Charity Shops could be hit by a "double whammy"
We at CARE back the contents and sentiments of this article and look forward to seeing our generous donors and customers in late June, early July when we will be able to re-open our charity shop in a way that is COVID-19 secure, in line with the governments advice; As a charity our main priority will be the safety of our staff, volunteers, donors and customers.
The chief executive of the Charity Retail Association says shops that have been shuttered for weeks might face a 'deluge' of donations when they reopen for business
Charity shops could be hit by the โdouble whammyโ of a high number of donations and reduced workforce as they begin to reopen, the chief executive of the Charity Retail Association has warned.
But Robin Osterley told Third Sector there was a โreal hungerโ among staff and volunteers to open their doors after the government announced non-essential shops could reopen from 15 June.
He said most of the CRAโs members would adopt a phased approach to reopening and would be opening a few shops at a time, ensuring they could implement safety measures such as social distancing and a 72-hour quarantine period for donated items.
Most shops could be open by the end of July, he said, but he emphasised that was โ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐ โ.
But Osterley added: "๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ค๐ฅ๐จ ๐๐ค ๐ง๐๐ค๐ฅ๐๐ฃ, ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฎโ๐ง๐ ๐๐ค๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ ๐๐ค๐ช๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ข๐ข๐ฎ ๐ค๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ฎ ๐ก๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ฃ๐ช๐ข๐๐๐ง ๐ค๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ ๐๐ค๐ง ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ฎ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ก ๐๐ ๐๐ฃ๐๐ง๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐๐ช๐ก, ๐๐ช๐ฉ ๐ ๐จ๐ค๐ข๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ง๐๐๐ช๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ค๐ง๐ ๐๐ค๐ง๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ฅ๐ง๐ค๐๐๐จ๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐๐ข.โ
The vast majority of charity shop staff have been furloughed under the governmentโs job-retention scheme. Osterley said both they and volunteers had reported as being keen to return.
But he said there was likely to be a large number of volunteers who were still considered vulnerable to coronavirus and needed to be shielded.
Many might also have issues accessing the shops without public transport and with social distancing in place, he said, and it might not be feasible to have the usual number of staff and volunteers in shops at the same time.
Shops would potentially also face โ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐๐ด๐ฒโ of stock donations, including the usual number of donations charities would have expected to receive during the three months shops have been closed, as well as extra donations generated by people who had spent the time at home clearing out unwanted items, Osterley warned.
He added it would be crucial that any new items coming into stores were isolated for 72 hours before being handled by staff or put on sale.
He urged the public to consider the value of their potential donations.
โ๐พ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐," he said.
Osterley added that people should contact a shop before bringing donations in, because many shops would be implementing strict protocols for processing donations, such as allocating certain hours or days of the week to receiving and sorting goods, and certain hours or days to selling them.
Many charities struggled with people leaving unwanted items outside closed charity shop doors during the lockdown, which were quickly ruined or became a safety hazard, said Osterley, reiterating calls for people not to drop off goods if shops were closed.
But he said: โ๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ-๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ดโ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด."
โ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ข ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ง ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฉ. ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ท๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด.โ
He said it was โ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ตโ for shops to reopen, but to do so in an orderly fashion that kept people safe.
โ๐ฐโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐,โ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ . โ๐ฐ๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐โ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐.โ