftover paint, dead beyond repair old TV, a hopelessly fugly picture frame the size of Texas my dad gave me? Our junk, our time and money.

[Slache]

We had a micro trash can (more like a small lidded bin really) for 6 years before moving to an apartment with a dumpster. When we had or have stuff that won't fit in our trash, we take it to the dump ourselves rather than burden someone else with our responsibilities. If it's useable it goes to the thrift store or swaps or freecycle. But my son's broken old mattress, our leftover paint, dead beyond repair old TV, a hopelessly fugly picture frame the size of Texas my dad gave me? Our junk, our time and money.

 

I agree, I'm just saying I see the allure. We're considering getting a trash compactor when we move out. We've been seriously cleaning out before we move, but my mother in law sends us boxes and boxes of cheap toys that break in a month and we have a Costco membership. I really don't understand how people in this city have Costco memberships. The packaging!!

[T'smom]

What is a CRT?

[Caroline]

What is a CRT?

Cathode ray tube

[poppy]

What is a CRT?

 

A TV or monitor that isn't a flatscreen. They  cost money to dispose of - I think it is $10 at the transfer station or Best Buy.

 

[T'smom]

A TV or monitor that isn't a flatscreen. They cost money to dispose of - I think it is $10 at the transfer station or Best Buy.

 

Ah, thanks!

[SparklyUnicorn]

Yeah I once helped sort donated canned goods.  There was stuff in there that was completely rusted, bulging, etc.  It wasn't even a "maybe".  I don't understand that. 

 

 

[mommaduck]

I have a cousin that donated a lot of ramen type stuff. A lot of people can't eat that.

[happypamama]

I have given stuff I'd otherwise throw away to the thrift shop, on the theory it'll be sold as rags.

But I don't pat myself on the back for charitable giving when I do so. It's just practical.   It's not "giving" in the sense that it's any kind of sacrifice for me.

Yes, this, exactly.  It's practical, not sacrificial.  

[G5052]

Yup.  We've be the recipients of bags of clothes that hadn't even been washed.

 

And some "mercy meals" that were week-old leftovers, that had been left in the trunk of a car for hours, that they brought over because their kids wouldn't eat it, that had been purchased at the dollar store, etc. etc.

 

When we went through the last biggie of our ongoing medical adventures, I told my church not to do anything for us.  Seriously.  A friend brought by take-out pizza one night and another friend paid for us to get frozen meals through a local service, but I turned down the usual meals list.  It was far less stressful in so many ways. 

[Garga]

Baby clothes go out of style?  

 

 

  

 

 

You bet they do!  If you'd have seen the clearly 80's baby clothes that I was given, you'd know.  They were hideous.  I mean, I'm not picky about stuff, but these things were just plain ugly.  The clothes looked like the pants in this picture.

[Garga]

When I was younger, I donated some junky stuff, I admit it.  But once I stopped and thought about it, I stopped.  Who wants junky stuff?  No one!  I just toss the junk now.  

[momacacia]

I don't donate carpy clothes, either. If it's been through two girls and looks like it's been through two girls (and possibly given to us or bought at the kiddie consignment shop before it saw my two girls ;)), it finds its way to the trashcan, not the donate bin.

 

I guess we don't do much food donating, so if we did I'd probably just go buy what was suggested and it'd be fairly fresh off the shelf anyway.

[TammyinTN]

Our family has a rule of thumb...if it's not good enough for you to use(worn out, torn, stained) ...don't pass it on to someone else.   

 

As for food....I usually just donate cases of food from Costco and call it good. 

[LucyStoner]

If I'm not mistaken, there's no fee to recycle at Best Buy (anymore, anyway). I was just on their website reading about it last night.

 

I think that applies primarily for people who are buying replacements from Best Buy?  And here they don't take anything larger than 32" at their store as a drop off.  

 

Imagine finding this outside your work with a note taped to it asking for a donation slip:  

 

http://qsafety.com/bigscreentvstrapand153.aspx

 

That's not a "donation".  That's a pain in the you know what.  

 

I wish I could say it only happened once or twice.   :p

[mom2scouts]

Our Goodwill advertises that it takes unwanted electronics of all kinds including any brand and any condition for recycling.  They have happily taken CRT monitors.

 

My family eats expired food.  We haven't died from it yet.  In fact, expired food stores are quite popular in my area.

 

I think the key thing is to know what is wanted and needed by the charity and only giving those things.

[Tap]

I get the gist of what the article is saying, but I also think it is a bit idealistic.

 

So, my daughter outgrows her Target brand capris.  Should I just toss them out to the landfill because they aren't the very best I could donate? I could donate her new Gymboree brand ones.....because those would certainly make the person who found them at Goodwill happier!  Should I only buy Gymboree because they would make a nicer donation later than the Target Brand?  I can't always afford Gymboree, so should my own child deal with having only two pair of pants (since 2 Gymboree cost the same as 4 pair at Target), just so that I can make someone happier at the Goodwill? 

 

 

I do donate clothes that are worn to our Goodwill.  I do a quick glance for stains, but don't check every seam for dropped stitches or the hem to make sure there isn't a stain from living in the PNWs eternally wet winter weather.  

 

When I was in high school, I worked for a place like Goodwill there were sorters who were hired to do this task.  They had a well lit area, played music, chatted and sorted.  It was not considered a bad job to have. Items that had a stain got tossed in the rag/recycle bin and nice items were sent to be tagged for sale.  

 

Items that are obviously not wearable, I toss  in a bag marked as rags and they can choose to sort them again or just dump them in the recycle bin. 

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

You bet they do!  If you'd have seen the clearly 80's baby clothes that I was given, you'd know.  They were hideous.  I mean, I'm not picky about stuff, but these things were just plain ugly.  The clothes looked like the pants in this picture.

 

Reminds me of some of the baby/toddler clothing my MIL sent me that she saved from my husband.  And she was dead serious that my kids should use them.  Picture powder blue corduroy bell bottom overalls with heart shaped knee patches (real knee patches to cover wear in the knees).  My husband was horrified and told me to throw them out.  LOL

[LucyStoner]

On a stranger note of bizarre donations, someone dropped off three human skulls to a local Goodwill and there was a funny news bit on the radio with a communications person for the local Goodwill. "we take almost anything.  But no, we do not take body parts."

 

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2024031913_skulldonationxml.html

 

Stranger still, the news coverage prompted other people to bring forwards remains they had for who knows what the what reasons.  

 

 

[ocelotmom]

I have very mixed feelings about this article.

 

I've been poor. We got hand-me-downs. Many were stained, faded, or out of date (In defense of the people who gave them, I think a lot of the stains were the type that magically appear over time, and may not have been there when they were originally stored). I don't feel anyone was giving them with a "beggars can't be choosers" attitude. It was just practical - they weren't perfect, but they had use left, so they were passed them on. 

 

The clothing was great. If something was stained or otherwise less-than-attractive, I just didn't use it in public.

 

If people had given only recent fashions in excellent condition, I would have had to go spend money we didn't have on baby clothing. Workhorse clothing has its place.

 

I guess I feel that the idea of only giving the best is a somewhat of a privileged attitude in itself. Obviously, donating actual unusable trash that the recipient then has to dispose of themselves isn't a good thing. And neither is undermining local economies with horrid secondhand stuff. But is throwing away things people could actually use because they aren't in virtually new condition really ethically better?

 

I was planning to donate our baby stuff that we're done with to an organization I work with (where it would go directly to individuals who need it, not for sale). That includes some of the previously-mentioned hand-me-downs - a lot of it is at least a decade old, but I don't think we kept anything too horribly stained. Now I'm questioning if I should. I'd appreciate it if I were pregnant, even if we weren't broke. But maybe my standards are just excessively low.

 

(Of course, I think baby and young child clothing is a different ballgame than older kid and adult clothing, as far as hand-me-downs go)

 

A lot of good comments on the blog. It's good for me to see other perspectives on this.

I remember a couple of years ago dd helped me pick out some of our favorite "gently used" baby items to give to a friend who was having a baby. Maybe we were blinded from having loved the baby girl (my youngest) who had worn them before. Maybe we didn't see that they were out of style. At any rate, the mom made a point to mention to me how much she loved getting clothes from "another particular mom" because they were all like new and from "expensive clothing shop". I was mortified, and honestly I have not been able to donate anything since then.

 

If she was trying to make a point, how tacky!

 

But I've been on the other side of this. My cousin sent me a bunch of her hand-me-downs, all of it in excellent condition, much of it really good brands. It's entirely possible that I mentioned my luck around someone who had previously given me less exciting hand-me-downs. In fact, now that I think about it, I know I did. In any case, it in no way meant I didn't appreciate the other hand-me-downs. 

[SKL]

I do sometimes include not-perfect stuff in my donations, because I've had so many people tell me they want that sort of thing.  They think they can fix it or use it for parts or re-purpose it in some way.  So my feeling is, let them decide if they can use it, and if not, they can throw it away.

[SKL]

I give my sister most of my kids' hand-me-downs.  Some are brand-new, most are gently used, a few are worn and even stained a little.  My sister is a SAHM and maybe she has time to spend on stain removal or maybe she would like to use those as paint or gardening shirts.  I always say I don't expect her to like or keep all of them, but I ask that if there is something she doesn't like for her kids, she should donate it to someone else rather than throw it away.

[LucyStoner]

No never worked any retail, but when working for a non-profit like I described you get really up on where things can go. :P Before the state funded e-trade program which mandated certain businesses be involved in recycling the products they sold started in 2009, there were basically no fee free CRT disposal options in my county. It varies a lot of place to place.

[Melissa in Australia]

I buy just about all my clothes from Op - Shops. I am not concerned about  a few missing buttons or a small stain in an unnoticeable area. I can mend missing buttons etc. If the price is cheep enough then I am fine with a little mending.

 

I am glad when people donate their expensive brand clothing with a missing button or small seam unraveling  - they are just the items I am looking out for.

 

 The money I personally have saved over the years through not buying new clothing has allowed me to LIVE DEBT FREE including no mortgage

[marbel]

There is a difference between dropping off a bag of questionable clothing items at a place like Goodwill and donating clothing specifically requested to be given directly to people to wear.

 

"Gently used" doesn't mean "only give us your best new things."  It's code for "don't send us junk."

 

When I was running the clothing drive, I had to determine what was usable or not.  So I just thought:  would I let my own kid wear this?  A  slightly frayed collar and cuffs, a little chocolate milk stain here and there?  Sure.  Major rips, huge ugly stains - no.  Missing buttons and seams with a little rip?  No.   The people we were sending the clothing to didn't have the wherewithal to repair the clothes.

 

If I saw a shirt at Goodwill that I liked, but was missing buttons or had a small seam that needed fixing, I'd probably buy it.  That's different.  I can manage the small repairs.  And Goodwill can sort out the really unusable stuff and send it to a recycler.  I think that's great.  An orphanage in Khazakhstan?  Not so much. 

 

But I just donate cash now and let the people who are running the charity determine how best to use it.  I'll take food to a canned food drive but I don't take expired stuff, though I will eat it myself.