(I posted this on CCS today so I'll add it here too) Just so you guys know what it's like here in the dear old UK, recent rules and regulations regarding safety certification now forbids (or makes practically impossible) the sale of anything that is or might have contained fuel, including stoves and lanterns. I purchased a SIGG clone from such a place ONLY because they had no idea what it was and the box made it look like it might be a foot pump! Electrical items now have to be so rigorously tested that most charity shops (thrift shops) don't bother as there's no-one trained and available to perform the tests. I was given a brand new Dualit toaster last year because it failed the test procedure so many times they gave up! I only got it because they know me and they put it aside. Electrical table lamps and floor standing lamps now have to have 2 certificates.... one for the plug end and one for the light end! There was a time when I really enjoyed mooching around charity shops seeing what I could find but now all I see is books, clothes and trinkets... plus a few pots and pans, but not cast iron ones because 'nobody wants them so we throw those in the skip'! Oh, and just last week I heard that at least one UK charity organisation now crams all the stuff they cant sell into containers and ships it all out to the US. So next time you guys over in the States find yourself in a thrift shop or any other junk shop/rummage sale, think of us. We'll be here looking through racks of second hand shirts and outdated trousers. Bloody marvellous!
Is that an EU regulation concerning certification? No sign of that in our country as far as I know.... the nanny state might just not be the EU after all!
As far as I know it's nothing at all to do with the EU. I suspect it's got more to do with industry bodies and trade associations making sure regular people can't get their hands on cheap stuff so they have to buy new products instead. In fact, having spoken to someone I know who performs electrical inspections for a charitable organisation (they've given up testing electricals now as it's too much hassle) it appears that the regulations charity shops have to abide by are way more stringent than the ones big business are subject to, hence why the brand new Dualit toaster failed! It would have been sent to land-fill if they hadn't given it to me!
Charity shops - love them or hate them. On the high streets of thriving towns you will find no charity shops. However, on high streets where businesses have left to reside in out-of-town superstore developments, charity shops have emerged to take their place. The more run-down the town, the more charity shops have appeared. I regularly visit and contribute to local hospice charity shops but wish the rest of them would disappear.
Am a regular visitor to op shops here. Opportunity shops AKA charity shops in the U.K. Never found a kero pressure lantern but often see old unloved camping gas stoves.
I see the effect you describe, Trevor, but I feel the cause i.e. general prosperity isn't as simple as you suggest and other factors such as availability of free parking and business rates are contributory. Regarding in town versus out of town shopping, there's definitely a complex multi-factorial push me-pull you / chicken and egg type situation in operation. I have a pathological aversion regarding paying to park my car. Thus, for me, an out of town retail development with free parking will always be attractive as long as it's not too far away. I'd far rather park the car once, pay nothing to do so and have the benefit of a wide range of retail and service outlets at my disposal. Even when I shop in town, I invariably use the free carpark attached to a small retail development, even if I don't always shop in there (tut-tut, naughty boy... ) although I do, sometimes. I believe I'm not alone in this so I'm mystified by folk who quite happily pay to park in the local authority car parks. If I use our local city, I always use the 'Park and Ride' facility which is free to the, er, superannuated such as ourselves. The second factor to be considered is the favourable business rates offered to charitable organisations against commercial ones. Thus an empty shop in town may not be viable for a retail outlet but is for a charity shop. Thus such shops proliferate in most High Streets throughout the UK. Another factor is on-line shopping and I, for one, am certainly doing more of that, especially when delivery is free. This will, of course, affect all traditional retail outlets, wherever they're sited. Anyway, there's a back garden I have to get tidied up. Entropy, eh...
Charity shops - full of old peoples clothes, unwanted books, VHS videos, CD's and DVD's. Not to mention the odd bits of glass and china ware from the families discarded cupboards. Electrical stuff needs PAT testing (Portable Appliance Testing. To be carried out by a competent person PAT testing Training Courses from PAT Testing Expert | Frequently Asked Questions ), and if there's no-one available it goes in the skip. Having a daughter who was employed as manager of one such charity shop for a few years, also going in the skip were bags of clothes unwashed or stained, and stinking to high heaven. Odd shoes, and broken items including childrens plastic toys. The skip would be double the content of the shop. A lot of folk treat their charity shop as a dumping ground - saves them a trip to the dump - and makes them feel 'charitable'. Once found a small wicky lamp, but so bodged it needed a lot of work to resucitate. Watches - any number. All battery powered, and needing a battery. I used to fit them, and they got sold for a pound or two. In return I got a couple of chronometric watches - a nice Omega with date, and an Aviamatic. Such shops are manna from heaven for the misses - I just give them a miss. Most staff are volunteers, only a manager receiving pay. Speaking of which I'm with David on car parking, and let's not broach hospital parking charges (oops! looks like I am) - Telford's PRH takes over £2.5m a year. The trust says it pays to maintain the car park surface and its high tech ANPR cameras and payment collecting machines. It's nowhere near shops, homes, or a station either - and a captive market situated on a ring road. Shrewsbury's Royal much the same. First 30mins are free. The average wait in A&E is 7hrs. The chap coming in from an emergency ambulance with dislocated shoulder and bleeding leg wounds waited three hours. Telford (not a town, but a shopping mall) charges to park as do most, (though I don't recall Milton Keynes doing so - but that was years ago). Retail parks further away are free, as is Aldi both in Bridgnorth* and Priorslee. (*many charity shops, and a nice place to visit so always busy). 40minutes available free in Bridgnorth town, but you'll have trouble finding an empty slot. A couple of car parks charged for, and no park and ride. Other park and rides operate Summer weekends only. Never used them. Don't have a bus pass either - four buses a day and the first at around 11am? Rural Shropshire. Antique emporiums (I'm being generous there). That's where paraffin stuff appears, often butchered into something it's not meant to be, missing parts and wrong wicks (if any), and always with silly prices attached. I shop mostly on-line, or local services for essentials that I've forgotten when at Aldi or the like. (There's always something). Small towns are also suffering from car parking charges, the voices against are not just the regular punters, but businesses too - parking charges lose customers, and in any business environment that's bad news. When the High Street gets filled with hoardings, customers leave to be replaced with drop-outs and winos. Historic buildings become secondhand furniture shops - for a limited period - until another charity has a go. Wellington (Salop.) is a sorry sight. The motor car has killed the local village and small town, and made economical sense to retailers to build big and cater for the car. Needless to say, that has made the motor car an essential for many, and governments both local and national have reaped rewards in charges and taxes for 'personal transport'. And of course, one vehicle is the least we can have, who is not in a two or more car family? I know I am. The irony is that having become affluent to a degree, we long for the local services once found in every village and small town. Having cake - and eating it. Doesn't add up.
Charity shops are great. You can hand in a weeks worth of shirts on a Friday afternoon. They get washed and ironed and you can buy them back for 50 pence each on the Monday morning.
I like to take clothing to the Salvation army , old shoes can be also disposed of in collection bins... residual C _ _ P... goes to the civic ammenities site here.. who will accept most things , oils, paints,green garden waste , timber , plastics, metals, brick and blocks building material etc , appliances small and large ..even fridges , and anything else, including old furniture and mattresses ... old tyres... no your on your own .... Charity shops ...well the better ones ok .. lower end... smell hits you as you walk in... too bad no intresting items .... best thing though my missus bought 4 Waterford cut glasses for £4 in Cheshire , cannot stop my missus going in em .. so she enters .. its feet up for me having a paper read or snooze as my mood dictates ..
