My First Day As A Charity Shop Volunteerfeatured

This afternoon I helped out at a local charity shop for the very first time. Having already worked part-time in a supermarket for 7 years, I never thought I’d see the day I’d be excited to return to retail, but I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks!

I’m lucky to have landed quite a varied role, as not only will I be on the till, organising stock, and dressing the window, I might also be dabbling with a bit of eBay, Instagram and Facebook.

Today though, the manager gave me a tour and explained how the place works. After shopping in charity shops for several months now, it was really interesting to find out what goes on behind the scenes and to learn just how much effort it takes to keep everything going.

One thing that I never considered before, was how much effort volunteers have to put into preparing the stock before it goes out on the shelves. It’s not simply a case of accepting a donation and putting it straight out there.

For example, they try to always count jigsaw pieces and check that all the contents are included in children’s games. It’s just something that never crossed my mind, especially when games tend to only fetch a pound or two. In a way, it doesn’t seem worth it, but if it makes the charity a bit of money and saves things from going to waste, I guess it’s better than throwing things in the bin.

I’m hoping to learn some thrifty tips from the charity shop manager, as she explained how she tries her best to not let any donations go to waste. If an old cardigan has a hole in it that is beyond repairing, she’ll remove the buttons and sell those, before selling the cardigan to the rag collectors to recycle.

After having a good chat, she suggested I have a go at updating the mannequins in the shop window. I was delighted to have that as my first job, as I’d already spotted a few items of clothing that I liked the look of.

After choosing two dresses for the female mannequins, and a t-shirt for the male one, it wasn’t long before a woman popped in and asked to try something on from the display.

Sadly it didn’t fit her in the end, but it’s a good sign that it caught her eye. I think seeing things on a mannequin rather than a coat hanger can make such a big difference as to whether someone is interested or not.

I also set aside a few items for us to sell on the charity’s eBay account, before taking one for the team and quickly counting some jigsaw pieces. You may be pleased to know, they were all there! 😉 And to be fair, counting to 100 isn’t particularly time consuming.

I can’t wait for next week and to get properly stuck in!